I love how Olivia Dade's books have plus size MCs! This was a cute enemies to lovers book, with a side of some serious depression, and some hilarious monster porn. A quick, enjoyable read. I'm really looking forward to Karl's book next.

I love Olivia Dade. She knows exactly what her reader wants, and she delivers. I felt so many feelings, and I loved Athena as a protag.

Olivia Dade’s At First Spite is the first in her new contemporary romance series Harlot’s Bay, named after the residence of the characters in Harlot’s Bay, Maryland. It’s a romantic comedy, but does deal with some pretty heavy emotional themes (the author prefaces the story with a content note). If a book can make me laugh, make me cry, and linger in my memory for days, it’s a winner and well deserving of a Desert Isle Keeper rating.

Athena Graydon thought her engagement to Johnny Vine and a move to Harlot’s Bay was going to be the first notch in climbing a ladder to a more stable and successful life. But overhearing Johnny’s brother Matthew tell Johnny that the engagement was a mistake, and Johnny’s subsequent dumping of her strikes a blow to her plans and her self-esteem. If only she hadn’t bought the tiny house - nicknamed the Spite House by local residents - that’s next to Johnny’s as an engagement gift for him with all her savings! The plans to combine the two houses into one are now irrevocably broken. Athena is stuck with the house as her own, and lo and behold if it doesn’t bring her right back in the vicinity of her nemesis Matthew, who, infuriatingly, lives across the alley facing her.

Job hunting in the local town leads to few prospects, though Athena does manage to get some temporary jobs. All the while she thinks and acts on ways to spite Matthew for his interference in her relationship with Johnny. What she doesn’t know is the reasoning behind Matthew’s actions and words, nor does she know to what lengths he is going behind her back in the attempt to try to make amends.

Matthew feels terrible about how Athena feels, even though he’s convinced that they would never have been a happy couple together so it was the right decision for Johnny to break up with her. He also feels guilty about his attraction to her, something that had started before he knew exactly who she was. Now it’s double the guilt, for ruining her life AND being attracted to his brother’s former fiancée. Gradually, thanks to their close proximity and Matthew’s kind and attentive manner, Athena is able to forgive him and friendship blooms, followed eventually by deeper feelings. But can Athena trust Matthew with her heart after having him break it once already?

This romance has several deeply emotional scenes that intersperse with the more comedic and funny moments. It’s clear early on that Matthew is grieving a loss that has affected him since he was a child. He is very protective of Johnny, having become a surrogate parent when their parents divorced, and as such, he’s always acted more in Johnny’s best interests rather than his own, leaving him frustrated, exhausted and lonely most of the time. The character reminded me of Martin in the author’s Teach Me (a top ten book of mine in 2019) – a really nice guy challenged by life’s often difficult circumstances. Having Athena across the alleyway from him is temptation and torture. But he goes out of his way to be friendly and pleasant to her in public and supportive in private, gradually winning her over to understanding that he really isn’t the bad guy she’s made him out to be. And maybe, just maybe, he might have been right that marriage to Johnny would have been a mistake.

By mid-point in the story, Athena’s thoughts and actions have slipped into something more serious than ‘the blues’ and Matthew’s concern for her as she goes missing from the public eye has him braving his own fears to check up on her. Athena is clinically depressed and the author does an admirable job of describing her condition, the circumstances leading up to and during the episode, and the hard work of pulling herself out of it with the help of therapy and Matthew’s attention. It’s heartwrenching and heartwarming all at once. But the end result is to put Athena on a better path, and one from which she can now see a future with Matthew and a chance to really put down roots in Harlot’s Bay.

The secondary characters are well-rounded and add those small town details one expects with a few exceptions – namely that the surly baker Karl likes monster erotica and listens to it in his bakery at full volume prior to opening hours, and that some of the residents have formed a Nasty Wenches book club that exclusively reads erotic romance. This definitely adds to the comedic parts of the story. The character growth of Athena, Matthew, and Johnny (who is away on the pre-planned and paid for (by Matthew) honeymoon trip without Athena when she moves into the Spite House but returns to Harlot’s Bay) is sometimes painful but believable and leads the way towards a satisfying happy ending for everyone. At First Spite is definitely a contender for my top ten list this year and is highly recommended. I eagerly await the next in the series!

I love Olivia Dade! Her stories make me swoon, and this story did the same! I immediately felt for Athena and fell in love with Matthew! I laughed at their antics and banter! Definitely a great story for those loving a little steamy romcom!

✨ 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!