Twisted, written in 2023 by American author Emily McIntire, a USA Today, Publishers Weekly and Amazon bestselling author who also writes romance and romantic suspense, is a fractured fairy tale with elements of dark romance. The novel is part of her Never After series of standalone novels, each inspired by a fairytale, with the villain as the romantic lead.

Twisted modernizes the Disney version of the story of Aladdin. Yasmin Karam—an analogue for Jasmine, the sultan’s daughter—stands to inherit the jewelry enterprise Sultans from her dying father Ali, who wishes to see her married. Julian Faraci—an updated take on Jafar, the scheming and murderous vizier—has been Ali Karam’s right-hand man for years and is enraged that Karam doesn’t recognize him as the rightful successor. Julian, who is accustomed to killing anyone who gets in his way, proposes a fake marriage to Yasmin while planning to kill her and take over the company himself. However, once married, proximity awakens passion as the two explore the attraction turning them from enemies into lovers. A dramatic conflict involving dispute over an antique lamp highlights the novel’s themes of choice, the thrill of possession, and the price of ambition.

This guide relies on the trade paperback published by Bloom Books in 2023.

Content Warning: The novel includes depictions of graphic violence, including torture and murder; domestic violence and child abuse; terminal cancer; and the death of a parent.

Plot Summary

Julian Faraci rose from a poor childhood in an abusive household to become the respected and feared COO of the diamond empire Sultans, owned by Ali Karam. In the Prologue, Julian torments a bound man named Samuel, warning him that Julian possesses the girl Samuel is pursuing. The girl turns out to be Yasmin Karam, the 23-year-old daughter and sole heir of Ali Karam.

Yasmin is distressed by her father’s terminal illness and his decision that Yasmin must marry an acceptable man who can run Sultans after Ali is gone. Yasmin has long been in love with Aidan, a young man whose mother is the Karams’ housekeeper. When she leaves a dinner to sneak away with Aidan, Julian catches them having sex in a staff bedroom. Yasmin is aroused to find him watching her, and Julian, also aroused, sees Yasmin in a new light—as a desirable young woman and not just the bratty daughter of his employer who is in his way.

Yasmin complains to her best friend, Riya, about her father’s wishes that she marry. She is reluctant to tell her father about her involvement with Aidan, knowing he won’t approve. When Julian offers to help her, Yasmin is suspicious, as she sees him as a rival; her teenage crush on Julian went sour when she heard him speaking disparagingly of her. Yasmin also knows that Julian, like her father, has engaged in criminal activity to get where he is, so she worries that he might harm Aidan. To Yasmin’s surprise, Aidan eagerly agrees to hire on as Julian’s employee and travel to Egypt on an expedition to discover a valuable historical artifact—a lamp. Aidan’s escort will be Ian, Julian’s assistant, who knows all of Julian’s secrets, including Julian’s emerging plan to marry Yasmin, inherit Sultans, then kill Yasmin and have the diamond empire all to himself.

Yasmin at first dismisses Julian’s suggestion that they fake an engagement. After Julian escorts her to an uncomfortable dinner with a potential suitor, the suitor is involved in a fatal car crash later that night. Believing he will hurt Aidan if she doesn’t go along, Yasmin pretends to her father that she and Julian are in love. Julian immediately arranges a wedding at the courthouse, blackmailing the judge to comply. Yasmin concedes to the marriage but is confused when Julian’s kiss affects her, and when she feels comfortable in his house despite being a virtual prisoner. When Julian pretends before her father to feel affection for her, she feels her hatred for him weakening.

Julian keeps in touch with Ian and Jeannie, the archaeologist overseeing the search for the lamp, but he’s distracted from Sultans by interest in his new wife, to whom he is increasingly attracted as he learns she’s not the spoiled brat he assumed her to be. Yasmin too feels her pull to Julian growing as she learns more about him. As Yasmin’s desire for Julian grows, the sexual contact between them is explosive. She discovers that she enjoys being submissive to his dominant nature and takes pleasure in discipline and pain. She feels Julian has awakened a darkness in her that understands the darkness in him.

Accompanying Julian on a surprise trip to Egypt, Yasmin realizes that she has fallen in love with her husband and feels their marriage could become real. Jeannie, however, has learned from Ian that Julian means to kill Yasmin, so Jeannie gives Yasmin the lamp hoping it can protect her. Yasmin keeps the lamp a secret as they return home. After attending her father’s deathbed, Yasmin finds the fake will Julian had drawn up that leaves Sultans to him. When Ian kidnaps her and holds her hostage, Yasmin desperately hopes that Julian will come for her, proving his love.

Riya and Aidan follow Julian to free Yasmin, fighting Ian and Darryn, the other man holding her captive. When Riya is shot in the struggle, Julian lets Aidan lead Yasmin away for her safety. Yasmin then discovers that Aidan is part of the conspiracy; when he refuses to free her, she shoots him, takes the lamp, and returns to Julian to declare her love and fidelity. Riya survives, Julian tortures and kills Darryn and Ian for attempting to harm his wife, and two epilogues show the married couple enjoying satisfying sex as a seal of their vows of possession and eternal devotion.