All the gushing things you’re hearing about this story are true. This lovely book checks so many boxes for me—positive fat rep *check*, fandom/fan fiction as a major plot point *check*, awesome romance *check*, great secondary characters/found family *check*. If any of those things sound good to you, definitely read Spoiler Alert!

When they “meet”, Marcus is getting to a place where he needs to make a decision on how he’s going to present himself to the world going forward—be real or continue on his current path. April is just starting to take steps to be real in her world and not hide aspects of her life from people she knows. The juxtaposition of where these two characters were at emotionally to start really worked for me but at the same time they weren’t at the same place for much of the book and like human beings, their emotional baggage led to misunderstandings and trust issues that were at times gut-wrenching for me to read. My stomach was in knots in the lead up to a big reveal which was going to lead to the dark moment just ugh, my heart!

I love April’s bravery and self-confidence. Marcus is so kind and just wants to be respected and a good person. I got a kick out of their individual realizations of “oh crap, I’m so attracted to him/her. That’s inconvenient.” They are just super sexy together. Their reconciliation (thank you, Olivia Dade, for making the dark moment brief!) was cute and satisfying. I can’t wait to get more of Alex (Marcus’ best friend) and Lauren in the next book and I want more of April’s co-workers and the fan fic writers.

The romance is great and all but I also want to talk about the incredible cover art for this book. So cute! And it inspired fabulous cosplay by @PacificEater on Twitter. And the structure is something else too. Dade created a whole world with this book—a whole book series and TV show to build a fleshed out fandom around including snippets of fan fiction between chapters and a convention. And references to Marcus’ film career lead to glimpses of scripts from some of his movies. I love the attention to detail that went into this book that made it just a next level experience for me.

I love the passionate deep dives and how just one phrase or line can inspire so many fics and think pieces in fandom. I’m barely into fan fiction/fandom stuff and not into Game of Thrones or the like (Schitt’s Creek is my jam for fan fiction and I just read fic) but I was easily able to follow what was happening so I wouldn’t worry if the fandom/fan fiction is holding you back from reading this book. I’m very excited for Alex and Lauren’s book next summer!

Content warnings: fat shaming (not by main characters), emotionally abusive parents, dyslexia diagnosed later in life so traumatic childhood/teenage years referenced

Grade A-

4.5 and rounding up

This book was all of my catnip....geek culture, fan fiction, cosplay, learning disability, body positivity, explicit consent, and emotional growth of both main characters.

April and Marcus are best friends online in a fan fiction community but do not know each other’s real identity. Marcus is an actor for the show he is writing fan fiction and his career would be threatened if his secret got out. Marcus was such a sweet character and I loved him and his vulnerabilities and where he blundered and made mistakes. I liked April. She had such a strength and conviction to her.

I was thrilled to see Alex and Lauren are getting their own book. I cannot wait to read it. I plan to check out the author’s backlist now also.

This is a great contemporary romance. The characters are super awesome. I loved the characters. There was awesome chemistry between them. The kissing scenes were extremely toe curling. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed reading about April and Marcus’s love story set in the world of fanfiction. I thought this was a fun book - I loved that the leading man (literally a TV star) fell in love with a normal and self-described fat girl. I thought the character of April was really real, and I appreciate the non-traditional female lead. This was just fun! This definitely won’t be my last Olivia Dade book!

Thanks to @NetGalley and HarperCollins for my ARC!

The world of fandom takes the stage in a cute, loving relationship that shows the importance of trust and communication, especially in a romantic relationship. There were so many aspects to love about this book and I will hold this close to my heart as an example of one of the healthiest relationships I’ve ever seen represented.

I especially appreciated how Marcus realistically dealt with his dyslexia and his methods of working with it over time, even after seeing it as a negative part of his identity. As a reader with OCD, longer novels are always difficult because my mind wanders and I use to see that as a drawback and proof of stupidity because I lost focus frequently. Like Marcus, I work with my OCD and have a special someone to remind me that I’m worthy of love.

This book had so much delightfulness and deliciousness! I loved both of the MCs and the fabulous rep! I admit that some of the FanFic stuff was lost on me, I maybe would have enjoyed those parts more if they related to one of my personal fandoms. Either way I will definitely be reading the next book in the universe!

I wanted to really love this novel, like plus sized woman love story... but it wasn't as great as hoped. There was something missing that I can't put my finger on, but it didn't hit the spot betting that it's both of them have a secret which seems to be the fallout in most romance novels. Agreeing with other reviewers there is something strange with fanfic writers and actors connecting but not known to each other and circling around with their secrets. I wanted to love that the main character was a geologist, but we didn't really learn anything about that part of her, as most of the book was her fanfic persona. The actor did have some things I loved like listening to audio books as a tool with his dyslexia. All in all the good didn't make the bad less in this novel and sadly it was like a 2 star read for me.

Thanks for the NetGalley ARC, this didn't influence my thoughts and all thoughts are my own.

Spoiler Alert might be my new favorite romance novel. I loved both the protagonists: smart, sexy, kind, and just plain interesting. I'm not that into fanfic myself, but I love it when characters are passionate about a topic and the bits between chapters were really entertaining. I can't wait to read the next one in the series!

I used this book for my romance book club at my library and it went over very well. I have been a fan of Olivia Dade for a while and I was happy to see that she's been picked up by a big publisher. I love how incisive her books always are. Spoiler Alert was a great example of body positivity in romance. I really loved the romance that grew between Marcus and April. I love the inclusion of the bits of fanfic and the hilarity of Marcus's previous movie roles. I actually liked the inclusion of the difficult family dynamics of both Marcus and April and I think it added a lot to my understanding of the characters and what motivated them. Over all I really enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author

I really saw myself in the heroine of this book, or at least who I want to be. April is strong, confident, funny, and also, fat. She's shamelessly fat and doesn't care who or what knows it. She's also content in her fatness and asserts that she deserves love no matter what she looks like. This is a wonderfully fat positive story, and I so wish there could be more titles like this one for all of us fat people who want to see themselves finding love without having to have some drastic makeover and getting skinny to do so.

I ***loved*** this book. The chemistry between the main characters is magical. I have recommended this time and again since reading.

This one was cute. I liked the premise, and I loved the fat girl rep, but it ended up being quite predictable to me, and I also didn’t get as much character growth as I would have liked.

Fanfic! Cosplay! Online friends! A BADASS FAT HEROINE!!!

This is my second Olivia Dade book and I continue to be in love. Catch me recommending this to everyone I know.

Ok, April is perfect. I love her. She is confident and sexy and funny and smart and she's vulnerable and she has trust issues and I love her. She is a multi-faceted character who loves herself and demands the respect she deserves from others and you just don't see that very often with fat characters in fiction. Too often they are just their fatness. And that is not April. Yes she is fat, and yes she embraces that, but she is also SO MANY OTHER THINGS!

As someone who watched probably the first half of GoT, the Braime just jumped right out at me and I would just like to say that I loved it.

I just... this was so good and like I said before, I'm gonna be shoving it in everyone's faces for the foreseeable future.

Just reading the first chapter of this book was incredibly painful. It feels like a teenager wrote it and is in desperate need of better editing. A huge disappointment.

Y'all, this was so cute! I did have a few minor issues with it (mostly of the Secondhand Embarrassment and Holy-Miscommunication-Batman variety), which is why it's four and not five stars. But overall I had such a good time with this romance! Dade struck a good balance between unabashed fat positivity and acknowledgement of fatphobia, without being too depressing or too unrealistic. The fandom aspects--which included excerpts from fake fics--were fun although sometimes corny. Besides the fat representation with the heroine April, the hero Marcus is dyslexic and feels trapped by a himbo public persona he created to hide his insecurities. The character arcs for both April and Marcus are about existing as their true selves and setting boundaries with toxic people in their lives. There are some really wonderful messages in this story, and I thought the main couple were super sweet together!

This romance is raunchy, saucy, and hilarious while also promoting body positivity. I giggled so hard at times. Especially when they went off on a pegging tangent. This was such a fun ride. It makes you want to let your freak flag fly and just love your whole self.

I loved it. It's a romance novel with fanfic and fandom, what's not to like? I can't wait for the second one. This was literally just what I wanted to read in the freezing cold February.

This book brought me hours of delight. If you love fandom, fanfic, fantasy, bitching about GOT, and seeing truly kind, complicated people who are just trying their best fall in love, you should read it immediately. Swoony and sarcastic, with a badass heroine and a sweetheart hero - my catnip!

Such a great romance! If you have ever frequented AO3 and you believe in body positivity, this is definitely the book for you! Well, also romance. You have to like romance too. One of the only reasons it's not 5 stars is because I don't particularly enjoy plots where miscommunication creates the majority of the conflict. The way Dade describes the way Marcus thinks made it a little easier to appreciate, and I did think the aftermath of the big conflict was well-executed. The fatphobia April experiences is heart-breaking, and definitely hard to read. However, the book as a whole was still funny and quirky and steamy and fluffy-- all things that I love and appreciate in a contemporary romance novel. The hilarious supporting cast of characters gives me hope that there will be a sequel or two, and I can't wait!

I have a new book for the favorites shelf! Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade follows actor Marcus and cosplaying geologist April, who end up on a date after Marcus steps in on Twitter to shut down the trolls harassing her. Little do they know, they’ve been talking for years under pseudonyms on a fanfiction website dedicated to the show Marcus stars in. Dade delivers a thinly veiled critique of HBO’s Game of Thrones which had me cackling, all while showing the power, talent, and passion of the fanfiction community. It’s a swoony romance and a love letter to fandom, which went right to my former fanfic writer heart. Meanwhile, April earned a rightful spot as one of my absolute favorite portrayals of a fat heroine for the way Dade explored the harm that fatphobia causes while still showing April to be strong, self-assured, and desirable. So many aspects felt like a balm to my soul, and I will forever be grateful to Dade for that. I can’t wait to pick up more from Dade and see where she takes this series next!