Liviania’s review of Twisted (Intertwined, Book 3) by Gena Showalter
Urban fantasy published by Harlequin Teen 30 Aug 11

Gena Showalter’s Intertwined series has never been light and fluffy, but Twisted takes some dark turns.  This isn’t too surprising considering Unraveled ended shortly after Aden, the hero, got stabbed through the heart.

Aden’s survival has serious consequences for both him and his vampire girlfriend Victoria.  Namely, they’ve been swapping both powers and personalities.  Aden’s not prepared to deal with the monster that lives in her head, nor is she suited to coping with the three souls that live in Aden’s.  Aden is becoming colder, which helps him to rule the vampires, but it hurts their relationship as Victoria becomes more insecure.  I particularly enjoyed the passages through Victoria’s POV.  She understands what’s happening, and she’s pretty good at working through her jealousy to pay attention to what’s really at risk.

Things at the homefront kick into gear when Victoria’s brother Sorin arrives to challenge Aden for the throne.  It’s a fight to the death, but Victoria wants both pugilists to survive.  Aden’s old mates at the home for troubled boys are brought back in a clever way but mostly wasted.  How the fight plays out between Sorin and Aden is genuinely thrilling, however.

Elsewhere, Mary Ann, Riley, and Tucker are trying to track down Aden’s parents and the people who knew the souls in his head before they died.  They’re having success, but Tucker’s still on the baddie’s side.  Of course, usually competent Riley does everything he can to alienate Tucker while letting him in on all of their plans.  (Riley also ends the book with some frustratingly dumb moves.)

Mary Ann and Riley’s problems reflect those of Aden and Victoria – down to Riley thinking about how he and Mary Ann have swapped personalities – but it just doesn’t work as well.  Possibly because we get a decent chunk of their story through Tucker’s POV.  Showalter tries valiantly to make him sympathetic, but it never takes.  His little brother is being held hostage, but he did a lot of damage before that development.  And, “I’m sorry I got her killed because I honestly liked her” seems more loathsome to me rather than less.  Tucker puts a lot of lip service toward escaping Vlad’s control, but that’s all it ever amounts to.

I enjoyed Twisted more than Unraveled, although things kind of fell apart at the end.  Until then, there are a number of good action sequences and several intriguing concepts are explored.  I’m loving Aden and Victoria, but it might be time for Riley and Mary Ann to see other people.

Grade: B-

Summary:

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD ADEN STONE HAS HAD A HELL OF A WEEK. HE’S BEEN:

Tortured by angry witches.
Hypnotized by a vengeful faery.
Spied on by the most powerful vampire in existence.
And, oh, yeah. Killed – twice.

His vampire girlfriend might have brought him back to life, but he’s never felt more out of control. There’s a darkness within him, something taking over . . . changing him. Worse, because he was meant to die, death now stalks him at every turn. Any day could be his last.

Once upon a time, the three souls trapped inside his head could have helped him. He could have protected himself. But as the darkness grows stronger, the souls grow weaker – just like his girlfriend. The more vampire Aden becomes, the more human Victoria becomes, until everything they know and love is threatened.

Life couldn’t get any worse. Could it?

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Wendy the Super Librarian’s review of Twisted by Andrea Kane
Romantic suspense released by William Morrow 25 Mar 08

While most romance readers spent their teen years cutting their teeth on Kathleen Woodiwiss, Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux, I was reading suspense novels written by Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton and Mary Higgins Clark. Long-time romance readers can spot a contrived Big Misunderstanding plot ten miles off the way I can spot poorly executed suspense threads. Which is ultimately the biggest problem with Andrea Kane’s latest hard cover, Twisted.

I knew who the bad guy was well before page 50. To make it even worse, I knew this thanks to a throwaway piece of dialogue that didn’t have to be inserted into the story. The author later introduces another viable suspect as way of a red herring, but the fact remains, the bad guy can really only be one of two guys. Not exactly a brain bender.

Sadly, the romance doesn’t make up for the lost ground. Sloane Burbank left the FBI when she injured her hand in the line of duty. This injury has meant several surgeries, a lot of physical therapy, and the disintegration of her relationship with former Army Ranger, now FBI agent, Derek Parker. Their problems totally stem from them both being Type A personalities, and their inability and unwillingness to communicate with each other. Sloane is traumatized and ticked off that Derek doesn’t understand. Derek is ticked off because Sloane shuts him out and doesn’t behave the way he thinks she should.

But naturally, their sex life was off the charts.

Can a relationship between two Type A personalities work? Certainly, but I imagine it takes a lot of work. I never really felt like Sloane and Derek worked very hard at it. They do argue, hash out some of their past, and have incredible sex. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that if something “bad” was to happen to either of them again? Yeah, they’d fold like a house of cards.

All in all, this is a readable story. Even with a weak suspense thread, and a romance I didn’t completely believe in, I still kept turning the pages. It’s the kind of book that if I was stuck in an airport, waiting for my connecting flight, and this was the only book I had to read, I would be mildly entertained. That said, for a hard core suspense fan like myself, Twisted never registered above mildly diverting.

Grade: C+

Summary:

Former FBI Special Agent Sloane Burbank has survived a life-threatening injury sustained in the line of duty, only to face leaving a job she loves in order to recuperate. As an independent consultant, she now uses her specialized skills to train law enforcement and private organizations in crisis resolution. But when one of her closest childhood friends mysteriously disappears, and the woman’s devastated parents beg for her help, Sloane takes the case-even though her ex-lover Derek Parker is the FBI agent in charge.

Special Agent Derek Parker, now assigned to the Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force in the FBI’s New York Field Office, has no time to spare for a year-old case he sees as a dead end-especially since it would mean working with a woman he never expected to see again. He’s pursuing the leader of a Chinese gang and trying to solve a series of grizzly murders in Chinatown, so he initially offers Sloane the case files and minimal cooperation.

But as more women disappear and others turn up brutally murdered, Derek’s priorities shift, and he and Sloane come to the sickening realization that these random crimes are linked to the same crazed killer. No one can anticipate when he will strike again, but when Sloane becomes the target of his twisted obsession, it becomes clear that his ultimate fantasy is even more psychotic than either of them ever imagined.

Read an excerpt.