A quirky, sexy romp that had me turning pages into the night. An ex-actor struggling with sobriety and a frazzled writer struggling to meet her deadline decide to help each other out, with sizzling results. Will definitely look for more from Erin de la Rosa

A writer revisiting all of her exes to figure out where everything went wrong? Pretty solid plot. There were some plot elements that felt a little klunky, especially having to do with the best friend's brother trope and addiction, but I still enjoyed it. I liked the TikTok angle, especially with Dash commenting on them and bolstering her self esteem. Dash and Sophie together was precious, but we never really got to enjoy it. Everything falls apart too dang fast. But admittedly there was a lot going on, so it kind of made sense.

Honestly I'd be down to read the spa owner and masseuse story. Poppy next, eh??

*Thank you to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

"Surely a casual relationship won’t cause any trouble…" FAMOUS. LAST. WORDS. UGH!!!! This was executed amazingly, and I enjoyed every moment of this romance! I love quite a few romance tropes, and friends-with-benefits is definitely a good one!! Highly enjoyed, and will recommend!

Thank you for the ARC!

I wanted to like this so bad. I really like Dash! His story seems really interesting! It’s wild that he’s sober and never told anyone in his life. But he’s still able maintain it in a healthy way - other than the secret of course. I love the life he’s created for himself post acting! And Sophie while clearly a hot mess, seems like a good time! I think her and Dash’s relationship will be so good for both of them. But truthfully I’m just struggling to actually want to finish the book.

DNF @ 35%

DNF @ 11%

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC.

Even though I love contemporary romances, I just couldn't connect with the characters in this book. I also wasn't a fan of the characterization of both the female and male lead. This book just wasn't for me.

I think readers will really enjoy this book if they liked the first book of the series and love tropes and pop culture. Its a bubbly romance for when you're looking to escape!

4.5/5 stars

Thank you so much Netgalley and publishers for giving me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Romance author Sophie Lyon has gone viral after getting drunk and posting a video on TikTok about how she has never been in love. With a manuscript deadline looming, she makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writers block- reunite with her exes to learn why she’s never fallen in love. Oh and document the journey on TT for all of her new followers. Luckily, her best friend’s brother and landlord, Dash Montrose, and former teen heartthrob, has social media all figured out and offers to assist!

My thoughts:
I absolutely adored Plot Twist. It has some of my favorite tropes (Best Friend’s Brother, Grumpy x Sunshine, and One Bed) and representation! Sophie has a pacemaker, and she is bisexual. Dash has his baggage and has a pretty toxic family unit, but I loved how Sophie had his back and stayed with him even when Dash was at his lowest! Also the friendship between Dash and Chris was amazing!

PS: While Sophie could have handled situations better, I was not a fan of how Poppy treated her supposed best friend. Additionally, I loathe Dash’s mother and she deserves what she got.

Sophie is a romance author in trouble. Her next book is due, but word's just got out: she's never been in love! Thankfully she has a social media savvy neighbor next door named Dash. He's a former actor focusing on his sobriety. The two help one another through their challenges while attempting to maintain a friendship that turns into a friends with benefits situation. Love isn't something either of them was planning on, but it certainly was a...PLOT TWIST!

I found this to be a very mature book (in places). I appreciated the thoughtful conversations between members of Dash's dysfunctional family. We see the ways in which family members THINK they are helping, but actually are harming, other members of their family. Sophie has a pace maker. She's also pansexual, and it was really interesting to see the variety of people with whom Sophie was attracted. Much of this book revolves around Dash's relationship with alcohol and sobriety, which was really interesting to observe. I loved watching these characters grow and support one another.

Much of this book, unfortunately, felt a bit silly to me. Sophie attempts to interview her past relationships to see what went wrong and why she didn't fall in love, but it was often clear from the beginning why each relationship was doomed. It begged the question, "Why are we even doing this?" Much of the same ground is covered over and over. The spicy scenes didn't quite land for me. I did enjoy the ending!

I'd like to thank Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade/Canary Street Press for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I enjoyed this book. Found Sophie to be fun and interesting. Glad Dash got some help. Cute 3.5 stars

4/5 stars
2/5 spice

A really cute story that also has its heavy moments that create a bit of drama. I kinda wanna do a ceramics class 😋

Tropes:
Neighbors to FWB to lovers
BFF's brother/Sister's BFF
Retired actor/crafting MMC
Author FMC
Pacemaker rep
LGBTQIA rep
Mental health rep
Trauma/healing
Secret relationship
Close proximity
Dual POV

Some really great angsty moments but also sweet and funny. I loved how the author handled hard topics in a realistic and sensitive way. Sophie and Dash created their own little bubble, and it worked with their personalities. I was rooting for these two from the start, and you get a clear view of the friendship and trust they were building in the midst of all the drama circling around them. I also liked that their intimacy had a natural progression. They needed to build more trust before they could go all in, and I really appreciated that the spice made sense for their dynamic.

Overall, I highly recommend this one for fans of friends to lovers with secrecy and close proximity. There are quite a few heavy topics discussed, so please check trigger warnings before starting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.

Trigger/Content warnings:
Alcoholism, addiction/sobriety, stalking, anxiety, dysfunctional family, overbearing parent, rehab, paparazzi harassment, sexual content, explicit language

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the e-arc!

This book had some ups and downs for me. I loved the concept and the characters (most of the time). The tropes were perfect! Grump/sunshine and best friend’s brother are some that I gravitate towards a lot.

Dash was an interesting character to read about and I loved his point of view. How sobriety was and how hard he was working towards it. I also really liked the crafting aspect of him. I just wish we got a little bit more of his backstory and more of his family and how they acted when he was younger.

Sophie was also really interesting, but some moments were lost to me. I wish there was a bit more about the exes' interviews. They seemed a bit short when the plot was driven by how she was learning about herself because of asking them questions. I do like how she genuinely learned from previous experiences and tried to change for the better.

The ending was just adorable. I am really happy how it all played out and it seemed like these two really just wanted the best for each other no matter what.

Firstly I’d like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. It’s not my usual genre but I really enjoyed this, complex characters, with relatable issues. This book was an easy read and parts had me kicking my feet and blushing.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC in return for my honest review.

Plot Twist is book two in "The Hollywood Series" and while you could read it as a stand-alone -- I do recommend reading "For Butter or Worse" first, as it introduces us to our main female lead, Sophie.

Sophie - romance writer who realizes that she has never been in love. She also only has 5 weeks to turn in her second romance novel and is stuck. Maybe she can't write something she hasn't experienced herself...

Dash - former Hollywood child star, a member of Hollywood royalty and a recovering alcoholic. He's her landlord and also her best friend's big brother (the tropes!!!). While Sophie had crushed on him as a teen, they were strictly neighbours.

But as they spend more time together (forced proximity, one bed (tropes tropes tropes!)) Sophie begins to realize that she has big feelings for Dash - he's the only person she can be herself with... and as Dash is forced to face his demons, he realizes the only person he really trusts is Sophie. Together the navigate the twists and turns of their relationship to get to their HEA.

I will admit - first 60% of the book was solid. I really liked both mains - I thought that they complimented one another and the call backs to Nina and Jasmine from book one was great.

And then... it's as though more things were "tossed" into the mix just to make this book a little longer? I don't know - it felt like it got messy. It pulled itself together for a cute ending - but there was a part of the book that didn't hook me in like the beginning did.

That said - I'm giving this a 3.5 star review. It was solid. I liked the banter between our mains, the chemistry between them was sizzling ... I just think a little less would have gone a long way to making this a 4 star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Sophie Lyon is a one-time author who is in the process of writing a new book. However, she has had writer's block and a deadline from her agent and publisher that is fast approaching. Sophie has never been in love despite her profession writing romance novels and she wants to find out why many of her relationships never worked out while posting the summaries of these meetings on TikTok. However, she's not big on social media and needs some help.

Enter Dash Montrose, her landlord who has grown a following anonymously on TikTok. He offers to help Sophie build a larger following while she helps him write a speech for his father's ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Although Sophie is trying to figure out why she has never been in love, she can't help thinking about Dash and how she can't get enough of him. They quickly develop feelings for each other, even though they may have differing expectations and deep insecurities that may keep them apart.

I will be honest. I didn't think I would like this book at first. However, after I read the first 20% or so of this book, I could not put it down. I thought the "Instalove" trope would annoy me, but the author did a fantastic job at breaking the tension between the two of them at just the right time. I was rooting for Dash and Sophie the whole time, which is why I think I was so intrigued to finish the book. Of course, I knew that they would get together, but what was the journey going to be like?
I had to know.

Can we also talk about the spice in this book? Dayum. This is definitely rated PG-13, if not rated R. This is an adults-only book for sure.

If you are looking for a love story with equal parts self-discovery and spice, please pick this up. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Well, I absolutely loved this contemporary romance! This one has grumpy/sunshine and best friend's brother tropes, both of which I love. There's also some amazing spicy scenes that are full of proactive consent, which I find myself really valuing when reading romance these days. I love both characters of Sophie and Dash, and my heart broke for both of them in their separate struggles -- Sophie with her writer's block, and Dash with his struggle to stay sober. Dash was such a grump, but such a softie on the inside! And he was so committed to helping Sophie get over her writer's block and get her book written. I loved the sexual tension between them and the way they were together, and how they each come to realize they don't just want but need the other. This is a magical story and one I would recommend to any romance lover!

Rating: 4 stars!
Disclosure: I received an early e-copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book!

I had really high hopes for this book, but I personally just didn't click with it. The concept was absolutely intriguing, and I liked the idea of the plot and romance, but it just ended up not being my favorite.

There were little things that this romance book had that I liked; our FMC has a pacemaker, it dealt with real issues of sobriety, and other more difficult topics, but did it well. The FMC was also dated women as well as men, and I enjoyed the inclusion of that in a romance novel.

I think the biggest thing for me was I just wasn't invested in the characters or their romance, which was disappointing!

This was an adorable romance! While some heavier topics were in it, I thought that the author handled them very well. I really liked the characters and how realistic they were; they weren't perfect, and they made mistakes, and they acknowledged when they did. It was really nice to see. There were also a lot of funny moments which I really enjoyed, and the chemistry between the two main characters was amazing! The only issue I had was how TikTok and social media-centric the book was. I don't overly love this many social media references, and since it was a central part of the book, it was pretty hard to ignore or move around. I will admit it almost made me give up at the beginning, but I'm so glad that I didn't! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book :)

This was a sweet romance novel with plenty of heart and lots of fun tropes (meet-cute? Embarrassing. Proximity? Forced. Beds? Only one of course)! I enjoyed the combo of a romance author trying to overcome her writer’s block and a former teenage heartthrob working on his sobriety and discovering his passion for crafting. I really appreciated the nuanced focus on alcoholism and sobriety, and I felt this difficult subject was handled with a lot of care.

While the plot clipped along with all sorts of wacky situations, I did find myself struggling to connect with the characters; I feel like the book could have benefited from some flashback scenes rather than relying solely on the narrators’ exposition, especially when it came to Sophie’s quest to meet her past exes and figure out where their relationships went wrong. I wish there had been more showing and less telling in these scenes, and I think it would have helped me feel more invested in the story.

Overall, Plot Twist was a fun read, with a good balance of cheesiness and genuine feeling.

Thanks to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️: 4/5

Sophie Lyon is a romance author who has never been in love. When this secret goes viral on TikTok, she begins a journey to reconnect with all her exes to see where she went wrong, and hopefully finish her book in the process. Enter Dash Montrose, former teen heartthrob, and Sophie’s landlord, who is looking for a path of his own, one that doesn’t include love, which complicates things when a friends-with-benefits agreement between the two of them starts to feel like it might be more.

I find romantic comedy books where the FMC is also a female romance author a little meta, and not necessarily in a good way all the time. I think that sometimes writing what you know truly is the best policy, but also, sometimes writing what you know feels like auto-fiction with a happy ending. I also tend to grow tired of the trope of “struggling starving (ish) artist” for either of the main characters, since it just always feels to me like a contrived way to make the main character’s life as messy as it can possibly be for 1) the giggles and 2) an easier diagnosis of why that character has failed in love before. Both of these little things that irk me in rom-coms were definitely present in this book, but I also really enjoyed the story as a whole. There were definitely some spicy parts to this one, and I found myself rooting for Sophie and Dash as a couple. The pacing was on point, and the side stories propelled the main story nicely. I do prefer an ending that’s a little less abrupt and more realistic, but that’s getting a little nitpicky, and overall the story was so cute and heartwarming.

Thank you to @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Plot Twist is the second book in Erin La Rosa’s “Hollywood” series. It can be read as a standalone, although there are some recurring characters, and the meta nature of this book’s protagonist being a romance novelist even suggests some parallels with Erin La Rosa’s own, with a referenced debut novel being “inspired” by the couple from book one.
The strength here was definitely in crafting the characters. I love the casual bi/pan rep with Sophie, as her romantic history includes both men and women, and the initial premise of the story is her going through past relationships and figuring out why she’s never experienced love, documenting her misadventures on Tik Tok. This was definitely the part of the book where there was more levity and fun, as things go wrong in these “reunions,” but I respect her for putting herself out there and never giving up.
Dash is where some of the darker elements of the story come in, as he’s a former child actor, pushed into it by his family, namely his greedy agent mother. The dysfunction between them only scratches the surface compared to some of the “troubled child star” narratives, but the impacts of the life he led in the past are also reflected in him being a recovering alcoholic. I did feel at times he was a bit contradictory, simultaneously being very tightly wound, constantly reminding us and Sophie that he doesn’t do relationships, yet putting himself in the line of fire for temptation, allowing himself to continue to be involved with Sophie, even when he felt things getting more complicated. But while I’m kind of over the heroes with inferiority complexes, I did still root for him and Sophie in the end, anyway, because of how complex addiction and mental illness can be. And the way the crisis was resolved to get them to their HEA was well done, resolving his issues about getting into a romantic relationship, as Sophie proved she was in this for the long haul, even with all his demons.
This was another enjoyable read from Erin La Rosa, and I’d recommend it to lovers of contemporary romance.

Very good, standard romance. I enjoyed the main characters but found myself not completely invested. The book did a good job of tackling sensitive subjects as well. Overall, I think people would enjoy this book.