Twisted Love

Ava Chen is the protagonist and the female romantic lead; as such, the novel is told partially from her perspective. Ava is 22 years old—four years younger than Josh and Alex—with raven hair, a delicate face, rosebud lips, and dark brown eyes. Ava has a passion for photography, and while it serves her well as a part-time job, she is also an assistant at the McCann Gallery. Ava’s father, Michael Chen, has never claimed to disapprove of her decision to pursue photography as a career, but while he pays her tuition at Thayer University, he does not pitch in for photography equipment.

Alex nicknames Ava “Sunshine,” and a ray of sun is how everyone tends to see her. With her “silvery laugh” and positive attitude, Ava is seen as soft-hearted and fragile to her friends and family. Despite the show that Ava puts on, however, Alex understands that there are layers of trauma lurking beneath the surface, noting “the way she carried herself, like she’d seen it all—the good, the bad, the downright ugly—and still believed in goodness” (17).

Ava considers herself the polar opposite of her brother, Josh Chen. She shies away from attention and “would rather have a small group of close friends than a large group of friendly acquaintances” (4). Ava allows herself to be coddled by Josh and her friends, leaning on them “because it was easier to lean on others than [her]self” (280). While she initially believes herself to be free, Ava’s relationship with Alex forces her to gain a greater degree of independence and sense of self. By facing her aquaphobia, confronting her father about his role in her childhood trauma, and deciding to fly overseas for her dream photography fellowship, Ava takes her life into her own hands and claims the freedom she always wanted.

Ava’s character arc is influenced by the ways through which she confronts and overcomes her trauma. Despite remaining open to intimacy, love, and connection both with Alex and with other important people in her life, Ava’s biggest change comes through making her own choices instead of allowing others to make them for her. In the past, she has been ruled by fear—of water, of failure, of doing anything alone. Toward the end of the novel, Ava braves her fear of water and of independence by swimming alone both literally and figuratively. Ava’s bravery and willingness to trust, connect, and love despite the darkness of her past ultimately provide Alex with the push he needs to embrace the same qualities.

Alex Volkov is the other protagonist and the male romantic lead in the novel. The novel is partially told from his perspective. As Ava’s love interest throughout the story, he is 26 years old; smells like woods and spice; drives an Aston Martin; and sports jade-green eyes, dark eyebrows, a sharp jawline and cheekbones, a lean frame, and thick light-brown hair. Alex is the best friend of Ava’s brother, Josh, and with his reclusive and unapproachable personality, he also stands in sharp contrast to Josh. They have been best friends since rooming together at Thayer eight years prior, and he joins the Chen family for Thanksgiving every year. Alex is first introduced when he arrives to give Ava a ride after she has been stranded at a photography shoot. Ava initially describes Alex as a “look at me wrong and I’ll destroy you and everyone you care about kinda guy” (5-6). Even though Alex is not generally seen as a nice person and moves “like a panther, all coiled grace and laser intensity” (11), he never raises his voice.

Alex has HSAM, which allows him to remember nearly ever minuscule detail about his life. Additionally, Alex is incredibly smart with an IQ of 160. He used his intelligence to become the COO of a successful real estate company called Archer Group, which he created as a teenager with his uncle, Ivan.

Alex’s childhood is a mystery to everyone, even the Chen family, so it comes as a surprise to Ava when Alex eventually opens up to her about his family’s murder. Due to his inability to protect his family from their fate, Alex avoids any form of attachment—his friendship with Josh is the only significant exception until his relationship with Ava. He prefers no kissing or face-to-face contact during sex. This desire to protect himself and others from pain or hurt causes Alex to disguise his emotions; even Alex’s house is extremely minimalistic, with no personal effects including photos or keepsakes. The only emotion he allows is anger to fuel his vengeance, which he lets out during his training sessions at the Krav Maga gym with his only other acquaintance, Ralph. Alex’s character development is defined by his eventual acceptance of The Vulnerability of Intimacy. Rather than continuing to see such vulnerability as a weakness, Alex learns to admire the strength it takes Ava to embrace it, and eventually does so himself.

Ivan Volkov is Alex’s uncle and last living relative. He acts as the official CEO of Archer Group at Alex’s behest, at least until Alex is ready to take over the company that he created. Alex mentions that Ivan has “never been in love, had never married or fathered children of his own […] For him, wealth, power, and status were all that mattered” (220). While Alex is like Ivan in that both of them exhibit cutthroat behaviors as a means of reaching their goals, Ivan cares more about wealth and status than Alex ever has. Instead, unlike Ivan, Alex values his need for justice and also learns to value love. Although Ivan is described as not being particularly handsome, he’s vain, always conscious of his appearance even if no one is around to see him. This vanity comes across in Ivan’s obsession with green tea, because he believes it will produce weight loss. Alex eventually uses this weakness to poison him.

Ivan raised Alex after the death of his family. He has always been supportive of Alex’s plan for revenge and has even steered Alex in the direction of the supposed culprit: Ava and Josh’s father, Michael. Ivan serves as the antagonist for Alex, molding him and using Alex’s intelligence and assets to achieve fortune and success for himself. It is eventually revealed that Ivan has been manipulating Alex since childhood and using Michael as the easy scapegoat, since Michael was once a direct business competitor of Alex’s father. In reality, it was Ivan who ordered the hit on Alex’s family. Ivan’s betrayal has delayed Alex’s justice for 16 years and directed it onto the wrong man; Ivan’s lies also serve as the cause for Alex’s betrayal of the Chen family.

Michael Chen is the father of Ava and Josh. Michael has a chiseled face and sharp eyes and has always been closer to Josh than to Ava. While Ava has always been aware of their distance and their struggle to communicate without Josh present, she assumes that this dynamic is because he doesn’t approve of her choice to pursue photography as a career.

Michael is the ally-antagonist to Ava, for he first appears to have heroic traits. Ava even writes an essay at nine years old declaring her father to be the person she admires most because he saved her from drowning. However, after Ava’s memories resurface and she remembers Michael’s previous attempts on her life, Michael’s role promptly shifts into that of an outright antagonist. Michael’s hostility and violence against Ava are motivated by his desire for revenge against his ex-wife, Wendy, for her infidelity. Ava is not Michael’s biological daughter, but to gain custody over Josh, Michael planted drugs on Wendy and instigated Ava’s near-drowning to frame her mother for child negligence. Michael’s cold mannerisms also perpetuate Ava’s insecurities about not being worthy of unconditional love.

Josh Chen is Ava’s overprotective brother and lives in the house next door to her own. Josh is described as six feet tall with thick black hair, sharp bone structure, and a large ego. Josh is a foil to both Ava and Alex, opposite in personality to both. Whereas Josh is “Mr. Popular” as a basketball player, a student body president, and homecoming king, Ava is more of a homebody who sticks to a close-knit group of friends. While Josh is a partier, living by the philosophy of “the more the merrier,” Alex finds such socialization trivial and tedious. Josh’s contrast to both Alex and Ava highlights and enhances the new couple’s similarities to each other—even when such similarities are invisible to Alex and Ava themselves.

Josh is a straight-A med student with a 4.0 GPA and leaves early in the novel to head to Central America for a gap year as a medical volunteer. His decision to leave ultimately pushes Alex and Ava together. When Josh asks Alex to protect Ava for the next year, the forced proximity trope is brought into the novel. Despite the physical distance between himself and Ava, however, Josh remains unconditional in his love for his sister—an insecurity that Ava struggles with after never receiving such love from their parents.