Are you the one in college or university constantly partying? Or are you the one constantly working? The first book of Ana Haung’s Twisted series follows Ava and Alex, to a degree; both are hard-working, but Alex has a unique method to his madness.
Ava is a student at Thayer University; she has a healthy social life if grabbing coffee is anything to go by; she is a gallery assistant and semi-professional photographer. The hard worker sort of student on campus. Alex is her older brother’s best friend and just happens to be her rescuer when she gets stranded in the middle of nowhere after a photoshoot. And happens to show her bra to him when her top goes see-through in the pouring rain. Since that embarrassing encounter, Ava doesn’t wish to reencounter Alex; her brother Josh has other ideas. Josh is a medical student looking to go on placement in South America. He wants to ensure that Ava is protected, especially after her breakup with her ex-boyfriend, Liam, who is seemingly stalking her now. Once Ava discovers her brother’s plan, she isn’t impressed.
“…Liam had never acted so out of control. He’d been persistent and kind of douchey, but he’d never physically hurt me.” (PAGE 98)
Ava’s friends hatch a plan to see if the ever-stern Alex Volkov can crack a smile or laugh. The outcome nobody expected, nobody less than Ava’s brother and Alex’s best friend, Josh. But both Alex and Ava have a lot of baggage from childhood traumas. One is after revenge, while the other just wants to live without the brace of fear constricting the body. Is it enough for them to unite and lift each other up through the consequences of their pasts?
The way childhood traumas are portrayed in this novel is just brilliant; I know that’s down to personal opinion, but the positive here is that there are two methods of dealing with the trauma. There’s seeking revenge which is Alex’s method, and there’s completely burying it when faced with it again and again and again, which is Ava’s method. I’m neither a counsellor nor a psychologist, but I’m sure both ways aren’t healthy.
I have childhood trauma I’m dealing with to this day due to medical treatment, and it was only through CBT that I realised my anxiety issues are similar to PTSD. Not saying I have PTSD, I’m not saying that, but some situations can take me back to places from childhood that I would wish to forget. People say if you’re a mood reader, you tend to enjoy a book better; for example, if I’m on holiday, I’m likelier to give a holiday romance a high rating than a thriller. I rated this book highly because I have a personal connection to childhood trauma issues. I have entirely different circumstances, but I have a few flashbacks, dreams and panic attacks, just not to the scale of Ava and not wanting to take revenge like Alex.
Having said that, I wouldn’t give this first book in the Twisted series five stars. I found Josh as a brother incredibly possessive for an overprotective brother. I found the same for Alex throughout the book. Whenever Alex shows up or confesses to having hired someone following Ava, I wanted to throw the book out the window-I found that so frustrating. I found the writing style brilliant, mainly when discussing their childhood pasts.
“…Just because I have a phobia over one specific thing doesn’t mean I’ll freak out in other areas of my life.” (PAGE 160)
I find the book’s title really sums up this romance. Ava and Alex eventually fall in love after confessing their childhood pasts (actually, it’s only Ava at the time), so they fall in love over their trauma. Although cute to a degree, I find that strange, but I guess it’s not unusual for victims to come together on mutual ground. I’ve not heard of them falling in love. Needless to say, I’m hooked by Ana Haung’s writing, and I’ll be continuing on with the twisted series.