Author: Ana Huang
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fiction
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5 stars)
The last installment of the Twisted series feels like a disappointing book compared to its predecessors but a satisfying closer.
PLOT
Stella Alonso is an aspiring blogger who just lost her job and her roommate, leaving her in one of the most expensive apartments in DC owned by a handsome and dangerous man that lives in the penthouse and seems to have a soft spot for Stella. The owner, Mr. Christian Harper, already gave them the unit at a significantly low price for rent but gave Stella another lifeline by allowing her to stay in the apartment paying her part while working the rest off by taking care of Mr. Harper’s plants. Stella continues to pursue her dream to be a brand ambassador for a famous brand and her manager advises her that the only way to break into the 1 million follower club was to get a boyfriend to stir up conversation.
These all led to her signing a contract with Mr. Harper. She shall be Mr. Harper’s escort to his corporate engagements and he will be the mystery boyfriend to her blog. Unfortunately, this news made Stella’s ex-stalker resurface leading her to move in with Christian at the penthouse. Christian owns a security company and he hates the idea that the very building he lives in has been compromised. That and the fear for Stella’s safety are the reasons why he allowed her to move into his bachelor pad until they find her stalker.
As one can imagine, they develop feelings for each other but complications from Christian’s past and present hold him back from amitting and expressing his affection for her. He lets his passion free when he accompanied Stella on an out-of-the-country photoshoot and there they decided to be a real couple. However, when they came back home, Stella discovered a very detailed dossier of her personal life on his desk and left, feeling betrayed.
She requested Christian to leave him, and he pursued her to explain what the dossier was all about, but she begged him to stop looking into her. He gave her the space during which time the stalker decided to act and kidnap Stella. Christian came to rescue her, and they made up and agreed to walk on their relationship.
The last part of the book deals with their happily ever after, including Stella’s friends and their significant others who had their spotlights in the previous books in the series.
OPINION
I had really high hopes after enjoying and giving a 4-star rating to the previous book. Unfortunately, the writing seems to have regressed back to its off-running pace of the story, the inconsistent characters, and the obvious plot devices that were obviously there for convenience.
The beginning feels really rushed. Stella and Christian’s meetings weren’t at all coincidental. It’s almost like Christian is just there wherever Stella is.
First off, in the very first few pages of the book, Stella was walking home and it was about to rain and Christian just happens to pass by? Also, why did Christian suddenly switch from calling her by her last name then to her first just because she was refusing to come in the car? They didn’t have that relationship yet and he was the one who referred to people by their last names. Stella literally recounted all the times they interacted. Stella even called this out by saying that this isn’t a normal thing, but calling it out doesn’t really make it excusable.
Second, why was Christian there at Stella’s group interview? There was an attempt to say he was a close friend of the interviewer, but it was literally a table of influencers and he did not have any part in that scene except to reassure Stella. That was such a blatant plot device. It wasn’t natural at all.
About the characterizations, I unfortunately again felt the conflict, especially with Stella’s character. Stella kept switching from a strong, independent woman to a damsel in distress whenever convenient. She supposedly had money troubles but had no problem indulging in all of what Christian gives her. Also, the big fight in the end? She knew that Christian was the CEO of a leading security company. She knew his reputation and that he looks into everyone he was in business with and she was surprised that he had a dossier of her? That just feels so weak because this was expected of Christian’s character. A better argument would be if she made Christian admit what he found out about her and made him promise not to look any further but because Christian works in security he couldn’t control his impulse to know absolutely everything. See THAT was a broken trust.
On the spicy scenes, I can only describe them in one word – edging. If the previous book had ramped up its spicy scale, this book regressed into multiple chapters of teasing until it kicks off at about 60% in.
The one thing I will find most fun to read through though was the ending. It was meant to wrap up all the storylines of all four books and I think that worked and gave the readers who stuck around the satisfying endings we wanted. The only other gripe I have about closure is that Christian never ‘cashed in’ on his contract with Jules. It would’ve been better if the favor he asked of her involved something positive for Stella. I know he was tempted to use the favor when Stella walked out and the whole point was that he never used it; but I can’t help but feel sorry for Jules that he has that one favor – with a signed contract that goes along with it – hanging over her head from her best friend’s partner. They could’ve just closed it by pulling a favor for something positive just to close that plot point. It was such a big deal in the previous book.
Lastly, the major turn-off for me was how similar the plot points and writing were from the previous book. Honestly, play a drinking game and take a shot when these things happen in this series:
- The protagonist dynamics are simple girl + powerful and rich man
- Love/lust at first sight
- Guy getting hard at the slightest action from her
- Girl will describe him as so handsome that Michelangelo could’ve sculpted him himself (I swear to god this was used by Stella alone in this book at least twice)
- Some random character hits up on the girl and the guy witnesses this saying something about murdering anyone who as much as looks at her
- Girl will rationalize this jealousy as to something that benefits the guy instead of any feelings for her to show her naivete
- Girl will describe their relationship progression with ‘one step forward, two steps back’
- Guy gives her a unique nickname (looking at you Sunshine, Princess, Red, and Butterfly)
- Girl acting strong where the guy says ‘that’s my girl’
- The sexual encounter starts with the guy saying ‘take your clothes off’
- Guy would say your ‘p*ss*/cl*t’ was made for me
- Guy tells the girl ‘you’re mine’
- Guy will break girl’s trust ending in a big fight that the girl will not relent to right away, she’d just ask some space
- After the said space, something happens to girl prompting the guy to save her and that’s what will lead to reconciliation
- Guy turns into mush around girl as described by everybody else around them
FINAL THOUGHTS
As a standalone, I think this worked out pretty average. Even though there are a lot of negative things, I appreciated the author’s attempt to make it more complicated with the stalker and art thief plot points. As usual, there are a lot of romance cliches in it and a romance reader would probably revel in them. I read the four books back to back so the very similar plot points and conversations really stood out to me. Except for book #3 (Twisted Hate), you can pretty much switch out the characters and they’d all fit the scenarios in the books. The girls would behave the same way and the guys would act the same way. I’d say if you can overlook all of these things and just want a spicy read, then it’s great.
Favorite Quote(s):
“You can’t measure your success based on someone else’s progress.”
― Christian Harper, Twisted Lies
“Karma was an even bigger b*tch than fate.”
― Christian Harper, Twisted Lies
“The world wasn’t black and white, no matter how much I wished it were. And sometimes, we found our happiness in the shades of gray.”
― Stella Alonso, Twisted Lies
The Stray Reader 
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