Ana Huang’s Twisted Love did something rare: it made readers fall for a cold, emotionally guarded hero so completely that finishing the book felt like a personal loss. The combination of forbidden tension, razor-sharp banter, and a love story buried under layers of trauma created something addictive. If you’ve been chasing that same feeling since turning the last page, you’re not alone. These books like Twisted Love deliver the same intensity, the same emotional devastation, and the same inability to put the book down until three in the morning.
Whether it’s the enemies-to-lovers tension, the brooding hero with a dark past, or the slow unraveling of walls built to keep everyone out, these recommendations scratch the exact same itch. Some lean darker, some lean sweeter, but every single one will wreck you.
1. Bully by Penelope Douglas
Tate was best friends with Jared until the summer he turned on her. For years, he made her life a living nightmare, and she never understood why. When senior year rolls around, Tate decides she’s done being his victim. But fighting back means getting closer, and getting closer means discovering that the boy who tormented her might be hiding something far more devastating than cruelty. Douglas nails the push-pull dynamic that made Twisted Love so compelling. The tension between hatred and attraction builds to a breaking point that feels genuinely dangerous.
Read this if: you want enemies to lovers where the “enemies” part has real teeth.
2. The Love I Lost by Emilly Carter
Elena Reyes hasn’t spoken to Marcus Sullivan in ten years. Not since he vanished from her life without explanation, canceling a proposal she never knew was coming. When a crumbling Victorian inn on the Maine coast forces them into the same project, every buried feeling resurfaces with a vengeance. What makes this devastating is the reveal: their breakup was engineered by someone they both trusted. A decade of silence, manufactured heartbreak, and a love that neither of them could kill no matter how hard they tried. The forced proximity of working together in a building that’s literally falling apart mirrors everything happening between them. Elena’s walls are fortress-grade, and watching Marcus slowly, patiently dismantle them is the kind of slow burn that makes your chest physically ache.
Read this if: you want the emotional intensity of Twisted Love wrapped in a second chance story that will absolutely destroy you.
3. Vicious by L.J. Shen
Emilia LeBlanc made a deal with the devil at fourteen. Vicious Spencer was the cruelest boy at All Saints High, and somehow she ended up owing him a debt she can never repay. Years later, he comes to collect. Shen writes possessive, morally gray heroes better than almost anyone, and Vicious is her masterpiece. The power dynamics are intense, the attraction is reluctant and furious, and the backstory reveals itself in layers that recontextualize everything you thought you understood. If Alex Volkov’s cold exterior drew you in, Vicious will consume you.
Read this if: you want a hero who’s darker, meaner, and more obsessive than Alex Volkov.
4. Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas
Misha and Ryen have been anonymous pen pals since fifth grade. They’ve never met, never exchanged photos. When Misha discovers who Ryen really is, he infiltrates her school under a fake identity to see the real her. What he finds is a girl nothing like her letters. This book is a masterclass in identity, deception, and the gap between who we pretend to be and who we are. The tension escalates from intriguing to explosive, and Douglas keeps you guessing about loyalties right until the end. It shares Twisted Love’s talent for making you root for something that feels genuinely complicated.
Read this if: you love deception, hidden identities, and tension that builds until something snaps.
5. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Hannah Wells desperately needs a passing grade in ethics, and star hockey player Garrett Graham needs a date who won’t fawn over him. Their arrangement is supposed to be simple. It isn’t. Kennedy’s Off-Campus series launched an entire subgenre of college romance for good reason. The banter is sharp, the chemistry builds naturally, and both characters have emotional baggage they’re not ready to unpack. It’s lighter than Twisted Love but carries the same addictive quality. You’ll read it in a single sitting and immediately buy the sequel.
Read this if: you want the college setting and sharp banter of Twisted Love with a lighter, funnier touch.
6. The First Time I Met You by Emilly Carter
Before the decade of silence, before the betrayal, Elena and Marcus had the kind of love that rewrites your entire understanding of what’s possible. This prequel to The Love I Lost takes you back to when they first collided, when every conversation felt electric and every touch felt inevitable. Knowing how it ends makes it more devastating, not less. Carter writes first love with unflinching honesty, capturing both the dizzying highs and the quiet moments where two people realize they’ve found something rare. If Twisted Love’s emotional depth hooked you, this book will pull you in even deeper. Watching the foundation form for a love that someone else will destroy is a particular kind of agony.
Read this if: you want to understand why a love was worth fighting for ten years later.
7. A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime by Monica Murphy
Wren Beaumont is the good girl of Lancaster Prep. Crew Lancaster is the rich, arrogant heir who’s made it his mission to break her. Their dynamic is pure combustion, and Murphy draws out the tension with expert precision. The forbidden aspect runs deeper than surface-level attraction. Crew is genuinely dangerous to Wren’s carefully controlled world, and she’s dangerous to his. Readers who loved the power imbalance and slow-build intensity of Twisted Love will find the same addictive push-pull here, set against a world of old money and darker secrets.
Read this if: you want possessive hero energy and forbidden attraction in an elite school setting.
8. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Anastasia Allen is a figure skater. Nate Hawkins is a hockey captain. When a rink-sharing arrangement forces them into each other’s orbits, the friction turns into something neither of them planned. Grace writes the kind of protective, attentive hero that makes you forget fictional men aren’t real. The sports setting keeps the pacing tight, and the romance builds with genuine warmth underneath the competitive tension. It’s a newer entry in the college romance space, but it’s already earned its place alongside the best new adult romance books in the genre. Less dark than Twisted Love, equally impossible to put down.
Read this if: you want a protective hero and forced proximity with a sports romance twist.
9. The 10 Years We Were Apart by Emilly Carter
The conclusion to the Love I Lost trilogy delivers the emotional reckoning that the first two books spent building toward. A storm traps Elena and Marcus in the inn for three days, and everything they’ve avoided surfaces with nowhere left to hide. The truth about who destroyed their relationship finally comes out, and the fallout tests whether love that’s survived a decade of silence can survive the full, unfiltered truth. Carter doesn’t give you the easy resolution. She makes these characters earn every single step back to each other. The proposal scene at the lighthouse will stay with you long after you close the book.
Read this if: you need the emotional payoff and you need it to hurt before it heals.
The complete Love I Lost trilogy — available now
10. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
Naomi wasn’t supposed to end up stranded in a tiny Virginia town with a stolen car, a missing twin sister, and a grumpy bar owner named Knox who wants nothing to do with her. Score blends small-town charm with genuine emotional stakes, and Knox is the kind of reluctant hero who fights his feelings until the very last possible moment. The community setting gives the story depth beyond the central romance, and the banter carries real affection underneath the snark. If you loved the emotional layers in books like Twisted Love but want something with warmth and humor mixed into the intensity, this delivers.
Read this if: you want grumpy-sunshine energy with emotional stakes that actually matter.
11. Twisted Hate by Ana Huang
If you devoured Twisted Love and haven’t continued the series, start here. Jules and Josh’s story takes the enemies-to-lovers dynamic and cranks the animosity to a level that makes Alex and Ava’s tension look polite. They genuinely cannot stand each other, which makes every moment of weakness between them feel earned and electric. Huang deepens the world she built while delivering a romance that stands entirely on its own. The dark romance recommendations don’t get better than this if you’re already invested in the Twisted universe.
Read this if: you loved Twisted Love and want the same world with even sharper enemies-to-lovers tension.
What Makes Books Like Twisted Love So Addictive?
The Twisted Love formula works because it refuses to make things easy. Ana Huang understood that the best romance doesn’t come from two people who are obviously perfect for each other. It comes from two people who shouldn’t work, who have every reason to walk away, and who choose each other anyway despite the cost.
That combination of emotional barriers, dark pasts, and slow-building trust creates a reading experience that feels genuinely high-stakes. You’re not just waiting for a kiss. You’re waiting for someone to finally let their guard down, knowing it might destroy them. Books similar to Twisted Love share this DNA: the tension isn’t manufactured, and the emotional payoff is earned through genuine vulnerability.
The new adult romance books on this list all understand something fundamental about what readers want. Not perfection. Not easy love. They want to watch two people fight through their worst impulses and deepest fears to reach each other. That’s why these stories stay with you long after the last page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I read after Twisted Love?
Start with Twisted Hate by Ana Huang to stay in the same world, then branch out to Bully by Penelope Douglas or Vicious by L.J. Shen for similar dark romance energy. For something with more emotional depth and second chance tension, The Love I Lost by Emilly Carter delivers the same gut-punch intensity in a completely different setting.
Are there books like Twisted Love but less dark?
Yes. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace and The Deal by Elle Kennedy both capture the college romance and sharp banter of Twisted Love without the darker themes. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score offers similar emotional intensity with a warmer, small-town setting.
What makes Twisted Love so popular?
The combination of an emotionally closed-off hero, genuine enemies-to-lovers tension, forbidden elements, and a dark backstory that unfolds slowly. Ana Huang balanced darkness with emotional depth in a way that created something uniquely addictive for romance readers.
Are books like the Twisted series considered dark romance?
The Twisted series sits on the boundary between contemporary romance and dark romance. It’s darker than standard college romance but lighter than the darkest entries in the genre. Books like Vicious by L.J. Shen lean darker, while The Deal by Elle Kennedy leans lighter. Both scratch the same itch in different ways.
What other Ana Huang books should I read?
After the Twisted series (Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Hate, Twisted Lies), try her Kings of Sin series which features similar dark romance book recommendations territory with billionaire heroes and high-stakes emotional tension. Each book works as a standalone.
Ready to find your next obsession? Browse the complete Love I Lost trilogy and discover a second chance romance that readers are calling unforgettable.
Emilly Carter is the author of The Love I Lost trilogy, available now.
