Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pansexual representation! I'll give it an extra start just for that. I don't think I've actually read a book with a pansexual rep and boy was it worth the effort of getting through the rest of this. And the fact that I found two at the same time is insane as well, talk about luck! (Insert Imogen Obviously)

I think my only real problem with this book is how completely modern it is. I don't like a modern love story, and because of that, I should really stop trying to read them. I'm a sucker for romance in person, up front, and unquestionable. Shown through action as well as words. This book didn't really hold that for me. Social media just should not feel like a main form of communication, there should be some outside of it.

A visible relationship is all well and good, but that isn't all love should be.

The representation of addiction and mental health was overabundantly present, and while I love a good representation, I can't take when there is too much of it. When it becomes who someone is rather than a motivation for who they could be. Please know this is an opinion, and has no hold on how you feel about a story.

I hope other people can find what I didn't in this one. I still made it through!

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: November 14, 2023

Rating: 2 stars

I used to feel guilty when I would DNF an arc but I have other arcs that I need to read in a timely manner. This book fell into the category of "I was drawn into the synopsis but the book didn't quite execute".

Things I liked:
- The writing style was pretty good and I found that it was easy to fall into the story
- Showing Dash's struggle with addiction to alcohol

Things I didn't enjoy:
- Insta-love/lust trope
- Flat characters ( I wished they were a bit more fleshed out)
- Relied heavily on pop culture (TikTok)
- Minimal plot

Overall, I wondered if I was in the wrong age bracket for this book. I think younger audiences would enjoy this book along with those that need a palette cleanser/fluff read.

This book had SO much going on that it was hard to keep track of the direction of the story. Was it a book about finding yourself after getting sober? About how our past exes affect our current and future relationships? Child actors and the pressures Hollywood families live under? Social media stalking and catfishing? Falling for the guy/girl next door?

The plot has all that and more, plus a huge cast of side characters. It was well written (although in need of a good editor) and I genuinely liked the characters of Sophie and Dash. But with so much action going on, their relationship felt almost like an afterthought.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC of this story; all opinions are my own!

Sophie's a romance writer who's stuck because she's never fallen in love! With a book deadline looming, Sophie decides to revisit former lovers to try to come to the realization of why she's never been able to say those three little words.
In the meantime, things are heating up with her landlord (and her best friend's brother) Dash, who happens to be an actor, on hiatus, until his sobriety is in check.

I was intrigued by the title and the cute cover. Grab a copy on release day: November 14, 2023 and tell me what you think!

With Plot Twist, we've got the following tropes: Best Friend's Brother and Forced Proximity (hello one bed)
There's addiction (AA) as a potential trigger warning.

Favorite Quote "How can we be friends when I know what you taste like?"

I hadn't realized this was book 2 when I read it, though, it does seem to work as a stand alone. The book follows Sophie as she struggles to write her next book. She's living in the backyard apartment of her best friend's brother. After realizing she's never been in love, she sets on a journey to meet with all of her exes to find out why.

There's some spice and a HEA ending.

Overall: 3.3 out of 5
Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Erin La Rose for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was so so cute. I genuinely loved this book. Erin is a very talented writer and this story felt personal, even if it wasn't. The characters were well developed and though each dealing with their own issues, very likeable. I would love to see Poppy get her own story! I really don't have any criticism as I think that this is a solidly cute story and written very well. Would recommend!

4.5 stars !!

thank you to netgalley for sending me an arc !! i recently read “for butter or worse” and got really happy to know that i was approved to read sophie’s love story !!

plot twist made me fall in love with dash and that’s it like cmon he’s a pottery bf, what else could i want??? but jokes aside, this book was such a fun read :,)

“i’m not overwhelmed by you”

dash’s past is a really sad plot but everything that happened build him into who he’s and i couldn’t be prouder !! him confronting his family was something that he needed to do and i’m glad everything worked out in the end

“you’re not defined by your mistakes”

i loved how sophie took the courage to talk to her exes about something she’s really insecure even after the video got viral. dash always being there for her was *chef kiss* to me, especially with his secret tiktok replies that she didn’t really know about

“i’ve been waiting my whole life for you, just as you are. and if you think i’m going to walk away because of one mistake, then you’re wrong. despite everything, i trust you. i always have. and i trust that if you make more mistakes, we’ll figure them out together.”

i’ll never forget about their squirrel, sophie’s goldfish and the talk about sharks and tractors <3 sophie’s tattoo is definitely unforgettable ! and i wish i could read one of her books !!!!

“just so i’m clear, you love tractors and sharks.”
“you say that like they aren’t all related.”
“sharks and tractors are related?”
“they’re both wildly misunderstood, dash.”

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.