She's his diamond in the rough. He's her worst nightmare.
Twisted is a dark contemporary romance novel in the Never After series written by Emily McIntire and published in February 2023, based on Aladdin.
Yasmin Karam is the only daughter of a successful jewelry seller faced with a dilemma: she has to marry a man of her father's choice. However, she has her eyes on someone else - a servant in their home, who her father would never approve. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, she desperately seeks a solution.
Julian Faraci is a man who rose through the ranks - by any means necessary - and he has his eyes on claiming Sultans, the jewel company owned by the man who has been ill recently. When Yasmin approaches him in a bid to resolve her problems, he sees an opportunity to further his goals.
Thing is, though, neither can stand the other. But Julian is eager to convince Yasmin to marry him - one way or another.
Twisted contains the following examples:
- Abusive Parents: Julian grew up with a father who abused him and his mother, and his mother subsequently abusing him.
- Adaptational Job Change: Aiden, unlike Aladdin, has a proper job as a servant in the Karam family rather than a street thief.
- Affectionate Nickname: Various.
- Aiden has called Yasmin "Princess".
- Julian has called Yasmin "gattina".
- Age-Gap Romance: Yasmin is in her early twenties; Julian is in his late thirties. It doesn't stop them from slowly opening up to one another.
- Arranged Marriage: Yasmin's father has been trying to find a man to marry her in order to ensure the security of the business. Yasmin doesn't share his views on it.
- Blackmail: Julian uses his knowledge of the judge's dirty affairs with a younger woman to coerce him into validating his marriage to Yasmin.
- Calling the Old Woman Out: After everything Julian tried to do to support his mother and not being thanked in the slightest, coupled with gaining better insight into Yasmin's bond with her father despite her differing viewpoints, he works up the courage to speak to his mother one last time to call her out on how she had treated him while making it clear he doesn't want to see her again.
- Camera Fiend: Yasmin's favorite hobby was taking photos, which she used to make as many memories as she could.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Yasmin's father dies after she arrived to be by his side one last time, finally letting go after hanging on long enough to hear her again.
- Gold Digger: Aiden's only reason for being in a relationship with Yasmin for so long was because of her status as heiress of Sultans, and he had meant to marry her so he could lay claims on her fortunes.
- Heir Club for Men: The primary issue Yasmin can't stand is that she isn't allowed to inherit, let alone continue her father's business, on the grounds of her being a woman.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Having figured out the lamp has actually been found; Ian kidnapped Yasmin to force Julian to hand over the lamp in exchange for Yasmin.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Yasmin's life has been lonely despite having everything handed to her, her only friend being Riya and Aiden initially being her only lover.
- Love-Interest Traitor: Aiden has been a friend and secret lover of Yasmin for some time. However, Yasmin comes to find out that Aiden didn't love her as much as she thought and was trying to win her affection so he can claim her fortune and get out of the servant life.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Julian gets rid of Alexander Sokolov this way, making it appear as though he had a fatal car accident.
- Marrying the Mark: Julian's idea on acquiring Sultans for himself is to marry Yasmin and then get rid of her. It gets complicated when he actually grows fond of her.
- Meet the In-Laws: Yasmin and Julian visit his mother (at Yasmin's request, as she wanted to meet his mother at least once). It doesn't go well.
- Missing Mom: Yasmin's mother passed away years ago after Yasmin was born.
- My Greatest Failure: During his final days, Ali confesses to Yasmin that his biggest regret in his life is not being there for her more as a father despite everything he provided her growing up.
- Parents Suck at Matchmaking: Ali has been trying to arrange a suitable husband for Yasmin by the time she reached adulthood, but every suitor he finds either turns up missing or are revealed to be sexist jerks toward Yasmin.
- Patricide: After years of suffering abuse along with his mother, Julian eventually killed his father.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Yasmin and Julian's marriage started out as a fake because both wanted something out of the other in return for going along with marriage. Over time, their perspectives of each other and their relationship changed and slowly formed a genuine bond.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Julian has a pet snake, which he has used to not only kill his father, but also dispose of the bodies of every suitor that arrived to meet Yasmin, anyone who gives him trouble and Aiden while leaving nothing of them to be found.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Samuel, who was supposed to meet the Karam family as a suitor for Yasmin but met a nasty fate at Julian's hand at the prologue.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Ali, Yasmin's father, is dying of cancer and only has two months left to live.
