The Book:
A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing
Published July 18, 2023 by Berkley
Date read: June 24, 2023
The Characters:
Wes and Ivy
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
This page contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this site.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
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…
How did A Twisted Love Story end?
The Reveal:
Bianca had been Joey Fisher’s girlfriend. On the night that Ivy first went to work at the strip club, Wes came to find her and they fought. They continued to fight on their drive home. When Ivy noticed that Wes had been drinking, they switched places. A few blocks from their house Ivy swerved without warning (ostensibly to avoid a squirrel in the road) and plowed into the car that Joey was sleeping off a bender in.
Karen considered herself a bit of a vigilante, helping battered women get away from their abusers. Her late husband had been abusive. He was also a cop and had died on duty. Someone remind me if there was some kind of foul play between him and Karen?? Anyways, that’s why Karen had a vendetta against Wes, because she thought he was abusing Ivy.
Karen eventually got Wes arrested. He ran away and went to Abigail’s house to threaten her, assuming that she had been the witness that heard him and Ivy arguing about the accident (this was a fabrication that Bianca put Abigail up to). He ended up killing Abigail when she threatened him with a gun.
While Wes was at Abigail’s, Ivy was trying to talk to Karen. Just down the street from Karen’s house, Milo approached her car. Milo was the guy that Ivy had gone on one date with and posted a picture of to make Wes jealous. His fiance had dumped him because of it, so he was stalking Ivy to get back at her. Ivy sped off to try to get away from him and accidentally hit Karen while she was collecting her mail.
The Ending:
Wes and Ivy ran away together, and were successfully evading law enforcement in the epilogue. The epilogue showed Heath on an episode of Milo’s podcast, talking about how he used to be in love with Ivy (Heath had been the one stalking Ivy at the beginning of the book, trying to scare her away from Wes). Heath was now dating Bianca.
The Review:
Y’all, that dedication 😳 I’m dying for someone to do an interview with Samantha and get more info!
Because this love story certainly was twisted. Wes and Ivy were the worst kind of toxic, in the most entertaining way. I really enjoyed this obsession/stalker thriller. I’m a big fan of Samantha Downing (my favorite is My Lovely Wife) and she certainly delivered with A Twisted Love Story as well.
In addition to Wes and Ivy’s toxic relationship, we also have a nosy assistant, a best friend who’s in love, and a cop with a vendetta. It made for such an interesting read, and I highly recommend this thriller!
2 Comments