I was excited to read this story because I love stories about writers and basically ones which are situated in the publishing industry.

The banter between the characters was so fun to read. I really hated Marcel's character at the beginning, but he did have a character development as the story goes on but at somewhere around the end he reverted back to his personality at the beginning. However, I loved how Marvel treated her after they were writing the novel together.

I didn't like the way Siobhan forgave him so easily. He failed to properly communicate with her, yet expected her to understand his intentions.

Plus some things were not tackled properly like Marcel's father played a big part in his decisions and we didn't even see their conversation, it was skipped. Furthermore, Siobhan had some kind of problem with her agent and changed her in the end to Marcel's agent but it wasn't shown properly as to what exactly happened.

Despite the flaws I personally enjoyed reading this book. If you're looking for a quick read with an interesting premise, you should add this book to your TBR when it releases on the 6th August, 2024!

Thank you to Net Gallery, Amazon Crossing and Carmen Sereno for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC of ‘Plot Twist'.

This is far from being just another romance novel. It will definitely keep you on your toes and have you giddy at the banter between the main characters. Not predictable at all and the character development is amazing. 5 out of 5 stars!

I thought this book was beautifully written. 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 loved him. This was also the first book I've read that specifically featured a pansexual main character, which was nice to see.

✨Book Review: Plot Twist by Carmen Sereno✨

I was lucky enough to get this book as an ARC reader from NetGalley! I love books that have the main characters as writers, publishers, editors so this was right up my alley as both the characters are writers in this story! Siobhan is a newly published and taking the book world by storm with her romance novel whereas Marcel is a wildly famous author with 14 books published of crime fiction When they get into a Twitter feud, they are forced to write a book together combining the two and it gets spicy 🌶️. I really enjoyed this book, the main characters and the side characters were funny and added to the story. There is one trope which comes up in this book which drives me crazy so that knocked my rating down a bit! But if you like a fast paced and easy to read romance then you should definitely add this to your TBR when it releases on the 6th of August 2024!

- [ ] To be honest the start of the book was a little hard to get into. I feel like the author put a lot of unnecessary information in the Prologue and it dragged. But once I got a couple chapters in I was hooked. I loved the dynamic between Marcel and Siobhan; him being a crime author who doesn’t care about love or romance and her being a hopeless romantic romcom author. The only thing that’s really bugged me is that the chapters end abruptly. It’s like once it gets intimate and you feel that rush of anticipation for the characters to finally have a cutesy moment it’s over before it’s even started. For example when the two of them are going for a walk after celebrating Marcels birthday she falls on him and he whispers “I’ve got you.” while there’s romantic music playing from a street performer. And instead of letting the scene play out, that’s it, that’s the whole scene. Which irks me because I want to read what happened not have the character some it up in two sentences in the next chapter. But overall I did enjoy it and it was a cute fast read. I got the arc through net galley. #PlotTwist #NetGalley

I would have preferred the whole book in her POV and her ending up with Alex. He matched her energy so much more.

I really enjoyed this book. The premise is amazing and I think that it was executed really well.

I really connected with Siobhan's character, the hopeless romantic aspiring author was so well written and I loved following her story.

I didn't really connect with Marcel's character as much as I hoped too. At first I really didn't like him, especially not how he looked down on other genres and thought everyone else was trash compared to him. Over time we did see some really good character development and hearing his backstory made me really understand why he was so closed off, but I just wasn't able to connect with him the way I did with Siobhan.

Siobhan's friends I also didn't really connect with. Every time they appeared all they spoke about was feminism and other activist topics/minority groups. Which is good, I think that it's important to address things like that, but it was too much. We didn't find out anything about her friends, their personalities or what they were like as people. I needed more information about their lives in order to connect with them so that fell a little bit flat for me.

Alex, however, I loved. He was so intuitive and knew everything that was going on before the MC's even knew, he really understood both sides and whilst I wish we found out more about his life and backstory, his personality was really well written and I loved every page he was on.

Overall, I did really enjoy this book, I just wasn't able to connect with some of the characters. The storyline was really well written and it is a great English debut for the author.

when I saw this book and its blurb, I wanted to read it immediately! two clashing authors that write different genres coming together to write a book together, enemies to lovers style?! that's usually what I love in a romance! and it really did not disappoint!

getting into it, I wasn't sure if I'd actually enjoy the book because Marcel, the male lead, was incredibly frustrating to me at first. I didn't vibe with whatever he had going on, though by the middle I knew that he would be developing and that I liked the direction it was going in. I'm glad we got some backstory here!

Siobhan and Marcel are the perfect sunshine × grumpy pairing, though I couldn't fully connect to either of them on a deeper level. What kept me hooked was the unexpected backstory we get, which is ironically pretty unrelated to the idea I had going in.

I'm unsure how I feel about the pov in this book, since not really liking Marcel as a character at first dragged my reading process out quite a bit. Overall, however, I enjoyed it and would call it a heartwarming read full of banter. an intriguing read for sure!

thank you netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

"Plot Twist" by Carmen Sereno is a delightful literary concoction that blends humor, romance, and a touch of rivalry into a heartwarming tale set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City. Through the lens of two clashing authors, Siobhan Harris and Marcel Black, Sereno weaves a narrative that celebrates the diversity of storytelling and the power of collaboration.

The banter was there. The tension was there. Overall, "Plot Twist" is a captivating and feel-good read that will appeal to fans of romantic comedies and literary fiction alike. Carmen Sereno's masterful storytelling and engaging characters make this novel a true standout, reminding us that sometimes, the most unexpected partnerships lead to the most extraordinary adventures.

Set mainly in New York, Plot Twist is about two authors, one a crime writer, and one romance, who are paired together to create a genre mash-up novel.
Firstly, New York City and New Orleans were characters of their own in this book, the author really brought them to life. The storyline had great promise but a few things fell short of making it a perfect romance for me.
Oh how I love an enemies to lovers but for almost the majority of the book Marcel is severely unlikeable (asking for her to be paid 50k less, asking about her weight, etc). They did have good banter but those classic small moments to show his inner monologue/redeeming qualities were missing for me.
He only redeemed himself at about the 90% mark. I love a slow burn, but not that slow. This made it slightly unrealistic for me as he suddenly becomes a loud romantic - perhaps the character development was TOO subtle!

In all honesty, it was probably just under a three for me, but I rounded up because it was an easy read, the premise was great and I liked Siobhan as a character.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This was a fun grumpy-meets-sunshine/enemies-to-lovers romance. I was happy to see that the author was thinking about Regé-Jean Page when she was writing Marcel, since that's exactly who I pictured while reading. Being forced together to write a crime plus romance book created lots of opportunities for the characters to be thrown together. My biggest quibble with the book was that Marcel's character read as much older than mid-thirties and Siobhan read as younger (more naive) than being thirty years old. Even in the heightened reality of a romance world, Marcel often came across as being in his early to mid-fifties, which sometimes made me cautious about how much I should root for this relationship, especially since Shiv came across as much younger than a woman who'd spent at least four years attending college in New York City, then staying for work should. Overall, a fast-paced, fun English language debut.

There were aspects of this that I enjoyed. The quality of the writing was good and so was the dialogue. The characters, however, just didn’t resonate fully with me.

I could see how this could be an enjoyable read. I think the writing is great. There were just too many things in this book that bothered me. The things that Marcel said to Siobhan in the first half of the book just didn’t seem redeemable for me. I understood why he was the way he was by the end of the book but I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe he needed to heal alone before he got into a relationship. I don’t have faith in him being able to love Siobhan the way she deserves to be loved. I really wish his character was more closed off than just outright rude. The ending was very nice though.

I was iffy about this book at first. Marcel’s character is a real turn off in the beginning. They way he treated Siobhan and how much he dissed her work and romance novels as a whole, saying it’s not true literature, really made me dislike him and I wasn’t sure I would finish reading this.

I did, though. Over time, Marcel slowly changes. He’s still a jerk to Siobhan on occasion, but out of the two of them, he’s got the subtle character growth throughout the book. He goes from saying love is despicable to wanting everything with her.

There are several things about this book that I was annoyed with or felt wasn’t necessary. I’m not sure if it’s just the nature of the book, or because it’s a translated version. There were a lot of long descriptions for places and events that could have easily been shortened and still gotten the point across. It doesn’t happen incredibly often, but it’s also something I’ve noticed in several books I’ve read in the past year - I find it annoying when authors emphasize the color of one’s skin. I don’t feel it necessary to capitalize black, when describing people of color. To me, it just feels like putting unnecessary attention to it. You can write inclusive content without making it look like you’re blatantly saying, “look! Look what I did!”

I also felt like Marcel needed more of an epiphany and or panic when he realized he was in love with Siobhan. For someone completely against love and love stories, the conflict didn’t hold much oomph.

In the end, I did finish the book, it was just not a wow story for me, or one I have a desire to maybe read again one day.

Thank you NetGalley & Amazon Crossing for the ARC !

This book was a very classic grumpy x sunshine + enemies to lover. I enjoyed the banter between Marcel & Siobhan, they both really embodied their tropes well with Siobhan having such a rough time but always having a positive outlook on life and Marcel, well, irritable. The plot of the story was also very interesting where two people opposite in personality come together to hopefully create something memorable that they're both proud of.

I'll rate a solid 3. It was okay, but I felt the pacing of the story within the chapters were a bit abrupt and bounced around a lot, as opposed to a seamless flow. At some moments throughout the book, I found myself breaking out of the immersion by going, "Oh, I guess we're here now." There was also a giant portion of the novel where it was just info dump and dialogue. I would prefer if novels were more show as opposed to tell especially when the character decides to provide lists in most of her monologues. There were also parts that could have provided a lot more insight to the characters and enriched their stories, but it sort of fell flat as well.

Siobhan is a newly published romance author with a bit of imposter syndrome. Marcel is a widely successful crime author who just killed off his beloved main character and lives in anonymity. After a book influencer puts their books in competition and Marcel’s giant ego makes the situation worse, they are pushed to work together by their publisher to write a crime romance novel. Can they get past their intense dislike for one another to write a successful book and find a place of mutual respect . . . or more.

This was an enjoyable, grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers romance with a nice HEA. Marcel’s character was VERY unlikeable at the beginning, but he has significant character development thanks to his relationship with Siobhan. His development is the focus of the book, including a visit to his hometown of New Orleans. Those chapters are definitely a love letter to NOLA and I enjoyed the reminders of the continued impact of Katrina on that city. It was interesting to me that a Spanish author wrote so knowledgeably of NOLA and NYC. There were a few odd word choices throughout the book that I assumed were from the translation, but everything made sense. I do wish there had been more of Marcel wanting to know more of who Siobhan is, including her family. His history was the focus, but overall there was good banter and fun side characters. I would recommend to romance fans.

Overall: 3.5
Spice: 3.5

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Crossing for this ARC. After reading this book, I rated it 2.5 stars.

Let's start with what the book did right. The premise of the novel is really cute and interesting and had a huge potential to be a great novel.
I liked the main character of the story. Her hopeless romantic ideals touched my heart and I love that she viewed the world through rose-tinted glasses.

Now onto what I was not impressed with:
- I absolutely loathed the male main character and his lack of character development and self-awareness made it very difficult for me to root for him as a love interest. Marcel has sexist views and has the emotional intelligence of a brick. Every time there was a vulnerable moment he seemed like he was forced into it due to his sister with verbal diarrhea which made them seem disingenuous.
- I hated the characterization of her friends. I feel like they were very 2-dimensional characters and there was a lack of development of they attitudes as supporting characters.
- I feel like this book is trying really hard to show that its diverse without the actual acknowledgement of what makes a BIPOC character important in literature. BIPOC characters are not just their traumas and they cannot be used as token pieces to call your work diverse. They need to add value to the experience and thought of the plot and have a direct effect on the main character and how she views the world. Unfortuanately, in this book I was disheartened to see them undeveloped beyond their external characterization.
- I don't appreciate when authors choose to tell the reader instead of show them, there were so many instances when pages were just filled with info dump or detailed description of everything a character was doing and feeling. I feel like the author could've created a more impactful experience had they chosen to be concise and rely on the reader's intelligence to understand the context of what was happening.

Overall, it was a good novel with so much potential I just wish it had gone through a couple of rounds of editing before being finished.

I dnf'd this book at 22% because of the over-the-top forcing of "being diverse" while also bashing "political correctness." One of the characters used "you act like you have Asperger's" as a comment on another character's brash personality.

3.75
Thank you to Amazon Crossing & NetGalley for this ARC!

I enjoyed this book for the most part! The premise was very interesting--a brand-new romance author and an established and mysterious crime/mystery author get into a public twitter argument about which of their genres is better. The (unintentional) instigator of their argument suggests that they write a crime and romance novel together. With some pressure from their shared publishing house, they both agree.

First, the positives: I loved reading more about the publishing industry in a fictional world, it was very interesting. My two main genres that I read are romance and thrillers/mysteries, so I enjoyed picturing their co-authored novel. I thought Marcel's character growth was great and the slow-burn romance throughout made me really happy.

However, I did have some problems with this book. The biggest issue with this book for me were the characters. I loved Siobhan as she was very determined and motivated to succeed. She had a great attitude about life and her work. But, Marcel really annoyed me. I take this as a sign of the author's skill in writing as Sereno was able to write a very dislikable character. Marcel was extremely misogynistic, condescending, and just generally had a terrible attitude. The author's reasoning for his terrible personality is that he has a very tragic backstory, but I still greatly disliked him.

Further, Siobhan's friends Paige and Lena felt really flat--as other reviewers pointed out, they both feel like the extreme version of a feminist, or what people think feminists are. It didn't feel very real and they were a little preachy.

My last issue was the whole Hurricane Katrina part of the book. It's totally fine to want to write/talk about Hurricane Katrina and the abysmal job the government did with helping the people rebuild. However, it felt very out of place and having page-long explanations about the hurricane took away from the story and felt sort of unnecessary--Marcel's tragic backstory would have been largely the same without it.

Overall, this was a fun, easy read and I enjoyed all of it (minus Marcel at the start lol). Highly recommend for romance readers who also enjoy thrillers from time to time.

I loved this book! I struggled with the MMC in the beginning but he definately had some character growth, which was written amazingly! The story was very fun to read and the title is very fitting once you work your way through the book. I liked the writing style and the characters, just wished to have a bit more info every here and there on the characters backgrounds.