Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Twisted Games by Ana Huang

288 reviews

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very nice! A little too cheesy in the end but everyone learned a lesson of some kind and came out better than they started.

The author spent a while in other areas, maybe too long, because while the end of the book spanned several months, it all happened in like 16 pages. Felt kinda rushed with all the time slippage - the entire book spans 3 years for the characters.

I liked this one waaay more than Twisted Love.

Rhys is so hot and dark and damaged but is the biggest teddy bear for Bridget.

I really love “that’s my wife, be careful” energy and he’s got it in spades. It also makes the possessive crazyness a little more hot bc while it’s toxic (“touch her and you die” is not how you handle problems), Bridget is so into it too.

Bridget was pretty meek for most of the book but she really just wants to be a normal girl so I can’t fault her too much. She comes into her own though as a monarch rather than just being a passive bystander in her own life.

The part of the twist was predictable but the rest was pleasantly shocking. It was also nicely reminiscent of the second Princess Diaries, of which I’m a big fan, so that helped. But not so much so that it felt like straight plagiarism.

I’d keep reading Ana Huang.

Content Warnings

smartcookiesca's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

agw622's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a solid read. It's a blend of the cliché bodyguard trope and the enemies trope. The charecters grow some, but this is definitely more of a plot exist for the relationship book.

Content Warnings

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 5

I enjoyed Twisted Games SO much more than Twisted Love, and I think that had a lot to do with Rhys Larsen.

Bridget von Ascheberg is a princess who needs a new bodyguard, but when she meets him, Bridget doesn't think there's any way she could ever get along with this brooding, overprotective man named Rhys Larsen. As the years go on, Bridget and Rhys grow closer. But when Bridget suddenly has to go back to her country to fulfill her new role as the queen, Rhys isn't sure if their newfound love will survive the taboo it would be in court.

Bridget and Rhys are such a sweet couple. I love chemistry and the forbidden love they have (I Can See You by Taylor Swift was playing on repeat in my head as I read this book). Both characters have a lot of baggage, but they truly had so much emotional maturity and were able to work through their trauma together.

There were a few times I felt the plot was rushed and others where I felt it dragged on. But overall, I really enjoyed the character arcs and the way Bridget and Rhys worked together to bring their country into the 21st century.

I highly recommend Twisted Games to lovers of spicy contemporary romance novels with forbidden love, bodyguard x princess romance, forced proximity, and rivals to lovers.

Content Warnings

irisvdn's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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emilygibbs's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

ac_52's review against another edition

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5.0

I enjoyed this book so much more than the first one! I loved seeing the development in Rhys and Bridget's relationship throughout the story

(which I didn't really see in the first one between Alex and Ava)

. I feel like the time skipping in this one actually helped the story rather than harmed it. The ending was super satisfying (as I knew it would be, thank you Ana Huang), and there were some twists that got me. This one hit my emotions a lot harder than the first one did; I'm okay with that because the tears were totally worth it.

Rhys Larsen the man you are. He was such a better love interest than Alex was in the first one (I'm not sure what kind of morally grey he was supposed to be, but it was just not my favorite thing ever). I loved how he was still protective of Bridget and wanted to fight for her, but he wasn't overbearing. I've also seen a lot of reviews making the comment that he didn't have to grovel because he didn't mess up- that is so true. The relationship between him and Bridget also just felt so much more down-to-Earth than the one seen with Ava and Alex, even if these are very improbable scenarios to be living through. Either way, I still enjoyed Rhys as a character so much more than I thought I would when I first started reading this book or even in his mentions during Twisted Love.

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️/5

TLDR; this book was much better than the first one in my opinion and there was actually shown character development AND the male love interest wasn't a sociopath so he was much more enjoyable

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jules172's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

GUYS I LOVE BRIDGET AND RHYS. THERE LEGIT LIKE SO AAAAQJDKDPQRUEIDJUUDJDNEJ. I LOVE THEM. I LIVE THEIR STORY ARC. I LIVE THEIR CHARACTERS. I LOVE THEIR HEA. I LOVE IT ALL. In all seriousness there were some twists I didn't see coming. See

elin and mikaela being the ones to leak the photos and rhys being related to andreas

but they just contributed to how much I love this book. It only took me so long to read it bc life is life but lol I'm so excited for twisted hate Jules in the other books is the biggest yay ever I'm really excited.

Content Warnings

usus's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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