I had no clue that this was the second in a series and it can definitely be read as a stand alone. After reading this one though, I am for sure going to read For Butter or Worse. This was a fun and spicy romance but it also dealt with some deep topics. Most importantly, alcoholism and trying to stay sober. This isn't a story about 2 perfect people or even one, both characters are deeply flawed but they both want to be better for each other. It was cute and fast paced, no doubt a bingeable read. I wish we could've had more towards the end, it seemed they professed their love to each other...the end. The epilogue just wasn't enough closure for me. Otherwise, I really liked this one!

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

No sophomore slump for Erin as she bangs it out of the park with this latest in her Hollywood series that features Sophie, a struggling romance writer who's never been in love herself and Dash, Sophie's best friend's brother who also happens to be her neighbor and a recovering alcoholic former childhood star with a secret IG account.

While Dash isn't looking for a serious relationship he can't resist helping Sophie try to discover what it is about her past relationships that's prevented her from being able to say 'I love you.' Eventually they can't resist the undeniable chemistry and try to be friends with benefits with mixed results.

I loved how messy, flawed and relatable both the MCs were! They each had personal stuff to deal with before they were ready to be in a relationship and the book had such emotional depth along with the sizzling sexual connection.

Added to this there was great found family, a cameo from Nina (Sophie's sister), only one bed action, great pan rep and disability rep and relatable mental health rep related to toxic family relationships. Great on audio read by Mela Lee (the author's cousin) who is a talented narrator in her own right and a fav I didn't even realize I'd listened to a lot before.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Librofm for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review! I enjoyed this one so much and highly recommend for fans of authors like Sarah Smith and Elissa Sussman.

Plot Twist introduces us to Sophie-a romance author who's struggling with writing her next book. She asks her best friend's brother, Dash, (who's also her landlord) to help her with her social media presence while she works on an experiment on TikTok to see if she can find the answer to her issue with writing.

Little does she expect things to brew between her and Dash.

I loved the concept of this story. Loved that social media was a part of it since we live in a society that is all about social media right now. I felt that Erin wrote the story in a way that handled the tough topics beautifully and in a respectable manner. I also love that Erin wrote a main character with a pacemaker.

The chemistry between Sophie and Dash is evident from the beginning even with their first encounter (in the book anyways).

The cover is 100% what drew me to the book, though. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but I am guilty of doing just that.

Not to mention the name of the book, Plot Twist, was super fitting to the story.

If you love best friend's brother, close proximity, friends with benefits, grumpy/sunshine.. check out Plot Twist!

It starts with writer's block and a massive hangover... Sophie is a romance author who has one book under her belt, and another in the works, but she's struggling to write the sparks because she's never been in love. She lives in the guest cottage on her friend's brother's property - Dash is a former actor who keeps to himself unless his sister sends him over to check on her friend.

So paths cross, plans are hatched, Dash and Sophie start hanging out while they help each other solve some problems. Sophie writes a speech for Dash. Sohie goes back to each ex-lover to find out why she's never been in love. Dash ends up with a stalker. Dash's mom does terrible things. A lot is going on, a twisty plot for sure. But, a happy ending is in the works - for some of the twistiness (if that is a word). Twistiness.

I am obsessed with Erin's writing and Plot Twist definitely lived up to the hype I'd built up in my head! It's so steamy and full of spice, but at the same time, there is so much heart and so much emotion. There are some tough issues dealt with in this book and Erin manages it so brilliantly. Overall, this was a basically perfect book!

Plot Twist was an adorable, heartfelt read!

I really enjoyed reading about the growing feelings between the two characters. They both were dealing with their own personnal issues, but it felt really good when they reached out to the other for help or took care of each other.

This book felt very modern and inclusive, with Sophie (the FMC) being pansexual. It also included a lot of pop-culture references (especially TikTok).

The plotline about Sophie revisiting her exes to try and figure out what went wrong made me cringe a bit, though I came to enjoy it.

(SPOILERS) I didn't really enjoy the plotline with starting again with her ex, while she had feelings for Dash (the MMC). It felt a bit too love-triangle to me.

This book also deals with serious topics, such as dysfunctional families and alcoholism.

All in all, I enjoyed Plot Twist and I definitely recommend this book!

Oh I loved this book. I’ve read a lot of romance books and some of them are pretty similar, which I don’t mind, but this one, this one was unique and different. I love when books have twists, I don’t want to give too much away, that I can’t see coming. It truly takes an amazing writer to pull them off. Hats off to you Erin.

Pick this one up and you won’t want to put it down

DNF 1 chapter in. The writing really didn't work for me plus the fact the love interest is her landlord and she got sick on him at the end of chapter 1. I couldn't keep going.

DNF at 15% the characters were just not interesting to me. And the Tiktok references were just too overbearing.

This was a cute, quick read. The characters were adorable, their story was fun. It wasn't a stand out rom-com, but enjoyable. A great way to escape reality, but also touched out real and difficult topics. I honestly think the only reason it was not *incredible* is because it felt like a very surface only type of story. I felt like it was missing some of the details and depths. All that being said, I enjoyed reading it and enjoyed the characters.

Sophie is a romance author who has never been in love. With a deadline and writer's block creating a problem, she decides to reunite with all of her exes to figure out why she never fell in love. And document it virtually. Her neighbor, Dash, a former teen heartthrob, offers to help her while he hides his sobriety from his family and the media. As they get closer, the sparks start to fly - and they end up in a friends with benefits situation... which never goes wrong....

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

It was nothing special, and I am sad that I have to say that. Expected more because I think the concept is really cool.

Sophie has a case of writer’s block. She has. 6 weeks to finish her next book for her contract but how can she write a good love story when she’s never been in love? This leads her to confront her former lovers to figure out why things didn’t work out between them as she documents to encounters on social media.

Throughout the whole process, she begins growing closer to her handsome landlord, and best friend’s brother, Dash. Dash is a recovering alcoholic that has been hiding his battles from his family.


I loved seeing both of these characters working through their flaws and insecurities over the course of the book. The Sophie and Dash we meet in the beginning can’t handle a serious relationship right now, but can they self reflect and grow individually and have a successful relationship?

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reviewer copy. Plot Twist lived up to what expected from Erin La Rosa and I can’t wait to read her future books.

This book was very overwhelming in terms of tropes that were used. There was washed up teen star, next door neighbor, best friends brother, recovering alcoholic, one bed, and multiple others. Because of that it was hard to concentrate on the plot because I was just anticipating the next trope. The main characters were sweet but there were an abundance of side characters that were frankly unnecessary. The stalker side plot also was very hard to get through and seemed completely unneeded.

OKAY THIS IS THE BOOK.
I was seriously hooked from the first page until I (unfortunately) finished it! The emotions felt by both MC while they were going through their own conflicts (Sophie with her book and trying to figure out why all her relationships didnt work out. Dash with coping with being a child star, his family, and struggling with addiction) were so deep and real and it just added so much to the story. I didnt know that this was the first in the series and this was my first novel from Erin La Rosa but omg it will not be my last. ALSO??? I havent mentioned this is a best friends brother romance (one of my favorite tropes tbh) who also happens to be her landlord so I was IN LOVE.

This book was such a joy to read! I love Erin’s writing style and how real the characters felt. I laughed out loud multiple times!

Ok, I picked up an arc of this MONTHS ago... and I didn't immediately pick it up, I am so sad I didn't I this book right away. It's so cute and endearing. You see the struggles of Sophie learning to trust. You see Dash's struggles of growing up a child actor, but mostly you see the love grow. This grumpy and sunshine romance was everything I hoped it would be... now I need to pick up the first book to see how Nina fell in love. I really hope that there are more books in this series. I couldn't put it down!!!

I was so excited when I saw "Plot Twist" on NetGalley because I didn't realize there were going to be any more books in the same world as "For Butter or Worse." I was even more excited when I realized this book was about a character we got to meet and hear about in the first book. (It took me a minute to realize this, it's been a while since I read book one).

I loved "Plot Twist" it was so fun while also hitting the right emotional notes. It had a really unique premise that also really allowed the characters to explore themselves. And the backdrop of the characters being minor celebrities is always fun. In addition to the fantastic romance, I loved how the book explored the dynamics between Sophie and her sister and Dash and his family.

One of the most compelling and poignant parts of the book was seeing Dash process and live with his sobriety and how that affected himself and his relationships. I also loved the representation of Sophie having a pacemaker. However, I do wish that we got to hear and see more about what it is like living with her medical condition.

My only other criticism (that isn't even a real criticism) is that while I loved getting to see more of Nina in this book, I wish we got to see more of Leo as well. And I will forgive Dash for being a landlord.

4 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Canary Street Press for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a cute best friend's brother romance! Dash was the sweetest, and I think I feel in love with him a little. Sophie's an author struggling with the follow-up to her debut romance novel, and realizes she's never been in love - a pretty serious thing for a romance author. But her best friend's brother/her landlord, Dash, helps her come up with a plan to revisit her exes and see if there's a reason why she hasn't fallen in love - and well, let's just say Dash and Sophie find out they are MFEO obviously haha

I Loved that Sophie has a pacemaker, and I even love that Dash is hiding his recovery form his overbearing family. Honestly, Dash's family enraged me so much. The only one worth not throwing out the window is his sister. She's a keeper!

The banter was fun, the steamy times were great (there's face sitting bahahahah), and I just loved these characters.

First off, I love the cover! This was the main reason for my Netgalley request. I totally judged this book by its cover. I wanted to like this book more. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through. However, I pushed through. I'm not sure if I was in the "romance" head frame when I was reading this novel. I felt the book was a little over the place.

You may be asking why I didn't give it a lower rating? Well, the story picks up in the second half. We also find some true character development and growth. It is very romance-genre oriented and I liked the Hollywood setting but I still have mixed feelings about this novel.

I loved the LGBTQ+ theme, Dash's journey with alcohol addiction and sobriety, and highlighting damage caused by familial trauma.

Tropes: best friend's brother, boy next door, dual POV, one bed, forced proximity

Trigger Warnings: alcoholism, relapse, panic attacks

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was just okay for me. The writing style was enjoyable overall, but I found my interest trailing off more and more as I read. I simply just didn't care about their relationship. The beginning was good, but they went straight to sex and skipped over the mutual pining phase. I wanted more tension when they finally became intimate. I found myself skipping over their sex scenes. It just felt so overly sexual and not so much emotionally driven. Don’t get me wrong, I do love some good smut, but this was just too much, too fast. I will say that there are many sweet moments between Dash and Sophie that did help break it all up.

I also didn't appreciate how Sophie was leading Carla on, while having copious amounts of sex with Dash. I get that neither relationship was exclusive, but it just felt wrong in some ways for Sophie's character.

I did appreciate the alcoholism representation that we got in this. It felt very real and believable. Though I do wish we had gotten more of Dash's backstory with how he fell into alcoholism to round it all out.

Overall, this was an okay romance for me. I'm sure a lot of others will love it. It just didn't hit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Canary Street Press for the arc of this book!