✨ At First Spite ✨⁣
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⁣Genre- Contemporary Romance. ⁣
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⁣Length- 400 pages.
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⁣My thoughts- Olivia Dade is back again with a completely delightful contemporary romance! At First Spite features a couple of wonderful characters, a complicated almost love triangle, an honest look at depression and so much spice! It’s funny, relatable and so stinking cute! ⁣
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⁣I highly recommend! Four stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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⁣Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my honest review. At First Spite is available now.

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦, 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.”

TW: memories of a child/sibling death & intense scenes of depression ‼️

Athena Greydon's whirlwind romance has been cut short a month before her wedding. With as much pride as she can muster she moves into the Spite House she recklessly bought her former fiancé as a wedding gift. What could be worse than that you might ask? Oh, her ex-fiancés older brother Dr. Matthew Vine, lives across the alley.

Despite her best efforts, Athena’s plans to avoid and/or ignore Matthew prove to be rather difficult. He’s kind, he makes me her laugh, and he truly listens to her. Also, he’s so hot.

He might not regret breaking up her engagement to his brother Johnny, but he does care about what it did to her. He loved their banter and having Athena help him broaden his literary horizons with the book club’s monster sex. He wants to be with her, but he just doesn’t know how to tell his brother. Can they both overcome their own struggles to see what’s finally right in front of them all along?

This book made me cry several times! The thoughts Athena had were very relatable to me and I was very touched by her character. It was hard to read at times, but I think it’s so important to make these characters real. 💛 a big thank you to Dade for providing the trigger warnings in the beginning and for showcasing real mental health.

I am a rather large Olivia dade fan. I’ve read several of her books and enjoyed them all immensely. What I’ll say for this book, I loved, LOVED that the characters plus size body type wasn’t a point of negativity or contention. Athena was comfortable in her skin and that is very refreshing as every other book of dades I’d read, body type was a hard point for the main character. I also loved the depression representation. As someone who also battles my own mind daily, it was great to see the journey. It was very healing.

That being said. These are the most annoying characters. Neither of them were likeable or charming. And their struggles were just so very … I dunno privileged may be too strong of a word for Matthew but Athena certainly was. Boo boo my parents are well off and I spent too much of their money on education. I get that’s a part of the depression but it’s just so … whiny? And the way they both speak is so clinical and do people talk like that? Like anyone? I know several doctors and they talk just the same as my waiter at longhorn.

I think the brothers ex romance was handled well. I just would have liked to have seen a little more. Everything wrapped up too neatly too quickly. An extra chapter would have gone a long way. But the 3rd act big gesture by far the best one I’ve ever read.

All in all, I enjoyed it. And it was pleasantly surprising in some ways. And I recommend this to anyone enjoys plus size main characters and needs a break from the body discomfort.

Also. Monsterfuckers. I have never felt so seen. Yes. 🐙

This was a fun enemies to lovers steamy romance. I love how Olivia Dade features plus size characters. It's so refreshing to read and I adore it.
I did enjoy Athena's and Matthew's romance but it did feel a little forced at times. I wasn't overally in love with it.
This book also had depression, anxiety, and loss of a loved one representation.

Absolutely perfect. I don't know how Olivia Dade wrote a slow burn that I loved, but she did. I was desperate for these characters to be together from the beginning, and that's how I stayed. The characters were both lovably sweet and so tender.

I enjoyed this. I say it’s classic Olivia dade, if you’ve read her other series’ you’ll know what I mean.

I liked the characters and I like the mental health feature. I appreciate that Olivia is striving to normalize mental health and treatments.
There was a few cringe moments and a few funny pranks. And I felt like it took forever for me to finish this. I was invested and very into i but it felt like it went on forever.

I didn’t like the brother storyline. I don’t want to give too much away, I just want to emphasize that it was a bit weird how all the pieces fall into place at the end. I’m not sure I’d be as gracious as her ex.

Anyways, overall: good story with minor cringe. Definitely recommend for entertainment.

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.