A spoiler-free review on Erin La Rosa’s companion novel to last year’s “For Butter or Worse”
Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! (For those who celebrate; otherwise – Happy Wednesday!) Today is going to be one of my more rare spoiler-free reviews, so it’ll be a bit shorter. Also, since it’s Thanksgiving Eve and I’m, well, me, I need to do a lighter post because guess what I have to do on this fine Wednesday that’s right folks I still have to hit the grocery store because someone didn’t plan correctly and someone forgot some stuff on last week’s trip. Ahem… Me. It was me. Wish me luck; there may be some grocery cart ramming, we’ll see.
Today I’m reviewing a book that’s been on my ARC TBR list for a loooong time. I got the ARC for “Plot Twist” months ago and I always saw the November 14th release date as being so far away, I still have time. Then suddenly, I didn’t. Funny how that happens!
“Plot Twist” follows the story of Sophie Lyon and Dash Montrose. Sophie is a romance novelist who has a bad case of writer’s block, (Heyyy that sounds familiar.) and is in desperate need of some inspiration. She keeps missing the deadlines for her manuscript and is metaphorically banging her head against the wall, desperate for something to come out. Problem is, Sophie has a strong case of imposter syndrome: she’s a romance novelist who has never been in love!
Dash Montrose is a former indie movie heartthrob-turned-recluse. He’s focusing on his sobriety and that hot hot pottery kiln. He rents his guest house out to Sophie as a way to give her a financial break due to her burning through her advance from the publisher and not churning out a book. Also, the fact that she’s his little sister’s best friend helps.
When Sophie and Dash both realize they can help each other out with the problems they both have, (Sophie with her lack of social media skills and Dash with his inability to write a speech for his dad’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony) sparks start to fly between the two. However, that pesky thing we call life and other situations like apparently having a lack of emotional connection and recovering from being an alcoholic start to stand in the way of their growing attraction. Can these crazy kids – and all the baggage they bring to the table – make it work?
So this was an interesting read for me. Originally I gave this book 3.5 stars and rounded it up to 4, but after a little bit more thought I did something I don’t normally do: I gave it 3.5 stars and rounded down to 3. I know, I know. The math ain’t mathin’. But you know what? Book reviews with star ratings don’t have to adhere to the global mathematical rules that have been established since Ancient Greece. (Is it Ancient Greece? I don’t know… Who was Pythagoras again? Woah, how did I end up here? Where’s the road, White Rabbit?)
I enjoyed this book immensely until about the 65% – 70% mark. The two main characters were charming and engaging, I felt their spark and attraction to each other, and I had a great time seeing them interact. But then it started to kind of peter out for me. I still really like Sophie and Dash, but the situations surrounding them seemed… forced and too tropey. I know what you’re thinking: “What are you talking about? This is a romance novel, of course it’s tropey!” Which, yes, I get. But this was kind of a situation where some of the tropes were happening to them and it wasn’t organic.
I also wasn’t a fan of how some of the side characters were almost like caricatures of themselves. The main plot Sophie goes through is trying to figure out why she hasn’t fallen in love, so she goes on these little trips to meet up with her exes and just asks them. Whew, to have that confidence! “Hey, so why didn’t I love you? Can you tell me?” ACK.
Anyway, so she meets up with her exes and I just… couldn’t take them seriously as humans? They seemed stereotypical and some were just there for humor and window dressing. One was even there just to create a conflict between Sophie and another character that probably has never even met that ex! Just… odd.
To keep this spoiler-free I’ll wrap it up. I enjoyed the first part, but the rest didn’t pack a big enough punch and fell flat to me. However, I did like that there were important topics throughout the book that were handled with care. I think the author says in her notes that she wanted to make sure certain storylines were handled with care and consulted with others to make that possible, which is cool.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. “Plot Twist” was released November 14th and is on shelves now!
Have you read “Plot Twist” yet? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. Again, (if you celebrate) Happy Thanksgiving!
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