What a fun thriller that kept me guessing till the end! I did call some of the twists but enjoyed the ride! Love Samantha Downing :) full review to come on instagram soon!

Detective Karen Colgaizer is the one who begins at long last to untangle to very twisted love story (is it?) of Wes and Ivy. Wes and Ivy have been together since college- well, off and on, And now in an impulsive move, Ivy has reported Wes to the police for stalking her. Except that this opens a Pandora's box back to something bad they did that's kept them bound to each other, Both of then tell the story in this fast paced read that benefits from short chapters that entice you to read just one more, Neither of them is the least bit likable but you won't be able to turn away. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, No spoilers,

Bonnie & Clyde in the digital era

This novel is categorized as a thriller, but true to its title, this novel is mostly a love story, albeit a very twisted one. I actually found it to be more comedic as there were several parts that made me chuckle. One, because the couple's pettiness towards each other was admirable in its creativity and also because I know people in real life who have been in these types of relationships and inexplicably enjoy them.

This novel will require an imexorbitant suspension of disbelief, and I didn't find the secondary storylines as entertaining as I did the love story. I'm not sure what else to say without giving away spoilers, but for the most part, I really enjoyed it and read it in a little over a day.

Samantha Downing is one of my favorite domestic thriller authors so when I was approved for A Twisted Love Story, I was super excited. While it was mostly enjoyable, it was not my favorite of hers.

The love story is definitely twisted and toxic. It was such a perfect portrayal of how two people who have no business being together feed off of each other’s insecurities to create jealousy and garner attention to draw that person back in.

The mystery within was somewhat interesting and I liked the multiple points of view, but the ending is what lost me. It was so anti-climactic that I found myself saying, that’s it? I felt like it just dropped off and didn’t give me a satisfying conclusion.

Call me a sucker for the twisted and toxic, but I couldn't get enough of this book. Reading it was like watching a slow-moving train wreck where you want to look away, you know you should look away, but yet you can't seem to stop staring. It delivered exactly what the title promised in the most bingeable way.

I'm still not even sure why I liked this book so much-- everyone was pretty unlikable, I honestly couldn't figure out the plot for most of the book, there was no huge twist that had me reeling, yet I was completely enthralled by Downing's writing and the back and forth between Wes and Ivy. Perhaps blame it on the relatability and relief I felt when reading this book, but I was utterly addicted for the two days it took me to binge this story.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkely Publishing Group for the chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

This twisty psychological thriller was a slow burn. Wes and Ivy have been on and off for ten years, leaving physical and emotional rubble in the wake of their relationship. These two were so toxic it took me a while to decide if I was going to finish to book or not. Then we find out more about their past, and why they keep coming back together and more about the detective trying to uncover it all. Once more of the past was uncovered, this was a ride full of twists and turns.

I love Samantha Downing’s work. My Lovely Wife is one of my favorite thrillers. A Twisted Love Story started off with a bang. Wes and Ivy are on again off again lovers with an unhealthy obsession with each other. During an off period, Ivy goes to the police to report that Wes has been stalking her. The officer on the case starts digging into their relationship and uncovers dark secrets from their past. The first 25% of this book sucked me right in. Short chapters ending in cliff hangers are my favorite. The middle part of the book was a little repetitive. Wes and Ivy had an extremely toxic relationship, but I found myself wanting more sinister scenes between them.

Thank you, Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I really enjoyed this one! Something about Samantha Downing’s writing just connects with me. Her characters are so flawed and kind of terrible people, but it’s so fun to sit back and just watch things implode. This one had me guessing a whole lot and I really liked the reveals. The ending left me a bit underwhelmed, but I really did enjoy this one and can’t wait to read more of her books!

Well that escalated quickly...

Samantha Downing has done it again, giving us another story so full of twists that we can't put it down.

Wes and Ivy are toxic college sweethearts turn Bonnie and Clyde. When things are good-- they're really really good, but when things go bad they get deadly. They both have secrets that they must never speak of, even in private. When one of them thinks the other is stalking and calls the cops, our lead Detective, Karen, thinks that everything isn't as it seems. She starts to dig, and things go off the rails.

We alternate narrators, but really we never really know who to trust. I enjoyed hearing from the detective. She had her own history that really gave her a biased view.

There were quite a bit of side stories and characters, but it never got confusing, and all side stories were relevant to the plot...even if it may not seem at the time.

This is one I'd recommend pretty broadly. Very easy five star for me.

Wes and Ivy take "toxic relationship" to a whole new level. We've all known a couple like this... they're madly in love, but dysfunctional as hell and probably better off apart. They break up and get back together again, just to repeat the same vicious cycle again and again.

To make matters worse, they have a secret from their past that threatens the fragile state of their ever-changing union. When a detective begins investigating, they may be forced apart for good....

Whewwwwy what a WILD, TWISTED RIDE! 🙌🏻 This took me a bit to get into, but once I was in, I was IN. I couldn't read fast enough, and was surprised by the fact that I was actually rooting for this couple made of two unlikeable characters. And yet their love was magic and intense and real, and the reader can't help but want them to make it work.

My only criticism is that it was a bit too long. I think it could have been condensed and still packed the same punch. Either way, I definitely recommend this dark, tantalizing thriller.

Thank you Berkley for my gifted eARC. My review will be posted to my IG in the coming days.

This love story truly was twisted! Wes and Ivy had such a dysfunctional, toxic and manipulative relationship. I couldn’t stop reading because I had to know how it would all turn out. The story was so good and kept me vested in the outcome. This was a suspenseful one for sure and if you loved My Lovely Wife by this author, you will appreciate this one too. Samantha Downing is the queen of writing dysfunctional relationships. They are train wrecks that I can’t look away from.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for access to this story.

I enjoyed the ending - and all the subsequent questions. But otherwise I was not impressed. The characters are not likable. Wes and Ivy have no redeeming qualities. I felt bad for the police.
This book was just not for me.

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

Wes and Ivy have a past. They have a present, too, and almost feel like they are destined to repeat the same things over and over and over. Although there are some events that they will never discuss even though those events are always on their minds.

This is not just a twisted love story, it's also a demented, psycho, nutzo, toxic love story. I think I'd stay out of Fair Valley, CA because there must be something in the water, the air, something that is not good when it comes to love.

Back and forth Wes and Ivy go, break up, make up, a never ending kind of torture they seem to enjoy. Can't they see that their great times are just a drop in the bucket of how bad they are together? Everyone can see they are wrong for each other, their hate is stronger than their love, toxic is too mild of a word for their relationship.

The chapters are quick and always had me wanting to get to the next chapter. Wes and Ivy aren't the only obsessed ones, Detective Karen is as scary as she is determined once we get to know her. Wes's coworkers are a wacky bunch, each in their own way. I had to know what each person's motivation was because wouldn't life be a lot nicer if everyone minded their own business?

Thank you to Elisha at Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.

Can you say “toxic relationship”! Downing did a great job with creating a super toxic relationship that you just have to keep reading/listening about. While the characters we all unlikeable, I couldn’t get enough of this book and had to know how it ended. I loved the misdirections and the multiple POV. The ending was so unexpected and left me satisfied.

At times I was overwhelmed with the toxic relationship and just couldn’t understand why anyone would stay in a relationship like that. If you are a fan of LOTS OF DRAMA and unlikeable characters this book is for you. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Karissa Vacker, is one of my favorites, so she made an amazing listening experience.

****** Many thanks for PRHAUDIO, Berkley Publishing, Samantha Downing, and NetGalley for my gifted copies, in turn for an honest review.
I will post my review on Instagram (thriller_book_sisters) on 7/17/23.

Wes and Ivy have a twisted relationship. For ten years, they’ve been dating on and off, but their last breakup was supposed to be forever. Now though, they have a mutual enemy, a cop who has started to dig into their past. It turns out their manipulative toxic relationship may have a criminal past. Samantha Downing is great at writing morally gray characters. Not a single character in this book is likeable, but readers are still drawn into this slowly revealed convoluted story through their various perspectives. This is a sadistic story that mystery readers have to read.

Gah this one hurts my heart a little. One of my favorite thrillers is My Lovely Wife and I really enjoyed her follow up, He Started It but her last two releases I haven't loved.
This one was intriguing, a toxic relationship but there was nothing super thrilling about it and the ending was lackluster. I didn't really enjoy any of the characters but honestly they all had some heavy flaws.
Overall this was a middle of the road read for me.

Samantha Downing does it again with "A Twisted Love Story." Wes and Ivy's relationship is definitely twisted (and dysfunctional), and as the walls start closing in, so-to-speak, the more awful they become.

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing
Format: ebook
Release Date: 7/18/23
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Samantha Downing has a way of writing incredibly bingeable books and I have put her in the instabuy category since I took My Lovely Wife out from the library years ago. This book was no different!!

I don’t want to say too much about the plot because I spent the first 40% of this book wondering where it was even going, which is one of the things I loved the most. Short chapters and a desire to understand what the heck was going on had me turning pages like crazy!

Downing delivers exactly what the title promised in this one - a twisted love story and a book where there wasn’t a single likable character. It was really fast paced and entertaining for sure!

There were a couple small pieces that bugged me/felt like it didn’t tie together which is the only reason I’m not giving this a 5 star review, but I highly recommend checking it out!

Big thanks to @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Thank you NETGALLEY and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review***



Yeahhh this review will be honest. I haven’t read a book from this author that I haven’t loved. She does such a good job at sucking the reader in and throwing curve ball plot twists but this book was the opposite!! It started out with a lot of potential. I love reading about dramatic and problematic love stories. It’s my preferred genre to be fair. But this just didn’t do it. I wasn’t connected to the characters, the main conflict felt forced, as if the author felt like it needed to have another thriller element because the conflict in the relationship wasn’t enough to carry the story. I didn’t care about any of the supporting characters and actually (unfortunately) rolled my eyes at the epilogue. Nothing was surprising but all of it was forced and unbelievable. I’m so sad because I do genuinely love this author’s work but this one was not it for me.

Read if you like:
🧠 Psychology Thrillers
🕵🏻‍♀️ Cat and Mouse
🧐 Unreliable narrators?
#️⃣ Multiple POV’s
💋 On and Off Again Relationships
🤐 Lots of Lies

Ivy and Wes have had an on again off again, push and pull, drama filled relationship where they know they aren’t necessarily good together but also neither has the willpower to stay away… on one of their breaks Ivy clearly has a stalker and thinks it is Wes so when she gets freaked out and reports the issue to the cops, their history together now has a critical eye on it in the form of a detective with a bias that wants to get Ivy away from Wes and through that makes connections from their past to an unsolved hit and run murder.

This is all further complicated by our 4th POV Bianca who seems to be obsessed with Wes but we don’t really know the entirety of why, but just that she is and she loves to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong.

As the game of cat and mouse amps up as the detective is trying to pin an old crime in Wes to, in her mind protect Ivy the adrenaline of this one amps up as you are trying to figure out what the truth is in light of 4 POVs that clearly have their own goals in mind dictating what we see from each POV and the actions of these characters and those around them.

I was hoping for a bit more, in the drama with this one that we didn’t quite get from Ivy and Wes and the surrounding characters, but I was sucked in and had to know the truth so this one is a solid 4⭐️ for me based on that.

If you are looking for a juicy thriller with multiple pov I highly recommend checking this one out! Thanks so much to Berkley for my ARC!