Thank you to Netgalley for providing an eARC for review! Sophie is a romance writer wondering if she is a one-hit wonder after she encounters debilitating writer's block trying to find the right ending for her second novel. Her landlord and best friend’s older brother, Dash Montrose is a former child star trying to breakaway from his famous family and the acting industry. Dash is focusing on staying sober after leaving rehab; finding solace in the anonymous crafting TikTok. After an accidental viral moment depicting Sophie’s drunken love hating rant, together they team up to produce a TikTok series investigating why Sophie has never been able to say “I love you”. Dash and Sophie were a good match for each other; their chemistry was solid enough to keep me invested in their relationship. I do think that the pacing was a little of kilter, it was drawn out for a long time and then it was a lot of bouncing back and forth between the two that made me pull back my investment a bit.

Plot Twist
by Erin La Rosa
3 stars
Jan 31st to Jan 31st
336 pages

Okay so read this to complete a bingo board and it took a lot in me to not just DNF it. Being said I did enjoy the writing of it but the story all together wasn't for me unfortunately.

Plot Twist was a fun little read about love but with a social media and book trope twist. It had a small amount of spice and was a fun read but not necessarily enough for me.

In plot twist the main character is a romance author who is struggling with her second novel because she's never been in love. She starts posting on social media about this and decides that want she needs to do is meet all of her exes and document what went wrong to try and make sure that her next relationship is a happy ever after.

Enter the next door neighbor/best friend's brother. He's been her long time, forbidden crush and of course he has some problems. He's a recovering alcoholic.

Overall it was kind of a fun story but I don't know how well it addressed the alcoholism and the main character's self discovery. Some of the points seemed a bit rough around the edges and the romance tropes were a bit too on the nose. Though I did enjoy it I was hoping it would be a bit more than what it was in the end.

Plot Twist is technically a second book in a series but i dont think the first is required reading. There is a lot of things happening in this book - from alcoholism to mentions of IVF to LGBTQ representation to a ton of different tropes. Most things were handled very well and it was a fast interesting book to read. I appreciated the dual POV and especially found Dash to be an interesting character, but I dont think Sophie was that well flushed out. I think there could have been more there to explore for her. There were a few cringy moments in the love scenes but overall I enjoyed it and would read more in the series.

I loved for Butter or Worse. This isn't a sequel but it takes place within the same universe as this time our Main Female Character is Nina's sister. I really enjoy Erin La Rosa's writing but I don't think this story/characters were for me. I found Sophie to be a little bit emotionally immature, and that's part of her story arch but I found the emotional immaturity to be more childish than young audutish if that makes sense. I thought Erin La Rosa did a good job tackling the subject of addiction and showing the struggle that it can be in her male protagonist. It was nice to see a character whose sobriety journey wasn't perfect. Overall it was an enjoyable story though I thought it fell short in trying to get me to connect or sympathize with the characters.
Though this one wasn't my favorite, I enjoy the author's style and characters for the most part and can't wait to see what she writes next.

Special thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for the ARC provided.

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

I loved that this book covered many serious topics, like self discovery, sobriety and mental health. Overall, the plot was fun and well paced. I did however, not find any of the MCs very intriguing. Sophie especially got on my nerves with her inconsistency and behavior that bordered on immaturity (especially given that these characters were in their 30s). It made parts of this book almost impossible to get through with how much I rolled my eyes and got annoyed all the time.

When romance author Sophie goes viral online for posting a video about how she’s never been in love, she finds herself embarking on a journey to see what her eyes have to say about their failed relationships. She takes up with her hot landlord, a former teen heartthrob who’s trying to live a quiet, and anonymous life.

This book had about five plot lines all going simultaneously and none of them seemed to mesh well with each other. I wanted the romance between Sophie and Dash to be stronger and for everything with Dash and his… online friend… maybe to not exist in the story at all. It felt so wildly out of place and like it belonged in a different book entirely.

I really wanted to like this story more than I did. There were some good things in here that I really liked. Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me.

It had a LOT OF POTENTIAL, but it did not give.

It felt like the tropes were randomly thrown in, the characters kinda felt childish and also the “kinda cheating trope” umm. Like I said better it had potential, the plot was so interesting.

I read this book as a pallet cleanser between two fantasy books, and it was definitely a good light read. The characters were interesting, the plot was funny, and it was just an easy, romance book.

Our main character, Sophie, is a romance writer, who has never fallen in love, so she goes to revisit her past exes to figure out what went wrong. She is a very flawed character, as we go through book, we see her, realizing that she has a lot of responsibility when it comes to her failed relationships.

Our mail, love interest, dash, is a former teen heartthrob, who is 18 months, sober, but hasn’t told his famous family yet. Oh, and he’s also Sophie’s landlord and her best friend’s brother.

I do think that we could’ve done with less tropes, I felt like almost every single book trope imaginable was somehow represented in this story, and I would’ve rather have a few done well rather than so many.

Overall, this was a cute and fluffy read, definitely not my favorite romance book, but I would recommend it to others just cause I think it’s fun!

"The Plot Twist" by Erin La Rosa is a delightful exploration of unexpected turns in life, both in and out of fiction. La Rosa's witty and relatable writing style adds charm to the narrative, making it an engaging read. The anecdotes and insights shared offer a fresh perspective on navigating life's uncertainties. While some sections may feel slightly predictable, the overall delivery and humor elevate "The Plot Twist" to a four-star-worthy experience.

First of all, I LOVE a grump/sunshine trope and a bestfriend's brother trope! And it made for a perfect combination here. I loved the dimensionality of the characters in this book. They were well developed and faced what I think of as real-life issues we rarely get to see in traditional romance. And the HEAT was perfect! Erin La Rosa knocked this one out of the park, and I loved it!

When romance author Sophie Lyon admits in a video that she has never been in love, it goes viral.
Sophie is on a mission to turn things around, with the help of her best friend's handsome brother, she sets out to meet up and speak with her exes to determine why they broke up.

This book was a fast and cute read, however there was nothing about this story or these characters that really pulled me in.

Recommend this book if you want a fun, albeit forgettable read.

I'm getting tired of all these immature characters who seem to know absolutely nothing about themselves and the world in which they live. Sophie's big issue is that she's a romance writer who has never been in love and she has writer's block. Apparently, it's the end of the world. Dash has actual problems, like a new tenuous sobriety, yet he's attracted to Sophie because of course he is. Meh.

Sophie is a romance writer who has never been in love. On deadline for her second novel, she has writer's block. With the support of her teenage crush now landlord, Dash Montrose she begins a journey of self discovery to discover what she needs to do to fall in love.
This is cute novel and Sophie and Dash were vulnerable and likeable characters. I found the first half of the book a little slow and it seemed a long time for the story to really take off. The last half of the story picked up and had a satisfying conclusion. This is a good choice for fans of modern contemporary romance novels.
One note. I'm fine with spicy scenes but they can make or break a novel. Sophie and Dash's first encounter was so unrealistic -- naked, daytime, outdoor sexy times --that is it was distracting and pulled me out of the story.
3.5 stars

“Plot Twist” by Erin La Rosa is best described as a highly modern romance, featuring a heavy TikTok subplot and complicated characters that are easy to root for. It’s not extraordinary, or genre-defining by any means, but it’s fun, inclusive and an accessible literary experience. And sometimes that’s all we want from the books we read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was a wonderful second book to the series! Sophie and Dash both a have a lot of different personal issues that they both have to work through!! Some that aren't often touched upon which is nice to see! I really liked how they grew throughout the book and learned what love truly was and how they were both worthy of it in the end! I really enjoyed seeing the secondary characters from La Rosa's previous book showing up!! If you like grumpy vs sunshine, friends to lovers than this is a book for you!!

Romance writer Sophie has never been in love and when it gets out on social media she gets some help from her landlord Dash who knows his way around social media. As the work together they find they might have more than the first friends with benefits arrangement. While entertaining this was just okay for me I just didn't get as invested in the characters as I would have liked. I think other people will enjoy this more than I did.

This was a cute read. I liked that it dealt with heavier things like addiction, though I do wish there had maybe been less drama, especially toward the end of the book.

CW: alcohol, vomit, recovering alcoholism, deceased parent, stalking, dysfunctional family, minor discussion of liver failure, relapse, sexual content, emotional abuse, discussion of infertility with side character


Plot Twist is an enjoyable book about Sophie, a romance author who is struggling to write her second novel and Dash, a former actor who is recovering from alcoholism and trying to find his way through sober life. After Sophie goes viral for a video, she wants to correct the narrative and Dash may just have the answers to how.

I liked the friendship growing between the two and seeing the development of that before any romance between them started. It made me root for them more. This book does deal with some heavy topics but I feel like they were handled well (listen to Own-Voices about this though if they say differently).

I had a couple minor issues with the book that should be easy fixes and make it clearer. There were some technical issues where characters would suddenly be in a different spot than they just were and there was no noting that this was happening. It threw me off and had me going back to reread parts to see if I missed something. It took me out of the story a bit and I just wish it were handled differently.

Also, the sending of pics in messages on TikTok. Did I miss that it’s now a thing? There is always creative liberties to be taken but when so much of the story is about social media (mainly TikTok) and how to work the algorithm and making videos, it feels weird to disrupt the aspect of what the app is and does.

Overall, I found Plot Twist as an enjoyable read and though I haven’t read the first in the series (oops!), I will be now and continuing to read more from LaRosa.

Tropes included:
- sunshine/grump
- best friend’s brother
- you-help-me-I’ll-help-you
- one bed