What do you think?
Rate this book
Our Twisted Affairs
1922: THE MISTRESS AND THE WIFE.
1883: THE MOURNER AND THE POET.
FOUR WOMEN, TWO FATES, A PROMISE THAT HAUNTS THEM ALL.
Life and Death strike a deal—to find each other in every lifetime, in every universe, until they can find one where they can live, and love, in peace. "Our Twisted Affairs" follows Death through the lens of a grieving writer, haunted by a love young and lost, and a mistress determined to uncover her past, no matter how many choose to get in her way.
Fighting with lust, yearning, greed, and an audience that can't seem to let them be, Death and Life must ask themselves the ultimate how far are they willing to go, and how many lives are they willing to take?
*Some events have been stripped from the record.
1883: THE MOURNER AND THE POET.
FOUR WOMEN, TWO FATES, A PROMISE THAT HAUNTS THEM ALL.
Life and Death strike a deal—to find each other in every lifetime, in every universe, until they can find one where they can live, and love, in peace. "Our Twisted Affairs" follows Death through the lens of a grieving writer, haunted by a love young and lost, and a mistress determined to uncover her past, no matter how many choose to get in her way.
Fighting with lust, yearning, greed, and an audience that can't seem to let them be, Death and Life must ask themselves the ultimate how far are they willing to go, and how many lives are they willing to take?
*Some events have been stripped from the record.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 8, 2026
4.5
dang the twists
i think that was genuinely such a creative book and it made me feel a lotta emotions, and it was just beautiful and amazing
also some people are kind of pyscho but i supported it
dang the twists
i think that was genuinely such a creative book and it made me feel a lotta emotions, and it was just beautiful and amazing
also some people are kind of pyscho but i supported it
September 4, 2025
Dual timeline. Web of lies. Flawed characters. (+WLW)
The title of ‘twisted affairs’ pretty much says it all.
Did I eat this up? Yes.
Did I question certain plot devices? Also yes.
But what a page-turner of a book, three acts and a little ode to stage play was an immersive touch.
The poetic and lyrical writing had me finger clapping to several lines.
This self-published debut has definitely put me on the author’s radar for when she comes out with more !
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The title of ‘twisted affairs’ pretty much says it all.
Did I eat this up? Yes.
Did I question certain plot devices? Also yes.
But what a page-turner of a book, three acts and a little ode to stage play was an immersive touch.
The poetic and lyrical writing had me finger clapping to several lines.
This self-published debut has definitely put me on the author’s radar for when she comes out with more !
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Want to Read
September 1, 2025'Life and Death strike a deal' — say less I am already crying.
December 31, 2025
!! This review contains spoilers !!
I have been following the author of this book on Instagram for a while. I had seen snipet of her book and was restlessly waiting for the release of what I thought would be an absolute treat of a novel, and prayed to God it would be on Kindle Unlimited. Needless to say, when my prayers were answered, I was ecstatic. This book had everything I knew I would enjoy. A story centred around four somewhat unhinged women, drama, and a love story? Sign me up.
I was so ready to like this book as much as I enjoyed the snippets she shared on instagram but this truly let me down in a way I can't help but feel betrayed over. This critique will be extensive, so I have separated it into different points to create more clarity.
i. The character's voice.
As much as I ate up the writing because I truly believe that the prose and sentence structure were marvellous, the character's voice was probably one of the things that has bothered me the most in this book. For the most part, their voices were almost indecipherable from each other's. Had I not had some kind of indication as to who was speaking, I would not have been able to tell who was talking, and this is a problem when the goal is to create unique characters that are different from one another. I found that they all spoke in the same manner (the more important characters at least), and it made it hard to follow dialogues, especially when the plot thickened, because every other line, I was confused about who was talking.
ii. The "Villains."
Every villainous character in this book did not seem to hold a semblance of what I can call good motivation; all of them were so cartoonishly evil that it was hard for me to take them seriously at all. The boy who SA'd Celeste never felt like a full character that you could despise for being so terrible, he felt like an obstables the author put in the way for the sake of having a evil guy who SAs girls in his free time and don't even get me started on his death, it was so ridiculous to me I could not help but laugh at how goofy it was. It was not intended as such, and I am aware of that, but the series of events that led to his death was so random, I felt nothing, and ended up laughing nervously. The end of his arc did not feel satisfying in the slightest, and I am usually the first one to enjoy when a terrible man goes down. But here I did not feel anything for him, because he did not feel real. The betrayal of the cop (I forgot his name, but he was essentially like Annette's mentor) did not even hit me because not only did I not know a thing about him, but I also did not even understand why he was betraying Annette. It felt so out of place, I had to reread the passage multiple times to be sure I had understood the scene. As for the nun and the other two women who kidnapped Annette There isn't much to say else about them. They also felt like villains who were put there for the sake of being villains; there was no sustenance for their character, just a deep void I wish would have been filled with actual characterization.
iii. the love stories
The book centers on two queer romances in a time period where being queer was basically a death sentence or, at the very least, was a jail-worthy offence, yet not once do any of the characters grapple with feelings of shame regarding their feelings (when we account for the fact that both Celeste and Annette were raised in organized religion this should have been more than present) or fear over people being suspicious. The way the love stories were approached felt way too modern, nothing like the forbidden love vibe I was expecting when set in the 20th century. In my opinion, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo nailed this aspect of queer love stories in a time when being queer was regarded as a crime, way better than this book did, at least. That's not even without mentioning how underwhelming Annette and Mia's stories were. I was expecting so much more emotion and drama. I frankly can't even picture them as a couple because I was practically given nothing to believe that they fell in love. Yes, we are shown them confessing, but what about the lingering glance, the brushing of hands when they shouldn't??? I was expecting a yearning the likes of which had never been witnessed before.
iv. the murders
When introduced to the book on Instagram, the author kept referencing the kill count of the main protagonist. This emphasis put on this made me believe that somehow the murders would be somewhat relevant, maybe even related to their profession (I will never grow tired of the girl boss assassin). Saying that I was deceived would be an understatement; I genuinely felt like the murders were at best random and unnecessary, at worst terribly executed. The fact that Annette has killed multiple seemingly important people and was able to get away with it without the police ever being suspicious of her seems very far-fetched to me, especially when we know that she is Chinese and that back in the days Chinese-American were "suspicious" for any reason. As for Celeste, the murder of Khara's father (it wasn't entirely her, but still) was so out of pocket. Like we have never seen this man before, not even one mention of him, and all the sudden he appears and we are thrown into a spiral where he is depicted as an abusive father who is about to kill Khara. How did we go from 0 to 100 so quickly? His death was very far-fetched for me, and I really don't know how to feel about that because once again, he doesn't feel like a fleshed-out character. I wished that the author had spent more time building towards this scene, for example, Khara's abuse shouldn't have come as a surprise to me; it should have been explicitly shown through bruises on her body that Celeste would notice or something of the sort.
v. the plot
The hook of this book was really intriguing, but throughout my reading, it felt as if it was going absolutely nowhere. Yes, Life and Death are in love, but what does it really have to do with the story at hand? Maybe it is just something deeper that I haven't understood, but I just couldn't see a link between the prologue and the rest of the book. My other problem with the plot is the whole looking for Annette's lineage. So, I am meant to believe that a grown woman has not thought a single time of going back to the orphanage she was raised in to know more about her parents or even tried to do anything truly meaningful to look for them? Because if it were me, I wouldn't need a stranger to kick start me into looking for my bio parents, but that's just me.
vi. The characters
I'm mostly talking about the protagonists here, but they were sincerely all over the place to the point where I genuinely could not find it in me to like them or care whether they lived or died. I liked Jin more than any of the women, and it's saying a lot when I like a man better than the supposedly badass protagonist. Celeste is a writer, or so we are told that she is. I cannot really think of anything she has written throughout the story, which defeats the purpose of being called a writer. At one point, the nun who raised her tells her that she should go to America, that she has so much to accomplish and that she'll do great, but I, as a reader, have not been given any reason to believe that her life in America would at all be more meaningful than the one she was living in England. Not only this, but her life in America is not grandiose nor so much better than the one she had in England. I would have believed that maybe she would try to write a book or something to live her "dream, but truly, I cannot tell you what her dream is, nor why she had to go to America if for no other reason than to have a plot device to reunite her with Khara. Annette is really not much better in terms of development, in my opinion. The author tells us on her Instagram that Annette is a survivor of religious trauma, which I was ready to eat up, but there is barely any mention of said trauma, and I can't tell you much of her aspirations or dreams either. She doesn't grow all that much from the beginning to the end of the story. That's not even mentioning the fact that she is a serial killer who tells us she feels bad, but we don't see her grapple with feelings of guilt like ever. I wish the author had spent more time showing us about her characters rather than telling us what they are. I'm not going to talk about the other character because this review is already long enough as it is, but you get the point already.
Overall, I think that this book had huge potential, but it required more work on the relationships between characters and on the characters themselves. The thing that really encouraged me to finish this book was the prose, which was incredible. As it is the author's first book, I'm aware that it's only a stepping stone in her career and that surely in the future her books will be much more to my taste.
I have been following the author of this book on Instagram for a while. I had seen snipet of her book and was restlessly waiting for the release of what I thought would be an absolute treat of a novel, and prayed to God it would be on Kindle Unlimited. Needless to say, when my prayers were answered, I was ecstatic. This book had everything I knew I would enjoy. A story centred around four somewhat unhinged women, drama, and a love story? Sign me up.
I was so ready to like this book as much as I enjoyed the snippets she shared on instagram but this truly let me down in a way I can't help but feel betrayed over. This critique will be extensive, so I have separated it into different points to create more clarity.
i. The character's voice.
As much as I ate up the writing because I truly believe that the prose and sentence structure were marvellous, the character's voice was probably one of the things that has bothered me the most in this book. For the most part, their voices were almost indecipherable from each other's. Had I not had some kind of indication as to who was speaking, I would not have been able to tell who was talking, and this is a problem when the goal is to create unique characters that are different from one another. I found that they all spoke in the same manner (the more important characters at least), and it made it hard to follow dialogues, especially when the plot thickened, because every other line, I was confused about who was talking.
ii. The "Villains."
Every villainous character in this book did not seem to hold a semblance of what I can call good motivation; all of them were so cartoonishly evil that it was hard for me to take them seriously at all. The boy who SA'd Celeste never felt like a full character that you could despise for being so terrible, he felt like an obstables the author put in the way for the sake of having a evil guy who SAs girls in his free time and don't even get me started on his death, it was so ridiculous to me I could not help but laugh at how goofy it was. It was not intended as such, and I am aware of that, but the series of events that led to his death was so random, I felt nothing, and ended up laughing nervously. The end of his arc did not feel satisfying in the slightest, and I am usually the first one to enjoy when a terrible man goes down. But here I did not feel anything for him, because he did not feel real. The betrayal of the cop (I forgot his name, but he was essentially like Annette's mentor) did not even hit me because not only did I not know a thing about him, but I also did not even understand why he was betraying Annette. It felt so out of place, I had to reread the passage multiple times to be sure I had understood the scene. As for the nun and the other two women who kidnapped Annette There isn't much to say else about them. They also felt like villains who were put there for the sake of being villains; there was no sustenance for their character, just a deep void I wish would have been filled with actual characterization.
iii. the love stories
The book centers on two queer romances in a time period where being queer was basically a death sentence or, at the very least, was a jail-worthy offence, yet not once do any of the characters grapple with feelings of shame regarding their feelings (when we account for the fact that both Celeste and Annette were raised in organized religion this should have been more than present) or fear over people being suspicious. The way the love stories were approached felt way too modern, nothing like the forbidden love vibe I was expecting when set in the 20th century. In my opinion, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo nailed this aspect of queer love stories in a time when being queer was regarded as a crime, way better than this book did, at least. That's not even without mentioning how underwhelming Annette and Mia's stories were. I was expecting so much more emotion and drama. I frankly can't even picture them as a couple because I was practically given nothing to believe that they fell in love. Yes, we are shown them confessing, but what about the lingering glance, the brushing of hands when they shouldn't??? I was expecting a yearning the likes of which had never been witnessed before.
iv. the murders
When introduced to the book on Instagram, the author kept referencing the kill count of the main protagonist. This emphasis put on this made me believe that somehow the murders would be somewhat relevant, maybe even related to their profession (I will never grow tired of the girl boss assassin). Saying that I was deceived would be an understatement; I genuinely felt like the murders were at best random and unnecessary, at worst terribly executed. The fact that Annette has killed multiple seemingly important people and was able to get away with it without the police ever being suspicious of her seems very far-fetched to me, especially when we know that she is Chinese and that back in the days Chinese-American were "suspicious" for any reason. As for Celeste, the murder of Khara's father (it wasn't entirely her, but still) was so out of pocket. Like we have never seen this man before, not even one mention of him, and all the sudden he appears and we are thrown into a spiral where he is depicted as an abusive father who is about to kill Khara. How did we go from 0 to 100 so quickly? His death was very far-fetched for me, and I really don't know how to feel about that because once again, he doesn't feel like a fleshed-out character. I wished that the author had spent more time building towards this scene, for example, Khara's abuse shouldn't have come as a surprise to me; it should have been explicitly shown through bruises on her body that Celeste would notice or something of the sort.
v. the plot
The hook of this book was really intriguing, but throughout my reading, it felt as if it was going absolutely nowhere. Yes, Life and Death are in love, but what does it really have to do with the story at hand? Maybe it is just something deeper that I haven't understood, but I just couldn't see a link between the prologue and the rest of the book. My other problem with the plot is the whole looking for Annette's lineage. So, I am meant to believe that a grown woman has not thought a single time of going back to the orphanage she was raised in to know more about her parents or even tried to do anything truly meaningful to look for them? Because if it were me, I wouldn't need a stranger to kick start me into looking for my bio parents, but that's just me.
vi. The characters
I'm mostly talking about the protagonists here, but they were sincerely all over the place to the point where I genuinely could not find it in me to like them or care whether they lived or died. I liked Jin more than any of the women, and it's saying a lot when I like a man better than the supposedly badass protagonist. Celeste is a writer, or so we are told that she is. I cannot really think of anything she has written throughout the story, which defeats the purpose of being called a writer. At one point, the nun who raised her tells her that she should go to America, that she has so much to accomplish and that she'll do great, but I, as a reader, have not been given any reason to believe that her life in America would at all be more meaningful than the one she was living in England. Not only this, but her life in America is not grandiose nor so much better than the one she had in England. I would have believed that maybe she would try to write a book or something to live her "dream, but truly, I cannot tell you what her dream is, nor why she had to go to America if for no other reason than to have a plot device to reunite her with Khara. Annette is really not much better in terms of development, in my opinion. The author tells us on her Instagram that Annette is a survivor of religious trauma, which I was ready to eat up, but there is barely any mention of said trauma, and I can't tell you much of her aspirations or dreams either. She doesn't grow all that much from the beginning to the end of the story. That's not even mentioning the fact that she is a serial killer who tells us she feels bad, but we don't see her grapple with feelings of guilt like ever. I wish the author had spent more time showing us about her characters rather than telling us what they are. I'm not going to talk about the other character because this review is already long enough as it is, but you get the point already.
Overall, I think that this book had huge potential, but it required more work on the relationships between characters and on the characters themselves. The thing that really encouraged me to finish this book was the prose, which was incredible. As it is the author's first book, I'm aware that it's only a stepping stone in her career and that surely in the future her books will be much more to my taste.
January 18, 2026
I really loved the story like it made me emotional sometimes and really was engaging and never boring. I love the poetic vibe THIS IS A RECOMMENDED READ!!!
October 3, 2025
I bought this book after seeing an Instagram reel from the author and just wow! I'm blown away! Not just from the beautifully poetic prose but the intertwining of insightful messages throughout the book. There were so many lines that made me sit and ponder for a minute, and that's the mark of a truly good book!
I loved the split timeline and how the characters connect by the end. I love the handling of love and loss, what it means to love, and how sometimes love can lead to our downfalls. The sapphic yearning had me smiling from ear to ear. Truly hope this book gets more love ❤️
I loved the split timeline and how the characters connect by the end. I love the handling of love and loss, what it means to love, and how sometimes love can lead to our downfalls. The sapphic yearning had me smiling from ear to ear. Truly hope this book gets more love ❤️
September 27, 2025
Four women. Two tragedies. A promise that haunts them all.
4⭐️
I loved the story, captivating plot and mystery which caught me in warm hug and which forced my reading slump to go away.
Story connects two time periods, but how? And why? Every new chapter added to my obsession and every carefully crafted sentence dragged me deeper into devastatingly beautiful place.
Such a great book, i loved how some parts of sentences or confessions or mature (i guess) content was hidden with black space, you might think it’s bad, but i was so into this. You are getting a general story provided by @written_by_kiana , but some details? Some details are on you and your imagination.
(You might notice that i’m giving closer to zero details, but it’s intentional. Story deserves to be seen from first till last sentence, and with characters you see the world, beauty and sufferings of friendships. Friendships which changed lives of four amazing women.).
4⭐️
I loved the story, captivating plot and mystery which caught me in warm hug and which forced my reading slump to go away.
Story connects two time periods, but how? And why? Every new chapter added to my obsession and every carefully crafted sentence dragged me deeper into devastatingly beautiful place.
Such a great book, i loved how some parts of sentences or confessions or mature (i guess) content was hidden with black space, you might think it’s bad, but i was so into this. You are getting a general story provided by @written_by_kiana , but some details? Some details are on you and your imagination.
(You might notice that i’m giving closer to zero details, but it’s intentional. Story deserves to be seen from first till last sentence, and with characters you see the world, beauty and sufferings of friendships. Friendships which changed lives of four amazing women.).
Read
December 1, 2025*Some events have been stripped from the record.
This might be the best debut novel I've read in a long time. I had to rewrite this review a few times, because it's hard to put into words how I feel about this book; I'd like to highlight how impressive it is that this is Al-agha's first book. This novel's structure is a wild mix of things that are already hard to handle by themselves, but somehow Al-agha executes them together wonderfully! The story follows two women from very different timelines: 1880s rural England and 1920s New York, USA. It's established from the start that both stories are connected, and I was theorising throughout the novel! In the end, they merge satisfyingly in the perfect mix of happiness and lack of closure. When everyone said that wlw romance was tragic, I was not expecting this level of it. I was just ugly crying through the last chapters and the epilogue. The POVs are raw and poetic, each in its own way, and I knew that I had to take a breath whenever it was Celeste's turn, especially if chunks were missing. Al-agha maintained a wonderful narration for every mood, and it made me feel disgusted, uncomfortable, sad, and angry. Because the novel carries two different storylines, it was a rollercoaster of emotions, and Al-agha managed the chapter break-offs well; it kept you hooked and shocked you in the right moments. The complex relationship between the 4 women is not shied away from, and it was really satisfying to feel something other than adoration for the main characters at all times. There were times when I found myself doubting whether it would be good for them to end up together after all 😭 Additionally, the references scattered through the book were little gut-wrenching details that made you go "awww" or "...oh". I love this cast of characters, and I'd like to expand more on them below in the spoilers section.
A special mention is also required for the obvious best element added to the book. The censoring was a risky element to add, and I was certainly frustrated every time I felt I was missing a vital part of the story; however, it's like an acquired taste. Coupled with the peculiar first-person retelling with an additional retelling, the story sometimes felt like a police report, which is perfect, in my opinion. The implications behind every censored part add so much to the atmosphere and mood of the story, and it's a unique way of keeping the reader engaged with the storytelling until the very end of it. It's hard not to ramble away about this book–and I might one day in my blog, but I'd like to keep the review focused and concise so it reaches other people!
SPOILER SECTION OF THE REVIEW AHEAD! You've been warned.
I've been following Kiana for years now, and I was thrilled to hear that Our Twisted Affairs was finally getting published after all its development. This might mean that my review comes from a special corner of my heart that bought this book as soon as it came out, a few days after my birthday. I couldn't help but start crying again in the acknowledgements, and if you ever read this, I'm really proud of you, Kiana, and I can't wait to keep following your journey as an author <33
This was a great book; it implements many complex themes, characters and elements that serve as a very interesting read that does not take that long to consume. I really recommend it, and it definitely deserves to be held in high regard, especially as a debut novel!
(Gosh, and I said I wouldn't yap that much)
November 21, 2025
Every single word from the dedication to the end of the acknowledgements can only be described as a masterpiece of poetic pulchritudinous.
It's also absolutely INSANE the formatting is one of a kind and super creative. I love that narrator being the concept of death. I love the parallels and the way everything goes up in the end. I love the anger I felt at each redaction and they way it made so much sense for them to be there!
I love the way this book touched my soul and made me put it down every chapter just to possess the sheer brilliance.
I love the way my jaw was dropped through the floor increasingly more and more while reading this. I was like "WTF WTF ????!!!!!!! OH?????? !!!!! OMG!!! WHAT WTF DID I JUST READ????!!! WHAT IS HAPPENI-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
And I will be reading this at least twice a year for the rest of my life. 100/10 highly recommend.
It's also absolutely INSANE the formatting is one of a kind and super creative. I love that narrator being the concept of death. I love the parallels and the way everything goes up in the end. I love the anger I felt at each redaction and they way it made so much sense for them to be there!
I love the way this book touched my soul and made me put it down every chapter just to possess the sheer brilliance.
I love the way my jaw was dropped through the floor increasingly more and more while reading this. I was like "WTF WTF ????!!!!!!! OH?????? !!!!! OMG!!! WHAT WTF DID I JUST READ????!!! WHAT IS HAPPENI-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
And I will be reading this at least twice a year for the rest of my life. 100/10 highly recommend.
October 14, 2025
Honestly I think this book is really good. I like the different time lines and how they’re connected. I actually loved the writing style, though I found the whole book hard to understand at times. But if your interested in reading this book I would definitely recommend. I would love to read more of this authors work!
December 12, 2025
The writing is so creative and captivating, this is the first book I finished in years since my reading habits died.
The characters are intriguing, relatable and so real there's no way you won't love them. And hate them. And love them again and hate them again.
Its a wonderful book and thank you to the author that brought this salvation to my forgotten love interest: reading.
The characters are intriguing, relatable and so real there's no way you won't love them. And hate them. And love them again and hate them again.
Its a wonderful book and thank you to the author that brought this salvation to my forgotten love interest: reading.
August 30, 2025
i wrote it. it’s fine, I guess
September 23, 2025
dnf
unfortunately I couldn't get through it I had really high hopes
unfortunately I couldn't get through it I had really high hopes
December 29, 2025
sooooooooooo good hopefully theres another book soon but from life's perspective!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews