I love a good enemies-to-lovers storyline and Plot Twist delivered! The characters were each so unique and their backstories so interesting. I enjoyed the authors peeling back of the layers for each character, it was a great way to get the reader invested. I was worried when I saw it was translated, as sometimes things can get lost in the translation. However, my worries were unwarranted. This was so charming and a lovely read! My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Enemies to lovers with an added spin making them write a book together that combines crime and romance. Oh and also one author is newly published while the other is an established bestseller, so what could go wrong!?! Find out in this fun read!
In Plot Twist by Carmen Sereno, we follow Siobhan and Marcel as they have a summer filled with writing outside of their comfort zones, arguing, and lots of plot twists.
Highly recommended grabbing this book!

Here’s the gist: Marcel, a reclusive, grumpy crime novelist, is struggling with writer’s block after killing of the MC in his much lauded series. He reluctantly joins Twitter on the advice of his agent, and immediately gets into it with Siobhan, a ray of sunshine reeling from a break up, but riding high on the recent publication of her first novel. The two accidentally end up in a Twitter spat, which leads to massive publicity, which leads to uppity Marcel being forced to work with pushover Siobhan. It goes as well as you’d expect.

What a terrific premise!

Too bad the execution was lacking.

On the positive side, Siobhan is generally likable. The quality of writing isn’t cringey. (I’m struggling.)

There were far more issues.

While I usually appreciate dual POV, I’d rather not have had any time in Marcel’s head. He’s rude, angry, aggressive. He spends the first third of the novel fetishinzing Siobhan, the second third jerking her around, and the last part in a desperate attempt to redeem the story. I’m fine with authors writing outside their personal frame of reference, but I find it hard to believe no one flagged this as (subconscious?) racism in representation.

Next we have Siobhan’s best friends, cardboard cutouts meant to represent “millennial feminist women” - people with no depth.

There’s no reason for Siobhan to be attracted to this man who wastes no time insulting her and her writing, and yet she’s immediately smitten.

Halfway through, they travel to his hometown of New Orleans where we’re given a somewhat heavy handed, out of context history lesson about Katrina.

There are also two undeveloped storylines - why Siobhan’s boyfriend suddenly broke up with her and why Marcel never visits his dying father - that leave the reader wondering.

There’s a lot of telling instead of showing, and the narrative is clunky at times because of it. Also? The spice feels like it was written by AI.

And the final thing I’ll mention is an abrupt ending so out of character as to be unbelievable.

I expected a lot more from the promising premise, but this misses the mark entirely.

I... didn't love this.

Siobhan is a first-time author living in Brooklyn and working a minimum wage job. Marcel is a best selling crime author. They get in an argument on Twitter and are challenged to write a novel together. They're like oil and water when they start working together, but the tensions ease as they get to know each other.

I like a good enemies to lovers. But something about this just rubbed me the wrong way. First, I thought it was that Marcel was insufferable. His speech patterns are odd and pretentious, but I feel like you can believe that. Ultimately, I think it was the pacing that did me in. Siobhan and Marcel do open up to each other and get to know each other, but it's in weird stages that don't really make sense. And the way they warm up to each other isn't necessarily natural or believeable.

But, while it wasn't my fav, I would probably recommend it to someone who enjoys enemies to lovers, workplace romance, forced proximity, opposites attract. It just wasn't one that really blew me away.

Carmen Sereno’s Plot twist has an interesting storyline and characters with real struggles that you want to cheer for to find their happily ever after. For me what let this story down was the large jump in plot with little to no explanation, our protagonist goes from a broke writer publishing stories online to a published author with her first book release within a chapter with no development of how she secured a book deal, the process to getting her work edited and published. The author wanted to focus more on the connection between Marcel and Siobhan which is understandable for a romance novel but without these details the story felt disconnected and unrealistic for me as the reader.

This book was such a fun enemies to lovers book! I really liked that the two main characters were both authors, coming from completely different genres and writing styles. The grumpy/happy trope was also cute, but the character development did go deeper beyond that. It was a little cliche and predictable, but like most romance books, predictability wasn’t bad. In fact, I liked this book more than I was expecting!

I could not get into this book! I really tried, picked it up time and time again and I DNFed pretty early on. Might give it another go in a few months time.

This book is a classic rom-com and content warning: there is a steamy scene that I tried to skip, but read more of than I meant too since I don't read open door. This story was translated from Spanish and reads like it came out about 7 years ago with lots of references to "Twitter" and mentions like Obama being recently out of office. That was unexpected since this is an ARC copy I read and is not out yet. Those things were my distractions, but when it came to the story I loved the premise of two very different authors (one a debit romance writer and the other an experienced crime novelist) coming together to write one story. At times I felt like Marcel (the crime novelist) was too imbalanced and extreme in his behaviors, but as the story unfolds you come to understand the why behind him and it felt more real.
This book gives the satisfying rom-com ending doubled: once in the end of the story and once in the end of the epilogue.
My heart went out to the author in reading her Author's Note and knowing the loss and grief she experienced while writing this book. I am always moved the resiliency of humans.

Thank you to #netgalley and #AmazonCrossing #PlotTwist for my arc of this book with a publication date of Aug 6th.

On paper, Plot Twist should have been a great fit for me. I love a good contemporary romance with a bookish angle, and when done right the enemy-to-lovers trope can be great fun. I've been meaning to try this Spanish author, so I was excited to read this translation partly set in New York. Unfortunately I wasn't as charmed by the story as I thought I would be though... Great premise, but the unlikeable characters and cliches ended up ruining the day for me.

So... Plot Twist. Like I said, I can't deny that the idea behind the plot is great. Two completely opposite characters, one a seasoned crime thriller author and one a newbie romance author, being forced to work together on a new story after a Twitter spat... Talk about SO much potential for a good story! It's definitely a collaboration that I would want to read as well, and if you like a bookish element in your stories you will get more than plenty of that in Plot Twist. There is a lot of focus on the writing process, and with Alex you also get a bit of the literary agent side as well.

The story is told with the help of a dual POV structure, switching between Siobhan and Marcel. It's a great structure to get both sides across and to get to know the main characters better... BUT. And here is where it went wrong for me: it is VERY hard to enjoy a story when you actively and thoroughly despise one of the main characters. It is one thing to have a grumpy main character, but Marcel is simply vile and I absolutely hated having to spend time inside his head. Sure, you will discover certain things (very late!) that help explain the way he is, but it is too little too late and it didn't redeem his character and the way he behaves for me.

It isn't just Marcel though; I also hated how Siobhan just let people walk all over her. Having to deal with her just accepting the way Marcel talks to her and behaves towards her is SO incredibly frustrating, and she never really stands up for herself. Instead, she just constantly forgives him and I just have to believe something more can blossom? Toxic relationship indeed. There were a lot of cliches involved as well, and there was something about the diversity incorporated that didn't feel genuine. Likewise, Siobhan's friends didn't seem supportive at all.

All in all I can't say that I had a great time reading Plot Twist despite its promising premise, and it took me a lot longer to actually make it to the final page. Most people do seem to enjoy it a lot better though; I guess it especially depends on how you react to Marcel's character and his behavior.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I requested a bunch of romance on here because I wanted to try it out. However, romance is just not working for me at the moment. I think its more me than the books themselves so I will be giving this one a neutral rating.

I love a bookish romance and the cover is super cute. I just couldn't get into the story. This was not a bad book and I think it's more a me problem than anything else.

I hope others love this one.

I loved every second of this book! From the literally enemies to lovers, the slow burn, the text messages and witty banter, all of it was amazing! I also loved seeing how each character grew into themselves and faced their own insecurities within the relationship. Everything about this book is perfection and I can’t stop thinking about it!

I wanted to love this book but the characters didn't feel fully formed and their relationship development did not feel natural. Marcel and his development lead to the most issues for me. He was an absolute jerk at the start and then improved at the end, but I didn't see the gradual growth as I would have expected. I spent the whole novel hating him and didn't feel any more connected at the end. And Siobahn just seemed to fall all over him despite how he acted.

The premise of the book is interesting with the thought of bringing the romance readers and crime/thriller readers of the world together. But the book had long dragging parts at time as well. Due to the book being a translated book, I am wondering if some of the things that made me not as excited about this book were lost in the nuances of the translation.

Really good adult romance. Opposites fall for each other while working together on a joint book project. Great concept. Great book.


Thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Plot Twist was not my favorite read and kind of fell flat for me. It is very classic grumpy × sunshine, enemies to lovers and I went into it thinking cute bookish rom com but it was very abrupt and kind of all over the place. I did enjoy the concept of two very different personalities colliding and creating something wonderful, but at times I felt like DNF.

I enjoyed this book! I always appreciate stories about writers, and Sereno’s “Plot Twist” did not disappoint. I was even more impressed to see this was a translated book! Overall, the story moved well, with likable characters and interesting reveals along the way. Not only would I love to read more from this author, I would also love to read the stories her writers write in the book!

This was really cute! Loved the banter between a golden retriever gal vs a black cat guy. Also enjoyed the story within a story and a cross between a crime and romance book actually sounds so good?!!

I do believe it was a tad long other than that I flew through it.

All in all, this was a fun read, with witty dialogue and great pacing as far as the character development goes. In my opinion, Plot Twist by Carmen Sereno has every potential of becoming a big hit and I will not be surprised if a film adaptation follows right after. I would certainly watch it! At this point, I should also say Kudos to the translator Beth Fowler for her excellent work. It's not easy to capture the essence of the original script in another language, unless you are a great writer in your own right.

My full review is posted on my blog.

I was given this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As an aspiring author, this book spoke to me as soon as I read the description. Two authors of very different genres, having to work together on a novel that combines their genres, but maybe just maybe they find something else in the process? I love the idea of mashing a crime novel and romance novel into one and if Carmen would ever write Two Ways in real life, I would snap it up so quick to read it.

That said, this book was so much fun to read. I loved the countering personalities of Siobhan and Marcel, and how their story came about. I loved learning more about them both and seeing everything come together, both in their real story and their fictional one.

This was a great book. I connected with the characters. I felt engrossed with the plot. I would read another book by this author.

This book was an okay read. It had potential, but the pacing was off, and I felt like I had whiplash at times with how fast things jumped while also having a lot of info dumps. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

However, one thing I did like was how the author tackled the snobbery around reading romance. They showed how romance transcends all genres and is not to be looked down on, which I appreciated.

Overall, it's a solid read that could do with some refining. Despite its flaws, it offers a meaningful exploration of love and literature, making it worth checking out.
I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.