Twisted love

Huang (the If Love series) launches her Twisted series with an explosive dark romance. Someone attempted to kill Ava Chen when she was a child, inspiring her overprotective brother, Josh, to act as her de facto bodyguard into adulthood. When Josh leaves D.C. to volunteer in Central America for a year, he persuades his friend Alex Volkov (whom Ava can't stand) to move in next door to Ava and keep an eye on her in his absence. An utterly ruthless and tortured hero, Alex had a childhood even more traumatic than Ava's: he watched as his family was slaughtered by a hit man hired by his father's business rivals. Now, he's vowed to stop at nothing to bring all those responsible to justice, knocking down high-powered businessmen one at a time. As Ava and Alex reluctantly fall for each other, their chemistry burns white-hot, but as both dig deeper into their childhoods, they uncover a series of betrayals that will change their lives forever--and the revelations may kill the romance. Huang keeps the hair-raising twists and turns coming. This high-drama romance will have readers on the edges of their seats. (Sept.)