Working Title

Plot Twist #3

by Holley Trent

Lisa Cartwright thought she’d be spending the holidays getting over her ex Joey Novak. They just can’t seem to properly break up. When his company sends its staff to Lisa’s retreat, she has to play nice, even if that’s the last thing she wants to do.

Joey has marriage on his mind and intends to use their close proximity to remind her of how good they are together. However, an interloping coworker insists on proving him wrong.

His new rival, timid editor Finch Alice, has decided that she’s tired of undeserving men getting all the happy endings. She hopes she can be bold for once in her life and show Lisa that she can have more. But Lisa and Joey’s relationship is a more loving and complicated thing than Finch initially thought.

That doesn’t mean she was wrong. Lisa does deserve more. But it turns out that so do Joey and Finch…and surprisingly, in ways that may involve each other.

____
Other Plot Twist stories:

- WRITING HER IN
- THREE PART HARMONY

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Novella, LGBT, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Fiction

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2019

About the author

Holley Trent is a romance author who spins campy yarns set in North Carolina. She has a wicked sense of humor and regularly puts her story characters into unexpected situations.

When she's not writing, she's reading or eating Twizzlers.

Her contemporary and fantasy romances have been published by Crimson Romance, Calliope Romance/Musa Publishing, and she has work due for release by Lyrical Press.

2013 brings a change of pace with her self-published series of paranormal novellas: Shrew and Company. Five women, five romances, one big bear of a problem. Check out boss-lady Dana's story in THE PROBLEM WITH PADDY, available now.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, it felt like it all happened very fast all the way around? That was a bit odd to me, but hey, whatever works for everyone.

[Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. I thought it'd be a quick steamy holiday novella, but it's a thoughtful emotional romance with three messy people (FFM) fitting together.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 - "We're over", "We're not over", "He says we're not over so I guess we're not over". All the characters were underdeveloped, the instalove was even more annoying than usual and the couple of sex scenes were not nearly hot enough to overcome the limitations. And people being mean to each other and calling it "banter" sets my teeth on edge.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet

I was excited when I saw this was Lisa’s story cuz I loved her from Three Part Harmony, and this definitely did not disappoint. I love how the configuration of this triad is more of a V shape, which feels unusual for most polyam romances. I also really enjoyed the animosity between Finch and Joey; their banter was so fun! All around I really enjoyed this romance and the way their HEA shaped up~

[Leigh Kramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half the time I didn’t know what these characters were doing or saying, making for a disjointed read. More specifics about the characters would have helped: for instance, is Finch neurodiverse? Or just shy? Or something else? This series has been an odd experience for me. All three novellas would have benefited from being full-length books. Things moved way too slowly between Lisa, Joey, and Finch. And then it was all of a sudden warp speed into a polyamorous vee with Lisa and Joey back together in a committed relationship and Finch as Lisa’s girlfriend, except she also lives with them. I felt like I’d missed too many details to trust where the story headed.


Characters: Lisa is a tall bisexual Black resort owner. Joey is a white senior director of publicity for a publisher who is over 40. Finch is a white editor.

Content notes: toxic mother, Lisa’s ex cheated, unsafe sex practices (condomless sex without current discussion of pregnancy or STI prevention; when Lisa and MMC were together previously, they agreed to this as an acceptable risk), unplanned pregnancy in epilogue (FMC is happy about it), sex, anal play, FFM menage (no sexual contact between Finch and MMC), alcohol, ableism around mental illness (not countered), gendered pejorative, ableist language, past death of MMC’s father and grandmother (mentions)

[Ru · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

I enjoy a more V shape polyamory story a lot, and I found that worked well here. The issue I had was that I did find it hard to like Joey at all until near the end when we met his family, while I adored Lisa and liked Finch, which made it hard for me to fully root for the 3 of them to get their HEA. By the time it got to end I was more on board but I think if there had been more to make me interested in Joey earlier it would have worked more for me. YMMV I think!

[Herbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolute blender of a story. So many disjointed thoughts and dialog. Its like listening in on thought process, rather that a story. There are paragraphs that work together, then all of the sudden you are lost because the speaker changes. 80% of the time you don't know who is saying what. For a supposed romance it is very low key and drole, there is no sense of anticipation.

[Aisha Dudley Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the story but I felt like when it was really getting started it was over.

[Angel Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (11/13/2021)! 🎁

[Melissa Cutler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just three miserable people who decide they'll be less miserable together.

[Littlebookterror · Rating 3 out of 5]

the relationship is interesting but this did not work as a novella.