I loved, adored, devoured Spoiler Alert. When I saw there was going to be a sequel I was so excited. I was less excited when I realized it wasn’t going to be about Marcus and April. I remembered the few, seemingly inconsequential moments between Alex and Lauren in Spoiler Alert, but they weren’t who I was interested in. I really liked that these two huge stars were in love with fat women, but other than that I was one track-minded.

Like his best friend Marcus, Alex has been working on the worldwide hit, Gods if the Gates. However, because of his ADHD Alex tends to act first, think later. As the final season approaches, show runners Ron and RJ are worried Alex will do or say something to spoil it. And, after an altercation at a bar, it’s the perfect excuse to get him a minder.

Enter Ron’s cousin, Lauren. An ER therapist, Lauren’s much needed vacation was interrupted as she was voluntold to help her cousin out by her family despite her longtime hatred of him.

After a rough first meeting, Alex slowly pulls down Lauren’s walls…at the detriment to his career. Lauren and Alex are different people, from different worlds with clashing personality types, but they want to make them work.

As fast as I ate through Spoiler Alert, I crawled through All the Feels. Compared to anything from the first book, it felt like Lauren and Alex were carbon copies of Marcus and April. Sure, they were different enough, but everything they went through felt just like Marcus and April. Spoiler Alert felt organic; All the Feels did not.

One thing that really, not bothered me necessarily, but put me off, was the sexual attraction. Alex and Lauren start off pretty basic: they don’t like each other. Alex doesn’t like that he’s been assigned a “nanny” and Lauren doesn’t like that she was forced to babysit who she assumes is a spoiled star. They five each other attractive, and it stops there. The sexual stuff came on so abruptly it felt forced. Dade provides reasons fir why sex wasn’t at the forefront immediately, but it felt flimsy to me. How can you go from no sexual attraction to continuous sexual arousal? Feel like we skipped a few steps. It would’ve been interesting if one of them were asexual and explored how this person made them interested in sex, but that wasn’t the case.

Also, maybe petty, but the spice in Spoiler Alert was so much better.

Another thing that bothered me was how much the book seemed to be about Alex and Lauren. Other characters took such a far backseat they were basically in the trunk. Despite mentioning problems with her parents, and alluding to confrontations, Lauren’s parents don’t make an appearance. The Gates group chat, and even his costars, are lacking. Maybe three or four interludes, and basically no mention in the regular bulk of the book. Even the bits and pieces we got of Marcus were stiff and served as convenience. April was only mentioned- never even made an appearance. The only side character that was brought to the front were Alex’s mom. But only then because she was a plot device to further Alex’s character.

After Spoiler Alert maybe my expectations were too high, but I wasn’t half as invested in Alex and Lauren as I was Marcus and April. All the Feels had its cute moments, but they weren’t enough to drive me to love Alex and Lauren. Honestly, the more I read and the more the timeline deviated from the one established in Spoiler Alert, I was just hoping we’d get new April/Marcus content. Alas. Not a disappointing sequel / companion, but it fails to live up to the first b

I’m not sure if I liked this more than Spoiler Alert, but I certainly felt more feelings during this one. The title is appropriate for my experience. The beginning of the book was slightly jarring, since we went back in time to overlap with events in Spoiler Alert, but this time from Lauren and Alex’s perspective. The first half of the book, while critical to developing the characters and their relationship, didn’t tread any new ground. The second half is all new, and deals with the fallout from Alex’s rage fueled rant at the fan convention. There was also a road trip, with only one bed.

Both Alex and Lauren grew and changed so much during this story. Alex grapples with his guilt and grief from not protecting his mother, and his impulse control issues, and what he considers selfishness, on his part. Lauren learns to participate in her own life, instead of closing herself off from everyone to protect herself from their casual cruelty regarding her appearance. Alex sees Lauren, really sees her, and goes to battle against anyone who dares disrespect her, and pushes her to understand that she is worthy of defense. That maybe she is worth everything. His absolute rage and panic every time she might be in danger pushes the best buttons in my brain.

Lauren sees Alex too, and encourages his snark, and lets him ramble, and protects him from those who would hurt him. She knows he is good, and reminds him when he doubts himself. They balance each other so well, and hurt each other equally. They both have work to do to successfully have a relationship, and I love to see it. They both have to accept that they are worthy of love, and that they can’t make choices for the other one. It was so, so good. Olivia writes this sort of conflict better than anyone. I want to meet people who move in the world like her characters do. I want to be them.

In addition to all this emotional heft, we also have a road trip up the California coast (which gave me ideas for my own next year), only one bed, domestic forced proximity, reverse grumpy sunshine, lots of fanfiction, middle of the night walks, the stable house of my dreams, and one more reminder that everyone is worthy of love, other peoples opinions be damned.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, and it did not influence my review in any way.

Alex is one of the hunky male leads of the super popular tv show, Gods of the Gates. He has a big personality, and a bigger heart, but he keeps getting into trouble in the media. Enter Lauren, an ER therapist who gets roped into being his handler, and put in charge of babysitting him to make sure he doesn't get into anymore trouble.

There are so many reasons why this book is amazing! First, the fact that Olivia Dade is the queen of relationships between unlikely people. Her heroines are plus sized and her heroes are the kind of guys who could have their pick of women. The beauty of Olivia's books are in the way the characters grow in their friendhsips and in their intimacy. None of the characters change who they are or how they look in order to forge forward in their relationship. They simply accept everything about each other and love all those different parts.

Alex has ADHD, and his illness is handled in a very real and authentic way. I always find it refreshing when the author brings education without it having to be a main plot point of the book. His ADHD is simply handled as something that affects his life.

The awesome banter that occurs in text chats between Alex and his coworkers, between Alex and his best friend, and between Lauren and Alex are just fire. The fan fiction that Alex writes is hysterical. And he watches GBBO and his favorite season is the Nadiya season (honestly, isn't that everyone's favorite season?). This book makes the characters so real and lovable, that I can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you so much to Olivia Dade, and to Avon Books for providing me this eARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

All the Feels
Book 2 in the Spoiler Alert Series
Rating: 3 stars
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

All the Feels was a good story. We get a glimpse of Alex and Lauren in the first book. Alex has been assigned Lauren to "babysit" him because of his behavior. He does have his reasons for doing what he did at the bar, but the production company does not know and therefore Lauren is tasked with keeping an eye on him. I liked when they first meet and their witty banter was fun to read. I enjoyed most of the story and I believe that Alex took the spotlight for most of it. I feel that I got to see more of him and his backstory. There were times when his personality was a little too much for me and for that reason Lauren was lost in the background. I would of liked to have seen her interact more with her best friend and parents.
So three stars because this is Alex's story and Lauren was just invited to tag along.

This is the second book in the Spoiler Alert series and follows Alex and Lauren. Alex is an actor on the highly popular TV show Gods of the Gates but after he ends up in jail after a bar fight, the studio decides to assign him a watcher to keep him out of trouble - Lauren. The two are complete opposites in the beginning - charming and talkative Alex vs chilly and quiet Lauren - but the more time they spend together, the more compatible they discover they are. This is my first book by Olivia Dade (so I haven't read Spoiler Alert yet, I confess!) and I absolutely loved it. This was pure rom-com magic and I found myself laughing out loud many times. Alex is diagnosed with ADHD and while he does take medication, it is still a big source of struggle in his life. Lauren is a burned-out former ER therapist who has spent so much time giving parts of herself away for others to be comfortable that it is just old habit at this point. The two are also physically different, with Alex being a tall, handsome, sculpted TV star and Lauren being short, fat, and not conventionally attractive. The two may be very different, but when they come together the chemistry is out of this world. I loved how their romance was a pretty slow build up considering both of them had to work through some personal baggage. They really do become friends first and slowly warm up and open up to each other first before any further intimacy happens. Their banter was delectable and Alex's chattiness and witty comments were perfect. I loved Lauren's dry sense of humor and the times when she was able to sneak a joke in while Alex was talking were perfection. I really think Alex and Lauren are among the rare romance-book couples where I really feel they are soulmates and are just such a perfect fit for the other.

TW/CW: domestic abuse, weight talk/insults

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for review.
Expected publication date is October 26, 2021

Although she is assigned to keep a TV star from embarrassing scandals, an ER nurse finds herself at the center of a scandal (and a surprising romance) when the star leaps to defend her from insults.

This hilarious, swoon-worthy, steamy romcom picks up the love story of two secondary characters in Dade's bestseller, SPOILER ALERT, with accessible and powerful themes of self-worth and sacrifice. Despite the hero's occasionally juvenile sense of humor, the relationship was extremely mature: gradual to develop and always respectful, without the kind of lies and deceptions that often provide the tension in romance plots. I certainly enjoy lie/deception based suspense, but sometimes it's nice to sink into a romance where the relationship is actually pretty healthy throughout and it's the characters' need for individual growth that creates the obstacles to their relationship's success. A must read for steamy romcom fans.

loved this book and the romance. I liked that while she was working for him that she tried to keep it professional . I liked the sparks between them and the romance was hot. Liked how they found the romance and what they wanted to do . I liked the video of them having fun and traveling.

This book gave me "all the feels".
First time reading this author and i throughly enjoyed this book.
Wonderful characters & a fun read.

I absolutely loved Spoiler Alert and based off the end of that book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on All The Feels. This book did not DISAPPOINT. It was amazing and everything I could have asked for in a companion book. Every book I have read from Olivia Dade has been five stars and I don't see that changing anytime soon. The characters of Alex and Lauren were written so perfectly. They were so real and relatable. Alex comes across as a laid back guy with not much to him, but he is so much more then that and I loved reading all of the layers about him. The chemistry between him and Lauren was so wonderful. Everything about this book was great and I can't wait for my next Olivia Dade book!

It hurts my heart to give this book a 3 star review after loving the first book in the series.
What it comes down to, is that Alex was way too harsh on Lauren for way too long. I understand maybe the first couple of interactions being a bit harsh, but she truly did nothing to make him treat her the way he did.
Because of that, the sex scenes felt awkward, because I didn't buy into the chemistry. It sucks, because I was so excited for this couple.

5/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book! This is my honest review, all views are my own.
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All the Feels is a delight! It’s the story of Alex and Lauren, two characters we glimpsed during Dade’s other novel, Spoiler Alert. After getting into a “drunken brawl”, famous actor Alex is assigned a handler—the producer’s cousin, Lauren—to make sure he stays out of trouble. We soon find Alex and Lauren having a ton of back-and-forth, but surely there’s something deeper here…
All the Feels is very trope-heavy, and I really appreciated the book’s self-awareness in that regard! Additionally, I really enjoyed the sharp banter and depictions of the main characters. Alex is really interesting because he is simultaneously very confident in himself and self-deprecating to a fault. Lauren is the very definition of selfless, with her putting everyone and everything before herself, her wants, and her needs… which is both a benefit and a flaw. In terms of chemistry: this is more of a slow burn, because both characters need to be hit over the head with a frying pan in order to realize their feelings. They had a lot of chemistry in my opinion, and I loved it! I thought their relationship developed pretty naturally, and the only thing I had some misgivings about was the extreme lack of communication and misunderstanding. This of course happened with the main characters in the previous book, but with the amount of apologizing in the first 25% of this book, I thought it would turn out to be a four star read. Luckily, I was proven very wrong as we got to around the 40-50% mark, and I fell head over heels in love with these characters.
Full transparency: I do not think this book captures the exact same energy as Spoiler Alert. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing! I really loved Spoiler Alert for its interaction with fandom culture, and while there is some of that in this book with Alex’s fanfiction writing, it is more accurately described as a book with a self-aware character. And boy, is he self-aware! He is ridiculously vocal—I’d say he’s more husky than golden retriever—but also fiercely protective and loyal.
Simply put: I had such a fun time! I loved the dialogue! I loved the characters! I loved the relationship! Literally the only parts I can come up with that I didn’t enjoy as much are the initial miscommunications and the lack of pegging (considering Alex‘s affinity for it, I’m very surprised! But don’t worry, there was plenty of fun times to satisfy). Five stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

My hopes were high going into All the Feels, because it’s Olivia Dade and I love all her previous work, but especially Spoiler Alert. And while I’m not sure this one dethrones that one as my favorite, I ultimately absolutely adored this one. Formerly called Slow Burn, that title is equally appropriate, but in the perfect, simmering-just-below-the-surface-then-coming-to-a-boil sort of way. But the final title is equally apt in that I did truly feel all the things while reading this book.

One thing I remembered from Olivia Dade’s hype-tweets for this one was that she called Alex a “delightful asshole,” and I’d add emphasis on the delightful part, as while he does engage in some bad behavior, he has good reasons for it, and is generally a good guy who’s made mistakes (and continues to do so), but is trying to do right by those he loves and by his own principles. He starts off the book in a place that is recognizable to anyone who follows celebrity news, “oh, look, he’s acting out and not being respectful of the showrunners who gave him his job, how ungrateful!” But just as in real life, Alex’s story is so much more nuanced than a guy who’s become too big for his britches, and like with Marcus’ storyline, we see he too has issues with the storyline choices on Gods of the Gates. Admittedly, his are much more personal, given his own history, and seeing how that unraveled where he carries guilt for his acting career leading to distance from his mother, and the way he felt he encouraged her to get into and stay in a toxic situation, and didn’t notice signs of trouble, was well conveyed. I appreciate how it was ultimately addressed between them, and how it played a role in his personal arc.

And then there’s Lauren, sometimes called Nanny Clegg (initially) and/or Wren (after they got to know each other) by Alex. She has a strong personality of her own and embraces it, proudly claiming the label of “harpy.” But she also has a softness to her that makes it easy for Alex to be vulnerable with her about his past, and a lot of her facade is built up as a defense mechanism against the insults she gets.

The fanfic elements were a bit less prominent in this one, with the occasional interstitial, and this time it’s balanced with text chats between friends and cast members (one particular exchange between Alex and Marcus had me rofl-ing so hard!), email, and gossip rag excerpts, to name a few. These segments are fun, and I feel like there‘s more immediate relevance to the narrative. While I do remember liking the fanfic elements of the first book, I do recall some people less versed in that world felt it went over their head, so this book might be a bit more accessible to them due to the move away from that element.

This book is amazing, and it officially broke me out of my recent state of reading something decent, then finding myself disappointed by whatever I followed it up with. I would recommend this to everyone, whether they read book one or not, but especially if they enjoy the Olivia Dade signatures of positive fat rep and nuanced, likable characters

Alex is a popular actor on a hit TV show but when he gets into a bar fight and ends up in the tabloids his producer assigns him a professional "babysitter" to keep him in line until the final season airs.

The relationship between Lauren and Alex is honestly extremely weird at the start. Lauren is weirdly silent and in response he acts like a child to needle out a reaction from her. I found it strange that she was somehow attracted to this behavior.

Alex will probably be polarizing no matter what--he's eccentric and unpredictable. But behind the bravado of his Hollywood persona, he's struggling with heavy guilt and shame over some professional choices.

I found that Alex would often say something insensitive thinking what he said conveyed his meaning. Paired with Lauren who almost never defended herself against personal attacks they were a frustrating duo until they found their voices together. When that happened it felt pretty special and I couldn't tear myself away from the rest of the book.

I have to give special mention to the Fanfiction included, it was a riot and I don't think I've blushed so hard in a while. This book also let me live out my dream of a road trip and a one bed trope.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @avonbooks for this eARC, All the Feels is out on October 26th!

All the Feels
by Olivia Dad
Pub Date: October 26, 2021
Avon
Spoiler Alert #2
Following Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade returns with another utterly charming romantic comedy about a devil-may-care actor—who actually cares more than anyone knows—and the no-nonsense woman hired to keep him in line.
Thanks to Avon and Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

Put this book on your reading list. It made me laugh, cry and feel extremely good at the end.

5stars

The story line in All The Feels runs roughly parallel to the timeline in Spoiler Alert, but follows different characters, Alex and Lauren. We met Alex in Spoiler Alert, as a co-star and best friend of Marcus. Alex has just been assigned a minder of sorts by the production company of his TV show, after one too many negative public incidents. What isn't widely known is that he struggles with ADHD and has impulse control issues. Lauren, his contracted babysitter, is the polar opposite of a Hollywood type, and seems immune to his charm and nonsense. Their journey from strangers to friends to something more is awkward, funny, bittersweet, and much more. All the feels indeed.
I was charmed, again, by the lovely storytelling from Olivia Dade. The depth and complexity of the characters is outstanding. I could have done without the typical angst spike at about 3/4 in (could see it coming a mile away), but the resolution was meaningful. I highly recommend this book and the first one as something different and thoughtful within the contemporary romance genre.

She knocked it out of the park again with this one! I think I might have even enjoyed All the Feels more than I liked Spoiler Alert. It's such a huge love letter to fandom, and I couldn't help but smile at all the references to AO3. I adored reading the main couple get together, and I'm hoping and praying that Dade continues to write more books set in this particular continuity.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

All the Feels is a follow up to Spoiler Alert and follows the characters Alex and Lauren throw a slow burn romance. I certainly had high expectations for the book going in, especially since I adored Spoiler Alert so much and while I thought this was a fun and enjoyable read (and I will be buying a copy for my shelf), there were parts of it that missed the mark for me.

The good: I loved Alex's character and the realistic portrayal of ADHD. This is something that Ms Dade does really well, In comparison we have the somewhat more subdued Lauren who is a great balance to his boisterous energy. I thought the romance had a realistic build up and was very sweet.

The meh: Like I said, I had high expectations and I just felt like some of Lauren's personality we saw in Spoiler Alert didn't translate as well to the story that was focused on them. I was also a bit surprised to see how much of the book took place parallel to the events of Spoiler Alert and I wish it had been it's own separate story. Also, the nods to fandom which were present in the first book weren't in this one and I found it disappointing personally.

All that said, still a highly enjoyable read that also discusses some heavy topics. I would definitely recommend it!

***ARC provided by NetGalley for review***

I didn’t enjoy the characters as much as the first book, but I still liked this book enough.

I can’t hit on what I feel like is missing from this one that hooked me so much in the other one- I just didn’t find the characters overall as likable, though I feel like they were a perfect match and perfectly written.

Overall, I liked it enough to definitely read the next one, but I don’t see myself revisiting this one.

How HOW did Olivia Dade do it? How do I possibly love Lauren and Alex more than I loved Marcus and April?

All the Feels has a somewhat overlapping timeline with Spoiler Alert, and they take place in the same universe so I definitely recommend reading Spoiler Alert first (if for no other reason than that it is freaking fantastic). That said, ATF stands on its own so whatever you do, just read this series.

Alex is the impulsive, sarcastic, heart on his sleeve star of Gods of the Gates. When he gets arrested after a bar fight, the show producers assign Lauren to “mind” him and make sure he behaves. After a few weeks of glorious forced proximity, Alex once again finds himself at the center of a scandal and Lauren finds herself without a job. At that point, both Lauren and Alex have to get real about their priorities and face the attraction that’s been growing between them.

I loved Lauren and Alex together. Their chemistry is remarkable - the witty banter sizzles on the page and delivers a slow burn that’s so worth it. I wanted to hug Alex - his character initially comes across as one dimensional but as Lauren starts to peel back the layers, Alex’s heart was so pure and loving. I loved how his adult ADHD was portrayed. Lauren’s struggles with her self worth and importance will be familiar to so many readers, which is what makes Olivia Dade’s heroines so damn relatable. I cried my eyes out throughout the last few chapters.

Content warnings: domestic abuse (not on page), fat shaming, internalized fat phobia

Thanks to Avon and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was everything I could have hoped for in a sequel so prepare for some major gushing in this review. The first 50% of this book takes place during the events of Spoiler Alert which was a lot of fun since we could anticipate with would happen at the Con of the Gates.

Alex stars as Cupid on the popular tv epic drama, Gods of the Gates and HATES what the show runners have done to his character, something a lot of us who have watched adaptations butcher our favorite characters can relate to. Due to his severe ADHD he hyper fixates and has major impulsive tendencies which has lead to pretty bad press. In comes Lauren, one of the show runner's cousins and former ER therapist who has been volun-told by her family to work has Alex's minder to keep him out of the press.

Can I get a HELL YEAH for slow burn romances?! This romance takes its time and I am here for it. Recently I've been reading a lot of romances where the couples go from 0 - 100 in less than a chapter and while that is fun and I thoroughly enjoy those at times, it is so refreshing to read one where their love for each other comes from a place of friendship that we as readers get to see develop on the page. We get to see that attraction grow and it honestly makes the payoff all the sweeter and SO satisfying. They also have my favorite type of banter which I affectionately call consensual bullying. They pick at each other but it never is mean spirited and when one of them takes it too far they aren't afraid to call the other out. They serve just as much as they take and their dialogue is filled with clever quips and comebacks.

I love how good Olivia Dade is at creating characters that feel incredibly real. Alex is so sweet and protective without ever giving off gross alpha male energy. He genuinely wants to take care of everyone around him and while he doesn't always make the best choices, he always has the best intentions. With both Alex and Lauren we slowly get hints to their past before eventually get their full backstory and everything comes in a such a natural way that doesn't feel info-dumpy at all. They both have a lot of personal growth that they need to go through at the start of the book and their journeys to healing were honest and beautiful. They both recognize their own faults and we get to see them actively work to get better. I also LOVED that Lauren isn't "conventionally attractive". From the books I've read, even books with fat main characters, the characters still fit within what is the societally accepted beauty standard. Lauren doesn't. She described as bird faced and round rather than curvy and something about that just made her and Alex's relationship feel so grounded.

Overall, All the Feels is a ton of fun with a beautiful slow burn relationship with a fantastic balance of light hearted and very emotional moments.