Review: “Twisted Hate” by Ana Huang

Series: Twisted #3

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: January 27th, 2022

Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

CW/TW: blackmail, physical assault, some violence, stalking, sexual harassment, parental neglect

He hates her…almost as much as he wants her.

Gorgeous, cocky, and fast on his way to becoming a hotshot doctor, Josh Chen has never met a woman he couldn’t charm—except for Jules f**king Ambrose.

The beautiful redhead has been a thorn in his side since they met, but she also consumes his thoughts in a way no woman ever has.

When their animosity explodes into one unforgettable night, he proposes a solution that’ll get her out of his system once and for all: an enemies with benefits arrangement with simple rules.

No jealousy.

No strings attached.

And absolutely no falling in love.

**

Outgoing and ambitious, Jules Ambrose is a former party girl who’s focused on one thing: passing the attorney’s bar exam.

The last thing she needs is to get involved with a doctor who puts the SUFFER in insufferable…no matter how good-looking he is.

But the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes there’s more than meets the eye to the man she’s hated for so long.

Her best friend’s brother.

Her nemesis.

And her only salvation.


Theirs is a match made in hell, and when the demons from their past catch up with them, they’re faced with truths that could either save them …or destroy everything they’ve worked for.

 

When it comes to Ana Huang books, you know you’re in for a wild ride. But it’s not just the exceptional steam that gets my attention about these books, it’s the depth of these characters, the trauma they’ve suffered and overcome, the strength that’s both obvious and hidden and the relationships they build with everyone else in the books. While Bridget and Rhys are always going to be my absolute favourite of the series, Jules and Josh blew me away. And it’s in part the intensity of these characters and in part the story that Ana managed to tell between all the hate and banter and beautifully explicit sex.

Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen hate each other. Everyone knows it, they don’t try to hide it. They are constantly at each other’s throats, they bicker, argue and fight all the time. With them, there’s no holding back. It started when Jules and Ava (Josh’s sister and heroine from Twisted Love) were in college and sharing a dorm. Jules overheard something Josh said about her to Ava and she didn’t hold back on showing him just how little she cares about him. And to Josh, Jules has always come across as reckless and wild, which irritates him because he believes that if Jules is involved, Ava is going to get herself into a whole lot of trouble that he can’t save her from. And over the years, the hate and banter and rage has turned into simmering sexual tension that almost everyone around them can feel, so when they make a deal to enjoy an enemies with benefits situation, neither of them hesitate. Except, the more you sleep with someone, the more you see them for who they are and suddenly all those feelings you thought you never felt before bubble to the surface.

I don’t think there are enough words for me to say to talk about how awesome this book was. So much happens in this book that I obviously can’t mention in my review, but what I can definitely tell you is that the sexual tension and chemistry in this book is insane. Jules and Josh spend a good part of the book snapping at each other, and I’m talking proper enemies to lovers situation here. They hate each other’s guts and don’t care about hurting the other person. Words spew out and it’s kinda intense. But, it’s also so well done. I enjoyed their wicked dialogue and the way they push each other’s buttons, I enjoyed watching Jules knock Josh down a peg or two. 

“You’re my personal hell, Red. And God help me, I don’t want to fucking leave.”

She’s all fire, and not just because of her red hair, Jules is badass and she’s not going to let anybody stop her from living her life the way she wants. She fights for what she wants, she’s opinionated and forward, confident and passionate and even though life dealt her a bad hand at one point, she’s come a long way since her traumatising childhood to have something so great, she’s not going to let just anyone take it away from her. Josh, if you’ve read Twisted Love then you’ll know all of this, has been through his own share of crazy things—his father’s gone to prison, he almost lost his sister, he did lose his best friend—and through it all, he had to stand tall and strong and it’s taken a toll on him. Between that and his residency, Josh is basically stretched so thin that fighting with Jules is the highlight of his life.

I loved the steam, as I always do with Ana’s books, but the thing that really got me was the slow build of Jules and Josh’s relationship. You know it’s coming, because DUH. But it’s the way it happens. It’s slow and then all of a sudden it just whacks you in the face. And I’m a sucker for romances where he falls first after spending a good portion of the book wanting to kill her. And watching Josh go through the motions of his feelings—denying, accepting, confusion, denying—was an absolute treat. I loved their friendship too and how they leaned on each other when they least expected it, how their lives changed because of the other person and how everything in their lives just made sense with each other.

And, now that we’ve met the very delicious hero that gets to charm and win Stella over, I am even more curious about her book. I cannot wait for Twisted Lies, because if these first three books are anything to go by…it’s going to be truly awesome.

Thanks to Ana Huang and Wildfire Marketing Solutions for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.