Bridget von Ascheberg would be the death of me. I’d known that the moment I’d set eyes on her, and my prediction was playing out in real time as I devoured her. The death of my self-control, my professionalism, and any sense of self-preservation I had. None of that mattered when I tasted how sweet she was or felt how perfectly her curves fit in my palms, like she was tailor made for me.

Synopsis
Princess Bridget von Ascheberg is second in line to the throne of Eldorra behind her brother Nikolai and she is just fine with that. In fact, she’s happy with it. Her freedom is very important to her, and she has no desire to ever, ever be queen. When her bodyguard of 4 years goes home to Eldorra on paternity leave, the Crown hires an American contractor from Harper Security to fill the role.

Rhys Larson was no gentleman. He was the bane of my existence.

Rhys Larson is a man that lives by a very strict set of rules and has no problem imposing them onto the new princess he’s been assigned to. He assumes that Bridget is the same as all the other high profile cases he’s worked on and has no problem putting his foot down and ruffling her feathers if it means that he’ll get his job done right. Bridget slowly begins to win him over, but he knows he can’t cross that line to give them what they both want.

Two years of watching and waiting and wishing. It had all come down to this, and it was even better than I’d imagined.

After King Edvard, Bridget and Nikolai’s grandfather, falls ill, Prince Nikolai announces that he is abdicating his duties to marry a commoner. Suddenly, Bridget is stuck between her obligation to her country and her freedom to live and love as she chooses. On top of that, she still can’t get a certain bodyguard out of her mind. Which will she choose? And does she even have a choice at all?

The Good
- Ana Huang just has a way with words. There was a lot more subtlety and angst in this book than in Twisted Love. She showed more than she told.
- It was the slowest of slow burns. I mean the story takes place over 4 years. Y'ALL KNOW I LOVE A GOOD SLOW BURN
- Rhys Larson MY GOD. He’s the definition of a wife guy.
- He calls her princess even when she becomes a queen.
- This exact quote: “I’ve never fucked a queen before."
- The premise was so interesting. This was my first royal romance book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ana Huang gave me enough information to understand what was going on but didn’t bore me with tedious details. This really was a near-perfect book.

The Bad
- There were a few points of conflict that I felt weren’t necessary to the core of the story, especially before they even left for Eldorra. I liked that there was quite a bit of time to build their relationship before the big conflict of the book, but there were a few points that felt like a little too much.

The Playlist
I do not know why, but I got major 80s rock power ballad vibes from this whole series
♪ Limelight - Rush
♪ Princess of the Dawn - Accept
♪ Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon
♪ Talk Dirty to Me - Poison
♪ Wild Child - W.A.S.P.
♪ I Was Made for Loving You - KISS
♪ Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

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THE SERIES
Ava Chen, Princess Bridget von Ascheberg of Eldorra, Jules Ambrose, and Stella Alonso are four best friends that met their freshman year at Thayer University when they were assigned to live in the same dorm. The series takes place over several years during which the girls fall in love with Alex Volkov, Rhys Larson, Josh Chen, and Christian Harper, respectively. All books involve morally gray heroes and pseudo-fantasy-level conflict. I would consider all of these books dark romances due to some of the graphic nature of certain plot points. Read all trigger and content warnings here.

Twisted Love: ☆☆☆
Twisted Games: ☆☆☆☆.5
Twisted Hate: ☆☆☆☆.5
Twisted Lies: ☆☆☆☆☆