Super fun story with great characters dialogue was well written, the story flowed nicely, and the character development arc was strong. I love reading books where you feel like you know the characters personally, and this book felt that way the main characters issues with obsessive, compulsive disorder, realistic, and dealt with honestly and authentically.

I received this as an ARC. I don’t typically read romcoms but this one was very good. I liked the movie references even though I haven’t watched most of the movies. It does include spoilers if that isn’t evident by the title. I really liked the relationship between the MC and the MMC. Especially since they have big foundation and explains things gradually. I don’t know much about OCD but I would say it is good representation. One thing that didn’t make sense is the family not getting the MC help sooner besides medicine which didn’t work for her so they didn’t try anything else. Especially since the family dynamic is quite healthy and supportive of each other.

Tropes:
Brothers’ best friend
Revenge plot
Friends to “enemies” to lovers
Slow burn
Small town

Thanks to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book was rough for me. I really liked the OCD inclusion the author has done here. I think that was probably the most interesting thing for me and the plot idea is super cute! The execution just wasn’t there for me. I think a lot of people may really enjoy it but the characters were not likable in my opinion and the writing seemed a little under developed and I just struggled to get into the story.

Rose lives with her brother and is obsessed with historical movies. There is nothing better than sitting there, enjoying popcorn, and watching one of her favorites, that is until her brother’s friend (and her longtime crush) Tristan begins spoiling every ending of every movie for her. Her OCD ramps up, she struggles to keep it together in her classes, with dating, and with her confidence. Mainly though, she struggles to know what is going on with Tristan and truly, what does he want?

I think the problem with this book is it needs to decide what it wants to be. I’m down with genre-bending but this begins as a treatise on OCD and our MMC is borderline stalkerish, and I am left wondering if he was sort of Alpha Male-ing her, but then it wings into a sweetish romance. I like that it explores the depths of having anxiety and OCD, giving a name to people who feel crippled by that. It’s not a very “happy” book - I was left with a sense of unease - and although I liked the ending, it was a bit of a workout to get through the book. I think it is interesting, and I definitely didn’t quit on the novel, but it wasn’t my style and I felt it was hard to follow in the beginning. I suppose it does its job, honestly, in a book about severe anxiety, it definitely translates that to the reader, although it did not scratch my romance book itch per say.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The plot was quite predictable-fall in love with brother’s best friend, working out some miscomm and living hea. I did like the OCD perspective, the concept of movie spoilers, and the weaving in of Shakespeare. Besides that, nothing noteworthy. It was quite a short and simple book so you’d easily finish it.

What infuriated me the most were the numerous moments when mmc was interrupted right when he wanted to break the news. Is this a way to make the book slow burn? Bc it seriously got on my nerves. In retrospect, the year this book was set in was in the early 2000s so they were using flip phones but…why???.

All in all, if you enjoy slow burn books (with spice), you’d probably like this more than I do. The burn was too slow imo with no real hook that left me on the edge.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

Rose is 21 and an architecture student at the same college that her brother and his best friend attend. She lives in a house with her brother, but life is getting desperate enough that she is looking to get her own place to live. The problem is her brother's friend, Tristan who is always hanging around. He's been in her family's life since high school and although things started off well enough, Tristan has been a thorn in her side since the end of high school. The main issue is his ongoing habit of spoiling movies for her. She loves the period dramas and he's always there to drop the spoiler in her ear before she gets too far into the film. The stress and anxiety exacerbate her OCD issues and life becomes unbearable.

While Rose is dealing with her OCD, Tristan has his own family issues, and I found the book does a nice job of creating characters with real life problems. There's also some background on the family's madness for hockey that sort of flows through the story. It's not prominent but a key scene from the story happened during a game. As expected, the reason for the spoilers does come out later on but I wasn't too sure it worked well in the story. It just didn't make a lot of sense to me for the long term. I was pretty satisfied with the way the romance part of the story played out. It all felt pretty natural to me and there were typical highs and lows throughout.

Overall, this was a nice read and I recommend it to readers of romance unless you are triggered by severe OCD issues. I rate this 3.5 stars and would like to thank Netgalley and Sword and Silk Books for the free advanced reader copy. I have provided my review under no obligation.

I loved this book as it was fun to have characters that are similar to my age based on the time frame of the book. Rose has struggled most of her life because of bullying because of her OCD and kids just being cruel. She has an amazing family who does help her as best as they can, along with Tristan her brother’s best friend. Tristan has an uncanny ability to ruin/spoil every movie before she watches it. She finally has it and that is when all the true drama happens. I so love the Happily ever after for so many people and things that does happen in the end. If you are looking for a fun romantic comedy pick this up <3. Thank you NetGalley, Sword & Silk Books and L.E. Todd for picking me to be an arc reader of this book.

Ironically, I've been trying to read books without looking at the synopsis first, so there were no spoilers for me! Therefore the revenge plot came as a surprise, and to be honest, that element of the story fell flat for me, it just didn't feel like the actions of the Rose I'd so resonated with earlier on in the book.

While I don't have first hand experience of OCD, L.E Todd's writing brought it to life, I could feel Rose's pain and shame throughout. Her sometimes crippling anxiety, self-doubt, inner critic and ability to only see her flaws... That was more familiar and felt so authentic. I was a little nervous that the revenge and romance plots would magically "cure" her, or that they would get lost in the drama, but the mental health side remained at the heart and I really liked that.

I also valued the insight into Rose's feelings on medication and therapy, and how they weren't an easy fix for her, but part of a toolbox of strategies she was developing, alongside learning to love and accept herself. The internal struggle between independence and need for contact and support is probably familiar to a lot of late-teens, early twenties, and the periods of isolation had me rooting for her to reach out.

The wider impact of mental health on the family relationships was interesting too, the want to support but not knowing how especially. I'd have liked to see more of that. The sibling relationship between Robby and Rose was lovely, but slightly tarnished by the on/off relationship of Tristan - it felt too close for comfort at times. The vulnerable Tristan with his Gran, his future hopes, and the care he felt for Rose was almost at odds with the jealous, stalker-esque character - creeping around her room, following her on dates... Bit icky! It felt they brought out quite childish behaviours in one another, and showed a lack of respect.

The spicy scenes were another surprise, very well written but I struggled to get past her brother being so aware of it, I was on edge expecting him to walk in on them any time! It was also difficult to balance the sometimes "frail" portrayal of Rose and then the "femme fatale", though I know we are all more than our lows and more than one thing can be true at once! It just felt a little hollow somehow.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, I just wanted a little more depth from it.

Thank you to @netgalley, @l.e.todd and @swordandsilkbooks for the ARC - all views are my own.

This wasn't the book for me. I didn't feel connected to the characters and the premise (brother's best friend spoils movies) just wasn't fun. Reading it was an exercise in patience because of the amount of unnecessary details and nothing surprised me. Also had a major pet peeve of mine for romance novels where the main male love interest just won't stop being annoying; I don't care about their past if the behavior continues.
Reviewed for NetGalley.

This book absolutley captivated me from the start. It took me so long to write a review, because I wanted to immediately re-read this. I expected your normal romance book, but got so much more. The main character has OCD, and as someone with diagnosed OCD, it really shows how debilitating it can be from day to day, and how we can latch on to our coping mechanisms. I loved that the story not only showed how OCD can affect the person with it, but those around them. It also shows how those around you can become a strong and loving support system.

The story itself was cute and spicer than I expcted. I think the raw portrayal of struggling with OCD elevated what was your everyday romance novel into something much better. 10/10.

The Spoiler is a lighthearted contemporary romance.

We follow Rose, a girl who has OCD and escapes by watching period movies. That is, when her brother's best friend Tristan isn't spoiling the ending of the movie for her.

I did appreciate the OCD rep in this book and I felt for Rose very much. I also liked her relationship with her brother. I was not a fan of Tristan, particularly him acting like a kindergartner with a crush and doing the equivalent of pulling her pigtails on the playground. This is a classic case where we would not have a book if the characters would just talk to each other.

3 stars

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley

Loved this one! Great and fun read. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for my ARC.

If you’re looking for a well-paced contemporary romance featuring engaging MFC and MMC with a hefty dose of spice, you'll enjoy L.E. Todd's debut novel.

The story centers on Rose, an architecture student and fan of period movies navigating life with OCD. Since high school, historical films have offered an escape from the daily challenges that trigger Rose’s compulsive behaviors. But Tristan—her brother’s ever-present best friend—leverages an encyclopedic movie knowledge to ruin these coping mechanisms by dropping spoilers at the worst possible moment. Despite the way he plagues her, Rose is drawn to Tristan. But when a severe episode triggers the realization that Tristan engineered one of Rose’s formative life experiences, she’s spoiling for a fight. Tristan Moore must pay.

The chemistry and friction between Rose and Tristan immediately engaged me, and the story viscerally evoked remembered emotions as it explores how youthful experiences create echoes throughout our lives, from the sweetness of a first crush to the ways our peers’ skewed image of us alters our self-reflection.

I appreciated that Todd draws Rose three-dimensionally, with OCD as only one aspect of her character. While Rose’s obsessive habits play a key role in the story, the book conveys a positive message of neurodiversity by showing a woman capable of a functional life despite her condition. There are meaningful scenes that explore the role fixations and compulsions play for someone living with OCD. There are also moments I wished for a more nuanced portrayal of Rose’s condition, to explore how destructive compulsions might be replaced with more constructive behaviors and avoid readers falling back on stereotypes.

The inciting event that sparks the story’s main conflict required some suspension of disbelief to credit such an explosive outcome, which downgraded my rating from a solid 4 ⭐. Then again, characters’ emotions aren’t always logical and their best intentions don’t necessarily lead to best-laid plans. Regardless of whether the journey from point A to point B was strictly plausible, I loved these characters and was pulling for them to work out their differences, so I was more than willing to go along for the ride.

I was completely captured by the cover and synopsis of this book, but I have to admit that it didn't completely satisfy me. I knew it would be a cliché but what I didn't expect was to be so bored with the characters.

Let me start by saying that I loved the fact that this book takes place in the 2000s, and even though it wasn't that many years ago, it's fun to see some contrasts with today.

Rose is our protagonist, who suffers from OCD, has an incredible bond with her brother and, of course, loves films. I loved how the author worked on Rose's OCD and anxiety, showing us clear signs such as jumping to conclusions, intrusive thoughts, isolation, but also the normalization of therapy and how difficult it is to open up to someone about your problems.

Tristan most of all seems to love spoiling Rose, giving her all the movie spoilers. From the first moment we see that he is in love with Rose, but I have to admit that I didn't agree with the way he showed it.

It was clear that these two would end up together, but the road to get there was, in my opinion… annoying. Tristan irritates, hurts feelings and goes beyond limits to show Rose that he likes her. The way he sees it, irritating her makes her place her anger on him and not on herself... Honestly I just wanted him to respect her.

In the end I had a bittersweet feeling about this book, I liked the story, the protagonists not so much, Tristan's attitudes left me frustrated and Rose got to the point of irritating me when trying to fulfill her revenge.

My favorite part of this book was definitely all the references, the author did an incredible job including even lines from several films. This is the author's first book, it was a good book but that's all, I think the author has great potential and I hope to read more books by her in the future.

Spoiler: I LOVED THIS!

What a fantastic love story that had me weeping, laughing, gripping the edge of my seat and definitely loosing some precious hours of sleep.

I could relate to the main characters on such a deep level that it was almost scary at some points. L.E. Todd, are you in my walls? BE HONEST!
The banter and tension between these two was fantastic. It was a slooow burn, but worth every second and once you get to the fun part (you know what I mean) it was worth every "GOD DAMN KISS HER ALREADY!" that I screamed in my empty room to myself.

Oh, but there's more: The mental health representation in this story was done so well. As a fellow mentally ill person, I felt seen and I did tear up a few times because of how accurate it represented the struggle of living with such an illness.

Overall a wonderful book that I will shove down everyone's throat for the rest of time because it was such a joy to read!

🍿🛋️🎥🍎🥧❤️📦

☆ 4.5 / 5

”𝐼’𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎.”

I was very excited to share this book review with you for several reasons, the main one being: IT'S MY FIRST ARC ❣️

This is a story that fully represents mental health. From my perspective, the author successfully demonstrates the impact of OCD on a person’s life and how both protagonists navigate personal and family difficulties that affect their relationship.

I still have many fresh emotions about this book. The romance, the slow burn, and the references to romantic movies were exquisite. L.E. Todd’s debut leaves me with high expectations for her upcoming works, which I hope to read soon.

"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡, ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑂𝐶𝐷... 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑠"

Estaba muy emocionada de compartirles la reseña de este libro por varias razones, siendo la principal: ¡ES MI PRIMER ARC! (Copia anticipada)❣️

Esta es una historia que representa completamente la salud mental. Desde mi perspectiva, la autora logra demostrar exitosamente el impacto del TOC en la vida de una persona y cómo ambos protagonistas navegan por dificultades personales y familiares que afectan su relación.

Todavía tengo muchas emociones frescas sobre este libro. El romance, el desarrollo lento y las referencias a películas románticas fueron exquisitas. El debut de L.E. Todd me deja con grandes expectativas para sus próximas obras, que espero leer pronto.

First of all, thank you Netgalley for the ARC granted to me. I really thought the story would led me trough an engaging romance, but I felt a lacking of emotions in the narrative. Altough it wasn't a bad story. I just personally, felt like it wasn't as great as I was expecting.

I actually DNF'd this book a little over 50% in - I just don't think it's for me.

I did like the OCD representation. I don't have a lot of experience with OCD, but the author handled this aspect of the story very well. It seemed like a very real and honest depiction of the real world implications of living with OCD. There were a few sweet moments between Rose and her brother, Rob. I enjoyed when they all went back to their hometown for a visit.

The biggest reason for not finishing the book was Tristan. I DID NOT like his character at all and I don't think anything could have happened in the remaining story to change my mind. I get that he thinks he had some noble reason for spoiling movies constantly for Rose but it gave me such a ick. I don't like that he was constantly barging or sneaking into her room. I don't like that he ruined Rose's dates - that's creepy. I really lost interest when Rose decided on her "revenge" plan. Everything just seemed so childish and juvenile to me.

I definitely think there are people out there who will genuinely love this book, I unfortunately am just not one of them.

This was a solid 2.5 for me, but I’m rounding up because I wasn’t miserable reading it. I’m straddling that weird line of “it was terrible to witness” and “I couldn’t stop looking (or reading, in this case).” I was really intrigued by the premise of the book but my first thought after reading the description was “it just needs to be executed well for it to not be cringe.”

Well, welcome to Cringe Central.

The main character is a good representation for people who suffer with OCD while also being insufferable as a personality and separate from the OCD. Like truly, shut up Rose. And all of the other characters were so one dimensional it hurt. Rob = golden retriever brother. Tristan = walking red flag. Drew = cardboard cutout. My biggest issue, though, was twofold. The lack of scene setting and pacing of the story was so disorienting! I could not imagine where we were, what we were seeing, or how we got there for like 85% of the book. The dialogue and plot read like the Wattpad fics I devoured at 13. On that note, I will admit there’s just something about a trashy story that hits when you need a palate refresher. I’m not sure I can differentiate between whether it was my nostalgia over my personal poor choices in reading history or the spicy teasing tension that kept me interested enough to finish the book.

I can’t say I’d recommend this book. I can’t say I’d caution against this book. What I can say is “keep your expectations low and you might like it.”

I have been on a reading slump not being able to finish books as I lose interest halfway in. This book kept me hooked. I kept looking forward to reading it. I have a busy life and my only chance to read is at night. I ended up buying a kindle so I could read this and get to the end.

Okay now for the story without spoilers!
Rose- She's a college student that is a bit of over thinker, is struggling with OCD, and has poor self image due to her nickname. She lives with her brother Rob and it feels like also Tristan (her brother's best friend) who practically is always there.
She is a relatable character for me. Having my own struggles made me relate to her and her love for movies. I do hate a spoiler! My mom normally ruins things for me! I could understand the anger she felt. Sometimes it felt like she went over the top but yes, that's how it be sometimes! It was very real and true to how frustrating things can be for someone who wants to control everything or needs perfection and when you just become obsessed with a person because of your OCD.

Tristan was the most lovable guy. At times I felt frustrated at him not expressing how he felt but then again that's part of his character. Since this was the viewpoint of what Rose was seeing, it felt like I kept missing a part of the puzzle. I wish there was Tristan's point of view since we find out a lot about him at the end but wish it went more deep on his struggles. The end was the best when everything came together. I enjoyed the movie quotes throughout the book as well.

Some of the family scenes kinda felt unnecessary and at time it did jump from scene to scene and I had to re read certain parts to know where or what was happening but nothing that would take me out of the story.

I loved that they played hockey.
This was a slow burn
Rivals to lovers
Brothers best friend
OCD mental health
It was spicier than I'm used to, but it wasn't so much where it just felt overdone.
All the characters were great and wished the book would continue.

Overall I loved this and I cant wait to read more books from this author being as this was her first published debut. I'm a fan from now on and hope to get my hands on a signed copy!