This was a sweet romance between a woman and her neighbor/landlord who also happens to be her best friend's brother. It had it steamy moments- hello happy ending massage roleplay!
While I mostly enjoyed this book, it kinda felt like the first and second halves were disconnected. Also, I was very proud of Sophie for standing up for herself and what she needed, it felt like the characters were kind of all over place in the second half... I felt like screaming.. This is not the book if you don't like the kind of issues that could be easily resolved with a thorough discussion

My first Erin La Rosa book and it won't be my last.

This was a sweet and spicy romance that handled some heavy subjects ( CW alcoholism). I think the author did a wonderful job on creating a characters that are relatable and real.

The only thing I didn't like was the TIktok piece and that's a personal preference for me just because that is a platform I'm not familiar with or engage with.

I would rate this somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4.

Super cute contemporary romance about a romance book writer who hasn't been in love. It had so many classic tropes, and I loved when a trope was acknowledged outright, almost like breaking the fourth wall. The Hollywood setting was well done, it felt detailed and added depth to the story without taking focus away from the characters and their journey. I read this without reading the first book in the series, but am definitely going back to read it. I'm also secretly hoping for a third book with Rhys and Justine...

This was more like a 2.5 for me - I found the main characters to be quite annoying and they had a way of making things more difficult and way bigger of a deal than they needed to be. Example - I never understood why Dash’s pottery had to be SUCH a big dirty secret? Who cares that you like to make plates and mugs?? Why is that so bad?? Also, I understand why he would be ashamed of previously having a drinking problem and having to go into AA but, at this point, he’s a little over a year sober and is still keeping it a secret? Isn’t part of AA accepting that you had a problem and telling people that you’re sober to help you out? He treated the act of being sober as shameful and I just don’t agree with that rhetoric.

As far as the writing goes, is was simple and easy to get into. The tension was there and we had some good, fun steamy scenes. Our main characters had good personalities and stood out on their own independent of their relationship, which is something I’ll always appreciate.

Overall, it was something fun to pass the time, but it won’t go down as a favorite.

Okay, I loved this idea of this book SO much and it was very adorable, but something just wasn’t for me and I think it was the MMC. The story was very fast-paced and had some deeper elements to it that made the story evolve but I couldn’t relate to the characters as well. I would still recommend the story to other people though! The plot kept me reading!! 3.5/5 stars

Erin La Rosa's friends with benefits romance Plot Twist centers on romance novelist Sophie Lyon and crafter Dash Montrose.

Since I got to see grumpy Dash soften up for his sunny neighbor, Sophie, I will always be a lover and fan of the grumpy x sunshine trope, especially with the way it was handled in the book. Also, I adored how Dash consistently supported Sophie and left secret comments on her TikTok videos.

Although the first couple of smut scenes were extremely awkward and not at all hot, things did start to improve near the end. Also, it seemed as though the author sought to put more of an emphasis on the book's tropes than on its characters and plot, which, while occasionally beneficial, was overdone.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read with entertaining tropes.

*Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and to the author, Erin La Rosa, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

Sophie's a romance novelist who's never been in love, and is now suffering from a serious case of writer's block. When a video of her karaoke pity party goes viral, she sets out to revisit her past relationships to learn what went wrong. She's accompanied by her landlord/best friend's brother, Dash, who needs something to fill his time, now that he's given up his acting career.

I appreciated that Sophie and Dash were not just your cookie-cutter leads, but I never really felt a ton of chemistry between the two. Sophie's "main character energy" was a lot to handle at times, and Dash was carrying a lot of baggage, which he did acknowledge, but I still felt like he couldn't fully commit to their relationship. The large focus on TikTok also rubbed me the wrong way, as I know it's the "it" social media app at the moment, but I think it could cause this book to become dated very quickly. Overall, not my favorite romance read of the year, but I could see people liking it, especially if they relate more to either of the leads than I did.

I was given a proof of this book by net galley and publisher.

Plot Twist is a second in a series of stand alones. This follows Sophie, a romance writer as she tries to break her writers block. She enlist the help of her handsome landlord to help her track down and figure out what went wrong in her relationships. Why has she never been in love?

This story is cute and sometimes cheesy, with a dash of spice. I found it to be a good palette cleanser between fantasy books. Some part felt a little rushed and forced but overall an enjoyable read.

I've had a lot of good luck with romance novels about romance novelists, and I really enjoyed this one. Sophie Lyon (sister of Nina from For Butter or Worse, which I loved), is a romance novelist whose first book made a big splash but who is completely creatively blocked for her second, which has a looming deadline. When a video of Sophie saying that she's never been in love goes viral, she decides to seize the moment and get back in touch with some of her exes to find out why they didn't work out, all while keeping her fans updated via TikTok. Helping her out is her landlord/friend/best friend's brother Dash Montrose, a former actor and Sophie's teen crush. She agrees to help Dash write a speech introducing his famous father for a huge event, and he helps her with her quest (and with her social media presence). Dash is clearly pretty into Sophie but he's 18 months sober and afraid to get into a serious relationship, especially with his sister's best friend. This reminded me a bit of Andie J. Christopher's Thank You, Next, but I really liked how much the author played with different romance tropes - which made particular sense with a romance novelist main character.

This book was a fun easy read. A little cheesy but I feel like that expected for a romance story, you know? I didn’t LOVE it but I didn’t dislike it either. It was recommended to me so I gave it a try even though I’m more of a fantasy girlie. So if you love romance books you’ll probably really love this one!!

This book is so funny and sweet and sad, making me fully emotional and feeling everything. The author does a superb job of taking seriously heavy issues and handling them with grace and care. And it was so addictive that I read it without moving for several hours - probably not healthy, but I have no regrets. I loved revisiting the Lyon’s family and friends, and hope to do so again.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

This story follows Sophie- a romance author determined to be more than just a one-hit wonder. As the deadline for her latest book looms, she finds herself with a severe case of writers block. When a video of her having a drunken meltdown at karaoke night goes viral, she becomes convinced that the way to solve her writers block is to meet up with her exes and see why things didn’t work out. She enlists the help of her incredibly hot (and tattooed) landlord- but he has baggage of his own that he needs to work through.

This was another one that I flew through in a day! The characters in this book were some of the most perfectly flawed and realistic characters I’ve ever read. It explores issues such as addiction, fear of commitment, childhood trauma, infertility, and more.

As always, I was thrilled to see the LGBTQ+ representation! Sophie identifies herself as a pansexual and we get to explore her past relationships with men, women, and non-binary individuals.

This book was funny, romantic, at times raw, and INCREDIBLY spicy (there’s a scene in the yard that you will NOT want to read in public 🥵).

The character growth is so realistic and I really appreciated that not everything was tied up perfectly with a bow because that’s not how real life works. This story makes it clear that while there are some issues that people may always struggle with or spend their lives working on- that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to live and hope for happiness in your future.

This was the first book I’ve read by Erin La Rosa but it certainly won’t be my last.

Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Holy shit this book was bad. I had some doubts about how much I would enjoy this book around chapter 2, and it never got better. The writing was clunky, the chemistry is forced at best, and the plot is an amalgamation of poorly thrown together tropes and add in a tiktok reference. As someone who really finds pop culture references in books cringy and tacky, a significant portion of the plot being about getting tiktok fame was almost too much for me. I wish I could say the characters made up for it but they didn't. Dash had half a personality when he wasn't randomly horny, and Sophie had no discernable characteristics to stick out as a main character. She's a romance writer, he's a former actor. For some reason stated at the beginning, they cannot be together even though they are both grown adults, but they have this inexplicable attraction to each other that was shoved down our throats in chapter 1.
Lastly this may just be me being petty, but reading the words "scrub tug" in reference to getting off in the shower made me know I couldn't give this a higher rating than 2 stars. Luckily we couldn't clear that if we wanted to.

Dash and Sophie are brought together because of Dash’s sister Poppy being Sophie’s “best friend” but we see none of that relationship which I found made it a little hard to believe during later scenes in the book.

I also felt that there were a ton of unnecessary details - too much was going on with each of our mains. There were lots of throwaway moments intended to - I assume - add depth and complexity to the characters but didn’t.

Overall though, this was a cute and entertaining romcom with a few moments of depth that I enjoyed reading.

I’m apparently a sucker for romance books about romance books. I LOVED that the FMC was a writer talking about tropes as she was experiencing those same tropes. If I was single I have no doubt that all my interactions with crushes etc would be discussed with my friends as tropes.
I loved all the characters to the point that I hope this is this authors second or third book and that the other couples romance stories already exist and I just didn’t know.
The spice was exactly the level of spice that I enjoy most and not so aggressive to alienate folks who prefer closed door and I think proud smut readers should also enjoy it.
All of that aside the way this author chose to deal with serious topics like addiction, familial pressure, finding yourself, and sexuality was in my opinion perfect. These were all major components of the story but in such a way that normalized all of it and brought some healthy perspective to it all.
Also Richard Gere squirrel A++

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

Plot Twist is the second in Erin La Rosa's Hollywood series, but you can read this as a standalone. I didn't read the first book and I don't think I will. The description for this books holds everything I love from romance novels. In the beginning the characters were intriguing and full of quirks and changes that made the characters seem realistic and interesting, but the tropes couldn't save this one for me. The characters started out strong, but ultimately didn't feel full or vibrant like I expected - I know plenty of people in their 30s who don't have a plan or know themselves, but these characters just seemed really lost until they seemed to resolve their problems kinda magically. Sophie was likeable at times, but I didn't get the feeling she was fully developed that gave her the depth she deserved. Dash was also quirky and loveable and had more depth than Sophie but there was still a lack or real growth that we saw or any resolution for some of his conflict.

Romance author Sophie Lyon’s ironic secret just went viral: she’s never been in love. Though her debut novel made readers swoon, Sophie’s having trouble getting her new characters to happily-ever-after, and she blames it on her own uninspired love life. With a manuscript deadline looming, Sophie makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writer’s block: reunite with her exes to learn why she's never fallen in love—and document it all for her millions of new online followers. Which also means facing her ex-girlfriend Carla, the one person Sophie could have loved.
Luckily, Sophie’s reclusive landlord, Dash Montrose—a former teen heartthrob—has social media all figured out and offers to help. But he doesn't mention that he’s an anonymous online crafter, a hobby that helps him maintain his sobriety. No one knows about his complicated relationship with alcohol and he intends to keep it that way. 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 that rivals Dash's pottery kiln. But Sophie needs to figure out who she is outside her relationships, and Dash isn’t sure he’s stable enough for the commitment she deserves. So Sophie suggests what any good romance author would: a friends-with-benefits arrangement. Surely a casual relationship won’t cause any trouble…

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Plot Twist is the second book in a series but can be read as a complete standalone. This book seems to have everything I would want including the various tropes and humor I tend to love but something fell flat for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and they all seemed relatively surface level to me. Sophie was likeable but I didn't feel like there was anything that really gave her any sort of depth. Dash was also loveable and had slightly more depth but there was still something missing.

The first half of the book was rough to get through. There was literally nothing happening except some fun pop culture references. The book definitely picked up in the second half which I actually really enjoyed. The first half of the book was probably 2 stars while the last half was 4 so I gave it an average of 3 stars.

I loved this book! There's so much to enjoy about this story. Sophie and Dash are engaging protagonists with compelling problems. Both of them grow so much in the course of their journey together, Sophie trying to figure out why she's never been in love, while Dash wrestles with maintaining his sobriety and his privacy. I relate hard to family trauma, and there is a good deal of that in this book. I think it's handled really well. Sophie and Dash are both such softies, and I really loved seeing them grow into being comfortable together and taking care of each other. I'm not much for grand gestures, so that part didn't really fly for me, but otherwise I adored this. I think any fans of the previous book will love this one too!

CWs: Alcoholism, addiction, parental death, parental abuse

Romance author Sophie Lyon's ironic secret just went viral: she's never been in love. Though her debut novel made readers swoon, Sophie's having trouble getting her new characters to happily-ever-after, and she blames it on her own uninspired love life. With a manuscript deadline looming, Sophie makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writer's block: reunite with her exes to learn why she's never fallen in love-and document it all for her millions of new online followers.
Luckily, Sophie's reclusive landlord, Dash Montrose-a former teen heartthrob- has social media all figured out and offers to help. But he doesn't mention that he's an anonymous online crafter, a hobby that helps him maintain his sobriety. No one knows about his complicated relationship with alcohol and he intends to keep it that way. 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 that rivals Dash's pottery kiln. But Sophie needs to figure out who she is outside her relationships, and Dash isn't sure he's stable enough for the commitment she deserves. So Sophie suggests what any good romance author would: a friends-with - benefits arrangement. Surely a casual relationship won't cause any trouble...
I enjoyed this quick, easy read. Sophie and Dash are lovable characters who both see themselves as screw ups. I liked their relationship and how they accepted one another. For a book called Plot Twist, it was pretty predictable. thankyou netgalley for approving this arc in exchange for an honest review 🙌

I really wanted to love this book. It had such a fun premise. A romance writer who is struggling to finish her second book and doesn’t believe in love, forced proximity, best friend’s brother? I mean come on. That is normally my cat nip. Unfortunately this book just did not do it for me. I DNF’ed at 35%. The writing felt a little all over the place. The tiktok of it all really pulled me out of the story. I wanted to like Sophie but instead she felt really flat to me and any backstory given felt like it was intentionally “sad” to make her seem “deep.” I appreciated that Dash was sober and trying to navigate life outside of his parents expectations but Sophie being the only one he has told about things just seemed odd. They had barely talked before he found he hungover one day. I think that if there had been less tiktok I might have been able to push through but the described videos and then comment section was not it for me.

As I have not finished this book I will not be posting reviews on StoryGraph, Goodreads, or Amazon. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.