Twisted Lies by Ana Huang
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction/Romance
Blurb (on back of book):
Charming, deadly, and smart enough to hide it, Christian Harper is a monster dressed in the perfectly tailored suits of a gentleman.
He has little use for morals and even less use for love, but he can’t deny the strange pull he feels toward the woman living just one floor below him.
She’s the object of his darkest desires, the only puzzle he can’t solve. And when the opportunity to get closer to her arises, he breaks his own rules to offer her a deal she can’t refuse.
Every monster has their weakness. She’s his.
His obsession. His addiction. His only exception.
**
Sweet, shy, and introverted despite her social media fame, Stella Alonso is a romantic who keeps her heart in a cage.
Between her two jobs, she has little time or desire for a relationship.
But when a threat from her past drives her into the arms—and house—of the most dangerous man she’s ever met, she’s tempted to let herself feel something for the first time in a long time.
Because despite Christian’s cold nature, he makes her feel everything when she’s with him.
Passionate. Protected. Truly wanted.
Theirs is a love twisted with secrets and tainted by lies…and when the truths are finally revealed, they could shatter everything.
MY OPINION: **
What a disappointing finish to this series. Coming off the high from the third book, I expected so much from this one. It had all the tropes I was bound to love, from fake dating to slow burn romance. However, I found myself so incredibly bored that it took me nine entire days to finish this book, while the others took me a max of three.
Stella was my least favorite out of the four girls. She honestly had no personality and she was about as interesting as a piece of bread. Or her wheatgrass smoothies she seemed to love so much (typical Instagrammer). She suffered from anxiety, which I definitely could understand and appreciate, but aside from that, the only thing that gave her any personality was her social media following (as if social media can be a personality trait). She's trying to become a fashion designer and she's currently an influencer, but she's not really growing her following. So she embarks on a fake dating mission with her landlord and tech god Christian Harper so she can literally gain followers.
No. The entire premise was just no.
Christian. I could not stand this man. I'm sorry but he was the most annoying, boring, bland little man. He's some god in the security/tech industry, which I appreciated, but we never get any real insight into what he does. He just hacks people for no reason and ruins their life for looking at Stella the wrong way. Like, excuse me, that is where I'd draw the line. Except wait. He's also a self-proclaimed danger to society and a literal murderer!
Like okay. Normally I am fine with the dark romance, a little mafia-esque murderer, etc, etc. However, Christian was so uncalled for. Firstly, he spends over 70% of the book talking about how he's some dangerous monster and that Stella would never forgive him so he's just never going to tell him about THE LITERAL MURDERS ON HIS HANDS. LIKE HELLO. WHY ARE WE LETTING THIS SLIDE. And then FINALLY he decides to show not tell and it's for the most uncalled for reasons.
I completely am okay with jealousy, rage, a little tad bit of possessive nature, BUT WE DON'T MURDER PEOPLE. I AM NOT GOING TO SPOIL BUT I WAS IN SHOCK. I was literally willing to forgive a murder for like an actual crime (like towards the end, the murders were bad but not AS bad) BUT THE FIRST MURDER WAS SO UNCALLED FOR. WHY ARE WE IN LOVE WITH THIS MAN? He needed THERAPY more than anything.
The book is also centered on a stalker who is scaring Stella half to death with creepy notes and photos of her. I guess that's what comes with being a social media star? Idk. Anyways, Christian takes it upon himself to find him and... kill him, I guess. It takes him like 99% of the book to figure it out... For someone who's such a god at security and finding people, it shouldn't have been that hard. I even guessed it before he did. It was embarrassing for him. ANYWAYS.
Christian treated Stella so poorly. Not only did he basically become as bad as the stalker himself, with his cute little files, but he also lies to her for the entire book and by the time it's okay, he's STILL LYING TO HER. He never tells her and she's like whatever I don't want to know what kind of horrible things my man has done... It was ridiculous. He was also super creepy and his little "obsession" with her even before they formally met was scary. I wasn't a fan at all. Nothing could redeem that man in my eyes.
He's afraid of a unicorn. Enough said. So dangerous and scary and insane.
I also felt absolutely zero chemistry between Christian and Stella. He's too obsessed with the idea of her to actually care about her and she just thinks he's hot and doesn't care about his murderous tendencies and the fact that he's basically a serial killer. There was no love there.
Once they actually got together for real, the book became infinitely more boring. Their little dates were boring, Italy was boring, Hawaii was boring, etc etc. Also, for something that started on social media, we were not fed. I was ready for her to post little pictures of him that would make her fans go wild (as someone who often follows celeb romances, I was so prepared) but she posts like two pics and then the rest are mentioned in passing and never spoken of again. Clearly, she doesn't know the art of a private relationship. Post some little sly shot of him from the back or something. Like come on girlie. Step it up.
Was I supposed to care about the art thing? Because I feel like this could have all been done and reconciled with in the third book. I didn't care a tad about Magda and the story behind it was sad but not sad enough to where I was like omggg I'm crying tears for you Christian.
The ONLY redeeming quality about this book was the snippets of the OTHER CHARACTERS' LIVES. If the book is so bad that the only interesting part are the side characters from previous books, it says a lot. Alex and Ava were adorable and I loved seeing their life after their book. Rhys and Bridget needed more screen time but it was okay. The same goes for Jules and Josh, who I was expecting to see more from since Jules is like Stella's closest friend but okay. Alex and Josh's friendship was cute.
I didn't like how sometimes it was from Stella's POV, Christian's POV, and then chapters with both of them. Like, just separate them.
The epilogue was cute.
I would recommend this book to simply finish the series but don't expect a strong ending to this four-book series. I also do have to say I clearly have an unpopular opinion so take my words with a grain of salt. Especially if you liked the first book.
Main Character: Stella, Christian
Sidekick(s): Ava, Jules, Bridget, Rhys, Alex, Josh, etc
Villain(s): Murder, misunderstandings, theft, stalker, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was very real to life.
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