 5 stars
Enemies to lovers. Hate banging to love banging. Complex family and friend dramas. Addictive pacing. Realistic egos and flaws. What's not to love?? Concept: ★★★★ Characters: ★★★★★ Steam factor: ★★★★★ Drama: ★★★★ Sometimes there are books that are tailor-made for you. Things Amy likes to read: enemies to lovers with real dislike on both sides, intense sexual chemistry regardless of mental interest, secret dramas that cause angst to both people, and some sort of angst that both ties the characters together and viciously keeps them apart. Twisted Hate had all of those things in spades, y'all, and I am OBSESSED with it. I can already tell I'm going to read this story again, and again, and again—because that's what I do with these types of angsty HEAs. Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen hate each other. Jules is best friends with Ava Chen, Josh's sister, and she knows Josh hates her because she overheard him telling Ava that Jules was bad news back when Jules and Ava first roomed together in college. He's been a pain in her ass ever since, and she's returned the same energy back to him blow for blow. Josh Chen can't stop fixating on Jules Ambrose. She's fiery, a troublemaker, a spitfire with more balls than common sense. And he hates her. (He also knows where she is and what she's up to at all times, but that's just knowing your enemy. Right??) Both Jules and Josh find themselves stuck in eternal snarky orbit with their close relationships to Ava, and it all comes to a head when the universe decides to place them in a remote Vermont cabin... with only one bed. The seal breaks on their sexual chemistry and both Josh and Jules realize that there's no way out but through—so they decide to secretly bang it out of their system. Enemies with benefits always ends well... Add in a heavy dose of drama, some serious personal angsts, secret trysts, and high emotional stakes and we've got ourselves Twisted Hate. Like I said at the beginning of this review, I loveddd this story. No notes, I had such a good time and thought it was all great. However, a note on the reviews—it seems that many reviewers found this one difficult to love due to the third act conflict. Let me state for the record: I had zero issues with the third act here. Given Josh and Jules' dynamics and the hefty egos + emotional immaturities on both sides, I actually thought that conflict was extremely realistic. They're in their early 20s, they've never had a successful emotionally deep/communicative relationship before, and they're both glass castles of fragile ego. That conflict made TOTAL sense given those factors. But I guess some people have had healthier in-real-life relationships than me and/or never had something similar happen to them in their early 20s years (good for y'all).
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 4.5 stars
The third mystery romance from Kristen Ashley's Misted Pines series, and my personal favorite?? This was so adorable, sweet, and engrossing. Characters: ★★★★★ Setting: ★★★★ Plot: ★★★ 1/2 Writing style: It's a KA book, so keep this in mind as her writing style is Very Dramatic and she loves a good one-sentence paragraph (like, REALLY loves it) New to the Misted Pines series? I recommend readers start with book one, The Girl in the Mist, because this series of interconnected standalone romance pairings is best enjoyed in order. My review of The Girl in the Mist (Misted Pines #1) here. My review of The Girl in the Woods (Misted Pines #2) here. Nadia Williams is trying to recuperate and figure out her life in the wake of tragedy. When the cozy cabin shows up on her online search in the quaint small town of Misted Pines, Nadia has a gut feeling that it's the right spot for her. She abandons her high-rolling Chicago life for the woods. Riggs, a single-dad bachelor who works high-end craftsmanship commissions, lives on the small lake that Nadia's rental cabin sits on. He's a good time guy, a loner who's never wanted for temporary female company, and he's not pressed about Nadia living down the way. After all, no one stays in that cabin for long. But this good time guy and this healing woman with deep secrets are about to fall into each other in a big way, as Misted Pines is becoming known for one thing in particular: murder and drama. There's a legend of ghosts on Nadia's cabin property, with a long history of renters being run off the property in the middle of the night. People died on that land violently and the community has never fully recovered. Somebody has secrets to keep, and at the heart of the mystery is Nadia's small cabin property. Riggs and Nadia are caught right in the middle of it. With an attraction between them, individual baggage behind them, and an uncertain perpetrator in the woods, these two find that sometimes fate has a path in store for you—whether you're ready for it or not. The Woman by the Lake was a romance novel that took me partially by surprise. Which is probably on me, because I knew I was a huge KA stan and I knew that I had fallen in love, slowly, with this series. Why I was totally blown away with my love for this one in particular, who knows. For frequent KA readers like myself, the Misted Pines series is very unique. Kristen Ashley is known for her romantic and plot-based drama, her usually metropolitan settings, and her very large ensemble casts. Misted Pines has very little of those tropes—it's a minimal cast (single digits!), the drama is centered squarely on the plot and not the romance element, and it's so far into small town territory that it's in the literal woods. So that means all the "fluff" is scraped away from these stories, leaving the reader with what is at the core of all great KA tales: the romance itself and the character dynamics. If you're a romance reader, odds are that you love the character dynamics. That's what those stories are often about—the feel goods, the journey to love, the dialogue, the angst between the two leads, and the emotional core of the tales. (And for the smut readers, some seriously good times in the sheets too.) The Woman by the Lake shines with its romance dynamics and the sweet love story at its core. It's bottled up feel good, and I loved every second of it. Thank you to the author for my copy in exchange for an honest review. |
Amy Imogene ReadsJust someone looking for her own door into Wonderland. Categories
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April 2025
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All reviews posted are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any other individual or entity. When applicable, reviewed titles sent to me by the publisher are noted at the bottom of each review.
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