Cover Image: Plot Twist

Plot Twist

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this copy of the e-arc in exchange for a honest review.

Plot Twist follows romance writer Sophie who is having trouble finishing her second book due to her never actually being in love. As well as Dash, former teen heartthrob and Sophie's landlord and brother to Sophie's best friend.

Sophie decides to help her overcome her writers block to meet up with her exes and share on it tik tok after getting the encouragement for Dash.

Dash is struggling with maintaining his sobriety and has turned to crafting (mostly pottery) and has been posting to tiktok anonymously. With the dread of writing a speech for an upcoming event for his father, Sophie has offered to lead a had and write the speech for him.

I really loved reading Sophie's and Dash's love story, Erin is a great writer and I will be going back and reading her other books.

Was this review helpful?

I wanted to love this book especially because of the gorgeous cover! I absolutely love it. That being said I thought it was weird how it was surrounded by tik tok, as someone who doesn’t love that app, I just didn’t love this book.

Was this review helpful?

It’s rare that I prefer the first book in a series to its sequel these days but Plot Twist lacked some of the energy and banter that made For Butter or Worse shine. That being said, the book tackles tough topics like addiction and both main characters came across as deserving of love. They got a bit on my nerves and repetitive at times but overall I was rooting for them. However, I felt the ending lacked a certain sense of closure I would have preferred — even though it had a HEA and the main characters all reconciled, unresolved tension from the family plot line felt palpable. Maybe if the next book in the series follows Rhys or Poppy we’ll get the necessary details on how the family moves on from their mother’s actions.

Was this review helpful?

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and struggles of being a romance book author while never experiencing love. I can just imagine the imposter syndrome someone in this situation could feel

Was this review helpful?

The book cover drew me more than the story itself did—which isn’t great to say and I’m sorry, but don’t judge a book by its cover works both ways. I liked the beginning but quickly lost interest as it felt like it was going all over the place—the TikTok pretense seemed weak, the Nina leak useless to the story, as did the pacemaker. And also, why is the title Plot Twist? Did I miss it? I’m sorry for this review but this story didn’t work for me.

Was this review helpful?

I truly enjoyed reading Plot Twist and connected with the story in so many ways. Sophie and Dash are such relatable characters and their chemistry was outstanding. I would definitely recommend this book!

Was this review helpful?

This book started out a little slow for me but I am so glad that I gave it a chance. It turned out to be a new favorite of mine. From the way the characters found each other in the beginning to the very end I loved reading their story.

Was this review helpful?

I wished I liked this more than I did, but it was just a pretty run of the mill romance. I didn't really care for Sophie, and I didn't realize how much of this book would be focused on making TikToks. I do think the author did a really great job writing about Dash's sobriety, and how well she wrote about the delicacy of dealing with sobriety while having a family with unrealistic expectations. Overall, it was cute, but not an all time favorite.

Was this review helpful?

Let's start with the pros. The characters were like-able and had a good amount of growth throughout the book. The spice was good, not too much of it but what did exist was well written. The main character, Sophie, she was a fun heroine. There were times her jokes made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed her moments of self awareness and we actually got to see her work towards finding herself. Dash is my favorite kind of character. Hard on the outside but a cinnamon roll on the inside. The squirrel, the goldfish, and Richard Gere jokes were all 12/10

There were a few things that I didn't enjoy about this book. The Tiktok story line felt a little forced at times, but I thought the author did a good job of not including it more than it needed to be. Both characters had a lot of secrets from others, and sometimes it just hurts me to read stories like that. I find myself nervous to keep reading because I know the secrets will start to unravel and I'll be living with the secondhand anxiety of it all. I also felt like the word guffawed was used a lot, and I'm just not even sure what that means.

I struggled between giving this one a 3 star or giving it a 4 star, but because there were a few moments where I laughed out loud, I decided to go with the 4. Overall, this book was a really fun read and I am excited to read other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

It was pretty cute! I definitely enjoyed the read, just didn’t stand out to me. Would recommend it to friends though.

Was this review helpful?

First off thanks to netgalley for providing me an ARC!

Sophie is an author who's struggling to write her next book. She rents from her best friends brother, who happens to be a child actor and her childhood crush, Dash.
While she's trying to figure out why she's never said I love you. Dash is working through many issues on his own. They develop quite the situation-ship.

Overall, the book was cute. I'm not a big fan of including social media, in this case TikTok, in books. It dates the book and it was a little cringey in some spots. But it was a cute and quick read.

Was this review helpful?

This was a real struggle to get through. This relies too heavily on TikTok and I'm not the audience for that kind of book. There is a way to incorporate social media and make it fun but Plot Twist didn't work. This needs an LGBT category. The cover art is adorable but I didn't understand the meaning of the title. I do think there are many, many readers who will find this fun and relatable.

Was this review helpful?

I go back and forth about how I feel regarding the plethora of romance novels written about romance writers, but Plot Twist had a fresh take on this subgenre. This story is a sweet narrative of a woman trying to understand why she's never fallen in love by revisiting past romances, all while slowly falling for her neighbor (a former film and TV star she had a crush on as a teenager).

The one frustration I had with Plot Twist was that I felt like Sophie's friends and family were too hard on her in her "failings" toward them. I kept waiting for her to stand up for herself more, but that never happened, which was a disappointment. Regardless, this is a sweet and steamy story that was very readable.

Was this review helpful?

Sophie Lyon is a romance author that is stuck finishing her sophomore book. She mentions MULTIPLE times throughout the book that her life will be over if she can't complete this next romance book. She gets filmed at a karaoke bar yelling that love isn't real and that she's never been in love. She goes TikTok famous and has to deal with the consequences of her exes contacting her and wanting explanations.

Dash Montrose is Hollywood royalty, and he hates every second of it. He is a recovering alcoholic and a crafting genius. He crafts to keep him sober. He is also Sophie's landlord and her best friend's brother.

Sophie and Dash merge together when she throws up on him following the outcome of her viral TikTok video. They grow a real bond and friendship as he tries to help her navigate her new TikTok fame and the chaos that is her life and book.

It is a very cute HEA and I enjoyed that Dash is a recovering alcoholic and that there were a lot of emphases made in the book about the importance of sobriety. There was a lot of talk about mental health in men and the strength it takes to not relapse. If you do relapse, it is not the end of the world.

I also enjoyed Sophie's journey of self-discovery through meeting up with her exes to see what went wrong and how she could improve herself. That's not something you see very often in a romance book.

Was this review helpful?

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Plot Twist follows the story of Sophie an author, whose second book is due in weeks, and her best friends brother Dash, a former actor. After an embarrassing tik-tok of a drunk Sophie admitting she has never been in love Dash suggests she meet up with her exes and find out why. After meeting with her first ex it doesn’t seem to bad but when she needs a ride to meet up with her second ex things take a turn and maybe her and Dash are closer than she realized.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, I basically read it in one setting. Sophie’s journey with writers block and trying to find why she has never been in love before had its ups and downs. For me with romance books I think the dynamic between the FMC and MMC is so important. Sometimes that dynamic falls flat for me but in Plot Twist I felt like Sophie and Dash had a really easy dynamic between the two of them. Which I really enjoyed it gave that feeling of having been friends for so long you are good with just being in the same room with them. I also really liked the little bit of teasing between one another it felt effortless and fun, not forced or awkward.

This book isn’t 100% fluffy there is some heavier parts to the book especially with Dash’s past and present. Dash is a recovering alcoholic who is starting to find his next step in life. However I really liked how is his story paired with Sophie’s. Sophie is trying to learn why she hasn’t been in love and Dash feels like his future with love can’t be what he once hoped for.

I also think the spice in this book was just right for this book, not too much and what we get is just spicy enough without being too hot. Especially great if you want just a bit of spice but not Katee Robert level (which is also good but sometimes you need just a little spice).

The one thing about the book that I wasn’t too sure how I felt about was when Poppy learns about Dash and Sophie getting close. It seemed kind of petty, but I don’t have siblings so maybe I am missing something.

Overall this book was a fun read, that I would recommend to others. If you like rom-coms, if you like friends with benefits to lovers, or friends to lovers I would recommend.

CW/TW: alcoholism recovery, relapse, toxic family.

Was this review helpful?

I really wanted to like this book but it did fall a little flat for me ... the elements were all there but it just seemed to fall a little short in the execution. It was very tropey, but needed just a bit more tension/ will they-won't they/how are they going to pull this off to really wow me. Overall a cutesy simple read.

Thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for an earc in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

There were quite a few tropes and nothing very unique about the story. I did love that our main characters had an easy dynamic and they were multi dimensional and we'll fleshed out. I also loved the steamy scenes.

Was this review helpful?

Sophie is a romance writer who has never been in love. Struggling to finish her second book and terrified of becoming a one hit wonder, she devises a plan: meet up with each of her exes and figure out what went wrong, all while documenting her experience on TikTok. Dash Montrose, her hot landlord and former actor, offers to help her navigate the social media scene, though he doesn't mention his anonymous online presence as a crafter, a hobby that has helped him maintain his sobriety. As the two grow closer, Sophie suggests a friends-with-benefits situation, but a casual relationship might end up being more than they bargained for.

I thought I was over the "romance novel about a writer" trope but I enjoyed this a lot! It was fun, brought in some of my favorite tropes (close proximity, only one bed), and featured multiple steamy scenes. While dual POV usually isn't my favorite, I absolutely loved Dash's chapters and his sobriety journey felt authentic. I appreciated the pansexual representation via Sophie and the TikTok aspect wasn't overdone. A solid, enjoyable romance!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

For a book called "Plot Twist" this book was more tropey than twisty. And while tropes definitely aren't a bad thing, I felt like the focus on the tropes overshadowed what otherwise could've been a great story. Now, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this book, because I did. I liked the characters and the general storyline. I also enjoyed then author's writing style. The story flowed pretty smoothly and made for a relatively quick read. I also appreciated the queer rep. But something didn't quite click with me. I don't know exactly. Maybe this is a classic case of "It's not you, it's me." I am a bit of a mood reader, so maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this book. I'd definitely be inclined to read more by thus author in the future, though.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the ebook in exchange for a review!

When I first heard about this book and read the description, I was immediately hooked. The idea of a romance author who had never fallen in love was very intriguing. Unfortunately, the execution was disappointing and somewhat lackluster.

One aspect of the story that I did not enjoy and would take me out of the story whenever it came up was the whole TikTok thing. I, as well as many other readers that I know, do not like pop culture references in books. They date the book, make it less enjoyable in my opinion, and frankly are just cringey to read. The plot is started and continuously moved forward by the needless incorporation of TikTok.

The novel starts with Sophie's landlord/neighbor/best friend's brother, Dash, knocking on her door telling her that Poppy, his sister, told him to check on her. He shows her a TikTok video of her that was posted the previous night while she was drunk and out with her friends proclaiming that she has never been in love and that "love isn't real". She is embarrassed and hungover and then promptly vomits all over herself and Dash. They spend a good few pages discussing TikTok and its features as he convinces her to stitch the video of herself and explain.

By reading the description of the novel, I thought that her announcing she had never been in love was going to be a huge scandal and all of her fans would be outraged, but literally no one cared. Her publisher didn't care, none of her fans cared, literally no one who saw the video knew who she was and thus they did not care. Sophie has an epiphany and decides she wants to reconnect with her exes to try and figure out....and then document it all on TikTok.

There is a subplot where Dash, who is a nepotism baby, has an anonymous TikTok account where he created pottery. Through this account, he has an online and somewhat flirty friendship with another TikTok creator, with whom he has shared intimate details about his life, like the fact that he went to rehab for alcoholism and is eighteen months sober. This woman reveals herself as a crazed stalker/fan of his that thinks they're in love.

It is possible to remove the TikTok of it all. I would do this by first having the initial video have been filmed by Poppy and then shown to Sophie the next day as like, "haha, look at how embarrassing you were last night." Sophie can still have her epiphany this way and still decide to reexamine her past relationships, but instead of documenting it on TikTok, she can just document it in a notebook, or something. Cindy, the stalker, can maybe be someone Dash knows from AA who he thought was a friend and someone he could trust, who then turns out to be crazy. This would also give her more credibility when she reaches out to Sophie, because Sophie likely would have met her before, like how she met Chris (Dash's sponsor and best friend).

The romance between Sophie and Dash was honestly not very believable to me. At one point in the book, Dash thinks to himself how before the start of the novel, he and Sophie had had said about twelve words to each other. They only knew each other through Poppy and by Sophie sending him her rent money each month. There is an obvious mutual attraction between them, which is essentially the basis of their romance.

Dash is continuously telling Sophie, Chris, and himself that he does not feel steady enough in his sobriety to be in a relationship, which was very confusing to me since this is a romance. Based on my limited knowledge, I think that the way he was written as an alcoholic was respectful and accurate, but I did not understand how that added to the story at all, in fact I feel like it hindered the story and my enjoyment of it. He ends up relapsing toward the end of the book and the big romantic gesture that Sophie does after the third act conflict literally happens while he is in rehab. I assume they were together from that point until the epilogue one year later. I do not think this is healthy and it kind of cheapened their relationship for me because I do not think that they have a solid foundation. Also the fact that they "fell in love" after like a month and a half of hanging out does not bode well for them.

Even though Dash was insistent about not wanting a relationship, and Sophie saying she does want one, they settle on a friends-with-benefits situation. Since they're not in an actual relationship, they decide not to tell Poppy for fear of her reacting poorly. The whole book takes place over the course of about 6 weeks, so they were only hooking up for about 2 or 3 weeks before Poppy catches them and is unreasonably angry and upset. Dash is 36 and I can only assume that Poppy and Sophie are also in their thirties, which made this plot line so confusing. Why is she a full grown adult and acting like this? Maybe if this was a young adult novel and they were all 16/17 it would make sense, but this just felt senseless and like it was just there to create conflict, despite there being no real basis for it.

There was a lot of exposition regarding characterization, but not a lot of demonstration to back those claims up. For example, Dash is constantly referred to as being broody, but nowhere in the book is he shown to be broody. I do not at all believe the claim that Sophie has not been in love. Through her own descriptions, Sophie was for sure in love with her ex Carla, with whom she had the longest relationship with of eleven months. Carla said she loved Sophie about five or six months into the relationship, but Sophie never said it back which eventually led to their breakup. The way Sophie thinks about Carla and reflects on their time together, I got the impression that she was in love with her, but was unable to say the words for whatever reason.

The premise was promising, but so many aspects of this book made it not enjoyable and a pretty average read for me.

Was this review helpful?