Such a cute story. Sophie Lyon is a romance writer that has never been in love, and thanks to a viral TikTok of Sophie having a breakdown during karaoke, the whole world knows it. She goes on a journey with her exes (Sophie is pansexual and I love the LGBTQ+ rep!) to unpack what went wrong and why she hasn’t been in love.

That journey comes at the prompting of her neighbor, former film star Dash Montrose, part of a family of Hollywood royalty, and Sophie’s landlord, and her best friend’s brother. Hot as sin Dash has his own secrets and struggles, and Sophie and Dash just might wind up healing each other.



Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review- my opinions are my own.

In this, we follow Sophie, a romance writer who accidentally tells the world while drunk that she is a fraud as she has never been in love. She wants to know why this has never happened, despite being in multiple relationships in the past. In order to answer this, and to potentially help her writer's block in time for her deadline, she decided to meet up with her exes and talk about what went wrong.

Along the way, she enlists the help of her best-friend's brother, and landlord/childhood movie start, for a quid-pro-quo. Dash Montrose has to give a speech at his father's event but is not good at writing, or social interaction since he started recovering from alcoholism with eighteen months under his belt. As new acquaintances, they quickly realize the attraction they have, but are hesitant for many reasons.

I enjoyed having the dual perspectives from both main characters. It gave helpful insight into the characters' lives and emotions. The author included some fun plot twists (lol :)) such as towards the end with Dash and his mother and then his relapse. I thought that was very encouraging to show how the road to recovery isn't a straight line, nor is doing cold turkey realistic.

With that, I did struggle with how clean his recovery was, especially as a young adult who continually was put in difficult situations by his family. I wanted to see more from Dash as a character. While this story mainly centers in Hollywood, I did not appreciate how everyone seemed to be famous, but Sophie. There were the Montrose's, her sister, and most of who we interacted with. I thought there were some details that were glossed over, such as her open heart procedure, that were going to play a larger role than they did; instead, seemed to be a character detail to make her more unique but was underplayed overall. This and her reunion with Ned and his retaliation.

Overall, I gave this story 2 out of 5 stars mainly due to the fact that I did not connect and I would not read again. I enjoyed the concept and parts of the story but it was just not for me. I would consider recommending this to others depending on what they are looking for.

This book was cute and an enjoyable read. The cartoon romance cover strikes again! I had a great time with this read and appreciate the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

This book was okay. It wasn't bad, but it had nothing special about it. Honestly, I was kind of bored reading it, and I forced myself to finish it so I could write an honest review. I didn't feel a connection to any of the characters. The subject matter was pretty intense, and yet the book didn't elicit the necessary emotion for me to actually care about the outcome of the story and the romance.

I don’t annotate books often but this one…THIS BOOK! This book is the perfect mixture of spice and life, everything about this book was chefs kiss. The trouble with Sophie’s life and the deep topic of Dashes sobriety makes everything so much more interesting.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is a fast paced, witty, contemporary romance. Sophie is a romance author with writers block. When a TikTok video about Sophie goes viral and she decides to interview her exes to get to the bottom of what went wrong. This was fun and spicy and full of tropes however I didn’t feel strongly about it.

I read 32% of the book, and I decided not to finish it. It is well-written, but I think this genre isn’t aligning with my personal interests right now, so I struggled to connect and feel engaged with the story. I do believe that this book will find its audience and many readers will love it. The cover and title caught my attention, and I may return to this later, but for now I’m putting it on pause.

Not for me. If I’d known how big a role tiktok played in this book, I would’ve skipped it. I feel like books that rely so heavily on social media really date themselves, and it’s not something I enjoy reading. I also thought this book relied on the ideas of tropes, and while it IS about a romance author, I found myself rolling my eyes when phrases like “enemies to lovers” or “friends to lovers” and “only one bed” were used. The tropes only work if they fee natural to the story, and for me, they didn’t feel natural here. I didn’t enjoy the characters, and I wanted more of the plot to actually focus on the main character reconnecting with her exes. And the random stalker side plot was just odd. I didn’t see the point of Dash being a former child star. It didn’t seem to add anything to the story and, again, simply felt like the author was adding in another trope.

3.75 ⭐️ Rounded up. This is a sweet contemporary romance about a romance author with writers block and her handsome movie star landlord. It’s a fast-paced story with some spice, enjoyable characters, and a bit of depth.
Author Sophie Lyon has a looming publishing deadline and writers block. To top it off, a tiktok video of her darkest secret (she’s a romance writer who has never been in love) goes viral. At the suggestion of Dash Montrose, Sophie takes to TikTok and begins a series of interviews with her exes in an attempt to see where her romantic endeavors went wrong.
This book has plenty to offer, from spicy encounters, queer characters, to struggles with alcoholism and familial expectations. Definitely a quick, fun read.

Unfortunately I couldn’t really get into this one. I do admit it was the cover that really drew me in.
The writing was alright! But while reading, it kind of felt like there were TOO many tropes trying to be put into this book at once. Brothers best friend, one bed, “let’s just do it and get it out of our systems”, then the MMC ends up with a stalker too.
What are the odds of her brothers best friend being a celebrity AND her landlord?
This book just seemed like it had a little bit of everything and it just wasn’t for me :(

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is a fun best friend's brother trope romance with the twist that he happens to be super famous. Throw in a heroine who is a romance author in a rut and you have a winner. This goes heavy on issues of sobriety and self-confidence issues.

This was such an amazing book! An absolute page turner! It really does live up to its name with a plot twist around every corner, I never knew what to expect or what was coming to happen.

Super cute read and loved seeing glimpses of Nina and her man. Seeing the two mc’s realize they had to grow into their own person in order to be able to move forward was amazing. In the end everything was worth it and they both grew to know how to be there for each other.

I am sorry but this just wasn’t my favorite read. I didn’t dislike it but also didn’t love it. The writing was okay. The cover was cute at least. Literally no other thoughts.

Personally, this was not a captivating read for me. It was too pop culture and trope heavy. That is a personal preference so I know some people will enjoy this book,. The plot was cute and the writing was good so it was not a bad read by any means!

Fun and cute with lots of heat! I enjoyed a lot of the interactions with the side characters, and the focus on addiction, but I did find the main character, Sophie, unlikable. A lot of her inner dialogue made me roll my eyes BUT would still recommend to someone hoping to escape in a fun, summer romance book.

I love Erina La Rosa's debut For Butter Or Worst and her second book doesn't disappoint. It's a perfect, spicy read to take to the beach or just about anywhere.

I wanted to thank Net Galley as well as the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing for letting me read this lovely book months in advance!

Publication Date: November 14, 2023

I did not read the first book in The Hollywood Series. After reading this, i am interested in Nina's story. I'm not usually into romance books about the rich and famous. In some way, i have a slight prejudice to them. I wanted to prove myself wrong and decided to give this book an honest try.

Sophie and Dash's relationship was cute. It fits best in the grumpy sunshine troupe. Dash is a former child actor turned newly sober shut-in with a secret passion for making pottery while Sophie is a bubbly author with writer's block. She gets him physically out of his house and metaphorically out of his shell. I did love how he refused her to love him because he needed to spend all his energy not drinking. I might be rather close-minded when it comes to alcoholism since I've never experienced it.
Sophie herself is dealing with a lot of personal relationship demons.

The spice is not spicy. A bit vanilla more than creative to be honest. It felt like a deflated balloon, so I skimmed most of it. I got the general idea of what went on.
The ending was adorable, and I loved the HEO. I also loved the reference to LA based bookstores as well!

I thought this was a fun quick read. I did find it to be a little cringey at times with too many pop culture references.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

dnf @ 30%

The cover made me request this one, but I have regrets...

I struggled through a third of this and couldn't keep going.
1) Too many tropes. I felt like this book was written around tropes rather than the characters and as a result, the characters suffered
2)Sophie is kind of a mess but in a boring way? Her exes also clearly don't like her. It seems awkward and she doesn't have the self awareness to realize SHE is the problem. I lowkey didn't want her to end up with the love interest because he's clearly trying to get his life together and he doesn't need her problems...
3)Too many social media/pop culture references, which I usually don't mind but it felt forced here. Not sure how this book will age with the inclusion of so many references.
4) It just kind of dragged...waiting for things to pick and nothing.