Review: Twist by Kylie Scott

When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot, bearded, bartender extraordinaire, Joe Collins, only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her.

Alex Parks is funny, friendly, and pretty much everything he's been looking for in a woman. And in no time at all they're emailing up a storm, telling each other their deepest darkest secrets... apart from the one that really matters.

And when it comes to love, serving it straight up works better than with a twist.

Lou: Has and I are big fans of Kylie Scott’s work. She always writes funny and engaging characters with a whole lot of humour, sass, and wit. Twist is book two in the Dive Bar series (you can read my review of book one here) and handsome Joe has been a very, very bad boy. No really. He was an ass and pretended to be his older brother Eric in an online relationship with Alex. Poor Alex rolls into town, excited and happy at the chance of meeting Eric, the person she thinks she has this amazing connection. Instead she finds herself duped in the most humiliating way, even though Joe meant everything he said to her. The beginning of the novel was soooo good because Alex wrecked Joe a new one, and oh boy did he have to grovel.

Has: I really enjoyed the premise and seeing a souped Alex thinking she would end up meeting the man she was engaging online with for the past few months. She was going to rock his world and she ended up getting conned. Joe definitely had his work cut out for him in the groveling department and it was a very good thing that Alex caught the flu, which allowed Joe to win her over, despite her resentment and betrayal of trust. I especially loved the introduction to each chapter, which had excerpts of their online conversations which reflected the tone of the chapter. It was fun and sexy.

Lou: Joe allowed Alex to rip him multiple new ones and he didn’t bat an eyelid when she consistently–and more than once–made him realise how much he’d hurt and humiliated her. Her grumbled to himself, but he took it. Joe was an awesome guy who had hang-ups over his brother, Eric.

Yeah, Alex catching the flu and getting stranded in town was the catalyst that allowed Alex to see Joe for Joe. Initially she never would have given him the time of day as a lumberjack/viking wasn’t her type, but she soon fell for Joe, and even in flu-state she got some sexy ogling done. But while I loved Joe and Alex there was an issue I had with the book and that was the middle. It dragged somewhat as Alex spends a good portion of the book ill in a hotel room.

Has: Yeah, the middle lagged with the flow of the pace of the book, even though the moments between Joe and Alex were fun. But I felt the momentum of the story stalled until the second half, which really picked up in pace. I wished there was more time spent on that because there was a subplot that involved Nell, who was pregnant with Eric’s baby from the last book, and Pat, who was her ex. In a lot of ways I felt this was the weakest aspect of the book because while a lot of focus was on Alex and Joe’s story, I was expecting something more from this subplot and it felt more like an Ex Deus Machina and I was a bit disappointed with the outcome.

Lou: The romance itself was great and I loved Joe and Alex’s interactions, but a lot of the story was also based around Joe’s family and friends and the Dive Bar itself. The Nell and Eric storyline was disappointing. I was waiting for the subplot to get moving, especially with Nell and Pat and how they would work things out. But the storyline was wrapped up so quickly–and sadly–that was sudden and unexpected. It left me confused because the subplot felt like it was going to build up with each book.

Joe and Alex get caught up in the Nell storyline, and it’s there that things finally picked up pace and the tension and conflict came into action. Joe pushes Alex away, but she doesn’t run away. She sticks with him and is a friend to him, even though he doesn’t seem to realise it until too late. And I didn’t have an issue with her going away and then coming back to Joe.

Has: I also felt the final conflict between her and Joe didn’t work as well for me, but overall I really liked their relationship which had the trademark of Kylie’s Scott’s humour and wit and that made their romance fun, sexy and quirky.

I also enjoyed seeing cameos from the Stage Dive crew at the end of the book, which was fun to revisit. Overall, TWIST was an enjoyable and fun romance which was filled with humorous and witty moments.

I give TWIST a B+

Lou: Overall I really enjoyed this book too, despite the midde pacing and Nell’s storyline. But what was good was great and Scott always delivers enjoyable romances.

I give Twist a B

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/
Links:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kyliescottwriter/
FACEBOOK FAN GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/599197093487040/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KylieScottbooks
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/kylie_scott_books/
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6476625.Kylie_Scott

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Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/

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