Where to Start with Ana Huang: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Ana Huang — whether to begin with Twisted Love, Twisted Games, or Twisted Lies. A complete reading guide to the contemporary romance series author.
Ana Huang is the Malaysian-American romance author whose Twisted series — beginning with Twisted Love (2021) — became one of the most widely read new adult romance series of the BookTok era, with millions of copies sold and a passionate online readership. Huang writes contemporary romance with dark romance elements: her heroes are typically wealthy, dangerous, and emotionally closed off in ways that the heroine’s warmth gradually penetrates. The Twisted series is set among Thayer University students and alumni, with each book following a different couple from the same social circle. Huang’s formula — slow-burn forced proximity, morally complex heroes, high emotional intensity — has been widely imitated in the new adult romance space.
Where to Start: Twisted Love (2021)
The essential Huang — and the best entry point into the Twisted series. Ava Chen is optimistic, kind, and studying photography at Thayer University. Her overprotective brother Josh asks his cold, controlled best friend Alex Volkov to watch over her while Josh is deployed. Alex agrees, with the internal reservation that he feels nothing and this will be straightforward.
It is not straightforward. Ava is, in the specific way that romance heroines are, exactly the kind of person who unsettles people who have decided not to feel things. Alex’s backstory — revealed gradually — explains the specific reasons for his emotional fortress, and the slow dismantling of that fortress by proximity to Ava is the novel’s central pleasurable movement.
Huang writes the slow burn with discipline: the tension accumulates over a long period of genuine antagonism and resistance before it breaks. The dark romance elements (Alex is genuinely dangerous in ways that are eventually explained) give the novel an edge that distinguishes it from lighter contemporary romance. The first book in the series is its most widely read and most representative.
Twisted Games (2022)
The second entry — the royal bodyguard romance. Bridget of Eldorra and her security chief Rhys Larsen navigate a romance forbidden by both professional ethics and royal protocol. Generally considered one of the series’ strongest entries; the external stakes (Bridget has obligations to her country and her family) give the conflict more dimension than the first book.
Twisted Hate (2022)
The third Twisted novel — Jules and Josh, who have disliked each other for years, find themselves in a fake relationship arrangement that becomes real. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic is more explicit here than in the earlier books; well-executed within the established series formula.
Twisted Lies (2022)
The fourth entry and arguably the series’ most emotionally intense book — Stella and Christian’s arrangement between an influencer and a billionaire with secrets. The darkest romance in the series; the payoff is commensurate with the emotional buildup.
Why Twisted Love Is the Ideal First Book
For a reader new to Ana Huang, Twisted Love is the ideal first book because it is the opening novel of her hugely popular Twisted series and a strong introduction to the contemporary and dark romance for which she is known. Twisted Love launches a series marked by intense emotion, brooding and possessive heroes, and the steamy, high-stakes romance that has made Huang enormously popular among romance readers. As an entry point, it offers a representative expression of Huang’s appeal, the intense emotion, the brooding heroes, the steamy romance, and the interconnected world of characters that her series develops. It welcomes the newcomer with its intense romance, its compelling characters, and its high emotional stakes, drawing the reader into Huang’s popular romance world. It is the opening novel of her popular series and a fine representation of her romance, so that the new reader begins where one of her most popular series begins. For the newcomer interested in contemporary and dark romance, then, Twisted Love is an ideal starting point.
What to Expect as a New Reader
As a new reader, you can expect Twisted Love to be an intense, steamy, and emotionally charged contemporary romance with darker elements. You can expect intense emotion and high stakes, for Huang’s romance is marked by powerful emotions, dramatic tension, and high emotional stakes that draw readers in. You can expect a brooding, possessive hero, for the novel features the kind of intense, protective, and emotionally guarded hero that is a hallmark of the genre and of Huang’s appeal. You can expect steamy romance, for Huang’s novels deliver the sensual and romantic intensity that her readers seek. You can expect an interconnected world, for Twisted Love launches a series in which characters and relationships recur and develop across the books. You should be aware that the genre engages mature and sometimes dark themes characteristic of contemporary and dark romance. Expect, in short, an intense, steamy, and emotionally charged contemporary romance with a brooding hero, a representative introduction to Huang’s popular romance.
Going Deeper After Your First Book
Once Twisted Love has introduced you to Huang’s romance, the natural next step is to continue the Twisted series and to explore her other interconnected series, which offer the same intense emotion, compelling heroes, and steamy romance across developed worlds of recurring characters. The Twisted series continues with the romances of its connected cast, while Huang’s other series offer further worlds and characters in her contemporary and dark romance vein, often interconnected. Reading these after Twisted Love deepens your engagement with Huang’s distinctive appeal, the intense emotion, the brooding heroes, the steamy romance, and the immersion in developed worlds and ongoing relationships that her series provide. Her characteristic strengths run through her work, and the reader who has been drawn into Twisted Love will find them across her series. Building your reading journey through Huang’s work is a matter of continuing the Twisted series and exploring her interconnected worlds. The reader who begins with Twisted Love and continues through her work will find a prolific and popular voice in contemporary and dark romance, with developed worlds and ongoing relationships to immerse in.
Reading Ana Huang
Begin with Twisted Love for the series’ foundation. Read in order for the full friend-group context, or jump to Twisted Games or Twisted Lies if those premises appeal more. All four books function as standalones with a shared world.
For the full Ana Huang bibliography, reviews, and biography, visit the Ana Huang author page on Editors Reads.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Ana Huang?
Twisted Love (2021) is the essential starting point — the first book in the Twisted series, following Alex Volkov, a cold and dangerous man with secrets, who is asked to watch over his best friend's sister Ava while her brother is abroad. The slow-burn forced-proximity romance between the seemingly incapable-of-emotion Alex and the warm, optimistic Ava is the series' best execution of its central dynamic. The Twisted series is best read in order, though each book features a different couple.
What is Twisted Games about?
Twisted Games (2022) is the second Twisted novel — a royal bodyguard romance following Princess Bridget of Eldorra and her security chief Rhys Larsen. The forbidden nature of the romance (a princess and her employee in a kingdom with specific expectations about royal marriages) gives the novel more external conflict than the first book. Generally considered the fan-favourite entry in the series alongside Twisted Lies.
What is Twisted Lies about?
Twisted Lies (2022) is the fourth Twisted novel — Stella Chen, an influencer with a stalker she's ignoring, makes a deal with Christian Harper, a billionaire with his own reasons for needing a cover story. The arrangement is supposed to be transactional; it doesn't stay that way. The darkest entry in the series and the one most readers describe as the most emotionally intense.
Do the Twisted books need to be read in order?
Each Twisted novel features a different couple and functions as a standalone romance, but they are set in the same friend group and characters from previous books appear in supporting roles. Reading in order (Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Hate, Twisted Lies) provides the fullest emotional context, though any book can be read independently. Most readers recommend starting with Twisted Love or Twisted Games.
