this isn't usually my genre, but this was cute! i liked the set up and romantic development, friends with benefits is one of my favorite tropes. i don't think i've read a book that examined sobriety before, and i really appreciated the complexity around it as well.

Plot Twist was a pretty standard romance novel fhat touched on some heavier themes such as alcohol abuse. Unfortunately I was bored most of the time and found myself skimming just to see what happened to the characters. This was a miss for me.

so good! lots of twists, the writing was great, and I really enjoyed the story. Thanks NetGalley for the copy of this arc.

When I first started reading this book I was really into it because I really enjoyed the dynamic between the FMC and MMC but unfortunately the book slowed down for me. I wasn't a huge fan of all the TikTok references in this book, I made the escape of reading not as good, but overall a cute read.

So, this is a book that was cute, but could have been so much more. I didn't hate, but didn't necessarily like it eihter. Tells the story of a writer who cannot produce a romantic, happy ending and a once popular teen heart throb who need each other's help. This is a definite instatant love story with really no build-up or character development, they just instantly want to be together. The biggest annoyance in ths story is Dash's recovery. As a reader, you could never forget he had his demons, as we are reminded every pae it seemed like. Got super redundant and to the pint where I didn't even care if he had a happy ending, as I found him to be weakly written and very annoying. With all that said, I did finish it and gave it 2.5, rounded to 3 for goodreads. Just very predictable and forgetable.

This was a cute, Hollywood forced proximity romance. Sophie and Dash are mid-30s and find themselves helping each other work through their struggles: Sophie is a romance author who has never been in love, and Dash is a former teen heartthrob working through alcoholism. There is family drama for Dash which allows the reader to understand how he got to where he is in the present and why at times he pushes Sophie away, even though his plan wasn't to fall for her to begin with, and exes that show up for Sophie through a social media project so she can better understand where things went wrong in past relationships so she can be a better author, but can Dash help her with this project? Their chemistry is instantaneous, and you're constantly yelling at your Kindle cheering them on. If you're looking for something that delves into the essence of love and heavier topics, this is a great choice for you!

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.

This was a BIG "It's not you, it's me" issue book for me. I struggled to get into the plot or care about the characters, finding each description more silly than the next. This is one I've seen several friends adore, so my opinion is clearly hazed from reading very few romances.

Fantastic book! Loved the characters so much! The plot was solid and had everything a good rom com needs.

This book is a charming tale of unexpected love. The setting is vibrant and enchanting, making it easy to get lost in the story. The protagonists start off as unlikely pairings, but their journey together is filled with sweet moments and growth. It’s a lovely reminder that love can blossom in the most surprising situations!

Sophie is a romance writer dealing with writers block then her secret is out: she's never been in love. Now she's looking back at those she's dated to see if she can find a second chance at romance in the hopes it gives her some inspiration for her book. Dash is her best friends brother who is dealing with a stalker and sobriety and looking towards a new career. As they confide in eachother their feeling start to border in friends with benefits but hopeful towards something more.

This was such a fun read. I loved the two main characters and getting to know them. Dash was dealing a lot of pressure when it came to his family and it's sobriety and Sophie on the other hand was dealing with so much stress when it came to her writing job and with the deadline looming over. I loved the way the two interacted with each other and seeing that chemistry between the two where you can't help but root for them. Overall this was a really good book I really enjoyed it.

Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa is a cute rom-com that has humor, relatable characters, and the unpredictability of life in an engaging story. With witty dialogue and charming twists, it's a great read for anyone who loves stories about second chances and unexpected romance.

This was a cute story filled with lots of tropes and some really great spicy scenes. The plot is driven by the main character's need to go back and talk to her exes about why their relationships went wrong, so that she can finish writing her book that's under deadline. The love interest is on a sobriety journey and also navigating a toxic family in showbiz where he has to deliver a speech for his father's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I enjoyed it a lot!

Plot Twist: 3.5⭐️

Sophie is a romance writer who’s never been in love, and she’s struggling to write her second book which is due in six weeks. To get over her writer’s block she’s decided meet up with her exes to find out why she’s never fallen in love and document everything to her followers. The only problem is that Sophie isn’t great with social media, but thankfully her landlord, Dash—a former teen actor—has offered to help. What he didn’t mention is that he is an anonymous online crafter, a hobby which helps him maintain his sobriety.

I enjoyed this book and Sophie and Dash’s sweet romance. I enjoyed the story more as the book progressed; for me, the second half of the book was much stronger than the first half. The book handled the heavy topics such as alcoholism and dysfunctional family relationships well. I’ll definitely be checking out other books by Erin La Rosa!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade company for providing me with a free digital reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

This book is a sequel to “For Butter or Worse” but It can be read as a standalone. I read it over a year after the first book.

This book follows Sophie, a romance book writer, who rents a guest house from Dash, a actor turned crafter. Sophie is a unique character who does not know who she is and what she wants. I personally cannot relate to these types of characters. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the queer representation. I believe Sophie is Pansexual and has dated men, women, and gender non-binary individuals.

Regarding Dash, he is a recovering alcoholic who does not have the best relationship iwth his family. He also has started crafting as an alternative to his previous acting career. His story line was a standout within this book. He had more character development and I really appreciate his connections with the variety of characters.

The relationship took a little to establish but I would not call this a “slow burn”. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book but there were times I was annoyed with Sophie as a character.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for the honest review.

I loved this romance, it was sexy, sweet, emotional, and the characters felt real. They both were imperfect and worked through their own trauma. Such a great read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just fell flat for me. It felt like it was trying too hard to be inclusive to the point of making it inauthentic. The characters were meh, the plot was blah. I just really couldn’t get into it.

AHHH I wanted to love this book! I like the pairing of an author/artist and I appreciated that the author touched on some deeper themes as well. I just that a lot of the elements didn't come together to make a cohesive whole. An overall decent romance, I just wanted more.

Tropes filled shenanigans, friends with benefits to lovers, and celebrity royalty? Sign me up!

Sophie Lyon is a romance author who's never been 'in love' and is struggling to write her second book and Dash Montrose is a former teen heartthrob struggling with alcoholism and a rather overbearing family, who happen to be landlord and renter with another shared connection in Sophie's best friend who is also Dash's sister, and Plot Twist takes us on a tropetastic romp to reach the HEA between them.

I had a blast reading the first third of the book. Erin's writing is easy to sink into, her humor had me giggling, and the growing spice was spicing nicely. Then I hit the second third and things started to kind of wobble. Having never dealt with alcoholism in any facet of my life I don't know the nitty gritty of someone recovering from it; however, something about the interactions between Dash and his so called sponsor had red flags popping up. In addition I felt like Sophie was slowly losing the spark that I'd liked about her in the beginning as she revisits each of her exs.

And then we have the final third. The big Third Act. To keep spoiler free let me just say that I adore reading some of the tropiest of trope heavy romances; but I hate HATE hate the 'love magically fixes anything' trope, and that's what drove this final third of the book and just ugggghhhhh.

Plot Twist was my first dip into Erin's writing, and while I did struggle to finish the book due to the 3rd Act I did enjoy it enough overall to try a second of her books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for the eARC!

This romance novel was lovely. It was a joy to navigate this relationship with the characters who were easy to like and enjoy.
I was hoping this would be a better fit for the character with a pacemaker (which is why I requested to the Read.Talk.Grow podcast) - this is a component of her life but not a focus and not particularly well explored which was appropriate for the plot (and then just not a good fit for our project’s purpose). Look forward to reading more from this author!

Really on the fence about this one. I enjoyed the romance and hotter scenes but the tiktok references really irked me in this and I felt like the story was built more around tropes than the plot or characters.