Twisted Knight (Tangled Hearts, # 1)
By: K. Bromberg
Expected Publication: September 24, 2024 by Bramble
416 pages
Genre: Adult, Contemporary
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss (Thank you!!)
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Goodreads description--Kings of Sin meets It Ends With Us in a gritty, heated romance from New York Times bestselling author K. Bromberg.Holden
They thought they’d managed to get rid of me once and for all. They thought I’d just forget what they did to my brother. But I’m going to make sure that they never forget. If only I can stop thinking about her.Rowan
No one sees me. Behind my brother, I’m a ghost, managing the family business that he claims to run. But I’m tired of second fiddle. I’m tired of pretending. I’m going to take what’s mine. The only problem? Well, he just came back to town.
First, I mentally missed that this is the first book in a series, even though I listed it as book 1 in my Sunday Post and on my spreadsheet. Somehow my brain still thought this was a standalone book. So know that Twisted Knight is the first in a series. No idea how many books are intended for the series, but you need to know more than one. Otherwise, you might look up at 90% and realize there's too much left unresolved to be wrapped up in the last 10%. Another thing you should note if you're planning on going into this series is that language and sexual content is HIGH. I thought about DNFing many times based on these two issues alone. The good thing about an audiobook version is that you can click that little 10-second skip-ahead button and breeze through any content that might bother you. But you'd be breezing through such a large portion of this book. The dirty talk was just too much for me guys. I would have laughed in my husband's face if he said some of the stuff to me that Holden said to Rowen. Laughed and laughed and laughed. And then considering so many of the scenes were written from Holden's perspective, so the male narrator, Patrick Zeller, had to perform these scenes (and perform he did!) had me wondering what the narrator thought about these scenes which of course pulled me out of any kind of story. Honestly, I'm not a prude, but I prefer books not filled with so much explicit content. The language and the scenes. So many f-bombs. So so many GDs. I would have DNFd because of these things if I had known there would be a sequel. I thought I would push through and be done.
Now the actual story content was interesting. Holden HATES the Rothschilds, specifically Rhett Rothschild. He has issues with Chad Williams, Rhett's best friend. And he seems to have a small place of anger toward Rowen but it's unclear why at first. You know that Rhett has somehow offended him in the past but the story is slowly leaked in flashbacks throughout the book. It all makes sense. And you know Holden plans to take down the entire Rothschild family because of this past. But his plan isn't entirely revealed either.
Poor Rowen is caught up in everyone's games and manipulation. Her brother sells the family company without telling her. This devastates her because she promised her grandmother that she would keep the company in the family's hands and get it back on track. Her mother is trying to marry her off to Chad who she only feels friendship towards. Her grandmother left her money and a seat on the board in her will but only if Rowen meets certain conditions. And Holden is using her to enhance his destruction of the Rothschild family. She's the only one you can really root for in this story because despite who her family is, she's always wanted to be different and hated the role her family has wanted her to play. She isn't at all what Holden expected her to be. Yet I can't fully root for a character that pursues a path she knows she shouldn't just because it feels good. Morally this goes against everything I believe in.
Ultimately, I liked the story. I wanted to know what happened to Holden for him to hate the Rothschilds so much. And I wanted to see how his plan would unfold. I wanted to see how Rowen fit into the entire story. Yet I found myself almost laughing out loud while cringing at the sex scenes. I debated DNFing especially over the content and language. But I pressed on not realizing until the last 10% that this book is only the first of a series I don't know if I'll continue. In the end, I'm giving this one 3 Stars. Have you read (or listened to) Twisted Knight ? What did you think? Let me know!
