Twisted Lies: A Fake Dating Romance

What an end to one heck of a series. The perfect combination of sweet, spicy, sassy and swoony, this last book really brought everything together! . Right off the bat, Christina and Stella’s story is both the same and different. Christian, unlike the other guys in the Twisted series, has no problem internally admitting he’s a little obsessed with Stella. Like a puzzle he wants to crack, her entire being is an enigma to him. Soft and kind, generally happy and selfless, Stella is nothing like the people Chrisitan has surrounded himself with. Nothing like himself. He’s cold and aloof, quick to venegage and selfish to the core. Except when it comes to Stella. . Packed with ‘Only Soft For Her’ goodness, Twisted Lies took me down a complicated and emotional journey featuring a man who didn’t know how to feel, and a woman who felt everything. The way Stella helped Christina soften and grow and open up was SO good. The tender moments peppered throughout the book left me craving more, leaving me devouring this huge book in one day. Waiting for these two to finally crack under the pressure and let go was so fun and even hotter when it finally happened. Ana Huang is not an author to sleep on and a must-read author for me after this!!

A friend told me I would fall madly in love with Christian. She was 100% right.

From previous books, you know Christian owns the building Stella lives in. You also know she lives there for a fraction of the rent—and not because he’s a nice guy. It’s more because he can’t stop thinking about her. Is she drawn to him as well? Absolutely. And that makes things… combustible.

When Stella loses her job, she needs to up her influencer game to become the ambassador for a famous brand, and she could—if she had a significant other. She needs a fake boyfriend, bonus points if he’s one who clearly states he despises love. Except that it’s there from the first photo she posts of them.

While they’re playing the couple, Christian realizes she’s in danger, and he’s not about to let anyone else walk in and harm her or whatever they have together. He may be a cyber security expert, but he’s also someone who isn’t afraid of getting his own hands dirty. He’ll protect her and stand by her side whatever comes. Is his love for her borderline obsessive? Yes. But someone like Christian could only ever love with everything he is and has. And Stella welcomes it, and him, like no one has before.

I loved how they both grew. How Christian realized love doesn’t necessarily have to break you—it can complete you—and how Stella finds her strength—how she learns to voice what she wants and doesn’t want and how his encouragement gives her wings to fly.

I’m always drawn to stories where the love is all-encompassing. A living, breathing thing that seems inescapable. The kind that completes you, because that was what this was: two people who finally found happiness by finding their other half, the one they can’t live without.

“You will always be my first, last, and only love.” Synopsis: He will do anything to have her… even lie. Christian Harper is charming, smart, deadly, but he is also evil dressed in a perfectly tailored suit to appear a gentleman. He doesn’t have use for morals or even love, but he feels a strange pull towards the woman living a floor below him. She’s his deepest desire and the one puzzle he cannot solve. When the opportunity to get close to her arises, he will break his own rules to offer her a deal she will be unable to refuse… Stella Alonso is shy, sweet, beautiful, and introverted despite being famous on social media, she is also a romantic that keeps her heart under lock and key. She has little time or desire for a relationship with how busy she is working two jobs. But when a threat from her past drives her into the arms of the most dangerous man she has ever met, she is tempted to let herself feel again. Despite how cold Christian is, he makes her feel everything when she is with him. Their love story is twisted with secrets and stained with lies… when the truth is finally unveiled it could shatter everything.

Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book with my entire heart, it definitely is my favorite in the Twisted series and they were all amazing! Stella was a very relatable character for me which made me love her even more! I loved watching her character development, she had so much growth in this book and I really enjoyed seeing her become more confident! Christian might just be my favorite man in the twisted series, but I definitely love them all. I LOVED that he was obsessed with Stella, that no one else mattered to him except her! His devotion, protectiveness, love for her ughhhh swoon. Don’t even get me started on those impeccable spicy scenes! This book had my favorite tropes and Miss Ana did an amazing job at making them intriguing and entertaining! Highly recommend everyone to read this series!!

This book includes: -fake dating -slow-burn -morally gray MMC -boy obsessed -forced proximity

• touch her and you unalive -dual pov 5/5 stars 3/5 spice

4.75 ⭐️ 3 🌶

OMG!!!! I read this book in 24 hours and somehow even 2 weeks later, have not processed it completely. The book hangover is INTENSE

I don’t know how it’s possible but every book in the Twisted series gets better than the last. Thai time around with Stella and Christian is no exception. They are two people you wouldn't picture together but make sense in every way. They bring out the best in each other: Christina helps Stella self-confident and she makes him you know less...morally gray 😂.

I loved Stella! Before starting Twisted Lies, I didn’t think I’d like her story because she isn’t as prominent in the other books so there wasn’t a lot of connection. After finishing, I can say she’s my favorite Twisted girl. She’s inspiring: despite her internal battles with anxiety, trust issues as well as family struggles, she still exudes genuine kindness.

And Mr. Christian Harper takes boy obsessed to a whole new level (what is it with men named Chrisitan and obsessions?! Thinking of Allister from the Maddest Obsession here). I was living for his ‘touch her and I’ll kill you’ energy the entire time. Sir was out here calling Rhys whipped 2 books ago?! Like he was eating up those words with a forklift all throughout this book. And I don’t know anyone else but I love a borderline-stalker simp so Christian is an instant book boyfriend for life.

One of the best things about Ana Huang’s books is the writing. I think the Twisted series has some of the best crafted romances I’ve ever read. They never lag, even with the ones over 500 pages. Not only is there an organic build up of each relationship with real struggles to overcome but each character has an independant arc and so much nuance. I’m not usually a fan of a slow burn but after reading Stella and Christian’s story, I can see its merit. This couple especially needed some build up because unlike the other Twisted couples, they didn’t know each other for years. ALSO each FMC is so relatable! I simultaneously want to be them and be best friends with them. Speaking of best friends, that epilogue got me wishing for a similar future with my own friends.

In terms of rating, I’d say the spice is on par with Twisted Love, which I consider 3/5 🌶. And Twisted Hate was my highest rated book of the year and everything, including Twisted Lies, is inadvertently compared with it. So I’d say this book is around 4.75 ⭐️.

Overall, Ana Huang did not disappoint 🤩. I love everything about this book even though I prefer a fast burn to a slow burn.Rarely is there an ending as satisfying as this. Ana Huang’s Twisted Lies is a love letter to the entire series and fans everywhere will be equally satisfied and heartbroken when saying goodbye to these characters. I recommend the Twisted series to all of my friends and I'll be reading everything else Ana writes, starting with King of Wrath in October 2022!

Tropes: slow burn, forced proximity, billionaire romance, grumpy-sunshine

Final series ranking: Twisted Hate Twisted Lies Twisted Games Twisted Love

FMC: Stella Jules Bridget Ava

MMC: Josh Christian Rhys Alex

❈ “ Romantics didn’t look at someone like they wanted to devour them until there was nothing left except ashes and ecstasy. Darkness and submission.” ❈ 💚 Where to begin with twisted, lies by …. Oh wait, I know, I’ll start with the lusciously delectable Christian Harper. I knew this man was going to be a subject in the future books when he was so intriguing Lee teased in book 2. He was just too desirable, and even such a short, brief moment to not have his own story. I was quite happy when this theory came to fruition. 💚Twisted Lies is a grumpy/sunshine, fake, dating, close proximity, heart-aching slow burn, billionaire, spicy romance. I felt there was not as much spice as the other books, but this is definitely a kinky quality over quantity situation. ❈” I would never make it to heaven, but that didn’t matter as long as she ruled beside me in hell.“ 💚 Stella, our fabulous FMC won my heart. She is incredibly relatable. She is a woman driven by ambition combined with intermittent overwhelming anxiety. She struggles at times with insecurities and overbearing competitive family issues. Yet through it she develops methods that enable her to function and thrive. ❈” Once upon a time, I hadn’t believed in love. Now, I realized that love was the last piece that’d been missing in the puzzle of my life. With it, I was finally whole.“ Christian our viscously protective, unconditionally supportive, morally grey billionaire MMC is all we could hope for in a book boyfriend. He appears on the surface to be completely insensitive and cold hearted. But we come to find at his core, he finds himself unworthy of affection and happiness. ❈” But that was one of my favorite things about Christian . I could be who I was, and who I aspire to be an equal measure. I never had to worry when I was with him.” Christian and Stella’s mutual attraction and sexual tension was palpable . It was very satisfying as they grew together and learned to understand and support each others needs. 💚 This was a perfect conclusion to the twisted series. I adored the Twisted Universe and the Twisted men will forever be top of my book boyfriend list forever. I will never look at an art gallery, gazebo, supply closet, or waterfall the same way again.😮‍💨 ❈”Somehow, four strangers who had been randomly assigned to the same dorm room their freshman year of college had evolved into what we are now — a beautifully messy, perfectly imperfect family that’d gone through our shares of ups and downs but made it through to the other side.“

Twisted Lies is the fourth and final book in the Twisted series by Ana Huang. Christian Harper is charming, deadly and smart enough to hide it. He is a ruthless monster parading as a gentleman in a three piece suit. Morals just get in the way and love is a useless emotion, however, he can’t deny the attraction toward a woman he barely knows. He can’t afford a weakness and yet, he has one. Stella Alonso is sweet, shy and introverted despite her very public fashion blog and media presence. Busy with her career and other responsibilities, she has very little time for a relationship, despite being a romantic at heart. When a threat from her past returns, Stella finds herself turning to Christian for help. He suggests a fake dating agreement which would be mutually beneficial. However, when their relationship becomes very real that their original agreement, based on a lie and twisted with secrets, that could shatter everything. Twisted Lies is a steamy, medium to slow burn fake dating romance. Christian is a morally gray character who closes himself off to any emotions and the only person that seems to be able to invoke any emotions for him is Stella. Twisted Lies is my second favorite book in this series. I enjoyed Stella’s growth the most as she learns to stand up for herself and her dreams. She struggled with anxiety due to her overachieving family and I loved how Christian shows her that success doesn’t follow a certain formula. While Christian was a hard character to like, however, as he opens up to Stella, he is revealed to be deeply wounded. I also enjoyed his banter with the men of the Twisted series, especially Alex and Rhys. Overall, I loved the slow burn and the build up to Christian and Stella breaking the rules of their arrangement. If you have enjoyed the Twisted series, I recommend Twisted Lies.

Twisted Lies is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

I had been looking to this book the most in the series. I wanted to get to know Stella and see what Christian would for her. Unfortunately, this story fell flat. Whatever “obstacle” they encountered in their relationship seemed so trivial. I didn’t understand why it was a big deal. I also expected more groveling from Christian, such as Alex and Josh did, but he really didn’t do much. It’s almost like fate just brought them back together.

The books always referred to Stella as being shy, but I don’t feel that was portrayed well in this story. She came across as more reserved, even when it came to her friends. As for Christian, I thought he’d been more enamored with Stella but it seemed he was trying to keep his distance in the beginning.

It was nice to read about the other characters in this series and what was going on in their lives. I also enjoyed the bonus scene and got to see Christian and Stella in a different light. I just wish there was more and showed them farther in the future.