I love that quote and I love how aptly it matches the whole point of this book.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review and I am so thankful I was selected! Since having read Half Truths, the first book in this series, I have been so anticipating this story!!
Twisted Circles did not disappoint in any shape or form. Similarly to the first book in the series, this book focuses on a group of people connected to the prestigious Ellis University (an Ivy League) as well as a secret society on its campus. This book primarily focuses on Eva Guerra who wakes up without memory of what happened over the weekend. What she does find is two mysterious keys in her backpack as well as being questioned by the police, then asked to do something beyond anything you would've ever expected. This starts Eva off on a quest of trying to find out what happened over the weekend, why she can't remember it, and ultimately gaining more questions than answers.
This book is a dual POV story. Most of the chapters are from Eva's perspective, but some of them are from Adam, President of The Swords, a secret society on campus that Eva plans to learn more about. There is so much mystery and suspense in this story, it constantly keeps your attention and keeps the pages turning quickly. It's one of those that you may have to finally force yourself to put down at 1 am so that you can pick it back up again as early as possible the next day orrrr just pull an all-nighter because it's that good and you can't put it down!
I loved this storyline. Like I mentioned above, it provided the same amount of suspense and excitement as the first book in the series.
I really enjoyed Eva's character. She was adopted at a few months old and grew up with her adoptive mother, Karen. Eva had a difficult childhood growing up and as she grew, often found herself in and out of treatment at a place called The Institute. Dr. Debbie Maslow has treated Eva since she was an infant and Eva regards Dr. Maslow almost in a maternal fashion. To me, this pulled on my spidey senses because I am already sensing some poor boundaries between doctor and patient, and oh how right I was! I won't go in to detail because this is going to be a spoiler free review, but once you read the book, you will definitely see what I mean!
Eva seems to have a hard time finding any confidence in herself. It's no wonder given the circumstances she grew up in and what you find out later in the book has happened to her, but it is amazing to see the evolution of her character and how strong she starts to become. Eva goes through quite a bit in this book- there are highs and lows, and while she has to fight some of the defense mechanisms she's developed most her life, she ultimately is able to fight for what she loves.
Speaking of love, enter... Adam.
He was introduced to us briefly in Half Truths. I remember reading the end of that book thinking, man, I hope we get Adam's story, and look at that... we did! While we definitely got to get to know Adam a little more in this book, I will say I wish I could've gotten a little more about him. I wish he would've had a few more chapters from his POV, or maybe talked a little bit more about his life before Eva came in to it. I'm not sure what I felt like is missing, and I don't necessarily mean to use the word missing, I think I just wanted more! He seems like such a standup, respectful, thoughtful, and loving guy, you can't not want more of that, am I right? Even though they may have had a rocky start, Adam is a constant for Eva through all the struggles she endured in this book. He is the type of guy you would want to have by your side, helping you, supporting you, encouraging you, and listening to you. When Eva said she needed space, he gave her space. When she needed help but hadn't even thought to ask, he already had a plan in place on how he could help. And it's not only Adam that brought love into Eva's life, but he brought his friends and family which only extended the amount of people who ended up loving on Eva as well. Overall, I just felt like Adam was a star character, a stand up guy and someone I think makes a great partner in a story like this! We’ll forgive him for his only real flaw- a poor attempt at a psycho analysis 😉
Okay, that’s probably enough raving about the characters. I hope I peaked your interest enough in these two characters to want to dive in to this book. I don’t want to go into too much more detail because I’m afraid I’ll spoil something and I want you to have the complete experience when you read this book! It’s different from most other books out there right now and I don’t know about you, but it’s been so good for me to be able to escape the catastrophe that is 2020 and submerge myself into this suspenseful, exciting fictional book world.
As always- Happy reading, friends!
