National BestsellerOlivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own. Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. The world may know him as Aeneas, star of the biggest show on television, but fanfiction readers call him something … biggest show on television, but fanfiction readers call him something else: Book!AeneasWouldNever. Marcus gets out his frustrations with the show through anonymous stories about the internet’s favorite couple, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone discovered his online persona, he’d be finished in Hollywood.
April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s long hidden her fanfic and cosplay hobbies from her “real life”—but not anymore. When she dares to post her latest costume creation on Twitter, her plus-size take goes viral. And when Marcus asks her out to spite her internet critics, truth officially becomes stranger than fanfiction.
On their date, Marcus quickly realizes he wants more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. But when he discovers she’s Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to keep from her.
With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?
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This audiobook was fun to hear, Isabelle Ruther did a good job narrating the book. This story is funny with a heroine that is a refreshing curvy girl, and every hot hero. It’s a slow burn that will get you between romance and fan fiction style. With good elements to keep you hearing the book until the end. I love reading a refreshing romance story and this was one of them, one that went outside the box. Definitely worth hearing it.
Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
Sumptuous. Elegant. Pure lustiness. Love. An absolute winner.
Loved this book. The characters and their interactions.
April is brave and wants to be liked for who she is today regardless of her size. Marcus is shy but forced into the public eye so performs a role of confidence in public. Both have had difficulty dealing with their parents lack of acceptance.
The hero, oh he feels so much and doesn’t trust easily.
It took me a long time to read this book. The more I love a book, the slower I read. Immediately rereading paragraphs two or three times before moving on. I put it down and read something else a couple of times in the middle.
Because I loved it so much and didn’t want that new and “in love” feeling to end.
Contemporary romantic comedy.
Excerpts to show Marcus and his feelings:
“And if this is the last time we meet, please know it was an honor to spend the evening with you, April Whittier. AKA Unapologetic Lavinia Stan.”
She’d given him a final chance, and he’d taken it.
Now she had hers.
She wasn’t hesitating another moment.
“Let’s do a second date,” she told him. “Are you free the day after tomorrow?”
That smile. F[…] that smile.
It banished the shadows in the dim restaurant. Lit his eyes. Turned her buoyant and giddy, light as helium, as his hand reached for hers again and tethered her safely to the earth.
“Yes,” he said, his fingers interlacing with her own. “Yes. For you, I’m free.”
Excerpt from Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
“You look beautiful.” Simple fact. It had to be said.
Her mouth, soft and slightly downturned upon her arrival, twitched upward into a sweet smile. “Thank you.”
When she opened her arms for a hug of greeting, he fell into them. Tugged her close, one hand spread on her back, another resting at her bare nape, where silky little hairs tickled his fingers. Rested his cheek on her crown and breathed in roses and spring. April.
Her warm, lush body conformed to his, yielding and filling in gaps he hadn’t even known existed. At his own back, her individual fingertips pressed into him, their pressure noticeable. To his pleasure, she was hugging him fully as much as he was hugging her.
She clung longer than he’d have expected, her breath hitching once. When he finally pulled back a few inches, her eyes were a little too bright behind those glasses.
“Thanks,” she said. “I needed that.”
Excerpt from Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
I received a copy of this from NetGalley. I also purchased a copy to share.
OMG, I love this book. This is my favorite plus sized romance to date. It’s got everything. And I won’t lie… a big part of the appeal was the fanfiction element. As a fanfic writer, and a lover of many fandoms and the relationships I built there, this rang so true and pure. Just do buy it. You’re going to love it.
This is my first Olivia Dade book and I really love her voice . It’s set in a fanfic world in which the hero, a star actor in the popular TV series Gods of the Gates writing under the penname BAWN, “meets” the heroine, a geologist and an enthusiastic fan of the show nicknamed Ulsie, on their fandom server. They have formed a close friendship through their love for the books and the characters, as well as their frustration from the show. A fateful Twitter photo brings them together on a date in real life without either of them recognizing the other…
You may recognize from the cover that our heroine, April Whittier, is a plus-sized lady. Growing up being hurt by her own family and trusted friends who have made her feel insecure, vulnerable, and unseen, April is tired of hiding and decides to change. She moves to a new job where her colleagues embrace her and support her in every way. She learns to love her body, to be confident in her own skin, and to cut those who hurt her out of her life. I love how brave and graceful April is when dealing with societal judgements, how she looks deep underneath Marcus’s “shiny” facade to truly see him for who he really is, how honest and kind she is to those she cares…
Marcus Caster-Rupp is a famous actor who is known to the media as a shallow, dull sort of man. But that is just another role he’s been acting for his whole life. Because of his dyslexia, his parents have given up hopes on him, constantly reminded him of his lacking and his unworthiness… Like April, he also has his own insecurities and fear, and yet he is fiercely protective of her, appreciates and loves her for her intelligence, her kind heart, and just exactly as she is…
It’s an enjoyable journey to see both of them slowly learn to understand and trust each other. I only wish Marcus is braver and more determined when it comes to making decisions regarding his relationship with April, his own career, or dealing with his parents, considering he’s almost 40 years old… All in all, it’s a slow burn romance with quite some good steam, a bit of humor, and good character arc… I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a good representation portrayed in a heartwarming and sweet setting.
4.5 Read for me!
Special thanks to Avon Books for sending gifting me the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved this book , and highly recommend. The characters deal with real issues of body image and how people perceive us. Acknowledging our own personal hang ups and even dealing with learning challenges and parent problems . Can’t wait for the next installment !
It starts as a publicity stunt for handsome actor Marcus to go on a date with plus-size fan April, but it quickly becomes more, until their long-held secrets threaten to rip them apart.
Actor Marcus Caster-Rupp has played a fictional version of Aeneas in a long-standing TV series, and I think that’s what drew me to Spoiler Alert. I prefer Greek mythology, but did enjoy reading The Aeneid by Virgil, so the mere mention of Aeneas in the book description was more than enough for me to hit the Request button. Of course, it also mentioned fan fiction, of which I have exactly zero experience with (I can say little more about Twitter), but I figured I’d be able to figure things out. It proved to be a bit of a crash course in both fan fiction and Twitter, and I’m still not quite sure I understand how either operates, but it was fun, light, and fluffy, and just slightly off from what I expected from a romance.
The Plot: A Layered, But Sweet Romance
Marcus is the golden haired, dimwitted actor playing a fictionalized Aeneas based on a fictional book series inspired by The Aeneid. Off screen, though, he’s intelligent; just dyslexic. As the dimwitted actor, he only works out and styles his hair. As the real Marcus, he hates his story line as the series wraps up and has spent the last two years writing fan fiction anonymously, becoming best online friends with Unapologetic Lavinia Stan.
April is a plus-size geologist who has shipped Aeneas and Lavinia and writes fan fiction based around their story. She’s kept her hobby under wraps, but, as she starts a new job where three of her new colleagues have formed a truly bad folk band, she decides to start to reveal herself, by posting a full body image of herself in a Lavinia costume to Twitter. Of course, the trolls come out. Surprisingly and unexpectedly, so does Marcus, and he asks her out.
It starts as a publicity stunt, but they’re surprised to learn they actually find each other interesting and someone they can slowly open up to. Both of them come with their baggage, but it might be Marcus who keeps the biggest secret, the one that can spell ruin for them if he makes just one tiny slip.
As a romance Spoiler Alert is predictable, but it’s still fun. Marcus and April have a ton of chemistry together. Their relationship is easy, but there’s a really good reason why. It’s known to the reader early on, and had me practically yelling at Marcus to just tell her already, but his reasoning made sense. Much of this book is centered around the insecurities both of them have lived with all their lives, which wasn’t helped at all by their parents. It’s difficult to erase one’s history and start over, and this book proves that. It makes Spoiler Alert character driven despite it’s predictability. But it also shines a ray of hope that everything can be overcome and it’s possible to move forward.
My favorite parts were the interstitials. These ranged from bits of the fan fiction written by some of the characters, excerpts of scripts, and chat conversations between Marcus and April. Brief as they were, they helped paint a beautiful picture of them and their evolving relationship. It also helped point to their insecurities. Honestly, I felt their insecurities ruled too much both in their relationship and the story and made it drag on a little too much, but I did appreciate that it touched on sensitive topics and helped flesh out the characters. This is a layered romance, adding some complications and offering food for thought.
The Characters: Equally Layered
Spoiler Alert is about Marcus and April, an actor wearing a mask under his character and a geologist with a secret love of writing fan fiction. They come from similar backgrounds in that neither could fully satisfy their parents. It helped bring them together, but also felt a little overboard because there were similarities in how they were treated by their families. It is nice they had a deeper kind of understanding of each other, but the similarities made it a little boring.
On their own, they’re equally compelling, though. While their romance was sweet, albeit a little peppered with some secrets, I loved that they were both older (late thirties and forty), established, but still reeling from past hurts. It did feel like an awful long time to hold onto the injuries of childhood, but watching them grow alone and together was very sweet. Marcus was so much more complicated than most people thought he was. Watching him wrestle with letting it go was a little heartbreaking because it could have gone in so many ways. I loved April’s hard won confidence, though she still carried a scared little girl inside her like so many women still do. Her layers were gradually exposed and it just made her into a stronger, more confident character.
The story revolved around Marcus and April, but I would be remiss in not mentioning the characters that made up their world. There are Marcus’s co-stars and April’s work colleagues. They were all so much fun and had their own ways of encouraging Marcus and April both as people and as a couple. There was nothing but love and support for our couple, though I did find some of them more interesting than Marcus and April now and then. The one thing that annoyed me was that Marcus has a good number of co-stars, but they’re mostly only included during the interstitials, so it was difficult to even figure out who they were in relation to Marcus. Except his best friend, Alex, who was an incredibly fun character.
The Setting: So Close, Yet So Far Away From Hollywood
Most of Spoiler Alert takes place in Northern California. As a native of Southern California, I found I got a general feel of California, especially when it came to talk about earthquakes. Other than that, though, I had a harder time remembering it’s set in California. There weren’t really any landmarks mentioned and the atmosphere lent more of a small town feel. But it was a convenient location, not too far and not too close to Hollywood. It put Marcus and April not too far away nor too close together so there was still a distance hurdle, but it was almost negligible.
Overall: A Complex, but Sweet Story
There’s a lot of different pieces in this book, from fan faction to fat shaming to learning disabilities to discussions of Roman mythology. It made the story feel like it blew up a little, but can still be distilled down into a very sweet romance between two people who are a bit older than standard romance characters. It really focuses on their insecurities and how they are able to overcome them together and separately to turn them into a couple truly worthy of each other. It did seem to lag a bit in the middle, especially when their romance seemed so perfect despite secrets hanging over their heads and the shift to the parental disappointments that had been placed on them all their lives. But most of it is a cute, fluffy read about two very sweet people who need and love each other.
Thank you to Netgalley and Avon-HarperCollins Publishers for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
I spotted this was on UK Netgalley and requested an eARC . Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.
April Whittier is a geologist by day and fan-fic writer and cos-player in secret. She’s also fat. This is a major part of the her character (and her character arc). When she moves to a new job, she decides she’s not going to hide who she is anymore and posts a picture of herself in costume on Twitter. Predictably, the trolls come out to comment on her size rather than the costume. In response to someone being particularly mean and tagging him on the comment, Marcus Castor Rupp – the actor who plays Anaeas in the hit TV show, asks April out. But what April doesn’t know is that best online best friend, who beta reads her fan fics, is none other than… Marcus Castor Rupp.
Both April and Marcus are scarred and they’re both judged first by their outward appearance, and that’s not always favourable (especially for April). A lot of the conflict in the book comes from them trying to get past their instinctive or habitual responses to comments and learning to trust that they have each other’s back.
The characters feel like real people and the dialogue is delightful.
The fat rep in this book is excellent. There’s also a healthy amount of food description (I love a bit of foodieness in novels). It’s quite steamy – but that’s important to April’s insecurities. I loved the interstitial sections (especially the scripts from the really bad movies that Marcus had to do before he became famous). I also enjoyed the descriptions of fandoms and fanfic communities, especially the bit when April properly realised she’d found her tribe.
This is a great book. I had a blast reading it.
To be accepted, wanted, and loved for who you are. Period. That’s some heady stuff. And exactly what Olivia Dade delivers in Spoiler Alert.
April is a plus-sized geologist who writes fan-fiction based on her favorite books and hit TV show, Gods of the Gates. She has been criticized and rejected by so many people in her life based on her appearance…her co=workers, ex-boyfriends, even her parents. Her safe space is writing as Unapologetic Lavinia Stan. A change of job with an open and accepting staff leads April to become more open about her fan-fic persona. A tweet by her brings her to the attention of Marcus.
Marcus stars in Gods of the Gates. Despite being a movie star named one of the world’s most beautiful people, he knows what it is to be rejected. His parents disapprove of his career and never accepted the challenges he had growing up. He tends to put up walls to the outside world to protect himself, but when he sees a response to April’s tweet bashing her based on her weight, he impulsively asks her out.
What begins as a kind gesture turns into so much more. I loved these characters. I loved the support they gave each other and the insecurities and challenges they faced only because they were so real. I felt so deeply for both of them, especially April. Dade’s body positive message was gorgeous. We need so many more books like this. Ones that show how we are more than what’s on the surface…no matter how that looks. She shows that we can and should stand up for ourselves and demand to be seen, heard and loved for who we are and to accept no less. Olivia Dade has written a fun, sexy, powerful book here and is now solidly on my must-read list.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an ARC of this book. The opinions here are my own.
If I had to pick one author I’m happy to have discovered in 2020, Olivia Dade is that author. Not only did she go above and beyond to get me an ARC of Spoiler Alert but her books are just phenomenal. I actually read Spoiler Alert twice already. The first time was months ago when I got the ARC and then read was just for me. The second was last weekend and that read was to write this review. Honestly, even after the second read, trying to find the words to describe how much I loved Spoiler Alert and what it means to me is difficult.
I’m a curvy woman. I’ve been a curvy woman since about puberty/ high school. I generally accept my body for what it is and do my best to find things to love about it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t look in the mirror or at photos and wish things were different. I know everyone does. Seeing April on the cover of this book, seeing the other covers of Olivia Dade’s books, made me realize how rare it is to see a heroine with my body type on the cover of a romance. And in a romance where the hero loves her so completely and totally as Marcus loves April. For that alone, I will always love this book. There is decisions of fat-shaming in this book and toxic parental relationship around weight and they both broke my heart and set me, via April, free. April faces down her mother and demands that their relationship change or it’s over. She makes the incredibly hard decision to demand that her mother respects her wishes about her weight. That scene is so tough and yet expertly crafted. The love between April and her mom is there but it’s tinged by the toxic comments and the “helpful” tips that only serve to break April time and time again. To stand up to that takes immense courage and the realization that things need to change and the willingness to not compromise if they don’t. And that’s just one scene in this powerful and beautiful book. Marcus has similarly powerful scenes with his issues with his own parents.
April is a geologist and so much of her job is to look beneath the surface. That is the a running theme in the book. April is able to see beneath the surface of Marcus’s carefully crafted persona to the man beneath. Both April and Marcus are at the crossroads in their lives when they met. April is moving to a new job, one where she is determined to be open with her coworkers about her cosplay and fanfiction life. Marcus’s show, which has defined him for the last 7 years, is over and he needs to determine his next move.
When they meet, in the cutest way possible, a celebrity asking out a fan who is getting negative internet comments, the sparks fly once April digs beneath Marcus’s surface. Marcus has a big secret that he’s forced to keep from April even as their relationship progresses. I was hesitant about this part. I’m not the biggest fan of “secret identity” issues in romances. It breaks into the trust forming between the characters. I think Olivia Dade handled this really well and I didn’t get the sense of dread upon discovery that I usually get. I knew Marcus would find a way to prove to April his love and devotion despite this secret. And that while April will be hurt, and rightfully so, she will recognize that their previous bond will only make their relationship stronger.
There are just so many things I love about this book. The friendship between Marcus and Alex and their obsession with British baking shows and claggy sponges (so freaking excited for Lauren and Alex’s book next!) The bonds developing between April and her new coworkers. The little scenes from Marcus’s other movies. That I wanted and then didn’t want because of the ending, Gods of the Gate to be an actual show. And the fanfiction. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not really into fanfiction. In my early days of romance, I went through a phase of reading Pride and Prejudice fanfiction. It didn’t last very long because I discovered both that, A. people actually wrote books that were Pride and Prejudice fanfictions, and B. I starting reading more and more romance. So I was never in the fanfiction community. In many ways, the fanfiction community in Spoiler Alert felt similar to that of Romancelandia. Less writing retellings or AU of stories but the way people interact and how the stories are broken down and discussed and the excitement of book events and meeting people in person for the first time. So in that respect, the fanfiction scenes were familiar.
There is honestly so much to love about this book. My review could go on and on. But I think I should end it with a simple and heartfelt plea to read this book. I truly believe that there is something in this story for everyone.
*Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review
This was my first book by this author and I loved it SO MUCH. Everything about it was fantastic and I’m still all up in my feels over it!
Marcus Caster-Rupp is an actor on a world famous fantasy television show. But, whenever he gets frustrated with his character’s storyline, he takes to the world of fan fiction. Using his online handle, he’s anonymous. He can write about whatever he wants and no one knows its him, which is perfect since his job would be in jeopardy if anyone found out! So he keeps his two worlds separate, until they accidentally collide.
April Whittier is a geologist, and as a consultant, she’s always had to worry about being “hire-able.” But, now that she has changed jobs, she feels free to let her geek flag fly. She writes fan-fiction about her favorite couple on the biggest show on TV. She also cosplays as characters, and has always posted the photos of her costumes without her face, to avoid any issues. Now that she is able to be more open, she’s going to take advantage of it. But, when she posts her cosplay photo online, and there are some rude comments about her weight, the actor from the show comments positively on her post, AND asks her out! She’s not sure this is real life, but she can’t turn down his invitation.
April and Marcus had amazing chemistry right away, especially when he relaxed a bit from his typical public persona of “handsome and sweet, but dumb.” But, when April confesses her fanfic handle to him, and he realizes that she is his best online friend, and they’ve been reading and editing each others fics for years, he doesn’t know what to do! He can’t reveal himself, because if she tells ANYONE and it gets out, his career could be over. But he feels he can’t continue to correspond with her as his online persona, when he’s seeing her in person as himself. It presents quite the quandary, since he DOES want to see her again. Even once they get closer, he isn’t sure how to come clean about that one thing, though he does tell her so many other things he’s never told anyone else: about his childhood, and his personal struggles. April also hasn’t told him everything about her own struggles with her parents, and her plans for the future in that regard.
April and Marcus were so clearly perfect for each other, but they couldn’t seem to get out of their own way fast enough to avoid the pitfalls they kept finding along the way. Each of them struggled with telling their truths about their pasts, and how it was affecting their present, as well as their possible future together. Both characters were so lovable, and had been hurt so much in the past, that I found myself always wanting to hug them.
There were SO MANY hilarious parallels to the Game of Thrones world in this story: the show, the books, the fandom, the fanfic, and especially the ship of Jaime and Brienne, aka Braime. While I agreed with some points made, and not necessarily with others, it was funny to see it dramatized in this way.
I really related to April as a character. Thankfully my relationship with my parents is not nearly so fraught or toxic, but I could always feel where she was coming from, and how their behavior was hurting her. She and Marcus both had to overcome TREMENDOUS trust issues, that had lingered with them throughout their lives, in order to find a way to be together for good. It was handled so well, and so believably.
The side characters here were so fun and interesting too! I’m SO EXCITED to find out that Marcus’ best friend and co-star Alex will be the hero in the next book, along with his assigned “minder,” Lauren. There was a big side-plot point regarding him that was left open that we will clearly see more about in his own book! I will be looking forward to it!
This unconventional sweet, sexy, sassy and funny read had me hooked from the start. April is the type of girl I’d love to have as a friend. The DMs between BAWN and Ulsie were my favorite part of the book. Loved how the relationship between Marcus and April developed. I can’t wait to learn more about Alex.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC received via NetGalley.
Spoiler Alert is a fun and refreshing contemporary romance. I love April’s character! She is sassy, strong-willed, and intelligent with a fantastic sense of humor. Marcus is interesting, as well. Talented, smart, and honorable, he is often misjudged. Marcus and April have a lot in common. Both have difficult family lives and deal with insecurities, yet they both persevere. Marcus is thought of as a shallow, handsome star, but no one takes the time to learn who he really is, not even his family. April is generally confident but is often harshly judged because of her weight. Both characters are judged by their appearance and are hurt by people’s misconceptions, which connects them even more.
The romance between April and Marcus is fantastic! It is both sweet and steamy, which I love. Marcus hates being judged for his appearance or his name, and he identifies with April, who is looked down on because she is overweight. They both put up walls to protect themselves from the harsh judgment of others, especially their awful parents. However, Marcus and April are real with each other. They both let down their guards and accept each other without judgment or reservation.
One other aspect of the book that I like is the use of online conversations and interactions as well as scripts. Being able to read past chats between Marcus and April adds depth to the story and characters and makes you see how connected the couple feels.
The story also highlights the power of social media. Early in the story, April is fat-shamed after posting a cosplay picture of herself. The cyber-bullying she endures is malicious, and, sadly, realistic. Conversely, the story also demonstrates how social media connects people that wouldn’t otherwise know each other. I like that the good and bad elements of social media are equally examined.
Spoiler Alert is a great story for readers who enjoy contemporary romance with well-developed characters, fan fiction humor, and a steamy love story. Though it is a fun read, the book also tackles serious issues like fat-shaming, bullying on social media, body positivity, dyslexia, and more with delicacy and realism. Thanks so much to Netgalley and Harper Collins Publishers for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
writers, television, contemporary-romance, dyslexia, body-shaming
The hunky TV star is dyslexic but had overcome it and writes excellent fanfiction. The pretty and plus sized geologist also writes fanfiction and cosplays and she adores the actor from afar yet is unaware that he is the writer she exchanges beta reads with. They develop a great relationship online but hide from each other until they can’t. And then it really gets even more interesting! I thought it was great even if a mite long.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from HarperCollins Publishers/Avon via NetGalley. Thank you!
My nerdy little heart is pretty darn happy right now.. Plus this is the kind of fat rep I’ve been dying to see for AGES.. I really enjoyed my first book by this author and I already have another one raring to go. This was such a fun time. I wasn’t thrilled entirely with the conflict, but everything about this made me incredibly happy. The relationship between April and Marcus, all the side characters (except the not nice ones, obvs) It just hit the exact right spot at the exact right time.
Thanks to Piatkus and Netgalley for the advance copy. I volunteered to leave an unbiased review. All opinions are my own.
TW: emotionally abusive family
rep: fat main character; dyslexic main character
As a not-so-secret lover of fan fiction, I knew Spoiler Alert was going to be the book for me.
Marcus was an interesting character; how he hides his intelligence and portrays this dimwitted “pretty face” persona. As an actor on a hit show (very GoT-esque) he airs his grievances online on a fandom server, writing fan fiction under a fake name. There he meets another fan fiction writer, who soon becomes one of his best friends.
When a plus size fan of the show releases a cosplay photo on Twitter, Marcus gentlemanly steps in and offers a date. And in Rom-Com-y fashion, his date turns out to be April…his bff fan fiction writer. But he doesn’t tell her about his involvement.
And thus my greatest anxiety about this book. S.E.C.R.E.T.S.
April and Marcus end up developing a real connection, as Marcus slowly lowers his walls and begins to open up emotionally. We discover that both April and Marcus have some real awful parents, to be frank. April’s parents harshly judging her size, and Marcus’s parents dismissing his intelligence and ignoring his real learning disability.
Then SECRETS REVEALED and angst ensues. It felt over the top, April’s reaction to the secret, and I wish that the characters could have communicated better. I also didn’t totally love the chapter layout with the alternating fan fiction chapters, or movie scenes – it felt unnecessary and not integral to the story.
The side characters were wonderful, and I hope to see more of them (Alex – looking at you!). Overall a cute story with some surprising depth.
Read the book now!
I absolutely loved the book because it matches two fan fiction writers of Gods of the Gates where they become best friends so they can discuss the background of the series with someone that is as interested in the series as they are.
Trying to even describe Spoiler Alert is hard because there is bad folk music, fat shaming, and a lot of fan fiction of Gods of the Gates which both April Whittier and Marcus Caster-Rupp write for their own fun under pen names and some of the descriptions of the writing are worth reading.
You will cheer for April and want to smack Marcus when he is an idiot, but in the end they are a match made in geek heaven.
P.S. I want Alex and Lauren’s book now!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve never read Olivia Dade and was so excited to receive an Egalley through Avon (Historical Romance Readers FB group). After finishing I’m now a HUGE fan and must go read everything Dade has written.
The MCs in Spoiler Alert are April and Marcus. April is a geologist. She also writes fan fiction and cosplays for her favorite tv show/book series. The show is a big element of the book. It’s called Gods of the Gates with a GoT meets classical mythology vibe. Marcus Caster-Rupp is a famous actor on the show. He also happens to secretly write fanfic too!
What I love about this series is how a romance blooms AND how each character has to deal with their life’s baggage. April is overweight and is dealing with her parents treatment of her in the past and present. Marcus is dyslexic and is also dealing with her parents. So much body positivity in this book! Marcus does withhold a secret for a big portion of the book.
This book was so so good. There is some serious STEAM too! A fun, laugh out loud funny, emotional, intelligent and sweet romance.
#netgalley #spoileralert #oliviadade #romance #actorromance
Going into SPOILER ALERT, Olivia Dade’s newest novel, I knew that the potential for me to love the book was high. I mean, as a fan fiction writer who has developed meaningful relationships through shared interests and a love of writing, I couldn’t help but think Marcus and April’s story would make me, at a minimum, smile. Which it absolutely did; it also made my heart ache a little, made me laugh out loud, and made me cheer for Marcus and April as they mastered the obstacle course of falling in love.
In many ways, SPOILER ALERT is a perfect example of romantic fan fiction. Superstar falls in love with overweight fan of his TV show-in one form or another-has been written hundreds of times by writers that want to be the star of their own story. But SPOILER ALERT is so much more. Olivia Dade truly delivers as she maps out an unlikely romance between two people that will delight readers.
Both Marcus and April write fan fiction and, as they embraced the anonymity of writing under a pen name, they form a relationship and come to depend on each other as the other’s beta reader and as trusted friends. Dade really nails this aspect of writing fan fiction. The beauty of fan fiction is how people engage. Writing is very personal, sharing it with strangers a chapter at a time magnifies that, creating a bubble of closeness. Dade portrays this perfectly.
When circumstances lead to Marcus and April meeting in real life–with only Marcus aware of their online relationship–things aren’t as easy. Both April and Marcus carry baggage that defines them in the real world. From Marcus’s struggle with dyslexia to April’s body issues there are mines aplenty for them to trip, sometimes with painful, heart wrenching results.
One of the things I loved about SPOILER ALERT is how Dade doesn’t hesitate to lead her characters into uncomfortable situations. While there’s wonderful banter between Marcus and April and true sexual chemistry, neither are ready to trust anyone. Starting with their parents and following them throughout life, both were constantly told that they weren’t enough. That they were stupid or fat. That they just needed to work harder or eat better. And, so on.
The beauty of SPOILER ALERT is how Dade brings all of these things together in a meaningful way. There’s lots of laughter and personal growth as Marcus and April fall in love, and for me, that’s what makes this book a must read.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for honest feedback.
This one is for all the curvy girls who’s ever had a crush on a movie star. It is also for all the fanfic writers, the fandom members, the con-goers, and anyone who loves to laugh and cry as they read themselves to a happily ever after. Ms. Dade’s characters are complex, deep, and funny. I fell in love with the whole cast of the fictional TV series in the book, Gods of the Gates, and I can’t wait for the secondary characters in this novel to get their own stories. However, in this book, it is Marcus and April who are in the spotlight–literally–and I loved spending time with them as they fell in love and as that love was challenged. Ms. Dade perfectly shows that we never know what goes on inside other people and that to be truly happy, you have to live your life authentically and be true to yourself. Also, the only way to love is to give yourself truly to a relationship–all of you, the bad and the good–and the only one to truly be loved is to open yourself up and be vulnerable. To be able to tackle such deep issues in a funny and witty rom-com shows amazing talent. I can’t wait for the next books in this series!