Some of the writing was a bit cringey, but overall the story was enjoyable. I felt for Dash, and Sophie was a great female lead. I would be interested in a story about Poppy!

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Once teen heartthrob meets romance writer- do I need to say more?! It was cute and funny. Dash and Sophie were both great characters, their development was good. Plot was 4/5 love me a good grumpy/sunshine FWB!

This book was a bit of a struggle to get through. I found the plot a bit dull and underdeveloped, with characters that I failed to become invested in.
The cover art is so cute and I did enjoy the premise, but found it to just need a bit more “something” to really make it a book I would enjoy reading or recommend to my audience.

Song of the book: I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for a fair review! It was just hard for me to get into this book. I found the plot slightly boring, and I just could not bring myself to care that much about Dash and Sophie getting together. I don’t even know what my issue was. I think it was possibly that they had not interacted much before the start of the book, so the six-week timeline of their relationship felt off to me. They got really close really quickly, and it was not working for me.

I thought this book had a few elements that were oddly executed. I did not read the first book in the series (about Sophie’s sister, Nina), but I still felt that Nina was seriously missing from the novel. She and Sophie get into a major fight pretty early on, and I don’t think enough was done to resolve the issue, despite the fact that they have a conversation about it. Additionally, I don’t want to give spoilers, but I found the grand gesture totally bizarre and WAY too much for a weeks-long relationship. It made me cringe a little.

I thought that the TikTok aspect of this book would annoy me more than it did, but I honestly didn’t mind it (although I’m afraid that it might feel dated pretty quickly). If anything, even though the description explicitly mentions how Sophie gains internet fame by talking about her exes online, the book kind of felt like having the scenes with the exes was kind of a chore. It was almost like it didn’t add much to the plot (other than Sophie’s reunion with Carla, which just led to a love triangle that probably shouldn’t have existed, since it was obvious the entire time that Sophie was over Carla).

Overall, I wish I had a better time reading this than I did. I don’t think I’d actively recommend this book to anyone, but I certainly won’t discourage people from reading it if they like the premise or the author.

Sophie is trying to figure out why she hasn’t been able to fall in love by meeting up with her ex’s for answers. It felt like she wasn’t getting anything from the meetups & it started to feel a bit repetitive. I’m also not a fan of spicy scenes in books & find myself cringing through them so I really didn’t enjoy that. On a positive note though, both main characters are so likeable & I was rooting for them from the beginning. I like how it talked about Dash’s journey through addiction & recovery & it was nice seeing his character grow throughout the book. I loved how both of them helped the other through their personal struggles & building a relationship at the same time. Overall this book is a very cute love story & gave a romcom movie vibe!

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for the gifted book, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is an intriguing romance novel about a romance author who has never been in love. It follows her on her journey of viral fame from her accidental announcement of her lack of love, her revisiting exes & rediscovering herself. It also deals with her landlord that happens to be best friend’s brother.

Plot Twist is good for fans of
🖤Romance Novels
🖤Best Friend’s Brother
🖤TikTok Fans
🖤Dual POV
🖤 Author Meets Former Actor/Current Crafter

This book is full of a lot of chaotic mess & it is quite a journey. Both characters are on their own rollercoaster & experience tough times with some growing pains. There are some uncomfortable & awkward times.

There are parts where I really loved their story & then, there were parts where I just felt uncomfortable & not connected. It felt like a bit of a bumpy ride with starts & stops. This story has a lot of imperfect people doing imperfect things.

I really appreciated Dash’s story & felt the authenticity of that. That was a very important story to tell. I also loved the pacemaker representation & I so appreciate seeing that with a main character in a romance novel. Disability representation is hugely important to me so I am grateful for that, & I did really enjoy how they came together.

Content Warnings: addiction, relapse

Since I rated this 3 stars, I will not be sharing this to my social or Amazon.

Sophie Lyon’s having trouble writing her next romance novel, and she blames it on the fact that despite past relationships, she’s never been in love. Sophie plans to overcome her writer’s block by discussing past relationships with her exes to learn why she's never fallen in love. This includes her ex-girlfriend Carla, the closest she's come so far. Sophie’s landlord is former teen heartthrob Dash Montrose, who is familiar with social media. He has reasons to be anonymous online, from maintaining his sobriety, past fame, and the fact that his family is Hollywood royalty, so Dash has to steer clear of scandal. Sophie and Dash grow closer, but neither feel ready for a relationship. So Sophie suggests what any good romance author would: a friends-with-benefits arrangement. That would be safe, right?

It's kind of funny for a rom-com writer to fall into her own rom-com situation, and that's the premise we're working with here. Sophie literally wakes up after a drunken confession of never being in love going viral on TikTok and stitching a response is now leading her to explore how past relationships did or didn't go, with a six-week deadline for her next novel being due. We go through several fun romance novel tropes, though the seriousness of Dash's sobriety and Sophie’s fear of commitment and falling in love are handled with care. Both make some doozies of mistakes as they deal with the attempt at being friends with benefits, and not all of them are because they catch feelings along the way. Life and love are hard, and both have to figure out what's important to them. The grand romantic gesture is heartfelt and multitiered, leading to a satisfying happily ever after for them both.

This story follows romance author Sophie who has never fallen in love and can not seem to write her next book. Dash, her best friend's brother and also her landlord, is struggling to figure out what he wants to do with his life now that he is done with acting. Sophie gets drunk one night and goes viral online for screaming at karaoke that she has never been in love. She decides to go on a journey with TikTok to meet up with her exes to find out what went wrong. Through her TikTok adventure, she and Dash grow closer. However, Dash is struggling with staying sober and she is struggling to keep her friendships. Will love conquer all?
Tropes
- grump-sunshine
- best friend's-brother
- one-bed trope
- tattoos

I love how this story handles trusting others and trying to do everything yourself even when you have people ready to help. The struggle of handling family problems and being an alcoholic. This story has so much depth and love. It is a great read for anyone.

When I first saw this cover, and read the synopsis, I really thought this would be one of my next favorite romance books. Everything about this seemed like it would be something I would love. However, I could not get through this book. The writing was not the best, and the heavy focus on TikTok kept pulling me out of the story to the point where I just stopped enjoying it.

This was really cute! I definitely have read a book exactly like this before though (girl goes and meets up with her exes to try and see what went wrong before eventually falling in love with someone who has been helping her with it) but that doesn’t meant that I didn’t love it just as much! This was a really cute story and dealt with the difficulties of addiction and the struggles that come along with trying to become sober. Overall, I really enjoyed this and I think I need to go back and read book 1 in the series now!

Love a romance author main character. Plot Twist has many witty plot twists involving Dash and Sophie falling for each other. I love them together.

I want to thank Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Erin La Rosa for the ARC of Plot Twist. I received Plot Twist in exchange for an honest review of the book. Everything I write here is completely my own thoughts and opinions. So I have to admit I had a complete duh moment when I realized that this book is actually book two in The Hollywood Series. I am mentioning this because I know I tend to read things in order and I know I can not be alone in this so readers remember this is book two meaning there most likely will be spoilers for book one in my review.

This is the story of Sophie Lyons a romance writer who has never been in love and Dash Montrose an actor who no longer acts. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of side characters in this story and I felt they all played a decent role in the story. I enjoyed getting to know Sophie and watching her dig into the reasons why she has never fallen in love. I enjoyed seeing her past relationships and discovering what went wrong in each relationship. Sophie is a character who has some self-discovery to do and that is exactly what we see her doing throughout the story all while trying to finish a new romance novel that she has been contracted to write. Unfortunately, Sophie is suffering from some serious writer’s block. Will she finish her book in time?

I found Dash to be a fascinating character to read about. He is the son of a Hollywood Legend and his family is very much in the public eye. His brother is also a star getting ready to venture into directing. Poppy his sister is a fun character who has no interest in becoming an actress and owns a spa. Oh did I mention she is also Sophie’s best friend? I found Dash to be a complex character and not just the typical hotty in a romance novel. He is a man who no longer wants to be an actor knowing that his parents will not accept that harsh truth. He is a recovering alcoholic who is working so hard on his sobriety and has a fear of letting anyone in or doing anything due to not wanting to mess up. He is also a man who turned to crafts to help with his sobriety. Oh did I mention he also happens to be Sophie’s landlord?

This story has romance, but it also has deeper topics such as betrayal, addiction, pressure, loss, friendship, stalkers, and mentions of infertility. I enjoyed this story very much but I am not a fan of steam which this book contains so if you prefer closed-door romances heads up because there are some steamy scenes in this book. However, if steamy scenes do not bother you then I absolutely think that you will enjoy this story. It was a page-turner for me and like the title suggests there is definitely a plot twist.

Trigger Warnings:

Addiction
Infertility
Loss

3.5 ⭐️

romance that’s a bit more contemporary fiction is one of my fave kinds of books and Plot Twist delivered.

Soph is struggling to finish her sophomore novel and may have had a melt down gone viral about how she doesn’t believe in true love which isn’t a great look for a romance author. Enter Dash, the landlord/neighbor/former-hollywood-star who helps her document her journey of reconnecting with exes to see what her issue is. Along the way, the two learn important things about one another and themselves. Dash is struggling with his recovery of alcohol addiction and how to explain this to his parents and Soph is struggling with accepting she may not be ready for a real relationship despite wanting one.

I loved the depiction of serious topics in this book - the way addiction and recovery were handled with such grace and empathy was incredible. I also loved his ending and how it wasn’t 100% traditionally happy but it was perfect for him and his needs. Soph couldve used my character development because it felt like she wasn’t doing enough internal work about why her previous relationships failed. This book is also very heavy on prose but not in a way where I felt like pages could be cut. Overall, a solid 3.5 read and I would recommend to others.

CW: Alcoholism, Abusive Language, Stalking, Addiction, Emotional Abuse, Toxic Relationships, Panic Attacks, Cheating

thank you NetGalley for this ARC. happy pub day!!

Well - I definitely enjoyed this book a lot more than the first (about her sister Nina)! I recall an internal debate with myself about whether or not I was going to pick up a copy of book 2, and I am glad that I did (I got the copy a long time ago). I found the writing to be a lot better, the characters far more believable and the storyline definitely more engaging.

Sophie and Dash are neighbors and his sister Poppy is her long-time bestie, so they’ve known each other forever… she’s always had that little sister crush on him but he just sees her as another little sister, until one fateful interaction turns it around. The plot twist is that she’s a romance author who has the worst case of writer’s block caused by having never been in love, a fact which gets blasted in a viral video and she’s suddenly in a world of trouble.

Dash is there to help out with TikTok and suddenly she’s testing his boundaries and sobriety in the worst ways. Sophie needs help by visiting all her exes (maybe even attempting to date her most recent ex girlfriend?) to find out how and where she always gets it wrong to never fall in love, so she can turn her writing around. A little bit of a special friendship between them (a spicy one) seems to cause a world of trouble for everyone - literally everyone - but might be helping the writer’s block if nothing else … so that’s ok, right?

A joy to read and the characters from the first books do make an appearance. Trigger warnings about alcoholism and recovery issues, stalkers and meddling family trying to get in the way of recovery, and social media woes making them worse. Definitely a recommendation but heed the warning if alcoholism and a shakey recovery is something you can’t read about.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Harlequin (Canary Street Press), and this is my honest opinion.

Plot twist was a really interesting story that I wanted to like more than I did. Now this is a series and I jumped in at book two so I may just have been missing context that would have made me like the book more.

I love books about romance authors and so I really loved the premise but I had trouble connecting to the heroine. I felt like Sophie did a lot of flip-flopping and feeling bad for herself even in moments where other people were struggling more. I wish she had been a little more consistently supportive of Dash.

I did really like that this book talked about Dash's struggle with addiction and Sophie had a pacemaker. I like seeing that kind of representation in books. I did think that Dash's struggle with addiction was unusual in that he was more aware of it than the people around him. Usually with addiction family members are very aware and the person is in denial.

Overall, I won't read this one again but I think it had some really interesting elements. I think this book may just not have been for me.

I ATE THIS UP!!!!!!!! the tatted man and the spice and just all of it ugh yes!!! will re read for sure

***Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin/Canary Street Press for sending me an advanced reader copy of Plot Twist by Erin LaRosa! All thoughts are my own!***

Sophie Lyon is a romance author who ironically has never been in love. Her debut novel made readers fall in love, but it left her wondering why she hasn't fallen in love. She goes on a journey meeting up with her exes and documenting on TikTok to find out why they broke up and why she never said I love you so she can meet her looming deadline and finish her manuscript for her upcoming romance novel and give her characters the happily ever after they deserve.

Sophie’s landlord, Dash Montrose is a former teen heartthrob and knows his way around social media and offers to help. But he doesn't mention that he’s an anonymous online crafter, a hobby that helps him maintain his sobriety. He keeps his recoverya secret since his family is Hollywood royalty, so Dash has to steer clear of scandal.

As Sophie and Dash grow closer, they discover a heat between them. But Sophie needs to figure out who she is outside of her relationships, and Dash isn’t sure he’s stable enough for the commitment she deserves. So Sophie suggests a casual friends-with-benefits arrangement, cause how bad could that be?

I really enjoyed For Butter or Worse last year, so I was so excited for Erin LaRosa's next book was about Nina's sister, Sophie. Literally from chapter one, I was smiling (especially for the 10 Things I Hate About You reference she threw in the first chapter.) I liked Sophie and Dash getting to know each other and how much they both helped each other throughout the book. They developed such a great friendship over the course of the book that it made it even better with them ending up together. It was great delving into both characters' pasts and what lead them to where they are now and they were both very relatable characters. It was refreshing to have two characters focused on working on themselves.

I wasn't blown away by this book, but I had a great time reading it. And let me just say Erin knows how to write some spice and tension 🌶.

Plot Twist is on sale November 14th!

I really, truly wanted to love this book, but it just fell flat for me. It started off strong and I was totally into it, but there was next to no buildup for the character’s relationship and the way the more intimate scenes were written felt really cringey to me. I also felt like the second half of the book felt so rushed that it just lost all plausibility in my eyes. Ultimately, the premise of this book was fun, but I would have liked a bit more fleshing out of the bond between the two main characters and maybe a few less side characters as it got a little muddled for me.

2/5 stars.

I will be honest and say that I am not in the right headspace to read and review this book right now. It's the second book in a companion series and I feel like I'm missing some context (which is fault of my own, not the book), and I feel like I want to revisit it when I've finished the first book. I got about 50% of the way through before deciding to put it down, and there are still aspects that I do find well done, including the love interest's sobriety and the MC's journey to learning to love herself even when she's "failed at love." I'm not completely sold on the romance, which is best friend's brother / landlord and former child star meets failing romance author. There wasn't enough tension for me, and I can tell that I know where it's going to lead, minus a few "plot twists" thrown in.

This is not a bad book by any means, and it's one I hope I can come back to in the future. I'm sure it'll find its perfect audience of readers who will love it's strong female character and the damaged child star next who have to keep some things secret. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

We reviewed this novel for our podcast. Unfortunately, this was not for us. The lack of trigger warnings for unsuspecting readers was a bit disappointing. Just a warning, you do witness the hero go through a complete relapse.

Additionally, the hero's journey to sobriety was not handled well and his relationship with Sophie was not necessarily the healthiest for someone working through the same issue.

What we did enjoy was Dash's character overall - you will root for him to find his self confidence and autonomy throughout the novel. Additionally, the activity he has utilized to work through his new found sobriety was delightful. Additionally, he does not attend ONE AA meeting throughout the book, even after his sponsor/best friend (big nope on that) pushed him.

Lastly, the other aspect of the novel that we did enjoy was the representation of LGBTQIA+; there was such normalcy to the various characters of varying genders and sexualities. It was refreshing that no one questioned anyone's sexuality or their status. You love to see it!