By Ana Huang
Book is rated 5 / 5 stars.
I was anticipating this book for far too long, just based on what I had seen from Instagram and the hints of Christian throughout the other books. Stella is such a wonderful character and I was attached to her almost immediately. This book took a wild ride that mimicked the others in some ways, but since we already had some knowledge of Christian, it took it to a whole new world. Are they perfect? No. But, are they perfect? Yes. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven't read the book, be prepared.
Book Tropes
Close Proximity. Morally Gray. Alpha Hero. Billionaire. Fake Dating. One Bed.
Spice Level: 4 / 5
Dual POV.
The Characters
Like I said (many times), I had been awaiting this story since book two. Between Stella and Christian, I didn't know who to root for more, or who to fall for more.
Nothing makes me happier than watching someone grow into becoming their own person. Seeing Stella grow to standing up for herself, and becoming confident with herself and her talent was so beautiful. I loved that she knew she needed to set her path and with a little push from the right person, she was able to do just that. Not just with her social media, but her fashion line and most importantly, standing up to her family. I hated how insecure she felt in her family with their dinners. I can imagine what that is like - to constantly feel like failing means disappointing your loved ones. But, Bridget was able to see the freedom in failing and the strength she could get from doing just that. It's a very hard lesson, but she was able to do it and I loved it so, so much.
Christian - God, how do you not love him? That morally gray anti-hero who will kill for his woman? In real life, no thank you. In book form -- everything. His cold exterior that melted into a warm puddle around Stella was so beautiful. I loved seeing him go from being against love to realizing he was head over heels for this girl he had been in love with from day one. I don't think he knew it till much later, but boy oh boy, was he just wonderful to see. I love that Stella was accepting of who he was, but it was also so nice to see him completely fall for her and know that there were still many parts of him that he thought were dead came to life.
The rest of the gang was incredible; the women and their friendship always made me smile. I dream to have a group like that. Though, I do wish that the girls relied on each other more. They are best friends - I hated that they had such deep and important secrets from each other. Especially considering all that they had endured apart and together. You know what really brought me to life, though? The men's interactions. I LOVE how they all interact together; their banters, their not-so-playful arguments, the bromance. It's incredible and I would love to read a book that was purely them Hangover style. Anyone else?
The Storyline
God, this storyline was INTERESTING. A lot of it felt very similar to a perfect blend of Twisted Games and Twisted Hate; there were very strong similarities in the beginning. The mystery man who kept terrorizing the girls, a past that hung like acid, and to throw in Twisted Love into the mix, the alpha male who was morally gray. But, I still thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and was determined to find out so much more about them.
Yet in the span of a second, she'd upended that as she had every other thing in my life.
Guys, I was in love with Christian from the start. The actual start. Coming into this book, I knew I wouldn't care what happened, I just needed more him and I really fell hard for him. I loved how he kept such a firm watch on Stella from the start. He really wanted nothing more than to protect her and sometimes that meant keeping his distance. The progression of this story was so smooth and so easy to follow - it was chronological and I love how each book tied in the previous ones to create this seamless timeline of events.
If she brought me to life with three words - I love you - she slayed me with an equal number. Don't touch me.
I LOVED the fake dating that the two had to endure. I thought it was so great, and what a fantastic way to pull the two of them together. Throw in some danger, and you have morally gray Christian killing a man for touching her and then demanding she live with him to keep her away from her stalker. Truth be told, I hadn't expected that the stalker be Julian. Maybe because I forgot about him. It broke my heart so much that Stella had to endure all that stress and heartache and panic she had to endure for this guy. But, Christian was always there at her side - his perfect distraction and her perfect hero. It was so jarring to deal with the stalker and I'm so glad that, though they were broken up, he was there, fighting for her and had no issues in doing so.
"I've never wanted someone more, and I've never hated myself more for it."
One of my favorite things about these books is that there isn't just one steadfast storyline. In fact, there are multiple that all intertwine and it really tells a beautiful story. Seeing Christian in his company setting, all focused on him, was just INCREDIBLE. He's smart, intelligent, strong, alpha. Nothing gets passed him and I loved how his thought process was. It makes the interactions with Alex, Josh and Rhys so much better in my opinion. I had suspected Kage as the duplicitous asshole but the pieces put together by Christian and the final shootout still had me gasping and so stressed. I'm so glad he was able to figure it out and deal with it - and I love that Christian had a plan on how to restructure his company because of it. I thought that was such a great artistic tough.
I would never make it to heaven, but that didn't matter as long as she ruled beside me in hell.
Their love was sooooo stunning. I love how hard he fell for her. I hated that she found out about his research the way she did; but, at the same time, I think it's cute he kept a list of those items so he could please her (am I crazy?). Their break-up broke me, but their make-up was so beyond sweet. I wanted so much more of them but at the same time, the balance of love and storyline was perfect. I need a love like theirs. So badly. She loved him with everything and I think it took them both by surprise. Stella reminding him that he deserved to be love, and he pushing her to be creative -- all of it. So well done. Please go read this book. It's everything.
Series Complete
Oh, man. This series is over. I took my sweet time with it so I could enjoy every moment, but at the asme time, I rushed through each book because I was so excited about it. I hate that the series is over; every single book had me gripped. It's obvious that Ana Huang is one of my absolute favorites, and I need way too many more of her books. I loved this storyline, I loved the series and I'm so sad it's over but I love how it came to a happy close.
Such a good series and I recommend it to everyone!
What did you all think? What was your favorite part? Let me know in the comments!
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