Twisted Hate (2022) is a new adult romance novel by Ana Huang. It is the third installment in the Twisted series, a quartet of interconnected love stories centered on four friends: Ava, Bridget, Jules, and Stella. The TikTok phenomenon is a USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and IndieReader bestseller. Told from alternating first-person perspectives, Twisted Hate follows the hate-to-love romance between Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen. Jules and Josh both navigate dark pasts, betrayal, and the vulnerability that comes with committed relationships.

This guide is based on the Kindle edition self-published by Ana Huang in 2022.

Content Warning: Twisted Hate mentions child abuse and sexual assault and depicts stalking, sexual coercion and harassment (involving a minor), and dubious consent.

Plot Summary

Jules Ambrose is a law student at Thayer Law, running from her traumatic past in Ohio with her vain mother, Adeline, predatory stepfather, Alastair, and manipulative ex-boyfriend, Max. She craves stability through a law career and loving relationship, but avoids romantic entanglements. Josh Chen is a third-year resident specializing in emergency medicine, holding on to grudges after betrayals by his imprisoned father, Michael, and ex-best friend, Alex. Michael attempted to kill Josh’s sister, Ava, after learning she’s not his biological daughter. Meanwhile, Alex lied to Josh for seven years, fabricating their friendship to get close to Michael, whom Alex believes killed his family. It turns out that Alex’s uncle, Ivan Volkov, murdered his family and framed Michael. Josh’s anger prevents him from forming trusting relationships, so he engages in casual sex.

Jules and Josh have hated each other ever since Jules’s freshman year of college, when she befriended his sister, Ava. Jules engages in reckless behavior that often causes trouble for Ava. After crossing paths at a bar one night, Jules is robbed at gunpoint; her feigned nonchalance piques Josh’s curiosity. Jules and her friend Stella Alonso use their mutual friend Bridget von Ascheberg’s connections and her fiancé, Rhys, to secure a luxury apartment owned by a man named Christian Harper. When Jules and Josh are forced to accompany Ava and Josh’s ex-best friend, Alex, on a weekend ski trip and work together at the Legal Health Alliance Clinic (LHAC), their mutual interest increases. Their heated arguments turn into heated attraction, and eventually, they have a one-night stand. The act is cathartic, so the pair promises to engage in transactional sex.

Following the ski trip, Jules is plagued by threatening texts from her ex-boyfriend, Max, who’s in jail following a botched robbery they committed. He’s angry that she escaped unscathed, and blackmails her with a sex tape in which she is a minor. Jules’s worries about Max lead her to intensify her sex with Josh. Josh reciprocates, as he’s been receiving weekly letters from his imprisoned father and wants a distraction. The pair’s boundaries begin to dissolve as they become more emotionally involved. Josh becomes jealous of the men in Jules’s life, especially Max, and later takes her to a hospital staff picnic.

The weekend of her friend Bridget’s wedding, Jules is distracted by Max’s threats, and Josh realizes his feelings for her. During Bridget’s bachelorette party, Jules starts a fight that lands the women in jail. Josh is concerned for her, which raises her defenses. He finally admits his true feelings, and Jules agonizes over his confession. However, her mother’s death prompts her to travel to her hometown to organize the funeral. Josh skips his trip to New Zealand to keep Jules company and realizes he must visit his father to find his own closure.

As Jules and Josh’s relationship progresses, Jules graduates from Thayer Law and studies for the bar exam, and Josh mends his friendship with Alex and visits his father in prison—who attempts to use Josh to get pills, disappointing him. Max coerces Jules to steal an expensive painting for his associates—a “hideous” one that hangs in Josh’s bedroom. She steals the painting and other valuables and enlists Christian Harper, who has previous experience in tracing and deleting sensitive material, to find and erase all copies of her sex tape. She eventually returns Josh’s belongings and tells him the truth about her past. Hurt by her betrayal, Josh pretends to forgive her, has sex with her, and then says he lied about forgiving her. He uses her insecurities against her before kicking her out.

Jules takes her bar exam, and Max eventually finds and threatens her for the painting; when she refuses to hand it over, he pushes her down a flight of stairs. Josh is Jules’s caretaker at the ER, and though he acts coldly, upon learning of Max, he enlists Alex’s help to enact revenge. However, Alex stops Josh from committing murder and helps him understand why Jules was secretive about her past. Josh is ashamed and seeks out Jules for another chance. Eventually, they mend their relationship and reveal it to Jules’s friend group. Alex proposes to Ava and asks Josh to be his best man. Jules and Josh move in together and take a trip to New Zealand, where they bungee jump together.