King of Pride

Ana Huang originally self-published books on Amazon with her Twisted series. The series consists of four interconnected books, each focusing on a particular couple in the Washington, DC, area. The four female protagonists of the series—Ava Chen, Bridget von Ascheberg, Jules Ambrose, and Stella Alonso—are best friends who fall in love with their respective male love interests—Alex Volkov, Rhys Larsen, Josh Chen, and Christian Harper. Huang’s popularity skyrocketed after her books became popular with the literary cohort of TikTok called “BookTok.” Following her massive success, Huang’s Twisted series (and eventually past and future works) were acquired by Bloom Books and traditionally published in 2022. Huang is a contemporary romance novelist who specializes in the dark romance sub-category. Her books often include morally ambiguous, wealthy male and female protagonists, as well as elements of action, intrigue, and danger and explicit sexual content.

Huang is an Asian American and normalizes diversity in her casts and plots. Vivian Lau from King of Wrath, Kai Young and Isabella Valencia from King of Pride, and Ava and Josh Chen from Twisted Love and Twisted Hate are all Asian Americans with a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.