Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book! Below is my honest review.

Summary of the book:

Sophie is a romance writer, sort of. She published one best selling book but is struggling to write her second. So she contacts all her exes and asks them what went wrong in their relationship. Turns out Sophie isn’t emotionally available.

Enter Dash. He’s the brother of Poppy, Sophie’s best friend. He’s struggling with some stuff: family, personal stuff, etc. He enters a FWB relationship with Sophie because he can’t enter a serious relationship right now. But we all know what happens next…

Pros of this book:
✅ LBGTQ+ representation
✅ characters who deal with problems outside of the romance plot

Cons of this book:
❌ romance felt like it could have used a little more angst; almost felt instantly-lovey to me
❌ conflicts between Sophie and other people felt rather forced and dramatic
❌ wasn’t a big fan how Sophie didn’t know why some of her relationships ended even when she was the one who broke up with them
❌ for a book called the plot twist, where was the plot twist?

Would I recommend this book? Meh

Sophie is a romance writer suffering from some tough writers block, and as a product a video of her very very drunk admitting shes never been in love ends up going viral. Obviously this doesn't look great for a romance writer, so Sophie sets off on meeting up with her ex's in order to find out what went wrong, vlogging along the way. Her ex-movie star landlord turns out to be a social media pro and begins to help her, but he has his own skeletons in the closet as well.

I was really excited for this book and thought I would love it, but I was really wrong. Everything about this story made me cringe.
The main love interest is really unbelievable… he’s a super hot tattooed ex movie star who does crafts on tiktok. I do not think I've ever met a man who remotely matches this ideal. The plot of meeting each of her exes is interesting to me and I understand the social media aspect but there was too many pop culture references. While I did like that Sophie was bi, her female ex's were overboard on stereotypes to the point where it felt aggressive. The dialogue in the book also felt awkward, and not like something any self respecting woman would say. “holy tingley lady bits” was the final straw for me.

Overall I struggled to get through this. I don't think I would recommend it and I for sure would not read it again.

4/5 stars

“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.”

This book is essentially a love note to the BookTok community. It had all the tropes we love best (including the One Bed Trope), while being really honest and in touch with human emotions and human imperfections. I read this book in a matter of hours, and I look forward to it hitting the shelves in November!l

P.S. Dash Montrose is blonde, broody, and a short king, AND IT WORKS!

I love love love these kinds if books. This is another adorable rom Com story that's great for fans of fluffy romances in their books or their movies. The characters were fun and their romance was fun and spicy.

Bookish Thoughts

Last year I read For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa and it was one of my favorite romance reads of the year. So imagine my excitement when I saw Plot Twist on Netgalley... then imagine my reaction when I was approved.

Now, calling this book a disappointment is a bit harsh but *whispers* I was disappointed. This isn't a bad book at all but for me, it's missing those critical elements and troupes that give me all the feels when reading romance.

And for those that suffer from low self esteem and lack of confidence

The book touches on sensitive subjects so check for CW.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for this copy of the e-arc in exchange for a honest review.

Plot Twist follows romance writer Sophie who is having trouble finishing her second book due to her never actually being in love. As well as Dash, former teen heartthrob and Sophie's landlord and brother to Sophie's best friend.

Sophie decides to help her overcome her writers block to meet up with her exes and share on it tik tok after getting the encouragement for Dash.

Dash is struggling with maintaining his sobriety and has turned to crafting (mostly pottery) and has been posting to tiktok anonymously. With the dread of writing a speech for an upcoming event for his father, Sophie has offered to lead a had and write the speech for him.

I really loved reading Sophie's and Dash's love story, Erin is a great writer and I will be going back and reading her other books.

I wanted to love this book especially because of the gorgeous cover! I absolutely love it. That being said I thought it was weird how it was surrounded by tik tok, as someone who doesn’t love that app, I just didn’t love this book.

It’s rare that I prefer the first book in a series to its sequel these days but Plot Twist lacked some of the energy and banter that made For Butter or Worse shine. That being said, the book tackles tough topics like addiction and both main characters came across as deserving of love. They got a bit on my nerves and repetitive at times but overall I was rooting for them. However, I felt the ending lacked a certain sense of closure I would have preferred — even though it had a HEA and the main characters all reconciled, unresolved tension from the family plot line felt palpable. Maybe if the next book in the series follows Rhys or Poppy we’ll get the necessary details on how the family moves on from their mother’s actions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and struggles of being a romance book author while never experiencing love. I can just imagine the imposter syndrome someone in this situation could feel

The book cover drew me more than the story itself did—which isn’t great to say and I’m sorry, but don’t judge a book by its cover works both ways. I liked the beginning but quickly lost interest as it felt like it was going all over the place—the TikTok pretense seemed weak, the Nina leak useless to the story, as did the pacemaker. And also, why is the title Plot Twist? Did I miss it? I’m sorry for this review but this story didn’t work for me.

I truly enjoyed reading Plot Twist and connected with the story in so many ways. Sophie and Dash are such relatable characters and their chemistry was outstanding. I would definitely recommend this book!

This book started out a little slow for me but I am so glad that I gave it a chance. It turned out to be a new favorite of mine. From the way the characters found each other in the beginning to the very end I loved reading their story.

I wished I liked this more than I did, but it was just a pretty run of the mill romance. I didn't really care for Sophie, and I didn't realize how much of this book would be focused on making TikToks. I do think the author did a really great job writing about Dash's sobriety, and how well she wrote about the delicacy of dealing with sobriety while having a family with unrealistic expectations. Overall, it was cute, but not an all time favorite.

Let's start with the pros. The characters were like-able and had a good amount of growth throughout the book. The spice was good, not too much of it but what did exist was well written. The main character, Sophie, she was a fun heroine. There were times her jokes made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed her moments of self awareness and we actually got to see her work towards finding herself. Dash is my favorite kind of character. Hard on the outside but a cinnamon roll on the inside. The squirrel, the goldfish, and Richard Gere jokes were all 12/10

There were a few things that I didn't enjoy about this book. The Tiktok story line felt a little forced at times, but I thought the author did a good job of not including it more than it needed to be. Both characters had a lot of secrets from others, and sometimes it just hurts me to read stories like that. I find myself nervous to keep reading because I know the secrets will start to unravel and I'll be living with the secondhand anxiety of it all. I also felt like the word guffawed was used a lot, and I'm just not even sure what that means.

I struggled between giving this one a 3 star or giving it a 4 star, but because there were a few moments where I laughed out loud, I decided to go with the 4. Overall, this book was a really fun read and I am excited to read other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was pretty cute! I definitely enjoyed the read, just didn’t stand out to me. Would recommend it to friends though.

First off thanks to netgalley for providing me an ARC!

Sophie is an author who's struggling to write her next book. She rents from her best friends brother, who happens to be a child actor and her childhood crush, Dash.
While she's trying to figure out why she's never said I love you. Dash is working through many issues on his own. They develop quite the situation-ship.

Overall, the book was cute. I'm not a big fan of including social media, in this case TikTok, in books. It dates the book and it was a little cringey in some spots. But it was a cute and quick read.

This was a real struggle to get through. This relies too heavily on TikTok and I'm not the audience for that kind of book. There is a way to incorporate social media and make it fun but Plot Twist didn't work. This needs an LGBT category. The cover art is adorable but I didn't understand the meaning of the title. I do think there are many, many readers who will find this fun and relatable.

I go back and forth about how I feel regarding the plethora of romance novels written about romance writers, but Plot Twist had a fresh take on this subgenre. This story is a sweet narrative of a woman trying to understand why she's never fallen in love by revisiting past romances, all while slowly falling for her neighbor (a former film and TV star she had a crush on as a teenager).

The one frustration I had with Plot Twist was that I felt like Sophie's friends and family were too hard on her in her "failings" toward them. I kept waiting for her to stand up for herself more, but that never happened, which was a disappointment. Regardless, this is a sweet and steamy story that was very readable.

Sophie Lyon is a romance author that is stuck finishing her sophomore book. She mentions MULTIPLE times throughout the book that her life will be over if she can't complete this next romance book. She gets filmed at a karaoke bar yelling that love isn't real and that she's never been in love. She goes TikTok famous and has to deal with the consequences of her exes contacting her and wanting explanations.

Dash Montrose is Hollywood royalty, and he hates every second of it. He is a recovering alcoholic and a crafting genius. He crafts to keep him sober. He is also Sophie's landlord and her best friend's brother.

Sophie and Dash merge together when she throws up on him following the outcome of her viral TikTok video. They grow a real bond and friendship as he tries to help her navigate her new TikTok fame and the chaos that is her life and book.

It is a very cute HEA and I enjoyed that Dash is a recovering alcoholic and that there were a lot of emphases made in the book about the importance of sobriety. There was a lot of talk about mental health in men and the strength it takes to not relapse. If you do relapse, it is not the end of the world.

I also enjoyed Sophie's journey of self-discovery through meeting up with her exes to see what went wrong and how she could improve herself. That's not something you see very often in a romance book.

I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Plot Twist follows the story of Sophie an author, whose second book is due in weeks, and her best friends brother Dash, a former actor. After an embarrassing tik-tok of a drunk Sophie admitting she has never been in love Dash suggests she meet up with her exes and find out why. After meeting with her first ex it doesn’t seem to bad but when she needs a ride to meet up with her second ex things take a turn and maybe her and Dash are closer than she realized.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, I basically read it in one setting. Sophie’s journey with writers block and trying to find why she has never been in love before had its ups and downs. For me with romance books I think the dynamic between the FMC and MMC is so important. Sometimes that dynamic falls flat for me but in Plot Twist I felt like Sophie and Dash had a really easy dynamic between the two of them. Which I really enjoyed it gave that feeling of having been friends for so long you are good with just being in the same room with them. I also really liked the little bit of teasing between one another it felt effortless and fun, not forced or awkward.

This book isn’t 100% fluffy there is some heavier parts to the book especially with Dash’s past and present. Dash is a recovering alcoholic who is starting to find his next step in life. However I really liked how is his story paired with Sophie’s. Sophie is trying to learn why she hasn’t been in love and Dash feels like his future with love can’t be what he once hoped for.

I also think the spice in this book was just right for this book, not too much and what we get is just spicy enough without being too hot. Especially great if you want just a bit of spice but not Katee Robert level (which is also good but sometimes you need just a little spice).

The one thing about the book that I wasn’t too sure how I felt about was when Poppy learns about Dash and Sophie getting close. It seemed kind of petty, but I don’t have siblings so maybe I am missing something.

Overall this book was a fun read, that I would recommend to others. If you like rom-coms, if you like friends with benefits to lovers, or friends to lovers I would recommend.

CW/TW: alcoholism recovery, relapse, toxic family.