A cute, enjoyable book, but the social media references about did me in. There was a lot to like here, and the relationship between the two MCs was one of them. I also loved the pacemaker rep- we need more books to normalize things like this! While I understand social media can be a huge resource in today's society, both in business and recreation, it was just all a bit much for me in this book in particular. The spice was...it felt off to me. Almost as though it were a little forced, an afterthought in some places, more a physical chore than what you typically see in a romance book. Like another thing to check off the list, which felt really odd.
This book is a second in a series but a stand alone and can be read in that way without issues.

Erin La Rosa is back with her second novel Plot Twist - and I am completely in love with Dash and Sophie.

Sophie has never been in love - and as a romance writer struggling to finish her latest novel, her writers block has pushed her into a quest of self reflection and learning to love. Her landlord and best friends brother - Dash - accidentally stumbles into her plan, and helps her come up with a TikTok series documenting her love journey. But what starts as a very tentative friendship slowly burns into a relationship that neither is sure of but both quite desperately need.

Erin does a phenomenal job in this story of portraying Dash’s struggle with sobriety in a respectful and honest way. I adore Dash as a character and my heart broke when his did and soared with his too. Sophie’s struggle with love and finding trust resonated deeply with me, and I think a lot of people who have ever questioned their trust for themselves will see Sophie as a mirror. I loved the social media posts sprinkled in keeping us updated on Sophie’s quest, and seeing Nina and Leo from For Butter or Worse was an awesome treat!

Finally - the spice. Erin has once again surprised me as a reader, with where, when, and how Soph and Dash get down and dirty. Let’s just say - she has once again taking a cute rom com and given us readers some fun sexy treats along the way.

Cannot wait for Book 3 - if you haven’t read Plot Twist, drop everything and read it today!

This book was okay. I didn’t hate it, didn’t love it. Just kind of in between for me. Characters were fine. Storyline was kind of meh but also fine. I’d try another book by this author again sometime.

Fun, easy read. The protagonist is at times a bit annoying. Overall, good, light fun. Would recommend for when you're ready to speed through a book.

Plot Twist was a sweet, sometimes funny romantic contemporary read. Dash and Sophie are likable and genuine. I think that is the best part of this read, the characters. The story, in my opinion, just didn't meet it's mark for me. I felt there were several missed opportunities by the author that would have made it for a more engaging read. In addition, the heavy reliance on social media references makes me question if the story has any real longevity. Despite that, I did enjoy reading the book and it's one I will recommend. The star of the book is truly the characters and their relationships. Unlike a lot of romance books, Plot Twist presents some really great wholesome moments. Amidst all the turmoil there are very healthy and stable relationships. The book leaves you feeling good, and in some cases, maybe a bit healed inside.

I wanted to love this book but it just didn't grip me enough to make me love it. I wasn't a fan of the reuniting with your exes to talk out why it didn't work out. I get it, but it could've been phone calls, not actual meet ups. I think a good therapist could've helped Sophie figure out her issues instead of her exes.

I loved Dash and his journey with sobriety and learning to make boundaries with his family. He's adorable honestly. And the pottery - i would watch his tiktok too.

I thought I was going to love this one. Two imperfect people working on themselves and fall in love in the process? Yes please. But this didn't work for me. There were quite a few things i didnt like but mostly: cheating, miscommunication, straight up lack of communication, and so much little drama that I was never emotionally invested in.

~~Spoilers~~
For me, the worst offense was the cheating. And not just because I hate cheating but because it wasn't even treated like cheating?? Sophie is working things out with her ex, Carla. They're not sleeping together because they're taking things slow and that's perfectly valid. But then Sophie sleeps with Dash?? Fine, maybe Sophie and Carla weren't that serious but then why did we get a whole break up scene? Sophie feels guilty over sleeping with Dash because it hurt her bestie/Dash's sister but theres no guilt for Carla?? It just feels like Sophie's relationship with Carla wasn't taken seriously because it was between two women.

Arc provided by Harlequin Trade Publishing via NetGalley

Plot Twist follows Sophie, a romance writer with writer’s block that can’t say I love you and revisits her exes to see why. Reminded me of Amy Lea’s Exes and O’s and Scott pilgrim ofc. This book also follows Dash, our short king former teen heartthrob trying to maintain his sobriety while still being in the public eye.

It was a fun and easy read, but it fell short for me. So the good and the bad.

The Good
- The amazzzinggg inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and pansexual representation. Sophie is pansexual and one of her exes is nonbinary, and it was just so flawlessly included into the storyline. There was no excessive writing to emphasize that they were pan or nonbinary and it wasn’t used as a plot point.
- Spice slayed

The Bad
- I really tried to look past the modern references but the amount of tik tok mentioned I could not handle. It was too much.
- Sophie. Some of the things her character did I could not agree with, making her not likable for me. And it would just be brushed off or forgotten.
- How Dash’s difficulty with sobriety was written. While the author did well portraying how difficult it can be to stay sober, the steps to recovery were NOT written well. I feel like the plot could’ve benefitted more from seeing more healing than just going to a HEA.

Overall, this book just wasn’t for me, but I would still pick up another book by this author. Thank you to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good, easy going, casual read. This book was full of some of my favorite tropes, such as, friends with benefits to lovers, with forbidden love and one bed. Sophie is a romance author having trouble with her writing and her social media. Her neighbor, Dash, is a former actor who is also working on his sobriety. As these two help each other, their friendship turns into more. There were parts of this book that I liked, but also parts that felt repetitive. The tone of the book also felt somewhat inconsistent. This felt like an average book for me, it wasn't great, but wasn't awful, probably not one I'd read again.

“Men tell women they have high standards when they can’t meet them. Your standards are exactly as they should be. He’s just not good enough for you.”

✨ Best Friend’s Brother
✨ Close Proximity
✨ Celebrity Families
✨ Author x Ex-Child Actor turned Crafter
✨ FMC with pacemaker
✨ TikTok Videos
✨ Pansexual Rep
✨ Open Door Spice
✨ 3rd Person Narration/Multiple POVs
⚠️ Alcoholism/Sobriety Struggles
⚠️ IVF (secondary characters)
⚠️ Toxic Parents

Sophie Lyon is an author who is struggling to finish her long overdue book. Her issue - she’s a romance author who has never been in love. After a drunken monologue about her never being in love goes viral on TikTok, she decides to do damage control. With the help of her best friend’s brother and landlord, Dash Montrose, she decides to meet up with her exes to determine what went wrong in the relationships and how she can change her relationship ways and hopefully finish her book.

This was a cute and spicy book about discovering yourself, finding love in unexpected places, and dealing with personal struggles with the help of loved ones. I loved Sophie and Dash in this book and they had me laughing at some of their antics (like the Richard Gere photos)! Sophie is happy go lucky but wants to please others to fault - even if it’s at her expense. She believes that her relationships ended because of her misgivings rather than the relationships weren’t what she needed. I enjoyed reading about her interactions with her exes and her figuring out who she truly is and wants.

Dash is a recluse who wants to his hide his celebrity identity while leaning into his pottery passion. He’s been struggling with his sobriety and doesn’t want to enter in to a relationship or any situations that could possibly hinder his progress. His vulnerability was so endearing and I truly loved reading about his budding romance with Sophie.

I didn’t realize this was part of an interconnected standalone series before I picked this up! Obviously, it can be read by itself! I plan on going back and reading the first book, which is about Sophie’s sister, Nina, who I enjoyed in this installment.

This was cute! I think I liked this better than the first one, only because the topic of addiction and recovery was handled so well. Aside from that, there wasn’t anything particularly stand-out about this book, but it was a solid little novel. Hopeless romantic writer and best friend’s brother who is a former actor focusing on recovery.

I really quite enjoyed the other book in this series, but this one was a total miss for me because honestly? I'm a romcom enjoyer, but I've never been into serious romances.

And this romance is Serious. The MMC is dealing with feelings of shame that cause him to hide all aspects of his life (from his struggle for sobriety to his love of crafts), while the FMC is revisiting her exes to figure out why she's never found love and to get over her writer's block.

And I think the right reader could really get into this, but since there was no humor or banter or levity... their relationship is completely unrelatable to me.

Audiobook Notes: I did not enjoy the narrator's delivery at all and cannot recommend in audiobook format.

🎥📝🎥
Book Review
4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📚89/100
📖Plot Twist
🩵Genre:Romance
✍️ Erin La Rosa
✨✨✨✨✨
📝Synopsis 📝
Sophie a romance author is in a writing slump and discovers she’s really never really been in love. Dash an indie actor is struggling with his family dynamics and sobriety. They both turn to each other for help and the fireworks take off from there.
💭My Thoughts 💭
I love friends to lovers trope and this was such a cute story to follow. Both characters were like able and the plot was well executed. He’s a grump, and she’s his sunshine 🌞
This is the perfect read for Young Adults. Did I know this was book 2 of a series??? No I didn’t, but it’s a great standalone. It was my first Erin La Rosa read, but it won’t be my last.
Trigger warnings which were not a problem for me at all:
Alcoholism
Family Issues
Fluid sexuality
✨✨✨✨
✨Thank you @netgalley , @harlequinbooks , and @canarystreetpress
for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
✨

#bookstagrammer
#bookreview #booktok #bookrecommendation #fictionbooks #friendstoloverstrope #netgalley #PlotTwist #bookstagram #bookworms #bibliophile #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyreview

Plot Twist is a quick and fun romance read that handles some more serious topics, like feeling unworthy and alcohol addiction. I enjoyed the book while reading it, but something just didn't hit the mark for me to make this a great read. I think the stakes just didn't feel very real to me, or at least Sophie's didn't. I didn't really see how meeting all of her exes would particularly help, especially when she's on a deadline, and it led to this gray area where she's kind of engaging with two people at the same time.

I like Dash and I think his character development, especially in the last 30% or so of the book, was really engaging. The chemistry between him and Sophie felt just a little forced in the beginning, but that might just be me not understanding how people can fall in love that quickly lol. I also didn't really understand why Poppy would be so annoyed when learning that Sophie and Dash were seeing each other. If they don't even know what their relationship is, it makes sense not to tell her about it, but I've never been in that kind of situation, so maybe Poppy had a normal reaction.

Also, as someone who tends to dislike modern pop culture references in books unless it makes perfect sense with the story...I have to mention TikTok. The platform is a surprisingly large part of the plot, as both MCs have an account and it is included in the main conflict for both of them. In the context of the story, the mention of modern social media sites makes sense, but the constant reference to TikTok started to get to me a bit.

There's also some pansexual representation, as Sophie states she identifies as pan, and she has a pacemaker that is mentioned several times. I'd never read about a MC with a pacemaker, so that was cool to read about. The ending was also sweet, and I do like Sophie and Dash together. They balance each other out, but something about this just missed the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. This review reflects my honest opinions.

Writing: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Spice: 2/5
Enjoyment: 3/5

Plot Twist was a fun romance about a romance author that has never fallen in love. The story and the characters had a strong build up. Of course there were time the Sophie

Erin La Rosa’s Plot Twist is a charming and witty romance novel that follows Sophie Lyon, a successful romance author who has never experienced love herself. To overcome her writer's block, Sophie comes up with an ambitious plan to reunite with her exes and document her search for true love for her millions of followers. But she must face her ex-girlfriend Carla, the one person she could have loved.

Along the way, Sophie meets her reclusive landlord, Dash Montrose, a former teen heartthrob who offers to help her with social media. As they grow closer, Sophie and Dash discover a heat between them that rivals Dash's pottery kiln. But Sophie needs to figure out who she is outside of her relationships, and Dash isn't sure he's stable enough for the commitment she deserves.

The writing in Plot Twist is engaging and witty, with well-developed characters and a plot that keeps you hooked until the very end. The author does an excellent job of exploring the complexities of modern relationships and the challenges of finding true love.

Overall, Plot Twist is a must-read for anyone who loves a good romance novel. It is a charming and entertaining story that will leave you with a smile on your face. Erin La Rosa is a talented writer, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

When I saw Erin La Rosa had a brand-new book out in the wild this year, I picked it up immediately without a second thought since her previous book, For Butter or Worse, was such a huge delight to enjoy. To my slight disappointment, I wish I could say the same about Plot Twist but I honestly could not. The overall plot design for this book was actually not too bad, but I struggled with several major parts of the story. For one, the whole story was told in third person's POV, giving me a hard time picturing the protagonists or experiencing whatever they were going through while flipping the pages. Secondly, the insanely amount of proportion of the story focused on Tiktok and all those Tiktok references irked me so much that I found myself putting down the book several times in the first half of it. I meant, if Tiktok served as maybe just a platform for the main characters for whatever reason they needed for the story to progress, then fine, I thought I could deal with that as it would be totally understandable and the whole plot made sense. However, apparently both the protagonists heavily relied on Tiktok to get themselves out in the online world and also as a way to let off some steam, I supposed? All of those mentions didn't necessarily add spice to the romance that was undoubtedly brewing between the lovebirds, in my opinion, and I would really hope the story could feature more on the character development or at least, the storyline improvement. Thankfully, there was a somewhat happy and satisfying ending so that made up to my reading experience a little. Lastly, just because this book wasn't for me didn't mean it wouldn't be your cup of tea, so if you were still interested in the synopsis and would like to read it, please go ahead! I hoped you'd enjoy it way more than I did.

***Thanks to the publisher and the author for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

I was over the moon for Erin La Rosa's FOR BUTTER OR WORSE so I was ecstatic about being given the opportunity to read PLOT TWIST. Unfortunately, this story seems to have fallen victim to the sophomore/sequel (it's not really a sequel though...just some recognizable characters) slump.

Unlike its predecessor, I had to trudge through PLOT TWIST. A romance author trying to get through writer's block by navigating life after an embarrassing viral video by reaching out to exes to figure out why she'd never been in love should have been a win, but pacing and plot development was just off. Also, I found it difficult to connect with Sophie or Dash; thus, I didn't care about what happened to either them. That being said, I did appreciate that the heroine wasn't just another straight woman. It's great to have more diverse representation in romance.

Although PLOT TWIST wasn't my cup of tea, I will probably still give Erin La Rosa's next book a try.

I loved For Butter or Worse. So I was really excited to read La Rosa’s newest book. Sadly, this book was a bit of a miss for me. I really liked the premise and looked forward to how the story would unfold as Sophie reached out to her past love interests, but I just could connect to the characters. I found both Sophie and Dash to be rather annoying. The story was also awkwardly spicy in parts. It couldn’t decide if it was because of how the scenes flowed or because of how the audiobook narrator narrated the scenes. The narrator’s voice was so high pitched. I switched off between the audiobook and ebook in hopes that the audiobook would help me become more interested in the story, but sadly that didn’t help. I just found them both cringy a lot of the time.

I did enjoy references to Nina and Leo from the first book. It was fun to get a glimpse at their current life.

Overall, this book just didn’t work for me. I hope others give it a chance because I did really enjoy For Butter or Worse. I plan to still read more from La Rosa in the future.

NetGalley Review — my rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“Plot Twist” by Erin La Rosa is a grumpy/sunshine romance between romance writer, Sophie, & ex-indie actor, Dash.

While there was some cute scenes in this book and it held a lot of potential, it was missing something that made it a well-rounded book. I didn’t hate it, but I don’t think I’ll be looking for any more in this series.

Wanna see what you’d think? Read it now!

#netgalley #erinlarosa #plottwist #arc