Author: Ana Huang
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fiction
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2.5 out of 5 stars)
Plot
Twisted Games, the second book in the Twisted series by Ana Huang, is all about your royal bodyguard romance in a modern setting. Princess Bridget von Ascheberg spent her college years studying diplomacy in the United States. As part of the royal family, she has her own security guard and her old friend has been replaced with a cold, ex-Navy SEAL, Rhys Larsen.
Rhys Larsen had two major rules on the job. First, he was never going to get involved in his client’s personal lives. Second, his client must follow his security protocols. After insisting on his second rule, however, Bridget had no problem following his first rule. She hated all his rules. The main point of her getting away from the kingdom was freedom, and she had relatively more of it than her older crowned prince brother until the latter fell in love with a non-royal and abdicated the throne. Freedom and privacy were thrown out the window as Princess Bridget must now return to her kingdom to prepare for Queendom.
She had one month before she became the crowned princess and she clung to a wild personality, a total 180 degrees of her usual, composed self, and made 4 items on her bucket list before the month is over. First, she wanted to go to a place where she wasn’t recognized. Second, to eat, read, and sunbathe without worrying about her schedule. Third, to do something risky. Lastly, achieve an orga*m she didn’t give herself. Rhys, despite claiming to not want to get involved, would bring her to Costa Rica to fulfill her first three wishes. He would try to control himself not to give the fourth, but he eventually gives in and it would start a series of intense lovemaking throughout the rest of the book.
They both know that this was a doomed attachment. Bridget must marry royal blood, her kingdom can’t survive two abdications. Must she really choose between her country and her heart?
Analysis
I have to say, this book is a lot better than the first but I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve already gotten used to the writing or it’s because it’s genuinely good.
I. Characters
Unlike the first book, the characters had more depth. Not much, but at least they weren’t too one-dimensional anymore. Rhys was your ideal hot and tough-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside man. I appreciate the attempt to give him more depth with his family background. Bridget transformed from a sweet, shelter-volunteering princess to a real human being with all her vulnerabilities throughout the book and eventually came out as a strong woman. Even the side characters became more alive. Bridget’s family had distinct personalities, the royal staff jumped out quite well, and even the small characters like Bridget’s eventual fiance and his lover had their moments.
But I do have a character problem with Nikolai, Bridget’s brother. I just feel like he needed to have more participation in Bridget’s life to earn her forgiveness after abdicating the throne. It was a really shitty thing to do without giving his sister plenty of time to prepare. He was already with his girlfriend for two years. Bridget should’ve been more upset; he should’ve had a bigger role in her transition. He should’ve been more helpful. That part of the story really lacked dimension.
The main characters, although better, are still lacking in distinction. If I remove Rhys and Bridget’s names from the scenes and dialogues, they can be just as well as Ava and Alex’s dialogues and personalities from the first book. It doesn’t help that internal dialogues were so similar to theirs in the first book. Rhys would mumble about how he’d rip any guys who so much as looked at Bridget and I’d remember Alex saying the same thing from the previous book. Bridget would plead like Ava during their sexual adventures. Sure, their specific acts were different and better, but they didn’t have their own distinct personalities in them. Their inner dialogues sound so much the same as Alex and Ava’s.
Although the main characters had more depth, they’re unfortunately also still as flimsy as in the first book. We start with Bridget being so sweet and composed like her usual self and the first thing she mutters when she meets Rhys is “Holy. Hotness” like a teenager. That was a disappointing drop. Her entire personality as soon as she stepped into her kingdom, Eldorra, felt like Princess Mia of Genovia from the Princess Diaries movies.
Rhys was also supposed to be this disciplined military man yet he bullies a random guy in the club trying to catch Bridget’s attention in a club like a normal guy. This was so early in the book. If he really didn’t want to get involved in Bridget’s life, getting the guy away from her was enough. But he didn’t look disciplined as he pushed the guy’s humiliation. He was 10 years older than Bridget and this guy. You’d think he’d have the maturity to think that they’re just acting their age.
II. Plot Analysis
It’s always interesting when a plot of a sequel coincides with another book in the same series and I really liked how it was done in this book. We finally see what happened to Bridget after she and Ava got kidnapped from the first book and that was used as a great plot point to move Rhys and Bridget’s love story with the 4-month trust trial thing. That was a creative and reasonable plot device used to develop their relationship and turn their enemies-to-lovers trope naturally. Plus, Alex Volkov’s involvement, a main character from the first book, was a really clever and logical plot device to get them out of their mess. Lastly, the setup for the next books at the end was a great touch.
This was much better paced than the first book. The progression of their relationship and the events around Bridget’s life were acceptable. I like that this has less violence than the first one but a lot of the situations still felt like very obvious unrealistic scenarios pushed there to move the plot forward.
- First, I don’t know why Bridget was less trained and was not more prepared to be queen. That was so unrealistic in my opinion. Yes, she was a spare ruler, but there was always a possibility that something could happen to her brother and she was the next in line. There’s just no way that a royal family can be so… carefree.
- Second, this was supposed to be in a modern setting so I don’t know why it’s surprising that they’d sneak in several rooms to bang and they didn’t think that there was a huge possibility that there might be cameras everywhere.
- Third, in fact, speaking of modernity, there was also no way that Bridget would only have one bodyguard as soon as she stepped into her kingdom allowing all of these intimate sessions to happen. Sure, outside of the country, maybe for practicality she’d only have one living in the same close vicinity as her; but inside the palace? Security should be crawling everywhere.
- Fourth, the whole four-month trial trust thing was cool but a competent security detail would not have allowed their tracking chips removed from their targets. It made me question Rhys’ competence as supposedly the top security agent in the country.
- Fifth, why is Rhys just as possessive as Alex in the first book? Alex’s character was established but Rhys was, again, supposed to be a disciplined ex-military man who was 10 years older than Bridget. Yet he still teased her with sexual innuendos. He also knew coming into this that Bridget was supposed to marry a royal yet he threatened every guy that comes near her without consequences. These are royal people. He can’t do that without consequences. That was too unreal.
Final Thoughts
I still think that this is a woman’s p*rn disguised as romance. The s*xual scenes are all still pretty well written and the spice meter definitely picked up. That’s definitely not a complaint. However, if a reader needs something more than these spicy scenes like more fleshed-out characters then they might be left wanting.
Favorite Quote(s):
“People were people, no matter their title, and some desires were universal. Unfortunately, the ability to fulfill them was not.”
― Bridget von Ascheberg, Twisted Games
“The best rulers are those who can wield both the carrot and the stick in equal measure.”
―Edvard von Ascherberg III, Twisted Games
The Stray Reader 
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