Olivia Dade, as I have said repeatedly, is my go-to for older flawed characters. Divorces, weight issues, mental health issues, domestic abuse. I'd say if you liked Spoiler Alert, you'd like this, but clearly some people didn't. Alex has ADHD that isn't always under control (despite medication), which is not good in a high-stress, high-visibility profession like acting. In the grand scheme of things, he and Lauren would've never crossed paths if not for her abusive cousin and Alex's show's producer, Ron. (I love the continuing jabs Dade takes at what is basically the "Game of Thrones" David Benioff and D.B. Weiss debacle.) He bristles at having a handler, and, as a hospital intake therapist, Lauren is used to people bristling at her--and as her nose shows, she has received worse than Alex's jabs, from a patient she once evaluated. She has a thick skin, and when she commits to a plan she insists on carrying it out, putting her feelings aside, which over time she finally realizes she does to a fault.

Very few people question a gorgeous woman dating a mediocre looking man--here readers might question the premise of a hunk truly being sexually attracted to a woman who superficially is considered ugly, and thereby struggle with their chemistry. Part of Alex's attraction to Lauren is that he can't break her down--like when he jabs about how short she is--and that in turn forces him to eventually quiet down and be real. And in a town filled with artificiality, that realness is what's sexy to him, in my opinion. It transcends appearance and transforms it. But I understand people not liking his teasing behavior towards Lauren.

I can't imagine this series continuing--who's next? Ian? Highly unlikely--but I will definitely continue to read Dade's novels.

Olivia Dade is one of my favorite romance authors and I was so excited to receive an ARC of All the Feels! All the Feels is a heartfelt and hilarious romance. Alex is a movie star, recently in trouble for getting into a bar fight. With his producers on their last nerve, Lauren is hired to keep Alex out of trouble. Lauren is a burnt-out ER therapist and she figures that this job couldn’t possibly be harder than that. Since Alex is unable to leave Lauren’s sight, lest she lose her job, the two can’t help but get to know each other.

All the Feels is such a warm and charming book; I highly recommend you check it out! If you love fanfic tropes, this book acknowledges and plays with them in an utterly delightful way. Both Lauren and Alex are working through serious issues from their past as they get to know each other. Alex is struggling to consistently manage his ADHD while coping with trauma related to domestic abuse. This seemed very thoughtfully done. I really related to Lauren feeling burnt out in a caregiver profession, yet also wanting to do the most good with her training. All the Feels includes plus size rep, ADHD rep, and discussion of domestic abuse. You do not need to have read Spoiler Alert to read All the Feels, though I enjoyed the cameos from Marcus and the cast of Gods of the Gates.

I loved Alex and Lauren's romance and couldn't put this book down! This story is filled with witty banter and sweet moments that are guaranteed to give you all the feels. All the Feels releases October 26, 2021. Thank you so much to Olivia Dade, Avon, and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For the publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble etc

Have read Spoiler Alert and finding it to be difficult to read I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of the second book in the series. While I liked the characters Alex and Lauren as well as the message t by e author was giving I felt like the book was missing something. I was disinterested in a lot of it and found part redundant.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to review this book

Thank you Avon Books for my copy of All the Feels! All thoughts are my own.

I wanted to love this book. I had such a fun time reading Spoiler Alert last year so maybe I went in with my expectations too high, but this just didn’t work for me. It took me forever to read and I wasn’t tempted to pick it up whenever I had the chance, which is a huge Red Flag for me that it’s a book I’m just not into.

Synopsis:

What I Liked:

A Plus Size Main Character—I’m always happy to see this representation, especially in romance!

The Actor/Hollywood Aspect—I love going behind the scenes and as Game of Thrones fan, I love the subtle digs at how that show turned out.

What Didn’t Work:

The Romance—I really just didn’t root for Lauren and Alex, sadly. I didn’t like how they were brought together or how their story played out.

Alex—Alex really bothered me as a character. I didn’t fall for me and his language just grinded my gears. I didn’t like how he teased Lauren, I don’t know, I just didn’t vibe with him!

Pacing—It was just too slow for me! The banter didn’t move the story along. I usually like when characters are self aware but the constant acknowledgement of tropes just got annoying.

Content Warnings:

Mentions of Domestic Abuse, fatphobia

Character Authenticity: 2/5 Steam Rating: 2/5 Overall Rating: 2.5/5

Can I just say that this is an awesome follow-up to Spoiler Alert? Because it definitely is! You don't have to have read the first in the series though it does give a good background as to the setting and characters (and these two show up in the timeline of Marcus and April's romance). In a nutshell, it deals with actors who are dealing with a rocky ending to their fantasy series (like Game of Thrones) in which the TV story has surpassed the writing by the original author and the producers have made up their own script. Alex has ADHD (which the author treats with matter of factness and empathy) and tends to get himself into trouble and so the producers hire a minder for him, Lauren, who is a petite plus-sized woman with a no nonsense attitude but a heart of gold, one she quickly sees in the man she's 'babysitting'. It's not long before Lauren has a crush on Alex but never dreams he'd return it, not believing that someone as attractive as him could be interested in someone unremarkable like her. But Alex sees the real Lauren and likes her (and in fact lusts over her) and this leads to a swoonworthy romance with real life ups and downs with a well deserved happy ending. This author sees that women of all shapes and sizes deserve a happy ending and delivers in spades. Also, be prepared to snort-laugh on multiple occasions. Highly recommended!

Review Since reading Spoiler Alert, I’ve gotten into fanfic myself and I REALLY enjoyed the interludes. I kind of want to go back to Spoiler Alert now to immerse myself back in the fanfic universe.

Okay y’all, so…this was good, but I can’t help but be disappointed. I really enjoyed Spoiler Alert last year and I was beyond excited to read more about Alex and Lauren’s story. And, I honestly may like them more than April and Marcus, but something about this story didn’t fully work for me.

I think my biggest problem is that their relationship was built on honest communication and that’s what caused the miscommunication at the end. If they had talked to each other - like they had done the ENTIRE story, the conflict wouldn’t have occurred, and that frustrates me narratively.

My other criticism is that it’s impossible to read All The Feels without reading Spoiler Alert first. The first half takes place in the same timeline as Spoiler Alert and nearly recaps most of the major drama/plot points in April and Marcus’ relationship…so…that’s annoying. I had already read it so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but for those coming in blind, I can see how it would be off putting.

I really enjoy both Alex and Lauren. I identified a lot with Lauren’s need for perfection and a lot of her musings about her childhood, personal life, etc, (as I feel most fat people do). She took no shit and I really appreciated a plus size character who wasn’t sensitive about her weight. I feel like we so rarely get that, even when it’s touted as body positive, so that was incredibly refreshing.

Their love story Is incredibly sweet and built (from the ground up) upon mutual respect. I will always appreciate a good friends-to-lovers story (though, I feel like it was more crushes to lovers for a good portion of this).

(This is kind of minor, but how can we have had all of Spoiler Alert learning about Alex’s fics, for them to just be thrown to the side in this story? Sure they’re incorporated, but…when pegging is mentioned THAT much, I fully expect to see it in his character’s novel…I saw that there’s a preorder bonus scene incentive, but come on. I feel like the mainstream, traditionally published, romance genre can handle it lol.)

All the feels was a very cute and enjoyable read. I liked visiting this world again and I like how these books deal with the fanfiction world.

I smiled when Alex mentioned his favorite tropes like the one bed in hotel room trope. There was also spicy romance scenes.

This was a five star rating, I enjoyed every minute of reading this.

I absolutely adored the first book in this series, Spoiler Alert, but I didn't believe the chemistry at all between the main characters.

I really wanted to like this book because I loved Spoiler Alert. I really liked the main characters in this story, but I just never really got pulled into this book. It was cute and I liked it.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was excited for this one. I’d liked the snippets of both Alex and Lauren in Spoiler Alert and was ready for them. While parts of their relationship and chemistry worked for me, there was something that felt rushed or inauthentic. I didn’t love that Alex was constantly teasing Lauren even if he didn’t mean it to be mean. I did however like that both the rich and beautiful actor and average overweight girl had to empower themselves to value their own worth. Alex has a habit of acting before he thinks it through which ends with the studio feeling they need to saddle him with minder to keep him from inappropriate behavior. Lauren’s cousin in the show runner and asks her to help him since she’s between jobs and despite the fact that he’s always been a jerk to her she says yes out of family obligation. It was fun and while I struggle to see how. I do hope this world hasn’t seen it’s last story.

I adored this book! Alex and Lauren's story was hinted at in Spoiler Alert enough for me to be so excited to learn the details and ending and it was so much better than I even hoped! Alex and Lauren both prioritize others over themselves and watching them turn those caring energies towards each other in a way that made them both grow as people was so sweet. I was worried about where the conflict in the relationship would come from but when it appeared it made sense and I appreciated how it all played out.

I found Alex super relatable as someone who also has ADHD and can be pretty snarky, and I immediately fell in love with him and with Lauren too since she's just a fantastic character. Their banter was delightful and they work together as people super well. I loved that they were friendly from the start and were openly praising of each other's good qualities (and laughing together about the bad). Everyone who loved Spoiler Alert will love All the Feels just as much if not more and should read it asap!

A fun follow-up to Spoiler Alert (although the two can be read separately). I appreciate the emotional arcs of each of the main characters and the adventures they go on together. Overall, one I’ll be recommending and I look forward to more from this author.

If you are looking for a slow burn, fanfiction filled, fun read, with lots of self-aware tropes, I think this book is for you.

I really enjoyed Alex and Lauren as leads, but in the end I just didn’t love them together. They both had great backstories and I highly recommend reading this book for that but unfortunately I never felt the connection between them which made the whole romance part of this book hard to connect with, especially since it took until almost 50% through the book for anything to happen. I did appreciate the underlying themes in this book though, it touched on some hard hitting topics such as domestic abuse and fat phobia.

TWs: domestic violence, fat phobia and related bullying

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager, Olivia Dade, and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Olivia Dade is hands-down my favorite contemporary romance author. Her books are consistently filled with interesting characters who get to really know each other and dig into what's driving them apart in order to figure out how to be together. Her sense of humor is generally tuned to mine. And she always adding great details like LA's charming storybook houses and the Saroyan stairs, that add so much appeal for a reader like me who loves setting and atmosphere.

This particular romance has all sort of things to love: celebrity romance, road trip, just one bed. I only marked it four stars because I honestly found Alex's character to be juvenile and annoying in a way that would drive me bonkers if I knew him in real life. That said, Dade writes so compellingly that I still read this eagerly and was wishing for his HEA. And I think she takes great pains to do justice to her characters in her representation of fatness and ADHD, in this book's case.

When Alex Woodroe, an actor from the epic Gods of the Gates series gets arrested for a bar brawl, his showrunner is furious and desperate to prevent more bad press.
Enter Lauren Clegg AKA: “Nanny Clegg”. A former ER therapist, Lauren needs a break. Her parents convince her to fly out to Spain to relax and visit her twatwaffle of a cousin, Ron, who happens to be Alex’s showrunner.
Said twatwaffle then decides that Lauren is the perfect babysitter/shadow for Alex. Forget her much needed vacation! She is to watch Alex 24/7 and ensure he does no further damage to his or the show’s public image. No small feat considering Lauren’s unflappable serious demeanor and Alex’s larger than life personality and ADHD.
Thus ensues a 9-month whirlwind of chaos involving, fanfiction, ALL CAPS texts, delightful assholery, and a road trip. At some point during all of this, Alex finds himself attracted to his Avian-like Guardian and Lauren finds herself realizing that Alex is more than just a pretty face.

I wasn’t sure about this going in. I had read Spoiler Alert and wasn’t a huge fan, it just seemed too busy and dragged in parts (See my Podcast, Turgid Tomes, for my full review on that).
Imagine my surprise when I found myself reading this at 3am, because I just could NOT put it down. It was as if Olivia Dade had heard what I didn’t like about the first in the series and got rid of or corrected almost all of it (obviously I am not important enough for this to happen)!
I loved Alex and Lauren! The banter was top notch, the reversal of the Grump/Sunshine Trope was refreshing.
The only critiques I could give are that it seemed a tad too long and dragged slightly at a few parts. Also, WHERE WAS THE PEGGING!?

To conclude: All The Feels in/around/about this book are pretty great!

A big thanks to the Publisher & NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

When charming, famous Alexander Woodroe gets into a bar fight while on location shooting, it's decided he needs someone to keep him in line and out of trouble. After leaving her job as a therapist in an ER, Lauren Clegg gets roped into the role as a family favor.

This was a lot of fun! It's the second book in Dade's Spoiler Alert universe, but having read Spoiler Alert is not necessary to enjoy this one. That said, I immediately ordered it after finishing All the Feels.

In a lot of ways, Lauren is the stereotypical, too-serious protagonist, but I really enjoyed learning where that came from and seeing her learn to value herself in new ways. It was also really nice to see a romance protagonist who isn't a tiny, blonde 22 year old. Of course Alex is also more than just the overly attractive and privileged famous actor; his relationships with his mom and best friend added some good depth to his character.

Overall, tis was a lot of fun! This is definitely a pretty steamy, open-door romance, and I can't wait to see Dade (hopefully?) buildout more of this universe!

Olivia Dade has another win on her hands with All The Feels! The body positivity is, like always with Mrs Dade, Amazing. The store is fun, cute and engaging. I love the steamy factor! I also loved seeing some old faves. Ill never not pick up and Olivia Dade book!

Having never read Spoiler Alert, I was unsure of what to expect when I decided to pick up All The Feels. I knew it was a book I could easily immerse myself in, I’ve been reading romances a lot more recently.
Alex and Laura’s chemistry is one that I haven’t seen in any of the romances I’ve read recently. Despite their complete opposite personalities they bounce off of each other in beautiful ways that work great. I can’t tell you the amount of times I squealed at their unknowing flirtations and got frustrated with their complete obliviance to each others feelings. Can we talk about the BANTER too?? They’re both so actively hilarious, with Lauren and her snarky comebacks that make Alex swoon and Alex with his fanfiction.
My favorite part wasn’t the romance, however, it was the incredible character building that both Alex and Lauren go through as they progress their relationship. With Alex’s ADHD causing over-empathetic problems that Lauren isn’t completely used to, the use of boundaries and the crossing or non-crossing of those boundaries is both realistic and a breath of fresh air to see in a romance novel. Lauren’s passive nature to a fault and Alex’s empathy and protectiveness clashed in a way that made me fall absolutely in LOVE with them. These characters feel like they interact with the world as well as each other, especially with Alex’s contributions to abused women and children and that connection to the writers of Gods of the Gates. Although it’s a subplot to their romance it still feels so eloquently tied into it, not just something to make sure the romance isn’t overwhelming. Lauren’s own connection to being abused by her cousin, and her defiant way of handling it is a beautiful way to make it feel more personal to her character.
Also spice. That’s it. That’s the comment.
Overall, this is my favorite romance novel of the entire year and I cannot wait for more people to give it a read!

4.5 ⭐️

Exactly what I wanted from the second book in this series. While the first book follows a golden boy, this second book follows a character that seems like his life is in literal flames by comparison.

I really enjoyed getting to know Alex, and seeing his backstory. I love characters like this- where you think you know everything about them, and then when they get their own book you can see that a lot of them is just misunderstood. It's alllll about perspective.

Alex is a sweet guy who just wants to be loved! I also really loved the ADHD rep in this one, as it shed some light on what it's like to live day-to-day with it. I also know that Lauren is supposed to be this so not cute, bird-faced woman, but I LOVED her!! She has such a great view on life, and the way she chooses to ignore the haters, YET defend herself when necessary is such BOSS B ENERGY.

Overall their love story is so sweet, and really fun. Love the characters, the setting in LA, and execution of the writing. With my second Olivia Dade sucessfully read, I'm planning on going through her backlist and reading all her romances. Can't wait!!

xx
-Christine

I really really enjoyed Spoiler Alert a lot, and I was so excited to see more of Alex and Lauren’s relationship but idk it just felt short to me. Don’t get me wrong, Alex is seriously so fun to read and I loved his energy. But idk the chemistry between Alex and Lauren felt constipated and not quite there. I know they were both emotionally constipated so I think that could have had some of the problems I had with their relationship.
While I didn’t really believe the chemistry between Alex and Lauren, I will say this was such a great story overall. It talked alot about the effects of domestic violence, giving too much of one’s self with nothing in return, and healthy coping mechanisms. It was really interesting to watch their individual character development.
NOW for my favorite part….. The hotel scene was the funniest thing I’ve ever read. One Bed trope and the MC knows about the trope and loves it too. *Chef’s Kiss*
Overall, this was another great read from Olivia Dade, I still think I enjoyed Spoiler Alert a little more, but this was still a solid read. Be sure to read this come October!