REVIEW: Twisted by Emma Chase

In Twisted (Tangled #2) by Emma Chase, Kate Brooks fell in love with alpha-man Drew Evans while working on a project together at his father’s company. It started off rocky, but they’ve now had two blissful years together. She thought they were on the fast track to a fairy tale ending when her world falls apart. One stupid miscommunication ends up turning into a series of misunderstandings and Kate suddenly finds herself headed home to Greenville for some time to think. Time to reflect on what’s happened and how to move forward again.

‘Every relationship has a screamer. A thrower. A breaker of things. In this one, that would be me. But it’s not my fault. You can’t blame the nuclear missile for going off after all its buttons have been pushed.’

Drew, on the other hand, falls into the abyss of self-despair and reverts back to his pre-Kate ways. Both parties are equally stubborn. Neither one wants to be the first to bridge the gap and begin communicating again. No matter how much family and close friends want to see it all work out for them, they all realize that Kate and Drew are at a crossroads in their relationship. And it will take all the strength they have along with perseverance (and some major grovelling) to fight through it.

“I won’t have half of a relationship with you. It’s non-negotiable.”
“Bullshit! Everything is negotiable. It just depends on how far the parties are willing to bend.” And then he’s begging. “And I will, Kate–I’ll bend. Hate me all you fucking want, but…don’t…leave me.”

I laughed. I cried. I yelled. I wanted to stop reading, but I couldn’t. That is the torture/pleasure Twisted was for me. I felt as emotionally wrung out as Kate and Drew…but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Boy, this is a tough book to review without giving away too many details and ruining the plot for you fellow romance readers out there. But I’ll give it a try. What it all boiled down to (for me at least) was: Lack. Of. Freaking. Communication. Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved this story. Especially with it being from Kate’s POV this time. But I’ll admit I spent about 50% of the book ticked off at Kate and/or Drew over their actions. So in other words, author Emma Chase really knows how to evoke emotion from her readers! lol

I was very happy that book two was still written in a conversational manner, this time with Kate telling us her story. It just works so well and seems to draw me into the story faster than some other writing styles do. The little analogies Kate used to describe her feelings, and whatever crazy situation she was in, were at times comical and sometimes hit so close to home it was a little disturbing. I loved learning more about Kate and how she wasn’t as much of a goody-goody as I thought she was from reading Tangled. She’s a lot tougher than she gives herself credit for. Which comes in handy in this story, for sure.

Drew was still as sexy and unabashedly male as ever. He jumps to conclusions and makes boneheaded moves, which we’ve come to expect from him, but they are of epic proportions this time. But it does all work out in the end, thank goodness, and we get a fabulous HEA as a reward for all the emotions we have to work through first.

I highly recommend Twisted. It has the same smexy writing as Tangled, but this time it has raw intensity to the emotions that only a woman’s POV can give us. Nicely done, Emma!

Book Info:

Publication: March 25th 2014 by Gallery Books

There are two kinds of people in the world. The ones who look first, and the ones who leap. I’ve always been more of a looker. Cautious. A planner. That changed after I met Drew Evans. He was so persistent. So sure of himself – and of me.

But not all love stories end happily ever after. Did you think Drew and I were going to ride off into the sunset? Join the club. Now I have to make a choice, the most important of my life. Drew already made his –in fact, he tried to decide for the both of us. But you know that’s just not my style. So I came back to Greenville. Alone. Well, sort of alone….

What I’ve come to realize is that old habits die hard and sometimes you have to go back to where you began, before you can move ahead.

TWISTED picks up two years after Tangled’s end, and is told from Kate’s POV.