Wonderful story, great character development, great writing! Highly recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it

First, I want to say thank you so much to Olivia Dade and her publishing team for providing me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley. I always appreciate getting to read an advanced copy of a book, it's such an honor! All opinions and thoughts are my own.

At First Spite features a failed engagement and the heroine in turn, falling for the ex fiancés brother. I found this to not be my favorite of tropes, but it was still a cute read and also covers some other heavier topics like depression, loss of a sibling, and separation from close family.

I found that the romance that blossomed between Athena and Matthew happened rather quickly after being engaged to his brother. I'm also not quite sure how I felt about the hero being an almost 40 year old virgin.. being a handsome doctor I just found that hard to believe. I did however, really enjoy the romance and banter between Matthew and Athena and found them to be a much better match than Jonathan and Athena.

I found this book a little bit harder for me to get through and I think that was due to the writing style and there were some parts that were entirely too cringe/corny to me. The erotica novels that were being spoken about just held no interest or humor to me at all. However, I did really enjoy that there was a plus size heroine, representation of mental heath issues, and two lead characters finding love in their later 30's.

Overall, the book just dragged for me a little bit and it's kind of hard to get past Athena having been with Matthew's brother and then Mathew having pretty much forced his brother to break it off with Athena and taking her for himself. Giving 3 stars, but this is more of a 2.7 star rating. I would love to try reading another book by Olivia, as this one just did not hit the mark for me.

This was a hard one to rate. I have read all of Olivia Dade's books so far and I can say I most of them. However, this one is hard for me to judge. What was great was the romance, some of the jokes, and the main character. What I didn't like really was the story overall. It felt weird how it went from one brother to the next, why it felt like she gave up a lot of who she was for said brother, and last, some of the cultural references did become eye rolling at a certain point. I know I didn't love the book but I didn't hate it either.

Amazing book is a new series for Olivia Dade. Out of all of Dade's books, this one might be my favorite. Matthew is a dreamboat. He's going to be everyone's new favorite fictional boyfriend.

**Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publisher for a chance to read to & review an ARC of this book!**

Please find my extended feedback below...along with some spoilers (beware).
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Things I Liked:
-I enjoyed the side characters! Karl & Yvonne were both amazing & I loved how authentic they felt (I just wish the main characters felt that way).
-I love plus size representation in books! In my opinion, Olivia Dade does this well in her books.
-I also like seeing mental health representation in books. Athena's struggles with depression did feel real but I could also tell that the author took care to be aware & gentle in these areas of the book.
-I really enjoyed the inclusion of the book club & the monster sex books plot points. This had me laughing!
-Athena's parents seem great & super supportive! Loved their quirks.

Things That Didn't Sit Quite Right With Me:
-I did not enjoy the instalove between Matthew & Athena. Their love happened in like a week after Athena & Johnny's failed engagement. It felt rushed & I didn't buy into their connection.
-Johnny's character growth in the last bit of the book felt very fast & forced. It did not feel genuine or realistic which made me like the ending less than if he has stayed an immature brother character. It felt like his development was just to create a HEA.
-I didn't enjoy the poor communication between the characters. I was so frustrated that they didn't just talk with each other instead of Athena hearing Matthew & Johnny talk about her behind her back in hushed corners.
-The relationship between Johnny & Matthew seemed very toxic.
-The death of Adrian felt like a plot point that was just thrown into the book.
-There was a lot going on in this book. From Athena & Johnny's failed engagement, Athena's struggles with depression, Athena & Matthew's romance, Athena's healing & therapy, Athena's relationship with her parents, Matthew & Johnny's relationship with their parents, Matthew & Yvonne's friendship dynamics, the death of Adrian, Matthew & Athena figuring out how to let other's help/support them, the monster sex book club, Athena's struggles with sticking with one job/area...it all felt like too much for one book.

Overall, this book dragged a bit for me & I gave it 3 stars.

If cute, funny, and romantic was a book that’s what At First Spite represents. Literally fall in love with the whole book and between the many emotions I felt …it was the love that was well earned for the happily ever after.

I’m a certified Olivia Dade STAN. This might not have been my favorite of hers so far, but this was one I could relate to the most and I think I really needed to read it when I did. I’ll pick out a few of my dislikes bc honestly other than I few things, I LOVED the rest.

Mostly just not a huge fan of the main troupe! I know you’re probably thinking “then why did you read it, dumbass?” Because I love Olivia Dade! And if anyone can change my mind about a troupe, it’s her (and Jasmine Guillory!) And honestly, she kinda did. I got over my ick. Just not the biggest fan of the troupe overall.

Olivia Dade’s characters are kinda nerdy, kinda quirky. This FMC? She was cringey at the worst of times. Not my favorite. The MMC? One of my favorites. (Can’t forget Marcus tho bc I also have dyslexia). And I feel like I have to point this out: I’m talking 100% about her chronically online behavior and not about her mental health. That part of her character really resonated with me and I’d never criticize someone (or a fictional character ffs) for something like that.

Other than these two things, I really really enjoyed the book. The themes, the romance, the small town (I hate small town romances who am I???). Olivia Dade’s writing is just so easy and comforting for me to read even (surprisingly, as I found out with this book) if it’s for topics VERY close to my heart and kinda traumatic for me.

Thank you soooo much to the publisher for the ARC and thanks Olivia Dade for consistently writing books that speak so deeply to me yet are so freaking enjoyable and bingable at the same time <3

✔️ Enemies to Lovers
✔️ Forced Proximity
✔️ Small Town

-summary-
Smarting from a breakup, Athena moves into Spite House which was supposed to be a gift for her now ex-fiance. Unfortunately, she is next door neighbors with her ex's brother - who caused the breakup in the first place. She hates him and with good reason, though when she hits her lowest point, he's the one she ends up turning to into this emotional read about finding yourself, letting people in, falling in love, and getting professional help.

-my thoughts-
I'm a big fan of the author's Spoiler Alert series and was excited to read this one. It was more emotional than I expected as Athena was going through a huge life upheaval and had a hard time dealing with it on her own. I appreciated the mental health rep as well as the overall message that that is separate from the falling in love piece (ie don't count on other people to fix you, but it's good to have people supporting you and rallying around you).

I do have a little trouble when the plot is about going from one sibling to the other (yes yes I was super into it for Vampire Diaries but I am a different person now). It helped that you didn't really get to know the ex or spend much time with him, but in general, this is not a trope I care for. That said, in Olivia's hands, I was able to push through my immediate ick to a pretty enjoyable romance, though this is on the angstier side of my usual reads. There's comedy too and some truly funny moments and dialogue but I would not consider this a romcom.

Overall, a good read and I'm enjoying the small town of Harlot's Bay and can't wait for more with these some of these zany characters (especially Karl). 4⭐️

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

Olivia Dade is an auto-buy author for me, and this book is unique among her bibliography. It's really lovely to read a book about someone who's frankly a mess but who gets taken care of beautifully. It's not as romance-forward as Dade's books usually are because there is such a personal growth journey at the heart of this. Still, it was a really enjoyable book, managing to strike a wonderful balance between humor and heart.

THIS FREAKING BOOK RIGHT HERE!!!! That’s how I am going to start this review, THIS FREAKING BOOK!!! I LOVED IT! Athena is fierce, she’s EVERYTHING, and she knows what she wants, especially when it comes to Dr. Matthew the fucking third, lol. This enemy to lover’s trope was amazing. She has her engagement party in this small town called Harlots Bay (the story behind the name is awesome), she is going to marry Johnny, and she has her life set, even though their engagement was pretty fast. Then everything falls apart when Matthew convinces Johnny not to marry her. That broke my heart, but here she is in that small town, with no job no nothing, and a house called the Spite house, which was a gift for her future husband from her, and this house is narrow AF, there is also a story behind this house too.

Well while Johnny isn’t in town for a bit, Athena is and she’s trying really hard to find her footing, Matthew is starting to get to know her more and like the first time he met her at the engagement party, there was a connection. But the way everything ended with her engagement she’s trying hard to make him uncomfortable in all sorts of ways. When I say this book is funny this book is FUNNY, I couldn’t stop laughing. There is a very eccentric book club that she’s a part of, she goes through depression, she goes THROUGH it, and it felt so relatable, she feels she’s letting down her family and she thinks herself a failure, but dammit the way the people who love her rally around her, had me crying on the train going home one too many times.

The connection between Matthew and Athena was unmatched, and with that I also mean the spice, because these two are HOT!

I love Olivia Dade and have for years-- but this may be my all-time favorite from her.
Athena's engagement has ended, and now she's stuck moving into the spite house she'd bought for her and her then-finance in a town where she knows basically no one, and currently has no job. Even worse, her ex is on what would have been their honeymoon, leaving her to live across the alley from the brother who convinced her ex to dump her, Matthew.

Except we can't hate him, because he's everything good in this world (which is on this shoulders, by the way). We also can't blame Athena for messing with him at every opportunity because it's funny and he kind of deserves it. The love story that comes from this is now a comfort read for me.

So many of us can relate to being in our 30s and not knowing what to do next. A lot of us can also relate to depression, and the rep here was so well done.

I love Matthew and Athena together. They're soulmates, and no one can convince me otherwise. Watching them support each other as Athena puts her life together carefully, lovingly, with Matthew's unwavering support, and as he decides to cut himself some slack, not take so much on with her support--it was nothing short of stunning.

Everything about this was perfect-- characters, pacing, writing, the spice. I have no notes, just my highest of recommendations. Will be re-reading as soon as I need these characters again. If you like romance at all, you need to pick this up!

Olivia Dade does it again! AT FIRST SPITE's main characters are messy, honest, grounded in reality, but still swoon-worthy. Dade deftly explores depression in this novel and I'm positive those who have experienced this mental illness will feel seen and held while reading her writing. Once I started AT FIRST SPITE, I couldn't put this book down.

Fun rom- com with great wit, romance and humor. As always with this author, the plus size representation was well done! The mental health representation was also well written and relatable.

Expected a pretty decent read, discovered this was one of my favorite reads this year! And quite possibly one of my favorite romcoms EVER. Awkward enemies-to-lovers with two strong personalities who are legitimately interesting people to know and read about.

AT FIRST SPITE had a stop-me-in-my-tracks scene that I am still thinking about a week after finishing the book. Despite that emotional impact, this book ended up being just an OK read for me.

On the positive side, I love that Olivia Dade hits all different notes when she writes plus size/fat lead characters. In AT FIRST SPITE, Athena's weight is mentioned indirectly, but is otherwise a non-issue. While a lot of romances rightly spend time exploring the complexities of body positivity both within the MC and those who come in contact with them, it was refreshing reading a romance where this body type just....was.

This book also hit a perfect and very respectful, but unvarnished look, at what an episode of Depression looks like. Just like the writing on weight. this writing had no heavy-handed or strong definitive value judgement on a bout of depression. It just...was. I loved that a lot.

Now, to the rest of the book, I found the writing style really odd. It read like a Classic Lit novel in language and structure. And while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it felt really disparate to me. I'm sure some readers will really love this aspect of the writing style, but I failed to connect with it.

And while these main characters had really likable moments, I struggled to like either of them for most of the book. Athena seemed incredibly immature throughout the entire story and Matthew was frustratingly bland to me.

But the spicy scenes were fantastic! Can't end a book review without discussing the spice. Despite the great chemistry and spice, I couldn't get past her previous relationship. Again, maybe just me, but romances with i-had-lots-of-sex-with-your-brother-now-i'm-sleeping-with-you just make me feel a bit icky. Not sure there's even a way to write it that wouldn't skeeve me out a bit.

AT FIRST SPITE is a good book that just didn't resonate with me, but I am certain a ton of other readers will love it.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗟: Rated R / 2-4 descriptive sex scenes, may have harsh language.
𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦: past death of sibling, depression, parent estrangement
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗦: 4/5 - Tackled some seriously tough topics.

I don’t know why “ex-fiance’s brother” hooks me every time, but it’s so entertaining (see: The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa). Athena Graydon impulsively bought her future husband a brick townhome before he broke up with her, leaving Athena with a property dubbed the “Spite House” and a major heartache. Even worse, her ex’s snooty brother Dr. Matthew Vine (the THIRD) lives right next door. Convinced Matthew is the one who broke up her engagement, Athena decides to get him back with not-so-neighborly antics. Of course, he’s actually pretty kind and like…super hot. I can’t wait to see where Dade takes this new series.

4.5 stars. Dade really excels at creating quirky small towns where secretly wounded birds find each other. Matthew and Athena are no exception. Their love story is funny and sweet and surprising. This book was a little long, but I was also disappointed when I finished because there was no more book to read.

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

💖 Happy Release Week At First Spite! 💖

As someone who has had a lifelong obsession with Spite Houses this was the absolute best read for me! The second I saw the blurb I knew I had to read it ASAP!

Olivia Dade has a beautiful way of writing that incorporates serious topics into swoony romances that perfectly balances out with hilarious laugh out loud humor. At First Spite is full of love, loss, new beginnings, healing, strength, self-reflection, character growth, spice, quirky characters and is one heck of an emotional rollercoaster!

🗣️ Banter
🎃 Halloween Decorations
💖 Swoon Worthy
🧳 Starting Over
🏡 Small Town
🧠 Mental Health Rep
😹 Hoot & a Half
🏘️ Community
🌶️ Spice
🫶 Lovable Characters

10/10 recommend and I can’t wait to see what book 2 of the Harlot’s Bay series will bring!

Method Read: 📖

Thank you Avon Books for the ARC!

At First Spite is quite the read and it has so many qualities and elements interwoven within it that make it such a heartfelt novel. First off, this book is a beautifully written, especially in the way it handles mental health and the journey of finding oneself through complex situations. While reading, the synopsis provided me with some insight into the book, but it’s so much more and it has an entirely different approach to romance and comedy within its pages.

Synopsis:
When Athena Greydon's potential fiancé ends their engagement because of his meddlesome, older brother, she has many unfortunate events happen in her life. After, she quits her job, sells her condo, and makes a terrible purchase (AKA the house next to her ex and his brother), Athena goes through a series of ups and downs that change the trajectory of her life. With the ex’s brother trying to make amends for his actions and helping her get through her hard times, he becomes a bigger part of her life.

Olivia Dade discusses the emotions of feeling lost and hopeless with life and the situations that can come with it. I saw myself in Athena and her struggles, but specifically in how important it is to have someone with you when things are too much to handle by yourself. That’s where I started to connect with the mmc. He handled Athena’s struggles with care and attentiveness that reassured Athena, but also me and my thoughts about what I’m looking for in a partner. This is a smart and self-aware book that has so many complexities. It was heartwarming, hilarious, inspiring, and silly. It’s definitely a long book that takes a while to get into, but it’s worth it to get to the core of its meaning and inspiration.

At First Spite is another wonderful romance by Olivia Dade!

Athena moves into the aptly named Spite House, a ridiculously narrow house which shares a wall with her now ex-fiance, after he abruptly ended their engagement. What she doesn't realize until it's too late is that she's essentially made herself the filling in a Vine brothers sandwich--because her ex-fiance's brother owns the house across the alley from her. The brother who convinced her ex=fiance to end things less than a month before the wedding. THAT brother.

Shenanigans ensue, but through it all, she can't help but notice that Matthew Vine the third is NOT as evil and terrible as she had believed him to be, despite his role in the failure of her engagement. In fact, he's proving to be surprisingly nice. Like, really nice. And helpful. And remorseful. And hot. Really, really hot.

This is a delicious slow burn romance between two people who shouldn't have fallen for each other, given her connection to his brother. This book deals with depression and caregiving and working through things in therapy. I honestly loved every bit of it. Oh, and there's a steamy romance book club, a grumpy baker who listens to monster erotica, a bookstore with an emotional support chicken, and so much more.

I've never read a book by Olivia I didn't love, and At First Spite is no different. Some might think the heroine is immature, given that she's in her mid-thirties and can't stick with a job for longer than three years. Honestly, she reads as a character with undiagnosed ADHD. (This is never addressed in the book and is only my opinion--as someone who was diagnosed with ADHD in my mid-thirties.) Athena is who I probably would have been if I hadn't gotten married young and started popping out babies. Left to my own devices, I think I'd probably operate in much the same way, and I know I've definitely felt the same feelings she has--feelings of failure and letting people down and not being worthy of love and good things. But Matthew is committed to combatting those feelings with the truth and gentle encouragement. We could all use a Matthew in our lives (I have one, and his name is Daniel).

If you love "enemies" to lovers, slow burn romances, and books with a whole heck of a lot of heart, At First Spite is a must read. It was hilarious. And earnest. And made me cry. So yeah.