A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

From the bestselling author of My Lovely Wife comes a reckless, delicious thriller about a young couple that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They've never felt anything like it. It's the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy--and she's a detective.

There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about--in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything--even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…

Hardcover, 390 pages

Published July 18, 2023

 by Berkley

4/5 stars

Ever since reading He Started It, Samantha Downing has become one of my go to authors. She writes books that are kind of zany with a good mystery/suspense theme.  Judging by the title of this her latest, A Twisted Love Story, I was anxious to dive in.

West and Ivy are apparently madly in love, but given their actions throughout this book, one really has to question that. It actually reminded me of a scene from Mr. and Mrs. Smith as they tried to kill each other off. But there’s more to the story than meet the eye.

Released this past July I am so surprised at it’s rating on Goodreads, I found this to be a highly entertaining and addictive read. No matter how much I didn’t like each of the characters I was sucked right in. The cat and mouse game through the years showed how their relationship worked, to the onlooker one can just shake their heads and wonder why they are even together. Love Story is a book about a toxic relationship that borders on the side of abusive and unbelievable. If you read the blurb above and let your imagination go to the unthinkable, that is what this is. As for the ending, it was fitting, but not as satisfying as I had hoped, you will have to read the book to see why.

My copy was obtained through my public library.