3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

"There was no growth without risk, no progress without change."

Although there were plenty of memorable and beautiful quotes that the author had wrote in this very tale, not only did this particular quote struck me with its hard-hitting slap into my current reality, but it also encapsulates the story and the relationship between Kai, Isabella and most of the characters that exist within this book and this very fictional universe—taking us (or just me) back as far as to the first Twisted book even.

I really did not know anything of the story prior to reading this book despite the fact that I have already read and reviewed the first book, King of Wrath, which I enjoyed devouring immensely. Ana Huang simply never fails and her writing continues to amaze me even today. So to simply put, I had went into it completely blind with not much expectations whatsoever. Aaaannnndddd... I have something to say.

This felt like a bit of a let-down if I were to compare with the very first instalment.

Now, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the tale of the blooming relationship between Kai and Isabella with Ana Huang's impeccable humour that simply never falls short in any of her stories—a particular factor that made me adore her writing and her books so much since the very first time I set my eyes on her books. (Like seriously, who could've thought of the idea of a dinosaur erotica? Only her! The weirdest one I've seen so far on this vast space we call the internet is a Shrek one and that was already traumatising enough to hear let alone explore!)

The whole mysterious, secret and forbidden relationship trope was very much a fun and enticing prospect for me to dive into. It's Ana Huang, of course the spice level will be high and intense and I have not a single doubt of that going into the book, like I KNEW what I signed up for alright and the romance part of it all was just simply *chef's kiss* to say the least. I love the way it progressed, the conflict, the drama. It was all very Crazy Rich Asians too with Kai and Isabella both being Asian characters which I absolutely love and with their family business companies; I wonder if Crazy Rich Asians is the inspiration behind the book with the family names being Young and Teo or is it a common Asian family name? This I have to look up more.

The plotline however felt quite messy and had a lot of holes or short-lived moments in which I was hoping it could've been shown or elaborated more in the upcoming scenes as I progressed through the story but it simply didn't exist after one or two mentions. Valhalla quite literally cease to exist after THE scene (I'm trying my best not to spoil anyone here because it is quite a major scene I'd say) and Isabella's piano hobby was something I thought could've been integrated more in between her writing moments but we get almost little to none of it in the second half of the b0ok. There was also not much of a clear picture of how and what did the CEO voting campaign actually entailed, it almost felt like we were just seeing the dark and dirty side of its politics.

To sum it all up, I truly had a fun time reading it despite the flaws which to be frank I was not at all surprised by it a series as such can have one or two books that are bound to be a hit-or-miss. That said, I am indeed looking forward to read the next book, King of Greed. The cover looks absolutely majestic and I am awaiting for its release so I could read of Dominic and Alessandra's story next. Ana Huang I need more DRAMA and TENSION and BOOM and BAH! I beg!