Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
Published: October 6, 2020
Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.
With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?
I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did. This was a really cute hidden identity romance. April, our smart, funny and confident plus size (heckin’ yes, finally!) heroine loves writing fan fic of her favorite TV show Gods of the Gates. Marcus, who writes Gods of the Gates fan fic as well uses it as his outlet to vent his frustrations of being a main character on the show and watching the show crash and burn no thanks to the show runners. He also tends to act like a self-centered dope in public, hiding his real personality. April and Marcus have known each other for years under their fanfic writing pseudonyms but when April posts a cosplay pic to get ready for the upcoming Gods of the Gates convention, Marcus asks her out on a date to stop trolls.
I wasn’t expecting the emotional depth from this book. April I feel like didn’t go through as much of a journey as Marcus but I don’t mind that. She was more towards the end of her journey although, the tension with her parents hit hard and felt very real as I (also on the slightly heavier side) have heard family talk about my weight just like April has. Marcus to me had more of a struggle to get through and really had a lot of unresolved issues which made sense why he kept such high walls.
Olivia Dade did a wonderful job of writing these characters. I’ve been looking for a romance where the characters didn’t skew younger. And I know they exist but for what’s shown on booktok or popular lists, you can’t find a lot of older characters. So Marcus being 40 and April being 36 was amazing as a woman in her 30’s it was what I was looking for. And Dade did a great job of the conversations feeling real. A lot of the times I feel as though romance books or contemporary/rom com romance it’s not a focus for the author to give really well thought out dialogue so it feels slapped together but in this, it feels really true and just real.
I loved the romance aspect of this though, it was safe, sweet, and just pure. I think what held me back the most from a higher rating is just the setting. Fanfic writing and cosplaying, although I’ve dabbled in a bit of both, I didn’t really enjoy reading for some reason. Maybe hidden identities just isn’t the trope for me.
Rating: 3.75/5 Stars
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