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.

Thank you, NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, Har[lequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for letting me read 'Plot Twist' early! This book comes out November 14th but should be on everyone's TBR. This was such a cute and easy read filled with some of my favorite tropes.

Sophie is a romance writer who is blocked and starts working on falling in love with the right person and Dash is an ex-actor who is working on his sobriety by running a secret tiktok craft account and avoiding love.

I loved the banter, the spicy scenes, and all of the characters' plot development.
Going to have to go back and read the first book in this connected stand-alone series for sure!

This book was SO cute and I really enjoyed the way it brought real world things into it without making it cringey (tiktok). I loved the development between the characters and I enjoyed their own personal developments too!! Such a good book and SO cute too

I reeeeeeally wanted to like this one. I mean, a disabled pansexual protagonist with a love interest who does crafts to stay sober? Sign me up! But then they name-dropped Tiktok, which I know a lot of people hate in books when real life social media platforms are named, and I thought I was not one of those people until the word "Tiktok" was featured so many times in just the first few chapters of the book. I thought I could move past it, but I got to the point where as I was reading, I was like "oh boy, is someone about to mention Tiktok?" Also, the love interest explained stitching, which I and probably most people who will pick up this book already know all about. The main character's dialog on her Tiktok was extremely cringy, too, and that was, what, chapter 3? I almost DNF'd then and there it was so bad.
So yeah, I had high hopes for this one, thought it would be a cute and spicy romance, but I just couldn't get passed the Tiktok references and cringy dialog.

Publish Date: Nov 14, 2023. Thank you NetGalley for sending this book! ❤️

Slow Burn. Landlord and Tenant. A Little Smut. Childhood Crush. Ex-Actor. Struggling Author. Alcohol recovery. Pansexual. Rom-Com. Tiktok. Dual POV. Miscommunication.

I'll be honest this was tough to get into, I took breaks in between to avoid dnf-ing. Don't get me wrong there were parts where I needed to know what happens next then there were parts where it was a bit naive.

Sophie hasn't had the best luck with relationships or maneuvering her books in the right direction. Since she did not have a whole lot of experience in romantic relationships, she struggled writing her romantic novels. And the best thing she could think of was meeting up with past lovers and documenting her results on tiktok. Each conversation with each lover ended badly. She didn't know what the problem was until her last ex- but yet she still did not understand 😩

Dash on the other hand, swore off dating. In his mind he would ruin dating based off his history with alcoholism and his relationship with family. So he avoids getting attached, getting involved romantically until he spends more time with Sophie. He was there for her but he did not notice that she would be there for him also.

The things I disliked:
• Dash's family-they did not support him whatsoever. They were self-centered and dismissive. 😡 I dislike snobby celebs and snobby people in general!!
• I don't know why but the sister could have listened to reason before storming off, no one likes surprised visits!
• Sophie should have evaluated each of her relationships on her own
• Never meet your stalker or date your stalker! Haven't you seen documentaries?? The news??
• The spacing of texts or tiktok comments

This is the second book published in “The Hollywood Series” by Erin La Rosa. I didn’t realize until after i started reading it that I had read her other book but it all came rushing back to me. Sophie Lyon is an author. She has traditionally published one book and is now in a writing slump. She just can’t give someone a happy ending if she has never been in love herself. When this book starts we find that She is doing out of a night drinking and doing karaoke to go somewhat viral on TikTok by stating she has never been in love and as a romance writer this is shocking. Her landlord, also her best friends brother, gives her some advice and she follows it. She makes her response and decides that she is going to do a series on TikTok about her past relationships and what went wrong. Dash goes along with her in this journey.
Dash is part of a huge Hollywood famous family, his father was famous, his brother is famous and his sister owns a spa. She was also a childhood star and did some Indy films.

I really enjoyed the character progression that we saw in both Dash and Sophie. They both had their own issues to overcome and make some big realizations. At first i didn’t know if i was going to like this one as much as the first one….but I really find that I did. Erin had me laughing with some great comedic relief through out the story. Especially with the squirrel. This will definitely be a book I will physically pick up and add to my library.

This book was such a sweet and spicy read with an incredibly developed cast of characters.
Not only is this about falling in love but it covered so many other topics very nicely- friendship, family issues, alcoholism/ recovery, troubles falling in love.
The main character are both very strong and it’s a very different read for each pov (which I don’t normally see).
Overall it was a really great book!

When I first started reading I thought Plot Twist would be another generic contemporary romance with cookie cutter characters. The beginning was a little slow but then Dash’s character really captured my attention with his struggles. He felt like such a real person that I immediately changed my mind and couldn’t put the book down. Sophie’s character was a little less interesting to me, but I think with how strong Dash was it really made up for it. There were very real struggles in him and I loved the complicated family dynamics that were revealed throughout. The duel perspective was also so nice to see and really added a lot to the story. The writing was well done and the characters well developed. As someone who doesn’t always enjoy contemporary romances this one was an easy and fun read but not overly silly like a lot of them tend to be. The romance scenes were jarring in a sense and I didn’t enjoy reading them which is really my main complaint about the book and why I couldn’t rate it higher. I also didn’t totally love Sophie’s character, she didn’t really have much to her in the way Dash’s character did and he really carried the whole book for me. I think this would be a great read for those who love easy Contemporary Romances like The Hating Game, The Spanish Love Deception, or The Love Hypothesis.

TW: alcoholism and open-door romance

The first book in this series "For Butter or Worse" was only a three star read for me, but I was excited to read another in this series/by this author because it felt like there was a so much potential for the series. I am so glad I did! When I say I read this in one sitting, I mean I was literally holding the iPad in one hand and stirring dinner with the other because I couldn't put it down.

This one hits all the contemporary romance high notes and tropes (with the aspect of being self-referential because our fair protagonist is herself a romance author!) while feeling realistic. The characters are flawed without being overly tragic, the plot is movie worthy while the premise is reasonable by romance standards and the resolution shows actual character development. The "snark" bordered on my personal pet-peeve of just being immaturity, but once you get past the first few chapters the characters stop being too twee. This tale weaves together many subplots, and some fizzle a bit, but overall the interweaving of the characters really helps the world building.

For fans of classic rom-coms with a mature twist, this one should be on your TBR Pile.

I absolutely adored this book. I typically dislike when romance novels have too many pop culture references, but Erin La Rosa has found a way to integrate modern social media and topics that fit seemlessly into the plot. The main character, Sophie, is highly relatable and easy to connect with, while Dash demonstrates that love is somethinf you have to work and and choose everyday. I loved these two characters, I loved the setting, and I loved how it was steamy without loosing the plot. I was to read everything this author writes.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is a friends-to-lovers story about Sophie Lyon and Dash Montrose.

Sophie is an author who has already published one book, and is on a deadline for her second book but is unable to complete it because she can't find the right ending for her characters. She realizes that the reason is because she's never been in love herself and with some encouragement from her landlord and neighbour, Dash Montrose, decides to meet with each of her exes to understand what was missing in each of her relationships which prevented her from falling in love.

Dash is a child actor from the famous Montrose family in Hollywood and years of pressure has led him to turn to drinking. He is now focusing on recovering from alcohol abuse, however hasn't shared this with anyone aside from his best friend. He focuses on creating pottery to help with his recover and owns the house where Sophie lives.

The book touches on a couple serious topics, however, I don't think it dives into each of them fully. I also found the story to be slightly repetitive, with a bit of a predictable ending. Although I didn't love this book, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light romance read, and I look forward to reading more books by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a copy of the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Overall cute story. The characters were funny, relatable. There was spice, humor, family drama. The ending ramped up bit there, which kept the intrigue going. The family drama was fitting for Hollywood. Got my blood pumping at one point. The MCs were quick witted and relatable. The story was told well, especially in regards to the topics discussed. It wasn’t over embellished, but kept the rawness of it all. I did receive this ARC thru NetGallley via Harlequin publishing.

Great book! A classic friends to lover, attempting friends with benefits because they can’t promise commitment. This book is easy and fun, great to read on summer day or at the beach.
If you love modern romances with LGBTQ representation and fast falls, this is the book for you!
Our main character decides to check in with all her exes to see if she missed her love story, all while falling for her neighbor who is helping her through this journey.
Our MMC is a big softie with lots of love to give!