#bookgirlie

[shreyanorthauthor]

Twisted Love: Book Review

Genre: Billionaire Romance/Dark Romance

So...I originally saw this book on Booktok and Bookstagram (because I'm not on Booktok that much anymore) and I figured I'd give it a go. I'm a ~sucker~ for the grumpy/sunshine, touch-her-and-die trope! I had also read Christian and Stella's story while on vacation in Australia, so I figured I'd give Ava and Alex's story a go too because if there's anything you need to know about me, I can't read only part of a series 😅

Anyway, it so happened that I got the book as a gift from a physical therapist, which was even better! I read the book in one day..

...and I have thoughts. 

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♡ CHARACTERS

Ava - Ava is a sweet, sunshine girl who has no recollection of her past. She's an aspiring photographer who lives next-door to her overprotective brother Josh. Overall, I found her to be a charming FMC and I loved how supportive she was. However, I felt like her character fluctuated without any pushing. Sometimes she'd be quiet and subdued, but other times she'd be inexplicably brash and confident. Especially around Alex, he does little to push her buttons, so I don't really understand where the confidence comes from. There's no internal dialogue, not that much anyway, to support Ava's actions. She's a bit of a Mary-Sue, I think, because everything plays into her hands. The plot with her and her past trauma was confusing as well. I think it was pushed just for plot's sake and resolved too quickly, and it especially didn't make sense how her father was the one to try and drown her? He didn't display any psychotic tendencies. I did like, however, the foreshadowing with the ring. 

Alex - Alex is your typical brooding billionaire who likes girls, revenge, and being cold for cold's sake. He's...somehow perfect? Has a 160 IQ, perfect body, and does Krav Maga. He was raised by his uncle after his parent's and sister were killed and wants revenge against the people who took away his family. Alex is an okay character, but his sudden feelings toward Ava were confusing, especially because he was so determined in the beginning to ignore her and act like nothing happened between them. Then, all of a sudden, he's wanting to sleep with her? It was kind of weird. I liked his scenes more, though, because Alex's character had more dynamics. There were more things happening that would push his character change than there were with Ava. Still, his possessiveness and sudden need for Ava came too suddenly. 

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♡ PLOT

The plot was...there wasn't much of a plot. A lot of the chapters were filler, and I couldn't tell if it was a plot-driven or character driven book because of how little happened. I'm assuming it's character driven, most specifically by Alex, which is ironic since he "supposedly" doesn't care about Ava. A lot of Ava's chapters were just her doing every day activities which was kind of boring to read through. 

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🔹the reveal - ava: The reveal with Ava's real backstory was confusing. I didn't really understand because it's repeatedly mentioned that Ava doesn't remember her past, and yet she also remembers just enough for her to realize who her real killer (attempted killer?) was. That whole part felt too rushed and abrupt, because we don't get a lot about Ava's backstory or any reason to believe that it was her mother or father. It could have been Josh if we're blaming all the family members! 

🔹the reveal - alex: Alex's backstory and reveal was more interesting, especially since his uncle was repeatedly mentioned throughout the story, but the info dump at the end was too much and I hardly understood how their ties even crossed. He was using Ava's dad? Since when? And he was using Josh? Again, the lack of internal thoughts alluded to none of this. And why would he lie about using Ava if he was already planning to turn against his uncle? 

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♡ WHAT I ENJOYED

♡ The Tropes: I love a good grumpy/sunshine, and even though, to an extent, it wasn't completely a grumpy/sunshine because Alex caved so quickly, I did enjoy his brooding personality and morally gray aspect of his life! 

♡ Ava's Friends: I LOVED Bridget, and I'm excited to see what happens with her and Rhys. I already read Stella's book, and I think Christian was a better-executed version of Alex, though both their possessive types didn't really appeal to me. 

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♡ WHAT I THINK COULD BE WORKED ON

⭕ Telling not Showing: There was a lot of telling instead of showing in this book, which is probably why everything felt so random. I think there was more telling on Ava's part, because I connected easier with Alex than with Ava. Especially during the intimacy scenes, it's easier to connect to the actual intimacy between the characters (as gentle or as rough it may be) by going through emotions instead of what limbs are tangling with what.

⭕ Lack of Internal Dialogue: I think, another reason it was difficult to see Ava and Alex's reasoning behind their actions was because of the lack of internal dialogue. I would have liked to see more of Ava's memories or her thoughts about her family and Alex. With Alex, I think knowing more about his relationship with Josh and his uncle would have helped with the whole idea that he didn't want to pursue Ava. 

⭕ Lack of Chemistry: Ava and Alex had spice, but I didn't get a lot of romantic connection between them, particularly on Alex's side. It felt more like lust rather than anything, and the comparison of Ava to other girls is getting a bit old. Similarly, Alex's possessiveness came out of nowhere, and I'd be pissed if he deleted all my hard work because he didn't like some guy I was taking photos with. His protectiveness was overshadowed by the lust factor, and I got more of a protective vibe from Rhys than Alex. 

⭕ The Flow: To me, the flow felt bouncy, especially at the end. I wish I'd gotten more of Alex groveling, because I LOVE a good groveling. Also, Ava's apprenticeship came out of nowhere, and the pacing of their romance was a bit over the place. 

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♡ OVERALL

This is my first time doing this kind of formatted review, and I actually think by doing it like this, I was able to write all of my thoughts with more coherence than using my old paragraphed ways that (ironically) bounced from place to place. Overall, I still prefer Christian and Stella's story because it flowed better and had better development, but my favorite MMC so far is Alex (except for the part when he deleted her work).

[kkerry]

[mspegasus17]

The struggle of wanting to read all the books on your tbr at the same time.

[confuselibrarian]

The Bell Jar Racism.

Okay, but can we talk about how people pretend that Sylvia Plath wasn't racist and deliberately close their eyes to this detail when they're reading The Bell Jar?

I don't expect a book written by a white person in the first half of the twentieth century to be an example of anti-racism. As a Lovecraft reader, that's a walk in the park for me. However, I find it extremely worrying that so many CURRENT DAY READERS choose to ignore this factor when talking about this book.

Perhaps I'm too embedded in the Lovecraft sphere of book discussion, where an essential part of discussing his works is understanding the author's prejudices, and that's why I was so shocked. Specifically in the booktook sphere, I've had enough of coming across so-called feminist bookgirlies blindly putting this book on a pedestal as if it were the pinnacle of feminism, making so-called “analyses” of The Bell Jar without taking the racial factor into account. If you want to make aesthetic posts in your bedroom reading Bell Jar roleplaying girlboss, manipulative Lana del Rey while bathing in a vintage coquette aesthetic, that's fine but don't pretend it's feminism.

Yes, The Bell Jar is a very interesting book which, in my opinion, deserves its status as a classic. But that doesn't stop us from engaging critically and understanding that bad people also produce good art. I can't get over the fact that this is a symptom of the decline in critical thinking that I've seen on the internet in recent years. Where people are totally fine with brushing racism under the carpet but will behead you if you give a review below 3 stars to their favorite hyped book of the moment.

[crippling-pages]

okay so- here's a poll

[stardustaboveyou]

Just a bookgirlie trying to grow on bookstagram 🪴

[dontdropthatthunthunthun]

Any bookgirlies(boyies, persons) on here that wants to be friends with me on goodreads

[nickel156]

Isn't she gorgeous!

Pardon me whilst I go live my best crafty bookgirlie life!

[guerraandpaes]

Us bookgirlies

tua fandom rn

[azbascha]

#smutbooks #smutlovers #smuttybooks #smutslut #bookishsmut #readersofsmut #smutreaders #spicybooks #spicybookrecs #spicyromancerecs #steamyromance #steamyromances #steamybooks #bookgirlies #bookstoread #romance #romancebooks  #steamyromance #spicyromance #darkromancecontemporary #fakedating #fakedatingromance #fakedatingfantasy #fakeseries #fannyleesavage #newrelease #comingsoon

[witchychriss]

She is looking... 😘🤌🏼

#interior #newapartment #bookgirly

[yayodolls2007]

#coquette #coquettegirlie #bambi #bookgirlie #pink #bowgirlie #lanadelrey #coquettebaby

[lilbitgolden]

real bookgirlies actually become the morally gray fictional character irl that they admire

[roz-boz]

I have a special kind of hate with people on Instagram/TikTok who put a quote of a book that makes me interested, then I go to check the tags and it's ✨booklove, bookworm, bookgirlie💕✨

If you're not going to say the name of the book in the reel, aT LEAST PUT IT IN THE TAGS GOODAMMIT-

[houseofpandas]

The new book-group book has arrived... I shall be picking this up later... @houseofpandasstyling @gatherbars #bookgroup #wine #friends #bookgirlies #reading