Friends to lovers, one bed, friends with benefits- all the tropes I love! Sophie is a romance author stuck with writers block due to never having been in love, and unluckily, she’s gone viral in a video drunkenly professing her lackluster belief in Happily Ever Afters. Dash was a teenage heartthrob from “the” Hollywood family, but now he’s focusing on his sobriety by anonymously posting crafting videos to TikTok.

I loved the characters. The author really made me feel connected to them and want them to succeed. However, there wasn’t much time spent pining for each other; they skipped straight to friends with benefits, which made later plot points, such as why Sophie was upset about Dash not being upfront about his darkest secrets, a little confusing. The summary also provided more background than a summary of discussing what the plot would be; I thought there would be more social media involvement based on the summary.

Overall, I enjoyed this universe and was drawn in to keep reading to find out how they would find their way together.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is a pretty standard romance, with some pretty absurd moments. Sophie Lyon is a romance writer with writers block, staring down a deadline for her second book. Dash Montrose is a former heartthrob and recovering alcoholic, relying on his anonymous crafting TikTok account to keep him sane and sober. The premise basically rests on the fact that Sophie has never been in love, and she needs to revisit all her past relationships to find out why. But then also, for some reason, she needs to start a FWB relationship with Dash (who happens to be her landlord AND her best friend Poppy's brother).

Hijinks ensue. There are multiple false starts to Sophie and Dash's arrangement, and then of course as soon as they have sex (written in excruciating detail), they are in L-O-V-E. There are so many other threads that just manage to muddle the whole thing. Sophie's HS boyfriend is somehow still made, a decade later, that she ghosted him after they broke up, so he pretends to reconcile with her and then sells a story about her famous sister to the media. Dash has an online friendship with another craft TikToker, who turns into a stalker who makes a doll of Dash as some sort of...threat? Or come on?? Hard to say. And of course, Dash comes from "Hollywood Royalty" (#nepobaby) who are about as cold as you'd expect.

All in all, I didn't enjoy this book. Mostly because I couldn't settle into the storytelling before yet another ridiculous obstacle was thrown in the way. It could and should have been more focused and better. Lots of steam, if that's your thing.

I picked this book to read while I was preparing for a four hour sitting for my most recent tattoo. That's a weird thing to put in a review, but I was looking for something engrossing so that I could forget that I had to sit still so long, and this DID THE TRICK. I was completely sucked in immediately and while I didn't finish the book before the artist finished my tattoo, I did finish it that same night after going home.

The characters problems and feelings felt very real to me. The book also avoided my most hated trope where there's a huge emotional blowout over a simple misunderstanding that could be solved if two people could just talk like adults for five dang minutes. The book does have a scene that could have been like that, but instead they talked and it didn't completely solve everything, but it was so much more believable than if one of them had blown up over something small.

The love scenes are very very sexy, the characters are very believable and the plot twists are excellent. Highly recommended read for your next tattoo sitting, long haul flight, or when you just want to fall into a book.

ARC Review! I received an arc of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked it. It was enjoyable to read. I just had a hard time believing the chemistry of the two leads until about the 80% mark. From that point to the end of the book was fabulous. Their chemistry was believable. Their relationship felt tangible. It was great. But everything up to that point? Not so much.

I feel like it was me, though, and not the writing; that's why I still gave it four stars. 😅 Overall, I liked the story. I did feel that there was a lot of exposition about the other characters just kinda thrown in there towards the beginning. It felt like when you're reading the third book in a series and the author is giving you a little summary of the other books. It's just that there weren't other books. So it felt like you were missing all this information about these characters, but you actually weren't.

I loved the side characters. Poppy was funny, and I loved her obsession with organic and all natural products. Chris was supportive and charming. The squirrel, even, was funny. 😄

Dash was complicated. He really punished himself for everything and believed the worst of himself. I was happy to see how the story resolved. I felt like it was a good way to settle his issues.

Sophie was so tied up in figuring out her issues. It was interesting to follow her journey of discovering why she never fell in love.

Now, for my main issue with this book:

The number of times they talked about tiktok had me in such pain. I understand that it's a big platform for authors and books to become popular, but I don't wanna read about it. And they spent so much of the first third of the book or so just talking about it all the time. It ruins the escapism of a romance book when you mention current pop culture. Unless it's done well. But tiktok? No, thank you.

That's all I have for this book. I did enjoy it, despite some smaller issues. 🤷‍♀️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I didn’t love this read. It was a struggle for me to get through and I feel like a lot of the struggles for both characters were very repetitive. The character development wasn’t as strong as I would have liked and there were a few plot holes that still having me wondering why some of the points were created.

Alright folks this one comes with mixed feelings.

What you can expect:
Tiktok
Fame
Crafting man
FMC who is an author
Best friend’s brother
Grumpy x sunshine

Okay so here’s what I liked:
Genuine growth of the characters. I felt like they each were trying to really push themselves to make strides with their own issues. Normalizing therapy and sobriety.

You find out early on that the MMC has struggled with alcoholism in the past and has been sober for about 18 months.

I’ll say that they certainly had chemistry.

Here’s what I didn’t like:
ALL THE TIK TOK REFERENCES.

I like tik tok and have respect for people who do content creation. I think that pop culture and social media can be done in a book but the way it was approached in this one annoyed me. It was most prevalent at the start of the book but did taper off in the second half.
With that I did end up liking the book more than I expected because I almost DNF this.

I also appreciate the way the FMC handles the MMC sobriety. You can tell the author wanted to make her character as opening and supportive and accepting as possible.

Overall for me 3⭐️.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for an advanced e-book!

I really liked this book! Some of Sophie's sexuality felt a little forced but I did enjoy the pansexual representation. As someone who has had a partner go through a sobriety journey, I felt like that aspect was done really well. Everyone's sobriety looks different but I felt like Dash was a very relatable character and had me rooting for him from the start. I am always slightly wary of a TikTok/social media heavy book but it was not over the top at all. I didn't like the formatting of text messages - they were very hard to read but maybe that can be fixed before pub day. Overall, I enjoyed reading it! 3.5 stars, but I'll round up to 4!

Thank you for letting me read this arc! This book was such a fun refreshing read. The main female character is a romance author who's never been in love and the main male character is a childhood actor who's a recovering alcoholic. There was some touching moments throughout of their journeys. I also enjoyed the tiktok bits as well! Would recommend!

I was intrigued within the first two lines; in love by the end of the second page. Sometimes you just know that a book is going to be a new favorite from the first chapter—that was Plot Twist for me.

The leads were relatable without becoming stock characters common in so many rom-coms. Sophie was a curvy pansexual romance author who has never been in love. Dash was a short tattooed indie actor trying to find his place in the world with his new sobriety. That already made for interesting and compelling characters, but then they both got bonus points for talking about crafting and candles. As someone who loves making decorative concrete candles, I feel like I just met my new book BFFs.

This book did a wonderful job of covering tense topics, while still retaining the joy and laughter found in rom-coms. I loved this book, and am already looking forward to buying it in paperback when it is released. This was an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating from me and I 10 out of 10 recommend.

Will post review to Instagram in October 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book. The cover caught my eye and I went into not really knowing what to expect. I loved the struggling author and the guy finding his way through sobriety. Their connection was undeniable! I thought the story wrapped up beautifully.
While I'm not a TikTok user, I don't think it took away from the story at all. I loved Dash helping Sophie and the encouraging comments he left on her posts.

really loved every moment with Sophie and Dash and was surprised by how much of the sorry wasn’t necessarily focussed on their romance, but on their own struggles and work to overcome them. Sophie and Dash are both flawed but in such relatable, real ways and it was a joy to read their stories. I also saw myself quite a bit in Sophie - especially in how difficult it was for her to share her love - and it was refreshing to see a female love interest with this struggle. She felt very real.

The only reason I docked one star was because it felt like there was a LOT going on. Sophie had a pacemaker that was barely touched on, the tiktok plot kind of went away about 60% in, and dash’s stalker just kind of disappeared towards the end. it just felt like maybe some of the side stories could have been trimmed back a bit. Nothing that made it bad or made me dislike it. I just found myself at the end going “wait a minute what happened with xyz?”

I’m excited to read the story about Sophie’s sister, which I hadn’t realized was already out when I picked this up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erin La Rosa for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest and willing review.

This is a really cute take on the next door neighbor, also best friends brother, trope.

Sophie is a romance author who’s never been in love and Dash is just trying to stay sober. Their relationship is a roller coaster, 100% but I was here for the ride.

Definitely entertaining, but not enough character development for me. The “villains” (Dash’s family) were unbelievable and 2-dimensional. Parts were fun, parts were silly/cliche but overall I don’t regret reading! Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-arc.

Sophie is a fun-loving romance writer with one book that was successful. She is under a deadline with her second book and she is stuck. If she can’t believe in love, how can she write a romance book? Dash was a teen movie star and Sophie had a crush on him. He is now her landlord and the brother of her best friend, Poppy. Dash has his own problems but once Dash starts trying to encourage and support Sophie, they develop feelings for each other. That can’t happen because Sophie believes she would lose Poppy as her best friend. Sophie decides to visit each of her ex significant others to see why they dumped her. Dash is helping her use TikTok to share her findings and increase her popularity. I loved this book. The characters are wonderful. The portrayal of Sophie and her insecurities is done so well with Dash, her sister, Poppy, and her past relationships. Dash’s mom thinks only of herself and tries to make Dash continue acting at the expense of his recovering alcoholism. His struggles to stay sober adds so much to the book and illuminates the need to have a support system as well as the love between Dash and Sophie. Great book with important topics done extraordinarily well.

This charming and light read follows the story of a romance novelist who has never been in love herself - talk about irony! Ok, it certainly has its fair share of tropes, but it does so in a way that will have you rooting for the two main characters, Sophie and Dash.

This book pretty heavily caters to the TikTok/BookTok audience, which I personally am not a part of — and if you're not either, you may find some of the references to the platform to be a bit forced. But still, if you like a good rom-com, the story is worth giving a chance. The likable characters and engaging writing style will keep you hooked until the end. Things do heat up quite quickly between Sophie and Dash. So much so, that I had to double-check if I was already halfway through the book when they made their connection.

Overall, if you're looking for a light-hearted and entertaining read, then give Plot Twist a shot. It's not going to reinvent the wheel when it comes to romance novels, but it doesn't need to - sometimes a well-executed formula is exactly what you're looking for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade. Publishing for the Advance Reader Copy of this book!

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I as slightly leery to begin reading when I saw a lot of not so great reviews of this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I did not find myself agreeing with the negative reviews!
This was a sweet, quick read romance, with a little bit of spice and some really likable characters. I did find this book to be pretty realistic, unlike a lot of romance books.
There may be some triggers for readers, **cue a spoiler** the main character deals with substance abuse issues, relapses and enters rehab during the book.
I am still confused why the book is titled Plot Twist, because nothing really surprising happened.
3.5 stars, because I did like this book, and I think a lot of my friends would love this quick romance!

thank you netgalley for this ARC
I was glad to accept it and it was a good palette cleanser because this flirty rom com is so different from that I usually read.
The romance between the two main characters is great, but I could of used some more pinning for one another.
It was a cute in that very contemporary way, and it did show recovery which a lot of people do struggle with. It showed how an author can struggle with writers block.
It just felt upbeat and the love story was just plain cute.

I think CUTE is in this review a few times but thats the best word I can use for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press for an arc of this book. Below is my honest review.

Sophie is a romance writer whose first book was a success, however, she can’t manage to write her second. Writers block is her current nemesis. And, her lack of love life isn’t helping. If she doesn’t finish her second novel in six weeks, her publisher will drop her and take back the advance they gave her. Yes, the advance she already spent on food and shelter.

Dash lives next door, is a recovering alcoholic, and is Sophie’s landlord. His sister, Poppy, is Sophie’s best friend, too. Poppy sent Dash over to make sure Sophie knew a video of her went viral where she claimed love isn’t real. Nice look for a romance writer. Dash suggests she make a stitch (I learned something here…it is a response to a TikTok video, who knew?)

Sophie makes the video and … suggests she ask her exes what is wrong with her. Why did they break up? Is she lovable? Sophie writes best with a fleshed out plan and used her sisters love story for the overarching plot of her first novel. So, she is hoping to use these experiences reconnecting with exes to help cure her writers block while figuring her own stuff out.

Dash’s father and brother are famous actors. Dash tried … but doesn’t want to act anymore. His family, especially his momager, isn’t having it. To make matters worse, Dash needs to write a speech to present his dad with a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Dash is not a writer … but he knows one that offered to help.

Will Sophie write her book? Will Dash be pushed back to acting? Will Sophie believe in love again?

Okay, so imho the last 25% of this book was much stronger than the start. I’m giving 3 stars for the first 50%, with gradual improvement until it reaches 5 stars for the last 25%. I’m giving it 4 stars overall.

This book has all the tropes. Every. Last. One. Well, maybe not that many but a lot. If you do not like tropes, stay far away. If you do? This book is made for you.

It took a while to connect with the characters, which is key for me. Once I did, my enjoyment skyrocketed. The witty banter between the leads was my favorite part. I absolutely hated Kitty but her character made complete sense in context. Dash’s father is a bit of an enigma. Richard the squirrel was the hit of the book for me.

CW: alcoholism, unsupportive family.

This was such a nice refreshing read, it was fun and it also portrayed some topics that may be triggering for some people. It also has almost everything that us hopeless romantics & romcom lovers-love 😂 Forced proximity, one bed, best friend’s brother, friends with benefits, and so much more… I am recently loving dual POV’s and this one was great to learn about both of the main characters. It definitely has a couple of plot twists!

I loved how Sophie is a writer but it’s different from other writers of books I have read. I loved how Dash unlike other book boyfriends has a different passion/work which is pottery.

Don’t miss the chance to add this one to your TBR list!

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange of an honest review! ❤️

This book was adorable! Sophie and Dash are such unique characters that each have their own hurdles to overcome before they see possibilities with one another. The slow burn, creative solution and awkward moments kept me captivated and turning the page. Solid reading selection and one I could see made into a movie.
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.