Sophie is a romance writer who has never been in love. Dash is a former actor, newly sober and channeling his energy into crafting and making beautiful ceramics in secret. He also happens to be the brother of Sophie’s best friend. Sophie lives on Dash’s expansive property in LA. There are many reasons they each have for not pursuing a relationship with one another. However, that doesn’t stop them from being attracted to each other. Can they face their fears and figure out if they might be meant to be?

Plot Twist is an enjoyable read largely due to the chemistry between Sophie and Dash and Dash being a sweetheart. He is struggling with being sober, has low self-esteem, and has a demanding (and very famous) family. I wish there had been an even larger focus on his crafting in the book. I did not feel the characters were consistent throughout the entire story but that did not prevent me from enjoying the read. It manages to balance very serious topics with fun and light moments.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canary Street Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall the book was fun and I liked the general plot. The idea that a romance author had never actually been in love and needs to track down her exes to gain insight as to why, was really fun. I enjoyed Dash's character quite a bit but struggled to find an ounce of likability in Sophie.

What I liked:
- Dash's character arc. I loved reading his chapters and his sobriety journey. I think the author did a really good job in curating his struggle with alcohol and the intricacies of relationships after someone has decided to be sober. It killed me when the reader found out who leaked the story but I wasn't all that surprised. I don't want to spoil it but it fit with that character's arc quite well (of course they were the one who leaked it).
- The inclusivity of pansexuals. I've read a few books with pansexuals as side characters so it was nice to see a main character be one. I also loved that there wasn't a lot of explanation with Sophie's sexuality... like, she's a pansexual... done. Loved that.

What I disliked:
- Their meet-cute. It was so gross and something that wasn't remotely fun or cute. I feel like the author could've done anything else and it would've been better than what was done.
- I wanted more time with each of her exes. I didn't like that she wanted to try to get back together with the doctor (sorry, forgot the name already) even though there wasn't a lot of history given there. And then the sommelier (again, sorry, forgot the name) sold out Sophie's sister. I just don't get it. What was the motive?
- The romance unfortunately. It felt rushed and confusing with all her exes in the mix and the way she was feeling. It was just...weird.
- The cover or the title. It doesn't fit the story after reading it. They're both kind of a mess and in the cover they look put together. Not sure what the plot twist was so it's a confusing title.

Again, there were some great aspects to the book (I truly loved Dash's character and his development throughout the book) but for a modern romance I think it fell flat.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canary Street Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love the beautiful cover as it’s what caught my eye, but neither it nor the title really fit the story.

Likes:

I love that the female heroine is unapologetically pan and doesn’t explain or justify why she loves who she loves. I also appreciated the care in which Sophie’s heart condition and pacemaker are discussed.

I really like how this author is handles Dash’s alcohol addiction and his sobriety journey with care and empathy.

Dislikes:

Even though the two characters are attracted to each other, the level of heat and intimacy seems better suited to erotica versus what starts out as a cute love story, albeit with a gross meet-cute.

Dash is 36 years old but still letting his family run his life. I can’t believe his own mother leaked his sobriety journey to the press which led to a relapse with alcohol after 19 months of being sober. Ugh. Also, the fight that his sister Poppy and Sophie get into after she finds out about her brother and Sophie’s relationship is just so juvenile. Be mad at someone but you don’t need to be petty.

Overall: this was a slow read that dragged in places but felt too rushed in the areas of physical intimacy. Mostly, it was enjoyable and I really enjoyed how the author tackled serious issues in this book.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the book for me. It's a personal preference but I do not care to read 3rd person writing. I can listen to it in audio form and feel more connected but I have a hard time connecting to the story and characters when I read it. The rom-com aspect of the book was decent, I would've liked to see more banter and cohesive dialogue. I liked the MMC more than I liked the FMC. This is my first book by this author, I would read something else to give it a try ( as long as its not 3rd person writing). If this was available on audio, I'd give it another shot as well to see if it's just me and my missed-connection to the story. I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley for my honest review.

After reading a string of bad romances the beginning of this book really had me hopeful, but it wasn't meant to be. The plot drags. Sophie's storyline by nature is repetitive, having her meet a bunch of her exes was never going to be that interesting. And by not pacing the romance, and with so much back and forth and false starts, the book just felt like it was going through the motions to reach its HEA. 2.5 stars.

4.5 stars - I enjoyed this story so so much. Sophie is a really lovely FMC, she’s flawed but those flaws don’t get in the way of her being relatable. Dash is kind and supportive and even though he struggles with his own issues, he is trying to figure out how to do what’s best. I didn’t want to put this book down! I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the whole “former teen-heartthrob thing” but it was actually way more down to earth than I expected it to be. I also really loved the way the author was able to present the topic of addiction without the character coming off as “I’m so damaged and dark” and instead being more, “I’m flawed and I don’t know how to be okay with that”. This was a really lovely story and I definitely am going to read more from this author!

ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this read. The characters were fun but realistic. The story flowed very naturally. The romance felt sincere and the alcoholism was handled very deftly, in my opinion. The romance was a little spicier than my normal read but it was well written and still worked for me. The whole thing lightened up a weekend that was difficult for me.

This is a fun romcom with a bit more depth than you might at first imagine. And that is a good thing! Romance author Sophie, suffering from writers block, realizes she has never fallen in love. She needs to take a real look at herself and figure out why that has never happened. She does this in part by meeting up with her ex’s to see what went wrong. And she TikToks about it. Fun stuff as well as heavy stuff.

Talk about deep stuff- then there’s her landlord, dreamy ex-heartthrob Dash. He has some serious secrets of his own to deal with but is very attracted to Sophie. Since neither can really commit while they tackle their own demons we get to go on their sometimes hilarious sometimes complex HEA journey.
Sophie and Dash are very well crafted, multi-dimensional people. They are real- so we can get to know them and root for them. They struggle and they make us laugh and they have some really nice hot sexy times as they make their way to their HEA!

If alcoholism/addiction is a trigger for you you might want to skip this. Otherwise buckle up for a really satisfying and amusing (and hot!) ride.

Book CWs: Alcoholism, addiction, emotionally/verbally abusive parent

Quick disclaimer, I didn't realize that this was technically the follow up to "For Butter Or Worse", starring a different Lyon sister, so I'm going to skip over what I thought was just a lack of development and introduction to Jasmine and Nina. Oops.

Plot Twist was a fun romance, but there were definitely certain aspects that I didn't enjoy. In fact, I almost DNFed at the 4% mark, but I'm glad I didn't. I really liked both Sophie and Dash, they complimented and supported one another quite well. Their romance felt a little clunky the first few chapters (thought to be honest, the whole of those chapters were awkward and a bit forced), but once things got going, I enjoyed it. 
There were some things that either grossed me out or were so out of place that I feel like I should mention them though, because I considered DNFing because of them. The first, is the start of the book. It's messy at best, and once Dash took his puke covered shirt off and <i>folded it into his pants pocket</i>. That was so gross I literally almost stopped reading there. There were also lines that didn't make very much sense or were also just gross, such as Dash sniffing her to get a whiff of Sophie's scent underneath the scent of vodka, fried chicken and vomit. Another was Sophie apologizing for talking too much, immediately after saying only two sentences and not speaking all that much previously. <spoiler> Later on there's a scene where they have sex on the lawn, which is all well and good, but the entire book keeps talking about how Dash can't have negative press because of his and his family's fame. It was such a dumb move on their part that it really pulled me out of the story.</spoiler>

Overall, Plot Twist is fun if you're willing to overlook some things, with a story of loving one another flaws and all.

This review will be published on Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The latter two will be shared once the novel is out November 14 2023.

⭐️ 4 stars ⭐️
This book was so good! It transports you to the world of an author who can't find the right finish to her romance novel. After a video of her drunk and claiming she's never been in love goes viral, she goes on on a mission to reunite with her exes and ask them where she went wrong. Along the way, she falls in love with Dash, the son of some Hollywood favorites! It was amazing and I like how it incorporated Dash dealing with alcoholism. Overall all the characters were pretty wholesome (except for Kitty 🙄) and it was a chill, quick read.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed November 9 by Colleen Hoover
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Is there something you’ve said or done on social media that you wish you could take back? This is an affirmative for Sophie Lyon, a one-hit-wonder romance novelist who is suffering from major writer’s block for her second book. On a drunken night out at the karaoke bar, Sophie announces that she has never been in love and that love isn’t real. Of course, a video of this goes viral!

But when life gives you lemons, why not make lemonade? Dash (her bestie’s brother who Sophie’s had a mild crush on since childhood) checks in on her the next day and suggests that she make a response video. Sophie tells her followers that she is going to meet her exes and find out why they didn’t fall in love, all while trying to finish her book before her deadline. Alongside Sophie’s journey, Dash is trying to maintain his sobriety, form his own identity apart from his family’s expectations of fame, and become a better person. Sophie and Dash are flawed individuals, but are they ready to give and receive love?

This is a pretty cute romance novel with some feel-good, self-actualization parts. I gravitate towards sweet romance novels for my palate cleansers (and oddly for like 90% of my @NetGalley ARC requests…), so it definitely did the trick in being a fun, mindless read. However, it’s probably not my favorite romance read to date. I can’t really put my finger on why, but it’s just the overall impression I got as I was reading it. Maybe it was a little too modern (idk why I have an aversion to anything social media related in books) or felt a little too fast/unresolved? Although it may not have been my favorite read, it’s still a great book to check out if you’re into the friends-to-lovers/HEA trope.

Thank you to Netgalley for this e-ARC. What an incredibly sweet story. I loved both the characters, but especially Dash. Dash is the ultimate cinnamon roll, and I just love him.

This story does feature alcoholism, rehab, and recovery, so keep in mind if that might be triggering.

DNF @ 15%

Generally, I try to give books 75-100 pages to suck me in before I consider a DNF (which is not very often, but sometimes necessary). There wasn’t anything inherently “wrong” with the concept or execution of this novel, but here are the things that didn’t work well:
-throwing up on the MMC in the intro scene (yikes, can we give a trigger warning for those with emetophobia?)
-contemporary romances are supposed to include contemporary elements (e.g. social media) but the overwhelm of using TikTok as a plot point just wasn’t for me
-I wasn’t a huge fan of the dialogue. It felt messy and cringy.

I’m glad to see that others are loving this on Goodreads! I’m sad that it wasn’t for me but hope that it finds its audience!

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing & NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this, the MMC and FMC each had their own flaws that they were actively working through throughout the book before they could be ready for each other and that’s what made their HEA even sweeter.

I loved the LGBTQ+ representation in this book, especially with Sophie being pan and actively dating partners with different gender identities, I haven’t seen that in many books and I really enjoyed seeing it!

I also really appreciated the authors portrayal of addiction issues and sobriety, it’s not linear and i often find that authors forget about that or don’t touch on how relapses can occur and how they not only affect the addict but the people around them.

I highly recommend checking trigger warning before reading this but i would gladly recommend to all my friends!

luv and kisses <3

Cutesy read! I feel as though my thoughts and feelings about this book are what has been shared thus far, but I'm still gonna share them. Overall, this was a super cute read. It did however feel super tropey, but I get that that can happen with this type of book. I wish there was more pining between our two leads before they fully got together, but it was still nice to see all that chemistry.

3.6
Perfectly readable, but I would have liked more of the build up phase and less of the back and forth kind of floundering phase. I also could have used a bit more insight into Sophie's writing.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for allowing me to review an ARC of Plot Twist!

Sophia, our main girl and romance author who surprisingly has never been in love, goes on a self-journey to figure out why she has never been able to fall in love with any of her past exes, thinking this will drag her out of her writing slump. With only a few weeks to go till her deadline, she turns to TikTok to document her journey as she meets up with each of her exes. Along the way her landlord and best friend's brother Dash gets thrown into the mix, who knows maybe he will be the one that will help her out of her slump. ;)

I read this novel in one sitting I could not put it down! I would give this book a solid 3.5 / 5 stars, the main reason I had to put the star rating down a bit was because of how HUGE a part TikTok played in this story. It is a personal ick of mine when I see super modern pop culture references in a novel, I feel as though it takes me out of the book itself and reminds me I'm just reading on my couch. After a while, it became a fun part of the plot to see the author use comments and her filming of these videos to further the plot. I also was not a super big fan of her best friend Poppy. I feel as though she was that best friend who was there but also was not there, in the end, she did turn and become supportive.

I really did like the way the book dealt with the process an alcoholic goes through as they are trying to stay sober. Our main male character Dash is a previous alcoholic so please take that as a trigger warning just in case this subject bothers you. On that note, I think the author presented it in a really good way in which to be respectful to the community adding in aspects such as eating sweets to curb the craving or going to AA meetings and having your supporters.
The family issues each character dealt with were also refreshing and realistic in a way, yes these characters are actors and famous in LA but realistic in a way that Dash and Sophie are not perfect in any sense.

P.S LOVED the Bi character representation in Sohpie

Thank you again to the author and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC I would absolutely suggest this to anyone who is interested in modern romance novels that include some aspects of everyday struggles, family acceptance , personal/mental struggles and some smut thrown in of course ;)

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, really enjoyed this story and how vulnerable the characters were in this romance.
I really enjoyed how Dash and Sophie were both on their own journey of self discovery.
Dash such a gentle, sweet lead male. Love that he was always so considerate to people and how they were feeling. I identify with his character keeping things to himself not to burden others as I am definitely that type so I was really rooting for him and his sobriety throughout the story but hoped he would eventually share his struggles with the people he loves. Chris bring his loyal best friend was a great addition with Luna.
Sophie had a lot of growing through this story and was so unaware of how she treated others. She wasn’t a cruel person but was young and didn’t know how to deal with hard situations. I really enjoyed her character arc and how she was willing to put in the work to figure out what she needed to do to change.
Loved this quote: “…I fell in love with you slowly, but I plan to keep loving you fiercely.” So romantic and I actually really liked that Sophie didn’t just jump into saying it back to him. It was a realistic version of what can happen in relationships and that she just needed more time. But like Chris said she shares her love through action. The end grand gesture was just the icing on the cake! Just absolutely loved again how realistic a lot of the scenarios in the book are to how we all feel and react in real life. Sometimes romance books can get too unrealistic and people completely throw away their moral compass once they fall in love but the author does a great job in this story to keeping it authentic to real life. Also can’t forget this swoony quote: “I couldn’t help but run. I’ll always run toward you from now on.”
I will be posting this review to my Goodreads page on February 27,2023 (link included) and will repost my review on Amazon.ca when the book becomes available on November 14, 2023. I will update my review with the link to Amazon when posted.

Erin La Rosa’s debut, For Butter or Worse, was one of my favorite books of 2022, so I was excited to get an ARC of her next release. Plot Twist features Sophie, the romance writer sister of Nina, the heroine of For Butter or Worse.

Sophie and Dash had a cute and very steamy romance I enjoyed. This book is chock-full of romance tropes — forced proximity! Grumpy/sunshine! Best friend’s brother! Only one bed! — that I found delightful. I also liked that Sophie’s story showed what a struggle writing can be sometimes.

This book seems light based on the blurb and cover, but it deals with some heavy themes. Dash has a lot of issues with his Hollywood-royalty family, and he’s in recovery for alcoholism. His sobriety is a major part of the story, especially in the last 20% or so of the book. I’d suggest taking care while reading if these are difficult topics for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I loved this book. Just delightful characters with real issues that are handled with grace and sensitivity and very hot sex:) Totally enjoyable and heartwarming.