WHO IS ANA HUANG?
Before I get into the book and ramble forever, here’s a brief run-down of the mastermind behind this book. Born in 1991, Ana Huang was born to Chinese immigrants and was introduced to writing through her mother’s encouragement – it had been a way for Huang to practice her second language, English. At first she only treated writing as a hobby and posted her stories on Wattpad, but in 2022 she was picked up by a publishing company because of the virality of her Twisted series.
Although I like to claim I’ve read “all” of her books, I’ve never read her first series, If Love, a series that follows three couples (one couple being a two-book story). Eventually I plan to read them, but my TBR list is ever-growing. Something that I love is when authors create their own world and characters appear throughout multiple series. As a writer myself – and an aspiring Best-selling author – I am currently working on a world that contains three series (12 books in total!!) where all the characters are intertwined. However, despite how characters can cross into other stories, each of the books can be read as a standalone, which allows readers to pick and choose what book they’d prefer. (I would recommend reading them in order, though.)
THE TWISTED SERIES
Like I said, this wasn’t her first series, but it was what originally caused her rise to fame. Twisted contains four books, each of them with the name of “Twisted” in the title, which plays into the ‘dark’ aspects of the romance. Out of these four, my favorite would have to be the final book in the series, Twisted Lies, mainly because of the MMC, Christian Harper. These books range from brother’s best friend, enemies-with-benefits-to-lovers, slowburn, etc. Once again, they can be read separately, or out-of-order, but to get the full experience, I’d highly advise you to read in chronological order. Besides, you might think you’ll hate one storyline and end up loving it!
TWISTED LOVE
TWISTED GAMES
TWISTED HATE
TWISTED LIES
KINGS OF SIN
While this book series is yet another set of steamy romances, King of Sin follows, as you’d expect, the seven deadly sins. From Wrath, Pride, Sloth, Envy, etc., Huang has currently written four so far, and plans to continue to write the rest of them. If you’re looking for a billionaire book boyfriend, this series delivers it perfectly and makes me dream of being a house/trophy wife if I’m being honest. Out of the four that she’s currently released, I’d have to say that my favorites were King of Pride and King of Greed. The latter has the second-chance trope, which people either hate or love; in my opinion, I think Huang did an amazing job at making the MMC, Dominic Davenport, grovel for his woman.
KING OF WRATH
KING OF PRIDE
KING OF GREED
KING OF SLOTH
KING OF ENVY expected March 25, 2025
KING OF GLUTTONY tba
KING OF LUST tba
GODS OF THE GAME
Gods of the Game is a new series that Huang is working on. Rather than it focusing on billionaires or twisted themes, this series is going to center around soccer players. On October 22, she released The Striker, the first book of the new series. This book focuses on Asher Donovan, the supposed “darling” of the League, and Scarlett Dubois, a ballerina who happens to be the sister of Donovan’s sworn rival. The tropes are forced proximity, brother’s rival, sports, etc.
MY [personal] review
After finishing The Striker, my first thought is WOW was that a long book. Look, I love a fantasy/sci-fi book with world building and multiple plots, but a romance book – in my opinion – has no need to be more than 400-450. Almost 600 pages is pushing it. Needless to say, for most of the book I was entertained by the characters and storyline. As always, Huang did a fantastic job building their connection – I mean she DID have 600 pages to do so – and the tension was great. There was a great mix of humor, hurt, and love all shoved into this story and I’m glad I read it. Here are some pros and cons! POSSIBLE SPOILERS BEWARE! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
PROS:
-good spicy scenes, not too crazy, but a good amount (especially for 600 pages)
-great development of both main character’s issues (anxiety, trauma, etc.)
-Asher giving book boyfriend in a lot of scenes
-side character banter was nice (I KNEW the next book is going to be the brother and the friend)
-enjoyable flirting/bantering between the main characters
-the double date scene!! IYKYK
-the bath scene when her brother comes in IYKYK
-and many more…..
CONS:
-did I mention that its 600 pages long?
-the entire plot was that it was a forbidden love and yet the brother wasn’t all that mad in my opinion
-it was a healthy love for the most part…. which is nice but also boring at parts (toxic of me, I know)
-for a long book, the groveling wasn’t long enough for me
-I get that it was supposed to be forced proximity, but the brother left for most of the book, so there wasn’t much “sneaking around” as I suspected… not saying that it’s bad per-say, but just wasn’t what I expected.
QUOTES I MARKED:
“‘You looked up chronic pain?’ A wash of dull red colored Asher’s cheekbones. ‘Out of curiosity, that’s all,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know much about it, so I figured I should learn the basics. Obviously.’ ‘Obviously.'” –pg. 90-91 (FMC has chronic pain.)
“Oh my God. I’d almost bashed Asher Donovan’s face in with cookware.” —pg. 113
“‘Does this feel platonic to you?’ […] ‘I asked you a question, Scarlett.’ ‘No,’ I whispered. ‘No, it doesn’t'” –pg.164
Overall I think it was a great start to the sports romance section of the ‘Anaverse‘ and I’m excited to see where she goes with it. With the dynamic between the brother and the friend from this book, I’m suspecting an enemies-to-lovers vibe, possibly grumpy/sunshine, so that makes me excited for the sequel, The Defender. On another note, Huang has been advertising the next addition to the King of Sin series, so I’m looking forward to that one as well.
If you’re looking for a fast, easy read, I wouldn’t recommend this book, however if you have some time to sit and enjoy a novel, go for it! A lot of the reviews on Goodreads are conflicting, so read it at your own risk, but it doesn’t take much to please me, so I liked it!