The Ultimate Twisted Series By Ana Huang Reading Order
If you have scrolled through BookTok or Instagram’s “Bookstagram” community anytime in the last two years, you have undoubtedly seen the pastel covers that hide very dark secrets. We are talking, of course, about Ana Huang’s Twisted series. What started as a indie publishing success story has turned into a global phenomenon, dominating bestseller lists and redefining the “billionaire romance” genre for a new generation. These aren’t your grandmother’s romance novels. Ana Huang specializes in “morally gray” heroes, men who are possessive, obsessed, and willing to burn the world down for the women they love.
But with four books, interconnected timelines, and a spin-off series (Kings of Sin) already taking over the charts, jumping in can feel intimidating. Where do you start? Do the timelines overlap? And what is the deal with the upcoming TV adaptation? Here is your complete, step-by-step guide to the Twisted universe.
The Twisted series by Ana Huang should be read in publication order:
- Twisted Love (2021), Alex Volkov and Ava Chen
- Twisted Games (2021), Rhys Larsen and Bridget von Ascheberg
- Twisted Hate (2022), Josh Chen and Jules Ambrose
- Twisted Lies (2022), Christian Harper and Stella Alonso
That is the whole series. Four books, all published, no cliffhangers between them, and every one of them ends happily. Each book follows a different couple and technically works as a standalone. But the four women at the centre, Ava, Bridget, Jules and Stella, are a tight friendship group, and the timeline moves forward in a straight line. Read them out of order and you will walk into spoilers about breakups, family reveals, and, yes, someone becoming a queen.
Below I have broken down each book properly, and then sorted out where Kings of Sin, and Gods of the Game and the fit, because the Anaverse has grown considerably and most guides online have not kept up.
The Twisted Series At A Glance
| Book | Tropes | Spice | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Twisted Love | grumpy x sunshine brother's best friend trauma opposites attract | 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 | View |
|
Twisted Games | bodyguard x princess forbidden romance forced proximity royal setting +1 | 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 | View |
|
Twisted Hate | enemies to lovers best friend's brother forced proximity workplace romance +3 | 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 | View |
|
Twisted Lies | fake dating forced proximity grumpy x sunshine billionaire mmc +2 | 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 | View |
The Twisted Series In Order
Twisted Love (2021)
The Story: Alex Volkov is a devil with the face of an angel and a past that has hollowed him out. He has exactly one rule, which is that emotion is weakness. Then his best friend leaves for a volunteering trip and asks him to keep an eye on his little sister.
Ava is sunshine, entirely and stubbornly, despite childhood memories she cannot quite reach. They should not work. He is cold and calculating, she is warm and impulsive, and forced proximity does what forced proximity always does. But Alex is keeping something from her, and it is not a small thing.
The Couple: Alex Volkov and Ava Chen
The Tropes: brother’s best friend, grumpy sunshine, morally grey MMC, forced proximity
Twisted Games (2021)
The Story: Rhys Larsen protects his clients and never, ever gets involved. Bridget von Ascheberg is a princess who wants freedom and is about to get duty instead, because her brother has abdicated and the throne is hers.
Rhys stands between her and every genuine danger in her life, which is inconvenient given that the actual problem is what is happening between them. High angst, glorious slow burn, and a hero who says approximately nine words per chapter and destroys you with all of them.
The Couple: Rhys Larsen and Bridget von Ascheberg
The Tropes: bodyguard, forbidden romance, royalty, age gap, slow burn
Twisted Hate (2022)
The Story: Josh Chen is a hotshot doctor and Ava’s fiercely protective older brother. Jules Ambrose is a former party girl turned very determined law student, and Ava’s best friend. They loathe each other, loudly and creatively, and their bickering is the stuff of legend.
Then a truce turns into one unforgettable night, and they strike a deal. Enemies with benefits, no feelings, no attachments. It goes exactly as well as you expect. Jules has a past catching up with her, and Josh is discovering there is rather more to her than the version she performs.
Widely considered the spiciest book in the series!
The Couple: Josh Chen and Jules Ambrose
The Tropes: enemies with benefits, best friend’s brother, rivals to lovers, banter
Twisted Lies (2022)
The Story: Christian Harper is a very dangerous man in a very good suit. He runs a security firm, he is obsessed with control, and he has wanted Stella for a long time.
Stella is a soft-spoken influencer whose life is a good deal less polished offline. When her rent goes up and a brand deal requires a boyfriend, Christian offers her both a room and a relationship. What she does not know is that none of this was chance. He did not stumble into her life, darlings. He arranged it.
The Couple: Christian Harper and Stella Alonso
The Tropes: fake dating, billionaire, obsessive MMC, roommates, slow burn
Where To Go After Twisted: The Anaverse Explained
Every Ana Huang book sits in one shared universe, with cameos and Easter eggs threaded between the series. Each series stands alone, so you do not need to read all of them, but here is the full picture as of 2026.
Kings of Sin
The natural next step, and the closest in tone to Twisted. Billionaires, the seven deadly sins, and heroes who need a great deal of emotional renovation.
- King of Wrath (2022), Dante Russo and Vivian Lau
- King of Pride (2023), Kai Young and Isabella Valencia
- King of Greed (2023), Dominic Davenport and Alessandra Ferrari
- King of Sloth (2024), Xavier Castillo and Sloane Kensington
- King of Envy (2025), Vuk Markovic and Ayana Kidane
- King of Gluttony (2026), Maya Singh and Sebastian Laurent
- King of Lust, expected 2027
The Twisted connection: Christian Harper from Twisted Lies is a business associate of Dante Russo, the hero of King of Wrath. You can read Kings of Sin without Twisted, but the cameos land better if you have.
Gods of the Game
Steamy sports romance set in the world of English Premier League football. A little less morally grey than the billionaires, and a lot of fun.
- The Striker (2024)
- The Defender (2025)
- The Keeper (2026)
Chronologically, The Striker sits after King of Sloth in the wider universe timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Four. Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Hate and Twisted Lies, all published between 2021 and 2022. The series is complete, so there is nothing left to wait for.
Publication order: Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Hate, then Twisted Lies. The timeline runs forward in a straight line, so reading out of order will spoil later events for you.
Each book resolves its own romance, so technically yes. But the four heroines are a close friendship group and their lives overlap constantly. Skip around and you will be confused about why people are estranged, or why one of them is suddenly running a country.
Twisted Hate is generally considered the spiciest and the kinkiest of the four. Twisted Lies has the longest build, so the tension is arguably higher even if the page count of spice is lower.
It sits in dark contemporary romance rather than proper dark romance. The heroes are morally grey and do genuinely questionable things, but it is nowhere near the intensity of something like Haunting Adeline. Every book ends happily. If you want to know exactly what you are getting, our [spice rating system](INTERNAL LINK: /spice-rating-system/) explains how we grade heat levels.
No. Kings of Sin works entirely on its own. There is one notable link, Christian Harper from Twisted Lies knows Dante Russo from King of Wrath, but it is a cameo rather than a plot requirement.
Twisted Love is in development as a Netflix series. Nothing has been cast or dated publicly yet.
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