I got an unexpected ARC of Ship Wrecked and it was such a pleasant surprise to receive in my inbox. I had enjoyed Olivia Dade’s books in the past and she’s made some definite headway in giving unconventional heroines the spotlight. The Spoiler Alert series is a cheeky nod to the Game of Thrones television show, even though they directly referenced that they both exist in the same universe via a throwaway comment. I mean that’s liable for a copyright suit, right? Olivia Dade’s books give an insight to what happens after the fat lady sings and gets her own happily ever after. Ship Wrecked may unfortunately be my least favorite book in the series because I was persona non grata with the hero. He was rude, intimidating, and had the same physical description as my dad? There’s no quicker way to get a literary cold shower than to picture the love hero as your father. Yuck. I’m sure it works for other ladies or I’m too young, but the hairy dad bod doesn’t get my motor running. Personal preference aside, I can validate this as a win for incorporating more realistic bodies into romance novels.

While the hero didn’t give me All the Feels like the previous books, I was totally living for the heroine. She was a Swedish actress who was comfortable in her own body and lived her life to the fullest. She was a European ray of sunshine and acted as the perfect foil to her storm cloud partner. While this series offers plenty of body positivity, the dialogue continues to stress me out. Their high falutin vocabulary can be tough to follow and it’s a constant exercise in mental gymnastics to decipher what they say. It’s a little unrealistic for your daily conversations to be operating at a 10 when you’re just shooting the breeze with your bestie. I don’t know if other people struggle with this or it may just be a me problem. I really had to focus on what they were trying to say behind all those fancy “four-dollar words”, as my Southern folks would say.

I’m so honored to have received an early copy of Ship Wrecked, even if it didn’t quite meet the standards of the past two books. The couple ended up making a nonsensical move in their relationship near the conclusion and the hero intimidated me as a reader in all the wrong ways. Luckily, the heroine was unapologetically herself and provided enough warmth to compensate for the hero’s severe lack. I mean, I wouldn’t want to wait six cold years on an island to finally seal the deal with my costar, but you do you, pal. Sometimes that little love boat floats to a happy ending and sometimes you’re just Ship Wrecked.

I received this book for free in exchange my honest review.

Ship Wrecked is the third book in the Spoiler Alert series but can be read as a stand alone. I read the first book, skipped the second, and didn't feel like I was really missing anything during this story.

Maria and Peter have a one night stand. The next day they are cast opposite each other in a Game-of-Thrones-esq television show that would then go on to film for 6 years. From the start of this book to the end they go from lovers to friend back to lovers.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I liked the chemistry between Maria and Peter. The pace was really good and their relationship seemed to grow very naturally. The second half of the book dragged a bit for me. I appreciated that the drama was realistic issues stemming from their pasts that they needed to work through as opposed to manufactured angst. In some chapters there were pages and pages (and pages) of internal dialogue that went on too long.

Overall, I enjoyed this one! Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC!

Olivia Dade never disappoints. This was a fun, romantic read, with incredible character development and a richly developed romance that unfolded beautifully.

*Thank you to Avon, Olivia Dade and Netgalley for an "E-ARC of "Shipwrecked" in exchange for an honest review *

I really love the Spoiler Alert series, and 'Shipwrecked" was a beautiful conclusion for the series! Peter and Maria had so much chemistry and the sexual tension was delicious. It was really cool as well to hear from Alex and Marcus again. (Also kudos to Dade for writing RPF that read like an actual RPF fic. I was completely in awe of that.)

Thank you Avon and NetGalley for the eARC! All opinions expressed are my own.

☆☆☆☆☆ Overall

I would give this book 100 stars if I could. Olivia Dade has NEVER let me down. I had high expectations for Ship Wrecked, and boy oh boy.. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

One thing I love about Dade’s characters is not only that we get fat representation, but it’s honest. It feels raw and real, not glamorized or filtered.

On to the plot, I was unsure of how the timeline would work going into this, but I think the jump is done really well. The story flows and it makes sense, and we see character growth from both Maria and Peter after the time skip, which is something I think is super important.

The spice was SPICY and beautifully written, the characters had depth and you could literally feel the protectiveness that Peter and Maria had for each other, and it was so. good.

Overall I really like this book. I think this series is one of my favorites I have ever read, and now that I’ve finished Ship Wrecked, I can’t wait to start the series over from the beginning. :)

4/5 ☆

This was my first book by Olivia Dade and it won't be my last! Super excited that I was able to receive an ARC through NetGalley. Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager!

Took a while for me to finish this one (lots of other releases got in the way for me), but I'm glad I finished! It was such a fun read. Maria and Peter are such well written characters that are unapologetically themselves. I loved that they were costars/actors and the chemistry between the two. They started off on bad terms (enemies to lovers vibes), but eventually worked out their friendship and are able to coexist for the sake of their show.

Definitely going to be looking into Dade's other books!

Things start off with a bang, literally, when Maria and Peter have a steamy one-night stand that Maria walks out thinking will be exactly that. One night. But when they both turn up to audition for the same show, and they're cast opposite one another as romantic interests, all of that is thrown out the window.
Ever since the start of the Spoiler Alert series, I've been a fan of Olivia Dade's work, and this book is a perfect example of why that is. She has a way of writing incredibly interesting and likable characters. You can genuinely see the connections she builds between her love interests and other characters in the story. I could write an entire essay about how amazing the plus-size representation is in this book, not only with the female lead but with the male lead as well. It's an important aspect of the story, but it's not the sole focus, which just adds further depth.

Maria and Peter were enjoyably dynamic characters both together and as separate individuals. I loved the portrayal of social anxiety with Peter, and how he tried to overcome it but had a hard time doing so. I loved Maria's confidence and comfort in her own skin and wasn't afraid to fight for herself (and Peter) when the directors wanted to try to change their bodies.

The sparks between them could be felt instantly on page one. The slow burn of their relationship after their initial hookup was torture when you knew how they both felt about one another, and you just wanted these two characters to be happy. It honestly was one of the most well-executed examples of pining I've read, as it's built for six years between them.

As I've read the other two books in this series, I loved the tie-ins with both "Spoiler Alert" and "All the Feels". It brought those two romance arcs full circle and added a lot more context and depth to this romantic arc.
Overall I absolutely loved this book and think that it will not only be loved by those who have also read the rest of this series but anyone looking for a brilliantly done love story.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Maria and Peter meet at an audition for Gods of the Gates, a sprawling, Game of Thrones-esque mythology TV series. But it's not actually the first time they've met--that would be their anonymous one-night stand the night before, where Maria snuck off in the night without leaving a note. Now they're about to be cast as two characters who are isolated on an island together, and it'll potentially mean spending several years in a tiny Irish village. At first they're hostile, but eventually they warm up to one another and become friends, along with their small band of crew. There's definitely still an attraction between them, but getting involved would be a bad idea, so they'll just stay friends. At least until the show ends.

The timeline of this book was a little puzzling. We start several years before the events of the first two Spoiler Alert books, and then there's a time jump to present day. During that time jump, we're told that Maria and Peter have become close friends. But we don't see enough of them during that time, and the intimacy doesn't feel earned. Once we hit the present and things start happening fast, I was very into the story, though. I loved the visit to Sweden, a country Dade obviously has great affection for, and I want Maria's family to adopt me, please.

It's also great to see fat representation in a book that's not about anyone trying to lose weight. In fact, Maria advocates strongly for herself and Peter when they get pressure from the studio. Their chemistry is hot and their friendship is very sweet.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Olivia Dade’s series centering around the fictional “Gods of the Gates” TV series has been one of my favorite contemporary series and this continuation in that world has firmly cemented Dade’s position as a favorite author. This book drops the reader right into the hotness of our fair protagonists and whirlwinds away from there. Maria and Peter are very fun characters with appropriately tragic backstories that not only fuel their behavior, but give them areas to grow. The background of the TV show, the other characters we know, and the way all the stories converge at a convention weaves together really well. Dade’s continued use of fat characters, complete with honest depictions of what being fat can be like (even for confident movie stars), is fantastic. My only note is that the pacing of the story is sometimes tough. Not because it is too slow, this is a page turner for sure, but because the slow burn encompasses six entire years and two continents. Sometimes it felt like soooooo much time was hand-waved away that the suspension of disbelief is a little hard to maintain. Overall though this does not detract too much from the story and I would still classify this as a five-star read.

This book started out with a spicy scene and I was immediately not sure it was for me. Olivia Dade quickly won me over.

In Ship Wrecked, Dade introduces you to Peter and Maria, who are both actors. They meet in L.A. and have instant chemistry that results in a passionate encounter. Maria leaves in the morning before Peter wakes, leaving him wanting more but finding himself ghosted. The two learn quickly they’ve now been cast as love interests opposite each other in a popular show. How will they navigate their history and their new roles?

This was a traditional romance book but it also wasn’t. Dade wrote about plus size characters, a woman who refuses to change for others, and had them both experience real life emotions outside the traditional relationship drama. I went into this book without reading the two prior Spoiler Alert series titles and I will definitely be circling back to read them now.

This is a great book to visit if you like to experience the traditional romance tropes with a little bit of more real life emotions and choices. Thanks @netgalley , Olivia Dade, @avonbooks , and @harpervoyagerus for granting me this ARC.

This book was amazing! Peter and Maria had such amazing chemistry throughout the entire book and it spanned 6 years! I thought the author was masterful in her timing and plot along with the time jumps. I loved the inclusion of youtube comments, text threads, and fanfiction. It made the book funnier and gave nice links to previous characters in this series. I love Oliva Dade's inclusion of fat characters and how she doesn't shy away from calling out how people (in this case movie producers) interact with fat people. The backstories of the characters were so well done and were so heartfelt. There was plenty of spice to balance all the sweet. The ending was really well done and didn't feel rushed or entirely predictable (it is a rom-com after all!). Excellent, excellent book!

Will be posting review on Goodreads, Amazon and Instagram (@chemistryreads)

I truly love Olivia Dade's books and always look forward to them, but this was my least favorite book in this trilogy. It had some really high points, especially with how the two leads dealt with being fat actors cast in non explicitly fat roles. Dade really knows her way around a sex scene. And I loved Maria's self-assuredness. But the way this book jumped around both spatially and temporally made it hard for me to feel like I was really along for the ride. Nonetheless, I'm excited for what Dade will do next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel. I am rating this book based the stars due to lack of time to leave a full review. #NetGalley #ShipWrecked

3 Stars! I didn’t hate it! I liked some parts of this book and was confused by others and bored by others. It can be read as a standalone, for the most part. I couldn’t really get “into” this book and forced myself to finish reading it. It felt like the never ending book because every time I thought it was ending, nope. A lot of the same over and over again. It’s still an entertaining book. Not sure why the cast dislikes Ian so much. Things like that kept popping up and confusing me. I guess you’d have to have read the first 2 books in the series to understand all of those confusing bits?
*I received this at no charge & I voluntarily left this review.*

This is the story of Peter and Maria, two attractive plus size actors who star opposite one another in the massive (fictional) TV show, Gods of the Gates, and how their love story goes down. This story is beautifully executed, with many lovable characters that you know so well, and lots of diversity to be found in said characters. Important issues are discussed, which make the novel have more significance than just your average love story. It’s the third in the Spoiler Alert series and I just want it to be said before my real notes, I loved this book.

At only two chapters in, I’m hooked. I love the main characters. They feel fully fleshed out despite it only being the start of the book. I know exactly why Peter and Maria are the way they are, I know their personalities and I know their histories and their baggage. There’s still plenty to learn about them both, I’m sure, but Olivia Dade has created a solid foundation for the reader. Knowing characters allows for you to root for them, for their success, growth, and relationships. The dynamic between the two of them is just so delicious too….strangers to lovers(ish- one night-stand) to enemies (in the mildest sense. There is nothing life or death, just brief distaste/anger stemming from personal issues that I know they can work on to get over and evolve) to friends to lovers. It’s opposites attract (but also not really…like, they both have a lot in common, just completely different ways of expressing those similarities) in the best way possible.

Also get ready for lots of wrong timing/miscommunication. It’s executed really well, where each near-miss connection between Peter and Maria feels understandable…like, you can actually understand why one thinks the other isn’t invested like they are. It’s definitely frustrating- because those sorts of tropes always are- but it feels real for a fictional book, and it’s mostly resolved in a timely manner, so I am fine with it.

This book starts at the very beginning of the television show that the Spoiler Alert series includes, and thus about 6 years prior to the occurrences of the first and second books. We see peeks of moments from those books in this one, but if you wanted to read this book and not the first two, that could be done, and you’d still understand everything but you would definitely want to read the first two after finishing this one because they are all phenomenal.

I really appreciate the perspectives of both Peter- an american- and Maria- a swede. Peter is a victim of our capitalistic society, unfortunately, which means he’s willing to do whatever to keep his role/job on a super successful television series. He’s got a hunger for success that Maria never could, as she comes from a country and home with people who actually care for her well being. She could quit tomorrow, fly home to Sweden, and either go back to theater acting or work with her parents or be supported by the government. This is one of the most fundamental differences between the two: Peter doesn’t understand how she could care so little for this opportunity, and Maria doesn’t grasp how Peter could prioritize a job over his happiness. These assumptions aren’t entirely correct as Maria does care for the role (she wants while Peter needs) and Maria does know about American capitalism- she (and I) just don't agree with it. I think this debate is something they’ll have to resolve together, amongst their past baggage, and I really appreciate that Dade highlighted this issue among them all.

I’m obsessed with these side characters too. The brief interludes of the cast members of the show these books follow/include is a tad bit cringy as it does feel very fanfiction-y and not real (not to be mistaken with the real story the book follows, which feels very real with it’s multifaceted characters) but even then, I still love the characters we got to know from the first two books in the series. The new characters? Love them. So, so much. I’m left rooting for them too.

This feels like a slow burn in the way that you get time to build a true connection between Peter and Maria, but the payoff doesn’t take the entire book like the previous book (even though I LOVED that book so much) felt like it did. So if you’re someone like me, who needs emotion and connection to really, truly enjoy the spicy scenes- which are very good quality, as is the tension building to the scenes throughout the book- you are in luck with this book, my friend.

The big conflict hurts. It really hurts because you can see each side, and it feels as though neither understands the other. One is stubborn and ignorant, the other stubborn and a tad arrogant in their assessment of the situation. One has no idea why they’re in the wrong, and the other feels like they know exactly why they’re in the right….but they both are at fault, and both have a lot to learn. They both need to learn the meaning of the word compromise, and maybe it’s because I’m a stubborn lady who would cut off my own nose to spite my face, or maybe because you fall in love with the characters so thoroughly that seeing them in pain is hard, or maybe it’s because Dade did such an amazing job of executing their issues, but this conflict really, really guts the reader. But have heart, the two will grow and learn and do it together.

The way this book ended, with the epilogue and everything….perfect. It’s a perfect way to wrap up this series, these characters' stories, if this is in fact the end. I can’t speak with certainty, as I haven’t heard a confirmation of that by Dade, but it definitely feels like it, and it feels perfect. Happily ever afters for everyone!

An interesting read that takes us back into the Gods of Gates series, this story is even more inticing for those fans that love the behind the scenes of shows. It's a fun time with characters that are sexy and an impeccable chemistry. Olivia dade does it again

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

There were so many things about this book that I loved. But others that I didn't.

Loved:
- the MCs
- body positivity rep
- Olivia dade's writing

Didn't like:
- the pacing, I don't know why it just felt off to me and I kept getting bored.
- banter wasn't up to par with what I love

Over all, it was a cute story but I feel like every romance I have read in recent months has been meh and I'm not sure why.

3/5⭐

Olivia Dade is amazing! This book hit me with all the feels and I adored it.
She knows how to take a trope, twist it, and break your heart with the best emotions.

I tried, I really really tried but failed

I was so excited by this book since I saw the cover on NetGalley, then the blurb and finally found out who te author was. When I received the ARC, I was stocked.

The premise of the book is very good, two enemies-ish, co-stars, filming for ~6 years with pent up tension from their one night stand?? SIGN ME UP. However, this book from page one, didn’t deliver.

First of all the writing style was a little hard to understand and keep up the pace of the switching narratives, the dialogues were boring and I felt that Maria was trying to hard to come off as funny, I did sympathize and relate to Peter with his social anxiety, but besides that, I didn’t care about the plot, whether the MCs would end up together or anything going on, I skimmed so much because I got bored.

This was a big flop for me, I would still encourage people to check it out, this might me a good fit for you!

Was so excited for the next installment of this series and Olivia Dade did not disappoint!
Maria is a self assured and body-confident woman, a delightful character to read. Peter is so driven to live up to high standards he has set for himself. Together they are fiery but also *adults* in how they communicate.
I love how Dade uses the group texts to keep us apprised of where events fit in with the other books in the series, and give us updates on those characters.