Twisted Hate - Ana Huang

 

(Would Jules give anything to you easily? Exactly. The rating is in the review....)

I shall be as honest as one can be; I was not itching to read this at all, but God, am I glad I did. Josh Chen and Jules Ambrose, aka best friend’s sister, enemies with benefits, and enemies to lovers. Lawyer x Doctor. It has it all.

In this book, we have Josh Chen, doctor in the making, and Jules Ambrose, aka Red, who’s a lawyer in the making. I didn’t know what to make of Jules in Twisted Love. I thought she was a bit too in-your-face, over the top, and bratty. She’s not. Trust me.

“Where did you get your coat from? Barney’s R Us?” – I died! Okay. I’m getting sidetracked. These two dislike each other, and it all stemmed from when Jules overheard Josh telling Ava to stop being friends with her. Jules is an outgoing, spontaneous spitfire who likes to live her life to the best. Josh isn’t too far off with his one-night stands, add a responsible and protective brother to Ava in the mix, especially since finding out about their dad’s true colors and Alex’s then betrayal. Even after everything is sorted, it’s hard for him to forgive or trust his ex—but not ex—best friend again.

Jules has a lot to her. Due to her abusive mother, she had to go fend for herself after being accused of being a liar when she confronted her mother about her touchy and weird stepdad. Jules met Max, who introduced her to the world of theft. Long story short, Jules got away while Max didn’t. She moved places and changed her name, but Max had one thing that he used to blackmail Jules. It was a video of her doing something provocative. Let’s just say Max orders Jules to steal from Josh, and it ruins what they had.

Josh and Jules start this enemies-with-benefits relationship, but it turns from calling each other when they need to scratch an itch, to calling one another when they’re not feeling great. When Jules starts an internship at the same place Josh works, the two start seeing each other a lot more. Jules loses her mother and goes straight to Josh, and that’s when she goes back to her hometown. Well, guess who shows up? And guess who leaves a once-in-a-lifetime trip to go to Jules? Only if real-life men were that good. I’d say that was the pivotal moment in their relationship.

Here are some of the key moments:

• The ski trip with Ava, Alex, Josh, and Jules. How when Jules was suffering from endometriosis, Josh was there with her, and how slowly something between Josh and Alex started to get sorted. The one bed trope was troping.
• Jules getting a message from Max and then running into him at a club. The nightmare had started all over again.
• Jules going to Harper Security for help to get the blackmail erased and get her stuff back from Max. He asked for nothing more than a favor in return, and failure to do so meant a lot of money being exchanged. This was also when we saw the introduction of the first character in the King of Wrath series, aka Dante Russo aka also my husband.
• Jules stealing from Josh and returning with his stuff later after the help of Harper Security, and her both apologizing and confessing her love to Josh, but being cut off by him. My heart tore in two.
• When Max pushed Jules down the stairs and the doctor tending to Jules was Josh.
• When Josh turned Max into pulp and – shocker – Alex had to stop him from killing Max.
• Max dying.

Asher goddamn Donavon asking Jules out on a date. Spoiler she went, and that’s when both J’s reconciled.

The funniest part was when both of them used a cake from Crumble and Crumble to break the news of their relationship to Ava. Alex was hilarious in this.

A bonus has to be when Alex told Josh about his proposal plan to Ava. I’m not going to tell you anything about that—just read it. I cried fat tears.

I much preferred this over Twisted Love. The character development was much better, the plot flowed a lot more seamlessly, and the writing was captivating. The smallest difference can make a book go from good to great. I appreciate how the plot was so well thought through. At this point, I was so sure that Twisted Lies was going to instantly be a hit.

Often, I find that the back and forth between enemies to lovers is so overdone. I can safely say that Twisted Hate and God of War by Rina Kent do a fantastic job of balancing it out. At one point, it gets to school-like and childish, however, this just made it very appropriate for the ages that Josh and Jules were.

The painting named Magda is so important through the series, but I won’t be revealing that until my next review, so keep your eyes peeled.

A 4/5 star read for me, and it ranks a lovely third on my pyramid.

These paper pages are ones that will always be considered staples by Ana Huang. Such a good read.

Until Twisted Lies.

Mwah!

Vivian.

Don’t forget to keep reading, because as long as you do, it’s making a struggling authors day that much better. Reach for the starts of success.