3/5. Releases 11/14/2023.

Vibes: much social media awareness, flipping through past exes, crafting, and the anxiety that comes with putting your life back together.

Sophie released a hit of a romance novel--and nothing else since. Feeling the pressure to drop her next book, but very aware that she's never actually been in love herself, she sets up a project on TikTok to track down her exes and figure out why she never fall hard. Roped into the deal? Her landlord and (sort of) friend Dash, a former actor who now works on crafts as he works through recovery. Their chemistry is immediate, though Dash isn't ready for a relationship; but if he waits much longer, one of Sophie's exes may just snap her up.

This was fine. It didn't annoy me, but it also didn't stir me. Erin La Rosa can for sure write, and can definitely write some heat, but I just wasn't bowled over. I did appreciate some of the representation (Dash as a recovering alcoholic, the very casual queerness of Sophie's past relationships) but the story didn't grab me.

Quick Takes:

--So, the good. Like I said, I do think the writing is solid, and you're not bored. The setup of going through the past exes leads to some interesting takes, and the fact that Sophie just has a nonbinary ex, just has a female ex, is very much attracted to Dash--is just normal? Was really nice to see, and still not as common in romance as I think some imagine it is. You feel the tension rising between Dash and Sophie in a dynamic that is in some ways a slow burn and in some ways very much not.

--Where I started struggling with the exes project is... the TikTok of it all. TikTok is a surprisingly big part of this romance, and while the summary (on Netgalley, at least) does mention Sophie gaining millions of new followers, I don't think TikTok is mentioned by name. She actually documents her project on TikTok, and Dash is kind of a bigger name on... CraftTok?

And I feel like I have mixed emotions on this. Social media here to stay, and I don't think that making it a part of a romance novel automatically "dates" it, any more than including the Internet dates it. These are big parts of contemporary life, and they're not fleeting. That is, social media in general isn't fleeting. The concept of recording and posting your actions--blogging, sharing videos, etc. That's not fleeting. That will stay for the long haul, I think.

But when you get into specific mechanisms and sites, I feel like you're really toeing the line. Twitter may have seemed like a mainstay, but suddenly it's not even called Twitter anymore. Facebook was The Shit for a while, but now I would side-eye a contemporary about a twenty-something who's allll about FB. TikTok really hasn't been around that long, and while lots of people use it--let's be real, the people who really, really obsess over it tend to be confined to a somewhat small age range. It's all about trends, by design. I just don't see TikTok being this big a part of your romance novel (it's baked into the premise) aging well.

--Another issue I did take with the book was that Sophie seemed like a really passive protagonist. And perhaps that was part of what the story was trying to confront, but until then, it came off as her just sort of going with the story, not really pushing much of it forward That makes it hard for me at least to bond with her, and I had a hard time getting invested in her character.

She's a grown woman, and there is a moment in which she allows her high school boyfriend (now a married father!) to guilt her about teenage bullshit. That just didn't work to me, and it kind of felt like I was reading therapy speak, but from the perspective of a character who bought into it.

--I did appreciate Dash; his love of crafting, his focus on recovery. This was also something that I do think kind of made Sophie a tougher sell. At points, it felt like Dash was doing the work in a way that took, well, a lot more work than Sophie. This is a man very literally in recovery, doing his best. And while that doesn't invalidate Sophie's issues, it does mean I'm much more invested in Dash. I mean, him coming from a complicated famous family added to his appeal. He's just got more going on, and it felt to me like there was an uneven level of depth to these characters.

The Sex:

I've seen some saying this isn't explicit and uh... it is? She's riding his face like, halfway into the book. But there is a reluctance to go into full on intercourse on Dash's part, because of his perception of recovery (he's past the point when AA would typically recommend waiting on sex and relationships). Frankly, I found everything else they were doing super hot, so that hesitance worked for me and kind of added to the story.

While I can't say I was thrilled with this novel, I did find it interesting, and I will try more from Erin La Rosa. I'm curious about what else she's done.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canary Street Press for providing me with a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was so excited to read this. On paper, all the tropes seemed like a delicious combination I was ready to sink into. Unfortunately, it kind of read as a jumble of tropes thrown in together, without anything to smooth it out into a congruent plot.

I found it hard to buy into the chemistry between the leads, Sophie and Dash. I do love the queerness, and the relatable issues each character brought to the table. However, I think the strength in each character didn’t translate well when they “shared the stage”, and were in the same scene together.

Sophie makes a few bad choices that I don’t quite understand. Her fights with her friends don’t make total sense to me, since they feel like totally avoidable problems. I also have trouble buying into why a best friend’s sibling is off limits to date/sleep with, so Poppy getting that mad seemed over dramatic. I also didn’t really care for the other love interests, so I didn’t buy into the added tension of “will they won’t they” with the second love interests, because it just seemed obviously temporary to me.

Dash and Sophie are cute. But they both didn’t have that much ground to stand on in terms of being jealous of each other’s sort-of relationships with other people, especially when they both are quite tentative and unsure about their relationship with each other.

The good: hot spicy scenes, likable characters

(Spoilers below)
I had a hard time getting invested in Sophie and Dash’s relationship. I think there were just too many things going on that detracted from their relationship: sobriety, writer’s block, family tension, tracking down exes, trying to stay out of the spotlight, a stalker? It was just too much for me to also get time with these two and feel their relationship form. Sophie even tried to make it work with an ex more than halfway through the book. It got hard for me to push through after about 65%. I did think Sophie’s grand gesture speech was a sweet moment.

Good I very much enjoyed everything about it and the story in general would recommend it and the plot was very cute

Sophie Lyon is a romance writer with writer's block. She has six weeks to finish her book, but she has realized that she has never been in love. She decides to revisit her past relationships to determine what went wrong and see if any of these exes could be her true love. She shows all her thoughts through TikTok. Her landlord is Dash Montrose, a former teen heartthrob she had a crush on, but also her best friends brother. He helps her through this journey, giving him something to do, while he struggles with his demons. They both can't help being attracted to each other and agree to a friends with benefits (without telling his sister) situation, which leads to confused feelings by both. They have to figure out if they can overcome their past insecurities to get to a happily ever after.

I enjoyed this romance, but some of it just came across as forced. I don't know if I ever fully felt the chemistry between the two main characters. I found both separate storylines for both characters good, but it was when they came together that I didn't find believable. I thought the exploration of Dash and his addiction issues, was good insight into addiction as a whole, and how it is a struggle every day.

Sadly, this book fell a bit flat for me, and took me a while to get into. Once I powered through that, I did find an enjoyable story about love and finding your person. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

More books about people who love books, please and thank you. More tattooed men, please and thank you. More adorable books from Erin La Rosa, please. and. thank. you!!!
I knew just from the cover I was going to eat this book up. The character design, the colors, even the font pulled me in instantly. Then the plot was super engaging and adorable. La Rosa handles the sensitive topics in this book very well to make this more than just a fun romance read. And I was happy to work through these character's problems because I loved them and their relationship so much.
I highly recommend this book!

This romance, while somewhat predictable, was still an absolute joy to read, and I finished it in an evening after work. The author is able to weave in tough topics like sobriety, and family difficulties in a thoughtful way that made sense, and added to the storyline instead of taking away, which can sometimes happen. The spicy parts were indeed spicy, so if this isn't something you enjoy reading, I might lean away.

Love is a word, but more importantly, love is an action.

Sophie Lyon is a romance writer with writer's block who has never been in love. After a viral tiktok, and with the help of dreamy, ex child star, recently sober, landlord / neighbor Dash Montrose, she decides to fight the writer's block by finding out why her previous relationships did not work, and document them on social media. Through a journey of self discovery and self love, Sophie and Dash may just find what they need in each other.

This is my first book by Erin La Rosa and I loved it. It is sweet, spicy, full of love from chosen families, and very engaging and entertaining. She captures so well the essence of a people pleaser who doesn't know how to find happiness for themselves. Sophie and Dash are flawed, they are weary, but they are good, and at the end, they are very good for each other. I loved their journey to love themselves, learn to accept help, trust in others, and find themselves worthy of love. I loved the sweet ending and I cried throughout. It was a great read and would highly recommend it!

Read if you like -
Best Friend's brother
forced proximity
friends to lovers
friends with benefits

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for the ARC!

The cover is dreamy, and the love story is appealing. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more Erin La Rosa romances in the near future.
I enjoyed this sweet and sexy romance, which included hints of necessary angst and tackled sensitive subjects such as alcoholism and dysfunctional family relationships. The forced proximity and friends-to-lovers tropes were also well-executed.
Story was gripping and I struggled to put the book down, finishing it in less than one day.
Would absolutely recommend to anyone

Predictable but charmingly told, with characters you'll root for and unexpected depth. This is a debut, and it's clear in places that the author is still settling into her voice and style. Line level needs some development. Finished this in an afternoon. 4/5 stars

The cover of this book was too cute to turn down. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the story or its characters. It has potential but comes across as a bit too forced and unnatural. I agree with the other reviewers who mentioned it being built around the tropes. I'm giving this 2 stars because I could see others liking it. This one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was the fun read that I needed in my life! I read it in one sitting and enjoyed all the elements it threw at me including: going viral (but not for the best reason) secrecy, a friends-to-lovers troupe, and a best-selling romance writer who has never been in love. ...??!!! AMAZING! If you love the HEA style, this one is for you! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was excited to read Plot Twist. The cover was cute and the summary sounded really good. The day I got my ARC through NetGalley, I quickly opened the book up and read the first chapter. I was soon disappointed. The chapter wasn't bad, but the writing felt cliche. Sophie just read like every other main character in a RomCom, and the same could be said about her lover interest, Dash. I kept reading, but I wasn't excited anymore. It was really difficult to keep reading. That being said, I don't think this a bad story, and in fact, I'd be willing to read it again to see if a different mindset might make me view it more positively. For now, though, the story is just very mid for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC opportunity!

I truly enjoyed this book. It beyond exceeded my expectations and included real life issues such as the heroine of the story having a pacemaker, and characters in the book grappling with addiction, recovery, and complicated family dynamics. I loved the main characters, Sophie and Dash. I find it unique that I was truly rooting for each of them as individuals and as a potential couple. I was invested in their stories and liked them as people.

This story has typical tropes that are still interesting including forced proximity, and friends to lovers. It was sweet, funny, deep, and had romantic spice. It begins with Sophie experiencing writers block and trying to discover how she can best finish her next book, including recording tik tok videos exploring her past relationships. At the same time, Dash is trying to establish his new life while maintaining his secrets. I loved these characters and would love a follow up story. I will definitely read any book by this author!

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I couldn't get into this modern romance novel. The characters, plot, etc were not for me.

Disappointed. I was so excited after the first book, but Plot Twist was an apt title for my experience—and not in a good way. Here’s hoping if the series continues it will reflect the first book.

I was underwhelmed by La Rosa's debut novel, FOR THE BUTTER, but was willing to give her second a chance because of how much I loved the synopsis. Unfortunately, this one also didn't have the impact I was hoping for. I thought large swaths of the story were boring and overwritten, and didn't see the chemistry between the LIs.

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.

Thank your for the Arc of Plot Twist

I enjoyed this romance story. It took me a little bit to get into this story but once I was hooked on Dash and Sophie, I fell for their connection. She was looking to find out why she couldn't fall in love. However, Dash wasn't looking to anything serious so the two connected without pressure and ended up falling for each other.

Talk about hard topics! Alcoholism, family dysfunction, imposter syndrome, and writer’s block!

This story is fun and spicy! The characters’ problems draw the reader in and add a layer to the blooming romance.

Sophie having to visit her exes to find out why she never fell in love is an awesome concept. It is cringey at certain points but had this reader at the edge of my seat. Like watching a disaster in slow motion is an excellent description. You can’t take your eyes off it.

The description of how brutal recovery is for any substance was done in a beautiful and compassionate manner.

The characters facing their own hardships and on their own paths of self-discovery are enjoyable. This author has mastered character growth and development on the path of self-discovery.

The spice is wonderful and adds to the plot and the connection of the characters.

Such a cute, spicy romance!