Twisted by Emily McIntire Summary, Characters and Themes
Twisted by Emily McIntire is a dark, contemporary romance that reimagines the tale of Aladdin through a psychologically intense and morally gray lens.
It centers around Yasmin Karam, the daughter of a powerful mogul, and Julian Faraci, her father’s enigmatic and ruthless COO. As Yasmin faces the pressure of fulfilling her father’s dying wishes, Julian manipulates his way into her life, sparking a relationship fueled by obsession, dominance, and secrets. The novel explores themes of power, control, trauma, and forbidden desire, making it a compelling read for fans of twisted love stories where darkness meets vulnerability.
Summary
Yasmin is torn between familial obligation and her own desires, most notably her secret relationship with Aidan, the son of household staff. Despite her love for Aidan, she hides the affair from her father, knowing it would never gain his approval.
Enter Julian Faraci, Ali’s calculating and mysterious COO. With a dark past rooted in abuse and abandonment, Julian has clawed his way to power by any means necessary. Beneath his composed exterior lies a deeply damaged man driven by control and a hunger for dominance.
Early in the book, Julian is revealed to be eliminating Yasmin’s potential suitors, including Samuel, whom he captures and presumably kills, ensuring no one else can claim her or the power her marriage represents.
As Ali’s health declines, he expresses his wish for Yasmin to marry someone who can carry on the family legacy. Yasmin is devastated. She wants to tell her father about Aidan but fears the consequences.
Julian overhears this and hatches a new plan: to marry Yasmin himself. By doing so, he could not only gain control of the Karam empire but also satisfy his obsession with her.
Julian presents himself as the ideal suitor—loyal, competent, and trusted by Ali. Yasmin, feeling cornered, initially resists, but under pressure and with her father’s condition deteriorating, she agrees to the engagement.
Julian uses the engagement as a weapon of control, gradually isolating Yasmin from Aidan and manipulating her emotions.
Tensions escalate as Julian’s manipulation deepens. Yasmin, emotionally overwhelmed, tries to hold onto her love for Aidan.
But as Julian exerts more psychological pressure—and as her father’s condition worsens—her emotional stability begins to fray. Julian’s behavior is a blend of menace and seduction; he oscillates between cruelty and passionate desire, making Yasmin question her own responses.
Julian’s obsession grows darker. He views Yasmin as his to possess—not just in name or power, but entirely. Eventually, he orchestrates Aidan’s removal from Yasmin’s life, both emotionally and physically.
This breaking point devastates Yasmin. Grieving and furious, she tries to rebel, but Julian’s dominance is nearly complete. At the same time, cracks begin to show in his hardened facade as genuine feelings emerge.
Despite everything, Julian begins to fall for Yasmin in a way he never anticipated.
After Ali dies, Yasmin inherits control of the company—on the condition she stays married. Now legally bound and emotionally entangled with Julian, she begins to shift.
She realizes that to survive and protect her legacy, she must become as ruthless as the man who caged her. Yasmin grows colder, more strategic, and begins to push back against Julian’s control.
As secrets unravel—including Julian’s traumatic past and the full extent of his manipulation—Yasmin confronts him. Surprisingly, instead of hatred, their confrontation sparks a twisted understanding.
They are both broken, both shaped by pain. Rather than destroy each other, they find a way to coexist within the toxic intimacy they’ve created.
The epilogue jumps forward, showing Yasmin as a powerful woman in full control of her life and business. Julian remains by her side, no longer as her captor, but as her equal.
Their relationship is far from conventional, still steeped in darkness, but bound by mutual understanding and a fierce, if corrupted, loyalty.
In the end, Twisted delivers a provocative and emotionally intense tale of power, obsession, and the blurred lines between love and control.
Characters
Yasmin Karam
Yasmin Karam, the protagonist of Twisted, is a complex and multi-faceted character shaped by her family’s expectations and her own emotional turmoil. Raised in a world where duty and legacy are paramount, she is thrust into a series of impossible decisions that test her loyalty, love, and self-worth.
Yasmin is introduced as a strong-willed woman, loyal to her father, but also constrained by the societal and familial expectations placed upon her. Her relationship with Aidan, a man of lower social standing, highlights her desire for true love and freedom from the oppressive weight of her family’s influence.
This forbidden love is a core element of Yasmin’s internal conflict. Her struggle to reconcile her personal desires with her responsibilities as the heir to her father’s empire drives much of her character’s arc.
Over the course of the novel, Yasmin is forced into a marriage with Julian, a man she views as manipulative and dangerous. Yet, she finds herself increasingly drawn to him, creating a complex and toxic dynamic between them.
Her character evolves from one of passive submission to a more empowered and ruthless individual, particularly after her father’s death. Yasmin’s journey is one of survival, navigating the intricacies of power, love, and betrayal in a world that constantly forces her to choose between her personal desires and the legacy of her family.
Julian Faraci
Julian Faraci is one of the most intriguing and morally ambiguous characters in Twisted. From the outset, Julian is portrayed as a cold, calculating individual, driven by a need to control and dominate the world around him.
His backstory, which includes a violent and abusive childhood, sheds light on his psychological motivations. Julian’s primary goal throughout the novel is to seize control of the Karam family’s fortune and legacy, and he views Yasmin as a means to achieve this.
Initially, he seems to be a purely ruthless character, orchestrating the elimination of potential suitors for Yasmin and manipulating those around him to further his ambitions. However, as the story progresses, Julian’s relationship with Yasmin grows increasingly complicated.
His attraction to her moves beyond a mere power play; it becomes a twisted form of obsession and desire. Julian’s emotional coldness slowly begins to crack as he becomes entangled in a deeper, darker bond with Yasmin.
Julian’s complex character is a blend of vulnerability and dominance. By the novel’s conclusion, he is no longer just a villainous figure but a man who finds himself emotionally compromised.
Aidan
Aidan, though not as central to the plot as Yasmin and Julian, plays a significant role in Yasmin’s life and the early conflict of the story. He represents the life Yasmin yearns for: one free from the oppressive control of her family’s expectations and the dark world Julian represents.
Aidan is introduced as the son of a household staff member, a position that inherently places him in a lower social status compared to Yasmin, which makes their relationship forbidden and dangerous. His love for Yasmin is sincere, and he serves as a counterpoint to the manipulative forces surrounding her.
However, his inability to fully comprehend the complexities of Yasmin’s situation—her duty to her family, her father’s health, and her eventual forced engagement to Julian—leads to tension between them. Aidan’s presence in the early chapters of the novel symbolizes freedom and the potential for a different life.
Yet his eventual removal from the story, both physically and emotionally, underscores the relentless nature of Yasmin’s entrapment. His relationship with Yasmin is one of love and longing, but also one of tragedy, as their dreams for a future together are ultimately crushed by the weight of the world they live in.
Ali Karam
Ali Karam, Yasmin’s father, serves as both a figure of authority and a symbol of the old-world values that bind Yasmin to her responsibilities. His role in the story is pivotal, not just because he is the head of the Karam empire, but because his declining health becomes a key driver in Yasmin’s decision-making.
Ali’s illness and his request for Yasmin to marry for the sake of the family’s legacy place her in a moral and emotional bind. Despite his apparent love for his daughter, Ali’s insistence on this marriage reflects the way in which he has prioritized the Karam legacy over Yasmin’s happiness.
Ali is not a fully realized character in terms of personal development, as his role is more symbolic—he is the patriarch whose decline forces the plot forward and sets the stage for Yasmin’s eventual engagement to Julian.
His character can be seen as both a victim of circumstance, trapped by his own need to protect the family’s wealth and power, and as a source of Yasmin’s greatest burden.
Themes
Power and Manipulation in Intimate Relationships
One of the central and most complex themes of Twisted is the interplay of power and manipulation within intimate relationships, particularly in the connection between Yasmin and Julian. Both characters are trapped in a delicate dance of control and submission, where power is not just a matter of physical force but emotional and psychological manipulation.
Julian, as the COO and key player in the Karam family business, initially seeks to control Yasmin for personal and professional gain. He uses her father’s illness and the legacy of the family business as leverage, placing her in an impossible position.
The manipulation escalates as Julian’s obsession with Yasmin grows, blurring the lines between desire and dominance. Yasmin, initially resistant, finds herself increasingly drawn to Julian despite recognizing the danger he poses.
This theme questions the boundaries of love, control, and submission, examining how power dynamics can shift and evolve in relationships where one party constantly seeks to assert dominance over the other.
Family Loyalty and Sacrifice in the Face of Personal Desire
Another deeply woven theme in the novel is the tension between familial duty and personal desire, as experienced by Yasmin. Yasmin’s devotion to her father is profound, yet it comes at the expense of her own happiness and freedom.
Her father’s declining health and his demand for her to marry for the sake of family legacy create a moral dilemma. She is torn between honoring his wishes and her secret relationship with Aidan, which she knows would be seen as a betrayal of her family’s values.
This struggle highlights the difficult choices individuals face when loyalty to family clashes with personal passions and desires. Yasmin’s ultimate decision to comply with her father’s wishes reveals how deeply family expectations can shape an individual’s life, even at the cost of their emotional and romantic well-being.
It also reflects the weight of generational obligations, where the next in line must carry the burden of decisions that may not align with their own desires.
The Blurring of Morality and Justice in a Corrupt World
The novel grapples with the idea of morality in a world where actions that would typically be deemed immoral are often justified by larger goals or circumstances. Julian, a man with a violent past and a calculated nature, operates in a morally gray area.
His manipulation of Yasmin and his violent actions—such as eliminating suitors and emotionally tormenting Yasmin—are justified by his pursuit of power and control over the family business. However, as his relationship with Yasmin becomes more complicated, the reader begins to see his vulnerability and emotional turmoil, suggesting that his actions are rooted in deep psychological scars.
This theme forces readers to question what is considered “right” and “wrong” when both parties in a situation are deeply flawed and when their choices are influenced by factors such as survival, trauma, and the pursuit of power.
It also explores the notion of justice as something subjective—what one person sees as a manipulation, another may see as a necessary step toward securing a future.
Psychological Torture and the Impact of Abuse on Identity and Relationships
At the heart of the novel lies the theme of psychological trauma and its long-lasting effects on identity and relationships. Julian’s character is shaped by his abusive past, growing up in a violent environment that distorted his sense of self-worth and relationships.
His experiences with abuse fuel his need for control and domination, particularly in his interactions with Yasmin. For her part, Yasmin is not only fighting for control over her own life but is also struggling with the emotional consequences of her relationship with Julian.
Her deep love for Aidan and her loyalty to her family conflict with her involuntary emotional and physical attraction to Julian, a man who represents everything she despises. This dynamic underlines the destructive power of trauma, where past abuse continues to shape future interactions and identities, often distorting the natural flow of love and trust.
It also examines how psychological manipulation can deeply affect one’s sense of agency, causing the characters to question their actions, desires, and even their identities.
The Corruption of Love and the Complexities of Desire
The novel delves into the corruption of love, particularly through its portrayal of a toxic, but deeply passionate, relationship between Yasmin and Julian. What starts as a power struggle and manipulation soon evolves into something far more complex.
Despite their hate-filled exchanges and the constant push-and-pull of control, an undeniable attraction emerges between the two. Their connection is fraught with contradictions—intense desire intertwined with hatred, power, and fear.
The relationship challenges conventional notions of love, suggesting that it can be a combination of dominance, submission, obsession, and sacrifice. This theme explores the darker aspects of human desire, where love is not a gentle, nurturing force but a consuming, sometimes destructive one.
It asks whether love can truly exist in a relationship where power is the primary motivator, and whether it can be reconciled with morality or personal freedom.