*Review* Twisted by Emily McIntire

 

Genre: Dark Romance

Published: February 7, 2023

Pages: 366

From International bestselling author Emily McIntire comes a dark and delicious fractured fairy tale reimagining of Aladdin.

She's his diamond in the rough. He's her worst nightmare.

Yasmin Karam, daughter to one of the richest men in the world, has never known strife. So, when her beloved father falls ill, she's determined to make his final days his happiest. His last wish? To see her married to a man of his choosing. Except Yasmin's heart already belongs to someone else. A servant. A street rat. A man her father would never consider worthy. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Yasmin strikes a desperate deal with her father's right-hand man, Julian, not realizing he has his own twisted agenda.

Julian Faraci has one goal: become the most powerful man in the world. He's built a future from broken bones and faded bruises, never caring who he hurt along the way. But when his mentor falls ill, he finds himself on the verge of losing everything, and he'll stop at nothing to inherit what is rightfully his. Even if it means forcing a woman he can't stand into marriage.

Yasmin is a brat who speaks out of turn, and he's the villain of her story. But he decides she'll be his—no matter what it takes to convince her.

I borrowed the audiobook version of this book from my library. This is my honest review. 

I had a harder time getting into this story than I did other stories in this series. I think some of that may be because this is Jasmine's story, and one of the elements it maintains from the original is the arranged marriage aspect. That is a trope that just gives me the ick, and Yasmin's father is very paternalistic about her entire future. That made it way to easy for Julian to take advantage of her.

The references to the original in this story were also either more subtle, or I was just more dense while I was reading. In any case, I was pretty far into the story before I picked up on some of them. 

This story still had the role bending that is so common in this series, and even though Julian is supposed to be the bad guy, I'm not convinced that he is the real villain. 

Overall I give Twisted 3.6385 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Amazon

Emily McIntire is a #1 New York Times, and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author whose stories serve steam, slow burns, and seriously questionable morals. Her books have been translated in over a dozen languages, and span across several sub-genres within romance.

She's been featured on outlets such as Good Morning Chicago, and in Cosmopolitan.

A stage IV breast cancer thriver, you can find Emily enjoying free time with her family, getting lost in a good book, or redecorating her house depending on her mood.

Instagram: @itsemilymcintire

Facebook Group: The McInCult

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