Plot Twist

There are two things that initially drew me to Plot Twist by Breea Keenan: Its setting in Ireland and Scotland, and that it’s about two writers working on their books. This is the author’s debut novel, and while there was sometimes too much going on, there’s also a lot I enjoyed about this book.

Special thanks to Headline Accent and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Becca Taylor has just lost her best friend, and in an effort to escape her life’s woes, she agrees to meet up with an online friend for a writers’ retreat. But when Becca leaves Glasgow for a small town outside of Belfast, the writer friend she expected to meet isn’t a woman, but a man. Riley O’Connell is a single dad, successful romance author, and the person Becca will be staying with this summer. Despite her surprise, Becca stays with Riley and his young daughter Ivy, and the two both make progress on their respective novels. But their friendship is just starting to blossom into something more when their pasts come back to bite them.

Review

For me, Plot Twist got off to a rough start. The first few chapters were hard to get into, largely because the main character, Becca, isn’t easy to like at first. When her best friend Rae unexpectedly dies, Becca’s behavior towards Rae’s brother and her ex is insensitive and immature, especially given that Becca is in her thirties and they’re all at Rae’s funeral.

Luckily, the book gets better when Becca arranges to meet an online writer friend, Riley, in real life for the first time. Becca will stay with her in Northern Ireland for the summer to work on their respective books. But Becca is shocked to learn that Riley is actually a man, not a woman. He’s a single dad and, yes, a romance author who truly believes in happily ever afters. Becca feels weird about staying with a man all summer, but agrees. They’re friends, and they could both use the support to make progress on their books.

Plot Twist is mainly meant to be a romance, but while there is an underlying love story slowly unfolding between Becca and Riley, the novel overall feels more women’s fiction. There is a lot going on here. In some ways, it enriches the story well; in others, it just bogs everything down. I liked the themes of grieving a loss (though it wasn’t tackled well in those first few chapters), navigating single parenthood, managing career issues, and coming to terms with an ex-boyfriend secretly dating your late best friend. However, the health scare towards the end, the imagined love triangle, and even the numerous flashbacks could have been pared down or eliminated and the novel would have been stronger for it. There should have more focus on developing Riley and Becca’s relationship, rather than so many distractions from it.

However, I also loved a lot here. I enjoyed Becca and Riley’s discussions around writing. Becca is clueless about writing styles (plotter vs. pantser) and romance tropes (like the second chance romance that comes up throughout this book), but Riley clues her in, and they bond over their writing sprints and goals met at the end of each day. Riley’s four-year-old daughter Ivy is also a standout character here; she’s so cute! I love Riley’s sister and sister-in-law, as well as their own arcs around starting a business and trying to adopt.

Final Thoughts

Plot Twist is engaging and has great voice. I enjoyed the settings of Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Scotland, and I found the characters mostly likable (except when Becca interacts with her ex!). It is a bit overcrowded with plot points and themes, but is otherwise an easy, thoughtful, and immersive read. It’s a strong debut and promises more goodness to come in future books from Breea Keenan.

Get the Book

You can buy Plot Twist here – it’s available as an ebook and audiobook.

Plot Twist by Breea Keenan
Audience	Adult
Genre	Romance; Women’s Fiction
Setting	Northern Ireland; Ireland; Scotland
Number of Pages	294
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	March 28, 2024
Publisher	Headline Accent

Official Summary

What’s a love story without a good plot twist…?

A heart-warming and hilarious bookish romcom, perfect for fans of Catherine Walsh, Annabel Monaghan and Emily Henry.

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Becca Taylor is having a bad summer.

Her best friend is dead. Her good-for-nothing ex is back in her life. And her career is in freefall.

So, when fellow writer Riley O’Connell invites Becca to the charming Irish countryside, she can’t pack her bags fast enough, even though they have never met.

But happily-ever-after isn’t quite so simple.

And Riley is not a sensitive female romance novelist like Becca assumed. No, he is definitely a man. A hot, six-foot tall, Irish man.

But with their complicated pasts getting in the way, Becca and Riley just can’t get on the same page.

So can fate give their love story a rewrite?