This book was fantastic. The relationship between Alex and Lauren was so well written and thoroughly real. Seeing Alex's ADHD reminds me of living with a man with ADD and how his mind and mouth work sometimes. The type of verbal abuse thrown Lauren's way is all too real but her evolution by the end of the novel was uplifting and wonderful. It does follow the traditional trope of a romance novel but that can be reassuring when you know how it ends. I had to go back to Spoiler Alert to re-read the interactions of Alex and Lauren there and the symmetry was exquisite, Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to read this ARC and scream from the rooftops for others to READ THIS BOOK. Olivia Dade is an amazing author and I hope to read her book for years to come.

Super cute read! Alex is my newest book boyfriend and I absolutely love how well written his character is- flaws and all. As a bigger girl I love having a female MC that is relatable and fully in control of herself and her body. Loved it just as much as I did Spoiler Alert.

*First, I want to say thank you for NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in return for an honest review*

Now bear with me because this review may be a bitter scattered. I loved the first book Spoiler Alert because of the way that Made portrays fandom culture and fulfilled a lot of fans' dreams of falling in love with the actor who plays their favourite character. Now it's Alex's turn to find love! I had a fun time with Alex and his eccentricities, and I loved how Olivia Dade didn't stray from showing both the upsides and downsides to ADHD. I personally do not have ADHD, but I have close friends who behave similarly to Alex, and if it was meaningful to me to see characters like him, I can only imagine how my friends would feel. His love interest Lauren is a great and calm companion to his ball of hyper energy. After working in the ER as a therapist, her face-to-face experience with people is perfect for the task her cousin sets her: being the babysitter of Alex.

Dade does a great job with building their relationship from the beginning as bickering pair who have to deal with each other to friends to lovers in an organic way that doesn't feel forced. I thoroughly enjoyed their sparring and how they bonded with each other without hiding who they were. Every novel must have a conflict, and with romance novels, I get weary when I get to the third-act conflict because it feels like the characters have a simple misunderstanding that could be resolved with one open talk. All The Feels does not have this problem, and I could feel myself in both main characters' shoes when it comes to how the inevitable falling out before getting back together plot point. It takes a talented writer and team to execute a plot like that.

All in all, I am a huge fan of this series and all of the Olivia Dade books I have read (which are most of them!). Shoutout to discussing and the spotlight on pegging and other fan fiction tropes that are spread across the world (like soulmate marks and "there's only one bed"). Now all I want are the scenes where they act out the different fan fiction tropes, please Olivia!

CW: Body shaming/fat shaming, on-page sex, domestic abuse, swearing, mental health

Before I begin my full-on squeeing over this book, I need to add a disclaimer that Olivia is a complete auto-buy author for me. Once I read her self-published book, Teach Me, a few years ago I was all in and have never looked back. And beyond that, I consider Olivia a friend so you can consider that when reading this review for sure.

Okay, but moving on to this actual book, All the Feels is the follow-up to the fanfiction bestseller Spoiler Alert, which was on my top books of 2020 list so I was so excited to read this! We got the best glimpse into Alex and Lauren’s relationship in the previous book with Alex going into a quiet rage over the God of the Gates showrunner’s treatment of Lauren. We’d seen him basically torpedo his career at the end of the last book. We back up a bit here and see the beginning of their relationship when those same showrunners had hired Lauren to watch Alex and keep him out of the public eye after one too many of his antics got him in trouble. Technically you do not need to read Spoiler Alert before reading this book, but you would be missing a lot of nuance to the beginning of their relationship.

Alex is seen by the public, and by the showrunners, as this affable, gorgeous actor who just gets into trouble…a lot. Hence, the hiring of Lauren to babysit him, who is the cousin of one of Alex’s show’s producers. Lauren is the mental health practitioner at an ER and had taken a break because of the high stress she’d experienced in that position. The two of them being thrown together creates this wonderful sort of tension from the start where Alex just wants to needle her because Lauren is so organized and responsible. And Lauren can take his humor to an extent, but her tough exterior hides a soft center that he can hurt occasionally unintentionally. Through the ‘minding’ of Alex and his attempts at getting to her they’re spending a ton of time together and becoming friends and I love the way that this slowly develops a friendship over the course of the book, which is the entire basis of their relationship. Because they develop that friendship they’re oh so slowly peeling back the layers of the other, revealing bits of themselves in their conversations.

I love both of these characters so, so much. Like I said, Lauren has a soft center, who just needs a break from the trauma of the ER. And normally I’m extremely all about the heroine, and while I love Lauren, Alex absolutely gives her a run for her money here. I was completely unprepared to love him as much as I did, I should have known that Olivia Dade would deliver another hero that would steal my heart. He is hilarious, kind, and truly would do anything for someone he loves. One of the things I thought was so well done is the way Alex loves Lauren and her looks throughout. Alex loves the way Lauren looks, when he calls her bird-like and round he genuinely loves those things. They have to work on their communication to get on the same page that these are positive and beautiful attributes, and I felt that was really true to real life – miscommunication and how to work from there.

There are so many moments I laughed out loud at in this book, and moments that made me cry. One of the best things about this book that ties it into the first is the love of fan fiction. There’s a scene with only one bed that cracked me up to no end. And the ending scene – obviously no spoilers – but truly made me cry. And has made me seek out fic based on that trope because I love it so much.

There’s so much to love about this book and these characters, but my favorite is that over the course of the book the two realize they are both worthy of love.

CN: off-page domestic violence in the past; verbal abuse and belittling of FMC by side characters; MMC has ADHD; off-page violence

Story: 3 ⭐️
Steam: 3 🔥 light smut


I’m conflicted about this book. I have a hard time deciding if I liked it or not. On one hand, I was excited for this story. And I found it difficult to put down. On the other hand I found the story frustrating.

I love that Alex has ADHD. It was great to see that represented in a book. However for the first half of the book I found it painful to read how he talked about Lauren. I could tell he cared about her but it was just drilled over and over again to the reader that Lauren is ugly and fat and bird like. Over and over. It started hurting my heart.

Something i find frustrating about this author’s writing is her over usage of the word round when describing her heroine’s bodies. Multiple word were used in this book that i had to look up because I had no idea what they meant but the only word that can be used to describe a plus sided body is round? Her body is referred to as “round” 20 times in this book. This is only the second book I’ve read from this author but it was frequent in the other book as well.

Going into this book I had one wish. I wanted Alex to be pegged. It was an ongoing thing in book one and then continued in this book. And out of the 18 times pegging us referred to in this book, he gets pegged 0 times. It is eluded to in the epilogue but that is all. This was incredibly disappointing.

I wanted so badly to love this book but it just didn’t do it for me.

This book is the delightfully self indulgent sequel to Spoiler Alert following the slightly flighty Alex (on the GoT-esque show) and his minder Lauren. They're very much opposites, he had ADD and is constantly feeling guilty for not being "selfless" enough, while she is calm, steady, and burnt out from working in therapy in an ER. It's understandable to see why they hit it off.
While the main man of this book often felt like he was written to be younger than he was, the way this book covers the way guilt can creep into every part of your life, the way that people tend to take abuse and adapt to it, was painful and beautifully written about.
I liked the snarky humor that flew between our two main characters, and just in general, this was a delightful read with a satisfying end.

Another gorgeously written romance from Olivia Dade! I loved revising the world of Spoiler Alert. Alex and Lauren were delightful. I loved the ADHD rep and how the book dealt with Lauren not being conventionally attractive.

My verdict: Spoiler Alert may have raised the bar too high. I wanted to love this book but I just couldn't.

I appreciated the body positivity message in both books but Alex's constant nagging of Lauren and repeatedly making fun of her short and round statue irritated me so much I just couldn't get past that because Alex's teasing edges on meanness. Was he trying to crack the facade she's built around by talking non-stop, making jokes about her appearance? Maybe I don't possess the sense of humor to appreciate Alex's teasing. One of my pet peeves is author's over emphasizing the physical features of a character. We are told multiple times that Lauren is not conventionally attractive.

I liked Lauren and her character's growth throughout the story. She was selfless to a fault. Even though she was experiencing burn-out at her job as a therapist at ER, she was still considering going back to said job because she believed she could do the most help there. Alex encouraged Lauren to stand up for herself and treat herself better and help her realize her own self worth.

Even though he rubbed me the wrong way almost half of the book, I have to give credit to Alex's good qualities. He was very generous with service workers, very passionate with the charity he supports and he was a good listener when it comes to Lauren.

The story focuses on communication and respect. Alex and Lauren's connection builds slowly and they became close friends first which I liked. I am not 100% sold on their mutual attraction (no way related to Lauren's looks.) This is such a slow burn then all of a sudden it gets steamy during a road trip, because of that inevitable only one bed situation:)

One thing that feels very true in this story is the characters. Lauren is overweight and not at all attractive so she has some deep self doubts about her desirability. Alex is a handsome, kind, very nice guy who has ADHD and seems a bit stuck in immaturity mode. She is a therapist and he is a famous actor. The author brings these two together and against all odds leads them to a true romance.

I enjoyed this book even though I did not always appreciate Alex's motor-mouth and childishness. Lauren is the steady rock in the relationship. I can recommend this book to those who are fans of Romantic Comedy movies and Contemporary Romance books.

4.25 stars

Loved reading Wren & Alex's story!

What caught my eye in the synopsis of Spoiler Alert was fanfiction. I've been reading fanfic for over 12 years, so Spoiler Alert & All the Feels were definitely going on my TBR. I read Spoiler Alert a couple of months ago & really enjoyed Marcus & April's story. Pre-ordered All the Feels, but ended lucky enough to get an ARC ecopy from NetGalley.

Along with both Spoiler Alert & All the Feels having fanfic in them another part I loved was that Alex mentioning book tropes. Reading a book with characters that also like to read makes the book feel more special to me.


Happy that the extra movie & fanfic scenes in between the chapters continued in All the Feels. Loved getting glimpses of Alex's past roles & his Cupid fanfics.

Look forward to more books by Olivia Dade

This book convinced me to that fanfic references in a book don’t have to be cringy. Alex and Lauren were absolutely adorable from start to finish. I loved their banter and snark. I think both of their insecurities made them into more well rounded characters and I really believed their faults and how it led to their brief and heartbreaking separation. I think of the two books Spoiler Alert and this one, All the Feels was definitely the stronger. I didn’t even roll my eyes at the tattoo Alex got for being cheesy because soulmark was so sticky sweet and just made sense at that point. I definitely enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see more of their gorgeously plump self within the main character.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!!

Alex is an actor on a mega-popular TV show who keeps getting himself into trouble. Desperate to avoid bad press, the producers hire Lauren to shadow Alex and follow his every move. In a case of opposites attracting, Alex and Lauren find themselves actually wanting to spend time together outside of their professional arrangement.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt like Alex and Lauren’s relationship was almost forced in a way. I didn’t buy that they truly fell for each other - and I really liked them both in Spoiler Alert! I just really felt like something was lacking in this book. I enjoy that Olivia Dade writes about not conventionally attractive females and I loved Spoiler Alert.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC!

***huge thank you to both netgalley and avon publications for kindly providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!***

although i haven't had a chance to read spoiler alert before this, i was super excited to read all the feels after reading the blurb! i mean.. what's not to like about a delightful asshole and his minder falling in love?? i found this book to be a really good mix of fluff and angst, while also having a compelling and well-paced plot. PLUS it was grumpy-sunshine (one of my fave tropes), but lauren was the grump and alex was the sunshine!! i love it.

i thought that alex was such a sweet, sweet male main character. his protectiveness and desire to just be good was something that i found really endearing. i liked that we got to unpack who he was as wren was doing the same, it made his character exposition and development flow really smoothly. i do wish that we had gotten a little more exposition on his ADHD, i felt like that aspect of his character was breezed over a little bit but overall i think it showed some great representation. the moments with alex and his mom were also really special, i think his character showed incredible vulnerability and emotional growth.

i also thought that lauren was a great female main character! i really liked that we got to see her grow on her own and stick up for herself throughout the book. although her and alex lead very different lives, i thought it was interesting how they were both at a sort of crossroads in their careers when they get together. i loved seeing the plus size representation through her character, and thought it was done in a thoughtful way so her body type wasn't being fetishized. i'm such a sucker for the female main character being the grump and i thought it was so sweet to see her fall for alex.

i LOVED all of the nods to fanfiction in this book, and i'm such a sucker for when the characters are really aware of their trope-y behavior. that was certainly the case with alex and wren and i thought it added a super fun layer to the story! i also really liked how the author included other pieces of "media" in the book like stories on ao3, text exchanges, and scripts. i think those pieces helped to pull some aspects of the book together where there might otherwise have been some holes.

AND THE ENDING!!! i was tearing up it was so, so sweet. i loved the little gifts that they gave to each other and thought they were so special.

overall, i thought this was such a sweet and steamy read! i had so much fun reading it, but also felt like it had a good mix of realistic relationship issues, past trauma, and romance.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I had hoped to as I love a good romance with a plus sized main character, but the characters were hard to love and the writing was subpar. I had such high hopes for this book, but sadly it fell flat for me.

Ultimately, I'd give this 3.5 stars! Overall it was an enjoyable read, but there were a few things that caused me to round my rating down rather than up, which I mention in my review below.

As an avid fanfiction reader, I was immediately captured by the premise of the first book in this series, Spoiler Alert. A plus sized female character who writes fanfiction falls in love with an actor from the Game of Thrones-style show that she writes fanfiction for (who himself writes fanfiction)? Sold! So when I heard there would be a sequel featuring some of the side characters from Spoiler Alert, it immediately jumped to the top of my TBR list.

In All the Feels we follow Alex Woodroe, another actor from the show. Alex has a long-running tendency to be impulsive. His impulsiveness culminates in him instigating a bar fight just as the last season of the show wraps up filming. This latest catastrophe is the final straw for the show runners who decide that Alex needs a minder to keep him in line until the series finale airs. Enter Lauren, the no-nonsense ER therapist cousin of one of the showrunners. What starts out as a mock antagonistic relationship between Alex and Lauren quickly (perhaps a little too quickly) develops into a genuine friendship with the potential for more.

Let’s start with the positives:

Overall I like the way that Lauren and Alex treat each other. There’s a focus on communication and respect, and realizing your own self worth, that I appreciated. By the end of the book they’ve reached a relationship where they respect themselves and each other while still being able to tease each other. It strikes a healthy balance that can be hard to find in rom-com stories.

I also like that it wasn’t a story about Alex teaching Lauren that she’s attractive. Instead it was aimed at something a lot more insidious--the fact that Lauren has learned to devalue and decenter her own needs over time. Over the course of the story Lauren learns that it’s okay to make space for herself to be happy.

I particularly love the way that Alex encourages Lauren to treat herself better. Because Alex understands that Lauren is still uncomfortable taking good things for herself, he creates a running joke that encourages her to do so while acting like it’s actually a matter of his own selfishness. For example, in one scene Alex and Lauren are having breakfast and she’s about to leave him the bagel that she considers the best one. Alex notices and declares that he’s taking the “better” bagel and takes the other one instead, leaving the best one for her. In trying to make Lauren feel less self-conscious while also deflecting from it into a gentle joke, it made his actions feel even more considerate of her feelings and really helped me to connect with him as a character.

One of the other things I especially appreciated was the larger conflict towards the end of the book. While it revolved around a misunderstanding, it felt more genuinely rooted in character in a way that was refreshing. Too often conflicts in rom-coms feel very manufactured, but this one felt like it was a genuine result of Alex and Lauren each thinking they were doing the best thing for the other person. It also helped to highlight habits they each had to unlearn by the end of the book in order to be better partners and healthier people overall.

Here’s what I struggled with:

The pacing. I often found myself losing track of how close I was to a major turning point or the climax. While I don’t want a book to be formulaic, it still would have helped to have a clearer sense of where I was in the story. Since Lauren’s only contracted for a set period of time, I expected there to be a ticking clock that would help to orient me, but it didn’t play as big a part in the structuring of the story as I expected. I found the same to be true when the story pivots to be a road trip story--which is an element I love! I just feel again that it didn’t spend very long being an actual road trip story before it switched gears again.

In terms of the characters, Alex sometimes ran hot and cold in a way that ultimately seemed to be for the sake of the plot. I did appreciate the attempt to give depth to his abrupt shifts in mood by giving more insight to his ADHD. In one instance we learn that sensitivity to rejection is a facet of how Alex experiences the world as an adult with ADHD. As the book goes on it gives more and more insight into Alex’s ADHD and how he lives with it—but even with that I was still left feeling like he was a character ruled by the needs of the story rather than the other way around.

Now here’s my final and biggest issue with this book. The lack of fanfiction. I was really hoping for more of the fandom and fanfiction writing element that we got in Spoiler Alert, since we do see Alex writing fanfiction as a side character in that story. Alex is new to writing fanfiction, so we could have had a lot of fun seeing his introduction to the process of it, and having it be a secret source of rebellion. Instead the fanfiction felt more like a light seasoning, sprinkled in after the fact. There were some references to tropes in this book, which I did appreciate—including an especially sweet reference to soulmark stories—but overall it just didn’t play as large a role as I was hoping or expecting.

All the Feels did eventually wrap up into a satisfying ending. I do definitely look forward to reading another book by this author, especially if it’s set in this world again. I also plan on purchasing a physical copy of All the Feels once it’s released, and I plan to recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the first book or enjoys writing fanfiction and is looking for a light and readable rom-com with some heart.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review will be posted at Shelf Awareness around date of publication.
***

Olivia Dade follows Spoiler Alert with All the Feels, a hilarious and heartfelt opposites-attract romance. Dade again pairs a gorgeous A-list actor with a fat un-famous woman and her characters are just as lovable as before, but their journey together looks entirely different. Alex Woodroe is the fun-loving, sharp-witted friend everyone loves to be around, but his big heart and ADHD are a liability in Hollywood. When he's arrested in a well-intentioned bar fight, Alex's producer hires Lauren Clegg, a reserved emergency services clinician in need of respite, to keep him out of trouble until the final season of his "Game of Thrones"-like show has finished airing. They're required to spend almost all of their time together, so Dade keeps the banter flowing. She skillfully develops her characters and their relationship through humor balanced with some deeper moments, moving from "Big Harpy Energy" jokes to a scene in which Alex explains why he writes fanfic to correct the way his character's final season arc depicts abusive relationships.
Lauren and Alex's connection builds slowly, a sweet and sarcastic friendship that ramps up to a few surprisingly steamy scenes during a two-week road trip. Much of the book's conflict is external and these two generous people are fiercely protective of each other, making it easy for readers to stand firmly in their corner.
All the Feels delivers lots of laughs and gives her characters--and her readers--a well-deserved happy ending.--Suzanne Krohn, Librarian and Freelance Reviewer

Discover: A charmingly reckless actor falls for the reserved woman hired to keep him out of trouble in this laugh-out-loud opposites-attract romantic comedy.

I unfortunately DNFed this one. I struggled with, and eventually DNFed Spoiler Alert from this author, because I just couldn’t get into her writing style. I hoped it wouldn’t be the same for this one but unfortunately it was. I don’t want to rate it negatively cause it’s 100% a personal thing, and has nothing to do with any issues about the book at all. Plus there is SUCH a lack of plus size rep, I never want to discourage it. It just turned out this wasn’t the book for me personally 🙈

All the Feels by Olivia Dade is the second in her Spoiler Alert series! I loved many things about this book! I loved the body positive themes, the cover is to die for, and the steam is the just right amount! If you loved Spoiler Alert....you are in for a TREAT!

Thank you so much to the publishers and netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the second book I have read by Olivia Dade and the follow up the adorable and popular Spoiler Alert, and I loved it! Alex is an ADHD Game of Thrones like television celebrity, who after getting in a bar fight while on location in Spain gets a “handler” to keep him in line in the form of Lauren. Lauren is on vacation from her challenging job as an ER therapist, when her cousin, who directs Alex, asks her to help watch over him. Though Lauren is hesitant at first, there is chemistry and connection between Lauren and Alex. All the Feels is NOT the same as Spoiler Alert, and that’s okay! This story deals with similar and different topics such as recovering from trauma, self love, and mental health. I think that Dade is a great writer who always does a great job giving her characters depth and compassion, while also making them likable as they grow in their relationships and as people. I also liked the character’s chemistry and how they slowly fell for each other. I highly recommend this book for people who like inclusive romance (Lauren is plus sized and Alex is ADHD), open door chemistry, and enemies to lovers light (they joke and bicker at the beginning and throughout).

I absolutely devoured this book! I love that it gave me grumpy/sunshine trope vibes, but that the male main character played the roll of sunshine for once!

First we have Alex, who is this charming, charismatic, protective, moves 1000 miles a minute actor who is deemed "trouble" for his production (who lets face it, is ran by a pair of assholes. Can we come together as readers and agree that they are the absolute worst?). Then enters Lauren, who is this highly intelligent, tough as nails, reserved (or so we think) woman who is hired on as his "minder" to keep Alex out of trouble. And while I am in love with Alex, don't get me wrong, I may be even more in love with Lauren. She has spent her whole life making herself smaller in order to make others more comfortable. Whether she was taking on more hours at work so others can be with their families, or literally shoving herself into a smaller space to make more room for the people around her, it is a practice that had been drilled into her head (also resulting in me rolling my eyes EVERYTIME I read about her asshole cousin, annoying aunt or oblivious parents).

My favorite thing about this book though, was the friendship that evolved between Alex and Wren first and foremost. There was grade A banter, a road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway, memories made that had me swooning and just the hilarity that was Alex's over the top humor mixed with Lauren's dry wit.

But when the spice did show up, it did not disappoint. The chemistry between Alex and Wren could be felt though the swipe of the pages on my phone.

The conflict was one that I think any reader could see coming, just based off of Alex and Wren's personalities. He was used to being willing to torpedo his own life in favor of others and she was so used to putting everyone else's well being above her own feelings that it didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was how both characters were so willing to work on themselves rather than just trying to fix one another.

I loved that they really did bring out the best in each other, Lauren taught Alex to slow down (the tiniest of bits), let others take care of themselves and to think before acting. And Alex taught Lauren that she is worthy of the space that she embodies and that her comfort and wellbeing is something that should take precedent. I LOVED the final interview scene..not only did Lauren tell asshole fans to go F**K themselves, but then they high fived over it!! It was so perfectly them.