Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Sophie Lyon is a Romance author with a big problem: Writer’s Block. After the great success of her first book, Sophie is truly struggling to get her second completed by the Publisher’s deadline.
There’s so much pressure, and she just can’t think of a way to finish it. Out at a karaoke bar one night, blowing off some steam, Sophie has too much to drink and has a breakdown with the mic in hand, confessing she’s never been in love.
The unflattering moment is caught on camera and goes ridiculously viral. How can Sophie write Romance novels if she’s never been in love?! It makes her look like a big fraud.
In an effort to get out ahead of it, and save her reputation, Sophie comes up with a plan to confess the truth on TikTok. Then she will meet up with all of her exes and talk to them about why their relationship didn’t work out.
First of all, great content. Secondly, Sophie is hoping that something in this process will help to break her Writer’s Block, and bring her closer to finishing off her novel.
Dash Montrose is from a successful Hollywood family. He’s a former teen heartthrob, who has since distanced himself from the limelight.
Dash’s sister, Poppy, is Sophie’s best friend. Dash also happens to be Sophie’s landlord. When he learns what Sophie is attempting to do, he offers to help her with her social media presence, as TikTok is a platform he is well-versed in.
Of course, he doesn’t tell her the reason he knows that platform so well is because he is a successful anonymous online crafter…
In fact, Dash has a lot of things he hides from the world and his family. The biggest being his struggles with alcoholism and the fact that he has been sober for the last 18-months.
There’s a lot of pressure within his Hollywood royal family, and he just tries to steer clear of stirring up any scandal. He lives a quiet life now, a bit of a recluse, and Sophie’s energy is sure to shake that up.
Will Dash be able to handle helping with Sophie’s exes project, while keeping a firm grip on his new found sobriety? It’s definitely a risk.
Nevertheless, the two form an unlikely secret alliance. As they grow closer, feelings and attraction begin to come into play.
Plot Twist is a solid Romance story, which plays off a friends-with-benefits scenario. This is the 2nd-book in Erin La Rosa’s Hollywood series, but you do not need to read Book 1 in order to read this one.
These are companion novels and nothing will spoil Book 1 for you if you read this one first. The MC in this novel, Sophie, is the sister of the MC, Nina, from For Butter or Worse.
I do like Contemporary stories that follow fictional celebrities. I know not everyone is crazy about that, but I find their lives interesting. The different issues that arise when someone has a certain level of fame always feels engaging to me.
Therefore, the Hollywood setting of these novels attracts me. I also enjoyed that Sophie was a author who was struggling. Her career wasn’t painted with rose-colored glasses, and Dash’s wasn’t either.
This turned out to be heavier than I was expecting, so I would caution Readers, if you are looking for a light, fun read, this may not fit the bill for you. While it does have some fun, flirty elements, the issues, particularly that Dash is going through, are fairly heavily.
Alcoholism and struggles in recovery aren’t something to be taken lightly and feel like La Rosa does a good job of representing that here, as best as can be done in a Romance story. Because of the serious topics though, it does bring down the overall tone of the story.
If this makes sense. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with tackling serious topics in a Romance novel, I just want Readers to be aware prior to picking this up.
Firstly, for the triggers, and secondly, just to rein in expectations. The cover looks so light and fluffy, I feel like it could lead to a mischaracterization of what this is all about.
I did enjoy learning about both Sophie and Dash’s characters. Additionally, I liked them together, although it did feel a bit too instalove for me. I was very surprised at how quickly things escalated to a point where I felt like that had been communicating for 2-days and then were hopelessly smitten with one another.
I did enjoy this one a bit more than the first book, which is why I decided to round up my rating. I am a Reader who enjoys some serious topics brought into my Contemporaries, so that aspect worked for me.
I also had fun watching Dash and Sophie work together on her exes project. They even go on a road trip where there ends up being a forced proximity element that was nice and sexy.
There’s definitely some steam in this. Not the exact type that I tend to go for, but it wasn’t bad. I only cringed a couple of times. Depending on your kinks, it could end up working well for you.
Thank you to the publisher, Canary Street Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I was entertained. Iff there are more books released in The Hollywood Series, I would def check them out.
I actually would love for Poppy to get her own installment!