Twisted Hate by Anand Huang - Book review

Twisted Hate by Ana Huang, is the third book in the twisted series, is an enemies to lovers novel between Ana's best friend "Jules" and Ana's brother "Josh." Both the characters had their individual back storylines. I had so many hopes for this book. But initially, the characters and the storyline was a huge turn off. From scene where we get a glimpse of Jules past, the story took an interesting turn and the ending was very good I enjoyed the whole scene of Jules and Josh with Ava and Alex. No matter how many things I didn’t like in this book but it has been a very enjoyable read.

Jules surprised me as a character. I loved how the author didn’t write her as this weak female, but as a strong personality who didn’t let her past mistakes dictate her future. Her past was definitely an interesting twist I didn’t see coming but also loved Josh for being in love with Jules helped him get over his suppressed feelings, resolve issues with Alex and get closure with his father. It was just amazing how he turned from wanting to kill Jules to willing to kill for her. 

Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen are two people who would always be in each other's lives, even if they didn't like each other, because as mentioned earlier Jules is Ana's best friend and Josh is Ana's brother. And from the moment they met they disliked each other. They constantly argue, insult each other back and forth, and they almost hate each other. 

Josh is a doctor doing his residency and Jules is in her last year of law school and has the Bar exam coming up. But they were forced to work in the same medical clinic, Josh as an intern doctor and Jules as temporary research associate, but they started to feel attracted towards each other. What started as enemies to friends, friends to friends with benefits. So they come to a conclusion, Friends with benefits with rules- no developing feelings, no staying nights, and no dating. But the more they spent time together and get to know each other their rules of friends with benefits go out of their hand. 

I invested myself when we got a glimpse of Jules's past. I didn't see that coming. I felt so bad for Jules that her past was coming back to haunt her. I do like how she ends up taking back her own life. I can’t believe what she has gone through before she started studying law at Thayer. I hated her mom for what she did to her and what she has to do to survive. I hated to see how people had perceptions based on how she looked, no one cared or wanted her for who she really is inside, except her friends.

The time when Jules met Max, who was threatening her with her sex tapes was brutal. Jules was afraid of how to handle the situation with Max, and his threatening messages. Once Max asked Jules to steal the painting from Josh's home which would cost dollars together. Jules stole it while Josh was at the clinic working in night shift. Later on, Jules started to regret it, she was thinking about confessing it to Josh. She took a brave step and took Christian’s help where she could bring back the paining from Max and handed it over to Josh by giving an explanation for the same. This made Josh lose trust in Jules and they had a bad fight. 

But then Josh realizes his love for Jules and they decide to break the news to Alex and Ava. It was also great to see Josh and Alex whose friendship crumbled in twisted love, rebuilding in twisted hate. 

By the end of the book, Alex proposes Ava and go on to a trip. And the painting which Josh had, he sells it to Dante Russo so Max didn't have to chase Josh for it. Jules and Josh fly to New Zealand since Jules had passed the bar exam and it's a happy ending but there were some moments that I thought were just a bit too hard, too cruel and too rough. Especially in the beginning, it took me some time to get used to.

At the beginning, I did not like Josh's character. Plus, I didn't like the way he treated Jules. But as the plot grows, Josh transforms into a loving and a caring person. 

Overall, it's an amazing book of not only romance but dark scenes about the past lives of the characters and the friendship part is what I loved between the girls and between Alex and Josh. 

Favourite quotes from the book:

"I wasn't a bad person. Sometimes I made bad decisions but that didn't make me a bad person. Right?"

"The possibility of you is better than the reality of anyone else."

"Sometimes, people change. And sometimes, they meet people who make them want to change.”

"The monsters in our imagination are often worse than those in reality."

"The numbness spread from my chest to my limbs."

"I thought I'd escaped my past, but at the end of the day, our demons always caught up with us." 

"Life chipped away at me, bit by bit, and I didn't know how to reclaim any of the pieces I lost."

"Busy was good. Busy kept my mind off other things."