I usually really like Downing's books, but this one was a miss for me.
Wes and Ivy have been in an on-again-off-again toxic relationship for 10 years. They are petty, dramatic and need to grow up. When they are broken up, Ivy calls the cops on Wes because she believes he is stalking her and leaving her notes/candy. The detective, Karen, shows up and just knows that Ivy is in an abusive relationship, but is too scared to leave. Oh, how little Karen actually knows!
There is something in Wes and Ivy's past that they don't speak about, and Karen is intent on finding out what that is.
I found it repetitive with unlikeable characters. The ending was just....eh.. Nothing too exciting.

It’s no surprise to me that Samantha Downing would deliver my first 5 ⭐️ thriller read of the year, as I am a big fan of her work!

Her books seem to captivate me from the first sentence, and in this case, it was the dedication page…”For the man who inspired this book-You’re damn right I wrote about you” 🤨 Hmmm…

And, I doubt that it is coincidental that our main character is named IVY, a plant that can be toxic and hard to get rid of once it takes hold…

Ivy and Wes are THAT couple.

They have an addictive kind of love-but addictions aren’t always good for you. None of their friends, family members or co-workers think that they should be together. But they don’t care what people think. They know how they feel when they are together and nobody else makes them feel that way.

And, believe me-they try.

When things are good between them, they are very, very good. They swear to one another that this time, they will be together FOREVER. They have said this maybe hundreds of times-usually before they break up again.

When things are bad, they are VERY VERY BAD, and they tell each other that this time, the break up is for good. They will NEVER NEVER get back together again. And, the last break up was particularly nasty.

When Ivy wants to get back together with Wes again-she always finds a unique way to get his attention. This time it’s to report him to the Police for STALKING.

As soon as Detective Karen Colglazier comes to see him at work-he KNOWS.

Ivy never expected to be taken so seriously by the Police. This was just supposed to be a bit of FUN.

But the Detective, who may be projecting a bit, has made it her mission to help women escape the men who are abusing them, and now Ivy is one of them. And, when she looks into their PAST, she stumbles across a secret that they have been hiding, one that could threaten their FUTURE.

Her visit to his workplace has also caught the attention of Bianca, the firm’s NOSY personal assistant. That CAN’T be good.

This time, Ivy may have taken things TOO far.

Once again, the author has created two diabolical characters that SOMEHOW still had me rooting for them, despite the TOXIC games that they played, and the unforgivable things that they have done.

I knew two things as soon as I received an early copy.

First, that I would move it straight to the top of my TBR. And, second, that I would have to turn down all invitations this weekend so that I could dive right in! No regrets! ☺️

Expected publication date: July 18, 2023

Thank You to Samantha Downing and Berkley for the very early ARC provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

As soon as I started reading this extremely wild and crazy story about a twisted, thrilling, jaw-dropping, angsty, and interestingly very entertaining couple, I found myself singing "I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic!"

Wow! Are you talking about the toxic couples Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, or Rihanna and Chris Brown? Or let me give you some other examples of fictional TV couples who are in unhealthy and dysfunctional relationships, such as Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn from "You," Blair and Chuck from "Gossip Girl," or Mandy and Nate from "Euphoria." Can you imagine a fictional couple that is even more toxic, irrational, and angsty? If not, don't worry, Samantha Downing has already imagined and created them for you. Meet Ivy and Wes, a couple who fell in love in college, broke up countless times, screamed at each other that they would never get back together, but still always reunited as if nothing had happened.

What's interesting about this book is that these outrageously crazy and damagingly in-love characters are not the only psychologically damaged ones. The people around them may be even more obsessive, prying, lethal, or dangerous. None of the characters in this book are flawless, innocent, or naive without a hidden agenda. Everyone is just as bad as Ivy and Wes.

A year after their last break-up, Wes and Ivy's paths cross at a common friend's wedding. Four months later, when Wes decides to move on, a detective from the Sex Crimes Unit comes to chat with him about a stalker who is harassing Ivy. Wes realizes that Ivy has told the detective that he is the stalker.

Contrary to what you might expect, Wes doesn't get angry after hearing the accusation. Instead, he smiles and pays a visit to Ivy, which leads to them giving their relationship another chance. Ivy has no idea that talking to the police will bring up a tragic event that they had sworn not to talk about and had buried in the past. They crossed a line that should never have been crossed, and there are people who are not happy to see them back together and are determined to reveal their secrets.

How far will they go to protect their twisted love when events push them to turn against each other?

I am a big fan of Samantha Downing! Even though I described Ivy and Wes as the most toxic lovers, I still rooted for them because the people who judge them and their unhealthy patterns are even more irritating hypocrites. The on-off, hot-cold relationship spirals into intrigue, lies, secrets, unexpected twists, and an ongoing mystery that kept me on my toes!

This is definitely an enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with this digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

I really wanted to love A TWISTED LOVE STORY, but I can't say that I did. I didn't care for the characters Wes or Ivy at all or what happened to them. I was just confused by their entire toxic relationship. I have enjoyed Samantha Downing's previous novels, but I just didn't find this one exciting. I do hope others will enjoy it more than me. I am giving it 2.5 stars rounding up to 3 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5
While there is stuff to like here, no one is particularly relatable and I found myself rooting for people I didn't really want to succeed because I disliked them the least. My big complaint is that generic, oversimplified but still bulky, yuck title.

With her latest book, A Twisted Love Story, Samantha Downing proves once again what a talented writer she is. To say the couple this story follows, Wes and Ivy, are dysfunctional is the understatement of the year. They fight, break up, make up, love, and experience every emotion a couple can possibly experience. This started when they were in college and has been going on for the past ten years. Now, during a break up, Ivy decides to punish Wes and accuses him of stalking her. This brings a very determined detective into their lives and things really heat up.

While the flawed relationship exhibited by Wes and Ivy is dramatic, it also begins to become rather repetitive. I began to agree with some of the other characters in the book: I was growing tired of their constant back and forth. I also thought the detective was going to have a different effect on the story. I was very surprised (and disappointed) at how single minded she was. Despite these little quibbles, it was a very enjoyable book.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

📖 A TWISTED LOVE STORY by Samantha Downing

🕵🏻 Ivy and Wes are in love. But the toxic, ruin-your-life, actually-abuse kind of love. They are like magnets, orbiting each other until they crash together. This time, though, the police are involved and looking into a hit and run from years ago that left a man dead. Karen, the detective, thinks there’s a direct link between Ivy and Wes and the crime and doggedly pursues the pair.

👩🏻‍💻 The characters made me uncomfortable, which was probably the point! Watching the games Ivy and Wes play against each other, the manipulation, the lack of honest communication and quick tempers made my stomach churn.

Readers who enjoy a dark, messed up relationship - think Colleen Hoover - will enjoy this book. There’s murder and vengeance and betrayal, which I enjoyed - Karen and Bianca’s
chapters were my favorite, but at the end of the day, the core of the story is this ugly beautiful relationship between two people who would be better apart than together.

Kudos to the author for stirring up feelings inside me I hadn’t looked at for a long time. She does an amazing job of bringing characters to life, their good points and their flaws, and makes them relatable, even in extraordinary circumstances.


TW: toxic relationship - but if you didn’t guess that from the title then I don’t know what to tell you 😂


Thank you to Samantha Downing and the team over at Berkley for this advanced reader copy.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Samantha Downing for my copy of A Twisted Love Story. Wes and Ivy are in love. They have the kind of love story that people write about. But is it a romance? Or a horror story?

When things are good there are grand gestures, deep conversations, and much needed support. But when things are bad, there are violent fights, damaged property, arrest warrants, and possibly human collateral. Now a detective is involved, and she is looking into Wes and Ivy’s past. There are some things they never talk about, never in public and never in private. That is the night of their worst breakup, when things went too far and someone ended up dead. But now, it seems that those things are coming back to haunt them.

Thoughts: In A Twisted Love Story, Samantha Downing writes about toxic love and a very volatile relationship. She perfectly describes the cycle of abuse and how relationships are sometimes not as they seem. I never know where her stories are going, and this one is no exception. I hated both the main characters and had no idea whose side to be on. Each chapter flipped the narrative and made me question what was really going on.

The Detective was an interesting character because she was on the side of justice, but also was so single minded and informed by her past that she couldn’t see past her own experiences. This was a character driven story where you learn about their intentions in the past and present. I did think the ending was a bit anticlimactic because there were so many directions this story could have gone in. 4-stars.