I was super excited after reading the summary of the book and the first like 40% I was hooked. However, as the book went on, it lost the appeal and I struggled to finish it. I found Sophie is to be incredibly immature and I did not care about her and her journey through talking to her exes (which she was the common denominator for why they didn’t work). The book has so many tropes in it and it just felt super overwhelming. Also, the whole TikTok plot line I was not expecting and just didn’t enjoy it at all.

I did enjoy Dash and how the author addressed his sobriety and alcoholism. It’s a super sensitive topic that was handled really well. I enjoyed his character a lot and I feel like he was done dirty by staying with Sophie. I didn’t really feel their chemistry at all and it’s more of a HFN story.

Sophie is a romance writer with writer's block and a fast-approaching deadline. She has also never been in love. Sophie is so funny and likeable. She's an astrology girly that just screams when things are bad which is such a mood.

Dash is Sophie's best friend's older brother who is also her landlord. He is also a recovering alcoholic that is part of an acting legacy family in Hollywood. He does crafting to manage his stress and stay sober. Which side note: a tatted-up guy doing crafts is hot AF. Especially pottery lol.

The progression of their relationship was realistic and really steamyyyyy. I live for super supportive and understanding romances and Sophie and Dash have that to the max. I was a little nervous about the addiction aspect of this book just because it's not something I enjoy reading about. However, it was handled really well. The compassion Sophie had for Dash was very sweet and also realistic. Sophie's growth throughout the novel was enjoyable and was something I could see playing out in real life when confronting your exes.

Thank you Harlequin, Erin La Rosa and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This started so cute for me. It had everything it need, grumpy-sunshine, close proxim, best friends brother, neighbor, and a one-bed moment?! But even with all of that there wasn't any pining. The second either of them started to have feelings they acted on it and kept going. There was no real build up for either the intial relationship or the second chance in the last half.

3.5 stars

Plot Twist was a super cute, feel-good romance with an an HEA that I didn't see coming. Dash, a charming, not-overly-masculine, short king, was a refreshing break from the typical ill-tempered giant that tends to dominate contemporary romance. Sophie's pansexuality was very well written. It was present and forward but not overworked to the point that it felt inorganic. Despite some cringey TikTok references (TokCrafty2Me? Seriously?) I don't have many bad things to say about this book.

I did not read the first book in this series, For Butter or Worse, so I don't know if that would have changed my reading experience. This book was fine, but it did not give me the romancey feels that I was wanting. The characters were not fully developed so I was not really rooting for them. The plot goes like this: romance writer realizes that she has never been in love and has a drunken breakdown at a bar declating her woe. Someone takes a video and she's trending on TikTok. With the help of her grumpy landlord a tattooed, ex-actor (who happens to be her best friend's brother), she embarks on a journey to meet up with her exes to determine why she hasn't fallen in love, will document on TikTok, and hopefully break out of her writers block. He is secretly in recovery, and agrees to it if she can help write a speech for an award his way famous dad is writing. They deny feelings for each other, there is a one bed situation, he is also a secret crafter and gives her kudos on her posts, and there's a stalker and a goldfish.

I will still give the author a chance with the first book, but this one didn't really do it for me.

Thank you Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

Fans of Love on the Brain and Two Wrongs Make a Right, this is for you!

La Rosa has a wonderful grasp of banter, tension and wit that will have you on the edge of your seat and saying “one more chapter!”

Somewhat predictable, but I like a bit of a formulaic take to my romcoms.

Plot Twist is a romance book lovers dream. I’m a total sucker for a good trope and with the main character of this book Sophie being a romance author herself this story is wonderfully aware of its tropes and leans into it.

I loved watching Sophie navigate her relationships with her ex’s as she tries to figure out why she’s the romance author who’s never been in love all while falling for her best friends brother.

I found Dash’s story really interesting, his struggle with addiction and his family really added a lot to his character and his story. One of the things I really liked about Dash’s plot was his friendship with Chris. I loved seeing a male lead have a best friend who he was fully honest with at all times, often in dual POV books we see the male lead leave things out when talking to his friends and that didn’t happen here which was super refreshing.

This story was sweet and sexy and really had me rooting for their success. I also really liked the added layer of Hollywood and LA as the backdrop for these characters. I didn’t realize when I started this that it’s the second in a series so I will definitely be going back to read the first one!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and the author Erin La Rosa for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review. Check this one out when it comes out in November!

Erin La Rosa's Hollywood romance novel was an absolute delight and my first encounter with her writing left me curious to check out the first book in her Hollywood Romance series. The concept of the story was adorable; the never been in love romance author with the former teen heartthrob who's her landlord. Oh and did I mention her best friend's brother?

Dash's character and backstory were particularly captivating, especially since we've all seen the devastating impact of child actors recovering later in adulthood. Witnessing his journey as he grappled with fame, his overbearing mom/manager, and the crushing pressure to live up to his older sibling's success, all while battling alcoholism and low self-worth, left me feeling a sense of bittersweet empathy. Yet, despite all these hardships, Dash is a very kind and genuine person who's just misunderstood and needs a little coaxing to come out of his shell.

Sophie, the romance author with no experience in love, was an absolute mess, and I couldn't help but adore her. The storyline of her revisiting past relationships via a TikTok series was a delightful touch and a great nod to Booktok! However, I did find myself yearning for more insight into her past relationships as the scenes of her reunions with exes felt slightly rushed, but it didn't detract from the story's overall appeal.

One of the many things I admired about La Rosa's writing was the subtle nods to different romance tropes and the self-awareness of the main character, making it a treat for fans of the genre. The right amount of spice, cuteness, and drama in this quick and easy romance left me feeling fulfilled, and I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a charming read.

Sophie is an author. She wrote a book that was successful but she’s having trouble finishing her second and the deadline is only a few weeks away. The publisher is threatening to void the contract and take back her advance. If this happens, she’s convinced she’ll be finished as a writer. The problem is, she writes romance…but she’s never been in love.

Dash is a semi-famous actor - but he doesn’t like acting. And he’s a bit grumpy. But also attractive. And he happens to be Sophie’s landlord.

If you haven’t read For Butter or Worse (and where will you find a title better than that? Hint: Nowhere), you need to. It was funny and spicy, and the banter was top notch. This is the author’s second book, and it did not disappoint. It was so darn cute.

I loved Sophie and Dash and liked how flawed and real they both were. In no way did they have it together. And they knew it. I also enjoyed the fact the story was, to some extent, about books/writing. It was fun reading about Sophie’s writing process and the things she did to try and finish her book (with the looming deadline). How do you write a book about love when you’ve never experienced it? And the spice? I’m not good with pepper ratings at all. Let’s just say this. There was spice and it was nice. Kidding, I felt like rhyming. Sue me. It wasn’t nice, it was wowzers. Whatever the pepper earring was for her last book, double it (felt that way to me, at least). Do you hear me complaining? Nope.

Instant buy author for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Such a cute book!
Sophie is a romance author who goes viral after announcing to an entire bar that she’s never been in love. She develops writers block, but must finish her next novel. She decides to do an experiment where she records and visits her ex’s and find out why she never fell in love, and then post them online.
Dash is her landlord and a former teen heartthrob who is trying to work through addiction while dealing with family drama.
Together they help each other with tasks they are trying to accomplish, all while trying to deny their feelings for each other.

This was beautifully written with characters that were well developed. They were flawed, but realistic. I felt like the author did a great job writing about the struggles that come from addiction.
This was such a great and easy read! I finished it in one sitting! I loved all the humor, spice, and drama! Definitely add to your tbr list! Erin La Rosa did it again with another great book!


📘: Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa
🗓️: November 14, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Reviewed on NetGalley and Goodreads.

This was a cute easy read that surprisingly covered some bigger issues such as addiction, dysfunctional families, trust issues and learning to grow and be yourself.

We follow Sophie, a Romance writer trying to write her next book but she's having major writers block. She looks back on her past relationships to try to take a deeper look at why they didn't work and why she's never been able to say "I love you" to anyone. She hopes this can help her writers block so she can finally finish her second book.
Dash, a former child/teen actor who is struggling with recovery, who is trying to take it day by day and figure out how to live a life away from the Hollywood lifestyle he was born into. He has many issues of his own with his family and keeping many things in his life a secret in order for control.
Together they help each other with tasks they are trying to accomplish, all while trying to deny their budding feelings.

Thank you Netgalley and the Author for the Arc!

I think I wanted to like this book more than I did. Sophie and Dash were fine as characters, but a lot of the secrets they were keeping had no real need to be kept for as long a they did. They both had been through it, which is fair, but I think, especially Dash, could have been more honest for longer. I also think I'm not fully ready for a world were TikTok is a basis for much of the story, though I understand its power in the world. It felt weird that both characters had TikToks and a lot of their motivations stemmed from it. I will say, the idea of 'meeting with exes to see why I've never been in love" was actually really interesting, I just wish it was done better. It felt like it should have been a bigger part of the story than it was. Overall, a 3/5 stars for me.

Full Review:
https://theweatherwriter.wixsite.com/blog/post/book-review-plot-twist-by-erin-la-rosa

This was a very cute rom-com! It started as a cheesy rom-com but ended with some real character growth. Such a great read!

Overall this story was fun with an original plot and interesting twist. I loved Dash and his character arc but I struggled to find anything that I enjoyed about Sophie, unfortunately. For that reason I struggled to cheer them on as a couple. Also, I really feel like this could have been longer….Sophie didn’t have enough time with her exes to find out why they didn’t work out…meaning I was even less likely to cheer on her relationship with Dash.

Overall I enjoyed this story. Sophie is a romance author who goes viral after announcing to an entire bar that she has never been in love. She has writer's block and can't finish the romance novel she's under contract for, which could mean the end of her career. In an attempt to move past the viral video, and in hopes of overcoming her writer's block, she decides to make videos as she meets up with her ex's to try and find out why she didn't fall in love with them. She doesn't expect her landlord/best friend's brother/childhood crush to also get involved in her little experiment. They form a friendship and he starts to share things that no one else knows. When their attraction begins to become too much, they wonder if they can pull off being friends with benefits. Dash was a childhood actor coming from a family who has an image to uphold. Which is why he doesn't tell any of them he's in recovery. He's doing all he can to stay sober, but even though he knows he's totally wrong for Sophie, he can't help but build a trust with her, and want to be with her. He knows all she wants is to fall in love, but since she'd never fall for him, there shouldn't be anything wrong with them working through the heat that's simmering between them.

This book has all the makings of a quick read but I struggled to get pulled in. Not all books are for everyone and I just didn't connect with this one the way that I wanted. I still enjoyed it and wanted to see the characters succeed and I would read other works from this author. I have not read the first book to this series but, which the character is in this book, it did not detract from my reading.

Publication date is Nov 14, 2023

Overall, it is a cute story that had its own charm which I genuinely enjoyed, but this one won’t be a love for a lifetime book.

I think this one is going to be a dnf for me
I have been trying to be more lenient with letting myself put books down that are not holding my attention, and this book is just not doing it for me.
There is nothing wrong with the book, it’s just not holding my attention. I don’t find myself interested in the characters or story line. After only getting around 20% in after a week and a half I’m going to count this one as a loss
I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back and finishing at a later date

I’m assuming this would have been a 3 star read, but bumping it down to 2 because i didn’t finish it

why is it that cartoon covers always have the spiciest scenes, not most but this one had just the right spice and romance along with character development. I related to Sophie heavenly. relationships weren't my thing so I thought- then I married the one man I loved. this book was funny along with deep. the talks about addiction-alcoholism were also very eye opening on both pot from someone struggling to stay sober and someone supporting an addict. I cried, I cheered. this book felt very real to me. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Plot Twist is the second installment of Erin La Rosa’s Hollywood series, but it can absolutely be read as a standalone. It makes a few references to the previous book, For Butter or For Worse (tell me that title isn’t HUH-larious), but I was still able to easily follow the side characters’ stories without having read it.

This was a sweet and unique little rom-com, and it had a lot of promise at first. The main love interests are Dash, a former child actor focused on maintaining a sober lifestyle post-rehab, and Sophie, a romance novelist working to understand why she herself has never been able to fall in love. Dash’s struggles with addiction and sobriety were mindfully portrayed, and it was clear to see how his former career path and dysfunctional family dynamics led to him closing himself off from the world. It was nice to see some LGBTQ+ rep as well; Sophie is pansexual and has dated men, women, and trans folks in the past. And the spicy scenes between Sophie and Dash were surprisingly… well, spicy.

But there were also a lot of things that didn’t work for me here. I knew going in that TikTok was a key plot element, but I couldn’t stand how deeply the characters were involved with it. Maybe this was an attempt at connecting with younger readers or with real-life BookTokers, but I just found the whole social media slant super cringey. I also knew that Sophie would be reaching out to her exes for the sake of self-improvement, but both protagonists spent more time with other people (either romantically or not) than with each other, which left their own love story a bit underdeveloped.

This book relied heavily on romance tropes to push the relationship forward rather than allowing it to evolve organically, and any chemistry Sophie and Dash might have had was mostly obscured by the messiness of their individual lives. They both had so much baggage and so little emotional maturity that their relationship never made much sense (for example, they kept getting upset with each other for “lying” when really they were just maintaining boundaries they’d already set, which, like… come on). They were good about communicating clearly with each other (this was a plus, for sure), but their actions so often contradicted their previously set boundaries that for most of the book they were in a constant holding pattern that didn’t really go anywhere. Dash’s struggles were understandable, sure, but even though he was clear with Sophie about what he was and wasn’t ready for, he was still kind of leading her on by indulging her pursuit of him. And I liked Sophie less and less as the book went on. She started out as this chaotic sweetheart enduring a relatable third-life crisis, but kept revealing herself to be selfish and painfully self-involved; she made no real growth from start to finish, and the small realizations she made about herself at the end felt rushed and disingenuous.

The writing itself was fine. There was some cringey dialogue, but otherwise it was fun and easy enough to finish in a couple of sittings. In all, it wasn’t my favorite romance ever, but it was entertaining and included a mostly compassionate portrayal of addiction. Recommended for romance readers who enjoy breezy writing, characters with unique backstories, and a moderate amount of steam.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for allowing me to read this book.

Plot Twist was an enjoyable read. I thought the characters and their development were lovely. I personally struggled to get into this book, but I did find it easier to read as the story progressed. I definitely see why people will enjoy Plot Twist, so I do think it is worth checking out.

Full review will be published on Instagram, Storygraph, and Goodreads @abookwormsgarden on November 2nd, 2023.