So cute. This book was entertaining and the characters were very likeable. I thought the story was funny and swoony

I have had a thing for enemies to lovers books lately. While they were not what I would normally label as enemies, it still fit in a gray area kind of way. I loved the writing style of this author and the growth and history of the characters. Their backstories made sense with how they responded to the things happening around them. The characters showed growth and maturity as the story went on. This book was thoroughly enjoyable and I look forward to seeing what this author writes in the future.

Thus is one of those books you wish you could read for the first time again. Alas, time travel has not been invented.

🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️/5

Okay but why am I oddly obsessed with this book?

This was my first book by this author, but I’m thinking it won’t be my last. It was filled with funny, swoony, and intimate moments. And lots of our favorite tropes!

This book wasn’t perfect, by any means. And while I didn’t love everything, I’m still crazy about it for some reason. I loved Dash. He was complicated and messy and he has faults. But I loved that no matter what, he was trying to be better. And he was always 100% himself. Plus his super romantic moment near the end was just *heart eyes* and tragically sad at the same time.

I enjoyed Sophie. I didn’t love her. But I rooted for her. She was slightly frustrating at times, especially when it came to revisiting her exes. But she was growing too and living her best life. So I can knock her for that too much. Plus she was the good kind of crazy and messy, which made for some pretty funny moments.

I enjoyed the chemistry between Dash and Sophie and I like that while they agreed to a sort of friends with benefits arrangement, they really just accidentally fell in love with each other. And that was adorable and angsty to watch.

There was quite a bit going on in this story but I don’t think it really took away from the romance portion. The pacing was set to be a quick and fun read with some heavier moments interspersed. So I never felt bogged down or too annoyed for long. Plus there was some LGBT+, alcoholism, dysfunctional family, pacemaker, and harsh self reflection representation, which I think was done well.

I feel like this book is a vibe. And it might not be for everyone. But for right now in my life it was a breath of fresh air and really made me enjoy my commute to and from work while listening to it!

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa has a premise that instantly attracted me to it, along with the great cover design.

But honestly…I was a bit let down by this book. The two leads, Sofie and Dash, were not particularly interesting or enjoyable to follow, though they should have been based on their descriptions. I found Sofie a bit grating, to be quite honest. And the constant discussion/mention of TikTok were, to be blunt, annoying.

I think this book has an audience, perhaps younger romance readers (I’m a young millennial for reference), and those who have an interest in celebrities and social media.

This ended up being a DNF for me. It had promising elements but I felt as if I was reading forever and was just not into learning more about the MCs.

This was a bit of a tough one for me to rate. I enjoyed it and thought there were a lot of great components to the story, but I also couldn’t seem to get excited about it.

I loved the tropes that were used, and I also loved that the FMC is a romance author. Although the name of the MMC makes me think of a dog (Dash), I didn’t think an author would be able to make a blonde leading man quite so hot.

I think that if you’re a big romance reader, it’s likely that you’ll enjoy this book. I plan to give the author another try and see if it’s a winner for me!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for my gifted copy!

there’s not a lot that irks me more than when a book references tiktok. don’t get me wrong, in some instances pop culture references CAN be done right, or less badly, but having them take up a big part of a book will make me instantly want to dnf.

Romance author Sophie Lyon's ironic secret just went viral: she's never been in love-and it's ruining her reputation. With a manuscript deadline looming,
Blurb:
Sophie makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writer's block: reunite with her exes (including her last girlfriend Carla, the one person she could have loved) to learn why she's never fallen in love, and document it all for her millions of new online followers......

Thoughts: Thank you @netgalley for the gifted copy of this book..
I thought it was a cute love story and I loved how the main characters had imperfections ...
I liked how it addressed real life problems such as alcoholism...
I could relate to the main character .. love is not always easy to tind ..
I would definitely read another book by this author

I so very much enjoyed this book. I love an interconnected stand alone world and the call back to characters from “For Butter or Worse”. I liked the artistic tie ins and the TikTok influence. I’m usually a sucker for “best friend’s sibling” tropes, and was not disappointed. Our struggling, strong and silent MMC, and the “lets go back to all my old loves to find out why we didn’t work” FMC really were a chef’s kiss.

Thank you to the talented Erin La Rosa, Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. All thoughts in review are my own.

This was perfect.

An absolute, well written, fun romance that I need to pick up in person.

I enjoyed the banter between the characters and felt like this was exactly the story I needed for my reading slump.

I wanted to like this book but sadly it was a miss for me. There were too many pop culture references and the use of so many tropes seemed forced. I also did not like either of the characters causing me to stop reading long before the end of the book.

Cute romance - best friend’s brother and one bed trope! It was an easy read. It did touch on the topic of alcoholism. It also explored family dynamics and attachment styles. I didn’t feel monumentally connected to the characters, but it was an enjoyable easy read!

Terribly sorry this is incredibly late, I've had an interesting last couple of years, and I just found a bunch of untyped up reviews and notes. A thousand apologies.

Tropes: Friends to Lovers, forced proximity, slow burn,
CW: alcoholism,

Sophie is an author under a deadline, scratch that, Sophie is a romance author who just went viral for saying she's never been in love. Following the wave of new followers and the circumstances, Sophie decides to meet with her ex's and see why they never fell in love. Her landlord, and brother's best friend, former Hollywood star decides to help her.

Dash is an imperfect mmc who is working on himself. We, the reader, are privy to his insecurities and fears. Dash is a recovering alcoholic. He has demons from his child star past that he is actively trying to heal from. Its refreshing to see that love can be found in the dark. Love can be found when you least expect it. Healing from the past in order to embrace the future is a whole journey. Dash makes it a point to attend therapy so that he can be a better person for Sophie. This! This is what the girlies want! Please figure yourself out so that way we can be great!

Sophie and Dash felt real. They seemed touchable likely due to them being "flawed" characters. (Sophie has a pacemaker, not that that makes her flawed cuz it absolutely doesn't, but she does have insecurities about it.)

Overall, cute, quick read. Dash def carried the book but it was likely because I felt like we got to know him more. The TikTok bits got a bit repetitive at times, but it wasn't unbearable.

2.5! Plot Twist was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it had some cute and heartfelt moments, and I appreciated the representation—especially Sophie’s pansexuality and the inclusion of a character with a pacemaker. It also tackled deeper topics like alcoholism and family dysfunction, which gave the story more weight. The dual POV and the friends-to-lovers dynamic had potential, and I liked the idea of Sophie confronting her past relationships in order to finish her novel.

That said, the story didn’t fully click for me. The constant pop culture references felt excessive and pulled me out of the narrative rather than adding charm. I also struggled to connect with the main characters at times—especially Dash—and the banter occasionally felt forced. While I can see why others might enjoy this book, it wasn’t entirely my vibe. Still, a solid effort with meaningful themes and some sweet moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute romance. It was a bit slow to start and I probably would have DNF'd it but I liked the narrator's voice so much that I kept listening.

Very very cute and fun! I love a solid, cutesy read and this definitely checked my boxes. A perfect mix of adorable and spicy!!

I couldn’t get into this one and DNF it. I tried to read it when I first got a copy. Maybe one day I’ll come back and try again.

Free e-book review is my own.

This was cute and had a ton of potential. I just felt like the author wanted to hit all the buzz topics. There were a lot of things that did nothing for the story but the key word search would make this a book a lot of people would pick up.

I personally found this a little boring and could not wait to finish it. I loved for butter or worse by this author. This was very trope driven instead of plot and character driven and that kind of annoyed me. Also the many references to TikTok. I could not stand Sophie or Dash and probably should have DNF