Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I absolutely adored Spoiler Alert, and pretty much everything I have ever read by Olivia Dade, so I just about cried when I had the opportunity to read an ARC of All the Feels. When reading Spoiler Alert we had a little taste of Alex and Lauren, but reading a full book about them was absolutely lovely. Alex is completely misunderstood, seeming like a reckless man-child, while Lauren is dismissed due to her physical attributes, which as a plus-size woman myself is both incredibly relatable & infuriating. Adding to this the deep healing/counseling aspects of their relationship that seems to be perfectly targeted to me as someone who is in that field, this book was everything I could have wanted as the companion to Spoiler Alert and more. Did I mention the pegging fanfiction? Because I can't forget the pegging fanfiction. If you read SA - DON'T WORRY! THERE IS PEGGING FANFICTION!

Both Alex and Lauren had some major flaws that drove me up the wall, but I think that makes it that much more realistic & human. I loved getting to go back to this world from a different perspective and spend time with all of these characters again. I would gladly continue to read more books in this world because its so lovely. Olivia Dade writes such realistic characters and I just devour these books.

If you are looking for a book with romance, fandoms, real-world issues such as mental health and domestic violence being addressed, plus-size characters, and all the fanfiction, this is a great option. 5/5

UGH I did not read Spoiler Alert yet but now I absolutely have to because this book truuuuuly came at me with All the Feels. Lauren Clegg is a relatively serious and detached former ER therapist assigned by her asshole cousin to be the minder to superstar Alex Woodroe on the set of what feels like Game of Thrones. Let hilarity - and tension!!! - ensue.

This book is so, so good, I will not lie - everything about it made me so happy, from the dual POV to the classic one bed trope (it's a must); from the short, fat, broken-nose'd main character to the eager-to-please-but-also-eager-to-sass bearded love interest; from the inclusion of fandom to the inclusion of - you guessed it - pegging! - I absolutely friggin loved this book. Truly, my biggest complaint is that neither character is openly queer in any way that means featuring it in queer book club is not an option... but WHEW y'all. Pick this up!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Unlike most of booksta, I didn’t love Spoiler Alert. I listened to it on audiobook. The fan fiction element and narrator turned me off from it. However, I LOVED All The Feels! Lauren and Alex were better people when they were together. The banter throughout this book is cute and witty. Y’all know I love friends-to-lovers and this one put me in my feels. I usually hate the one bed trope but it was done so well here!! My only dislike is that Lauren isn’t as confident as I wanted her to be as a plus size woman.

Overall, recommend this book for people who like:
-fan fiction
-plus size MC
-friends to lovers
-a slow burn

All the Feels releases October 26th!

I was so excited about this book and while there were parts I did enjoy, there were also parts that had me wondering if I should DNF but I felt guilty doing that.. I found myself dragging on reading this book. While I didn’t hate this book I also didn’t love it like I thought I would.

Here’s what I did like:

A plus size main character: something I LOVE to see and something I find not featured enough in books.

The hollywood starlet trope: I always love books featuring someone famous falling in love with a “normie”. It always feels so glamorous.

The steam: while there wasn’t a lot of steam and the steam that did happen was very late I still really enjoyed those chapters!

Here’s what just didn’t work for me:

Pacing: this book felt incredibly long to me. If you read Spoiler Alert then you know Alex’s big moment in that book and it happened very early in this book which made it just seem like the book dragged.

The characters: while I liked Alex for all this quirks and his representation of ADHD, something just felt off between him and Lauren. I wanted to root for them but I was also just like yeah, ok, cool.

The fan fiction: this is probably a big me thing and nothing against the author, but the fan fiction was just weird to me..

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. All the Feels is out 10/26.

All the feels… did just that! Gave me all the dang feels.⁣
⁣
Alex was so wonderfully quirky and so fiercely loyal he tugged on my heart strings.⁣
⁣
Lauren had the kindest soul and I truly felt for her, being a plus size gal myself. She was so lovely and warm and kind and patient.⁣
⁣
People kept judging these two because their appearances were “so opposite” but man did their personalities just fit perfectly for one another.⁣
⁣
Adored all of the hilarious, quirky, witty banter. I loved how much these two pushed each other. ⁣
⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you @netgalley and @avonbooks for an ARC for my honest review !

All the Feels is my second Olivia Dade book--though my first was, perhaps surprisingly, not Spoiler Alert but rather 40-Love. Spoiler Alert remains on my TBR but may have inched to the top after reading this fun sequel!

In All the Feels, Lauren is temporarily serving as a famous actor's minder after he gets into a bit of trouble and her family pressures her to help. But the astonishingly handsome Alex Woodroe is quite the @$$hole everyone makes him out to be. While certainly impulsively, Lauren gets closer to Alex and finds him to be thoughtful and fiercely protective--particularly of Lauren. Used to cruel comments about her looks and weight, Lauren is not used to having a protector in her corner, especially not one of the likes of superstar Alex Woodroe. When their working relationship becomes a friendship, and that friendship becomes something more, Lauren needs to learn to put herself first and Alex needs to learn to put others first...

I really enjoyed this story! We don't see a lot of plus-size heroines in romantic comedies, especially ones who aren't "curvy" or otherwise conventionally pretty. But Lauren, with her beak-like nose and smaller chest is a lot more relatable than most romcom heroines. Seeing her and Alex's romance blossom is wonderful, particularly with Alex's off-the-wall personality. He was a character who was a joy to read, that brought constant entertainment.

Thanks to Avon for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review **

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm going to have to soft DNF this book at 25%. Like a lot of other readers, I loved Alex in Spoiler Alert and was really looking forward to him getting his story. However...the Alex that we get in All the Feels is completely unrecognizable to me. I absolutely despised having to be inside his head. He's basically a walking red flag and just a really gross person. I'm starting to think the only reason I liked him in the first book was because we didn't get to know what type of person he actually was? He was constantly thinking of our heroine as bird like, short, round, etc. Like, you are a full grown adult acting like a mean teenage bully. And it wasn't just like he was keeping his thoughts to himself, he also acted like a jerk towards her (100% unprovoked) and was voicing some of his nasty thoughts too. Even if he goes through some massive character development, I knew I wouldn't be able to get past this initial character presentation. And as someone who has had to deal with people like this in the past...NO THANKS.

I know I didn't make it that far into this and there could still be a chance I may have enjoyed this had I kept going (or maybe hated it more idk), but I shouldn't have to force myself to keep reading a book just for it to get better.

THAT BEING SAID, I've enjoyed Dade's previous works enough in the past that I'd be willing to try this one again after a little time has passed, but as of right now this one definitely isn't for me.

I don't normally rate books I DNF, however for the sake of this review I'm going to give this 2 stars since there's a chance I may have liked this more had I actually finished it.

This swoon worthy romance follows Alex, a hot shot TV actor who is finding himself stuck in tricky situations and visited by old demons, and Lauren, his therapist hired to help him get his life back on track. But the more time they spend together, Alex and Lauren soon find themselves falling in love with each other, even with all the stakes on the line.

This was just a warm hug that I needed on this cold day! First of all, I loved the characterizations. Alex, who has ADHD, really resonated with me because he wanted to act in others favors but didn’t think to ask how that makes them feel, and I was like “Wow, I do that a lot too!” And Lauren, while trying to be the best therapist, struggles with burnout, as well as being plus sized in an industry where people treat her different. I think this book is great for anyone who wants to read about the reality of stardom and just fall in love with two characters who just really love each other. ♥️

Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointment. I had such a great time with Spoiler Alert and was really excited for All The Feels but it just did not live up. There were definitely some enjoyable parts of the book, but it felt like there was a lot missing. The chemistry between Wren and Alex wasn’t all there and there was something about their banter that felt off. The plot was very loose and it seemed like barely anything happened by the end. I also didn’t really like how a lot of what happened in this book overlapped with events from the previous book. Overall, this book did not feel grounded in the world that was set up in Spoiler Alert. You could take away Alex’s fan fiction hobby and it would barely change anything. I think what was so fun about the previous book was how integral fan fiction was to both the plot and the characters. Although this wasn’t really it for me, I’m definitely still down to read whatever Olivia Dade writes next. Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of All The Feels. All opinions are my own. 2.5/3

“All The Feels” is the much anticipated follow up to Olivia Dades “Spoiler Alert”. It follows Lauren, a former ER therapist who has been hired by her cousin to watch over his troublemaking superstar actor Alex.

This book was a refreshing take on the often repetitive and formulaic genre of adult romance. The banter between characters is great and had me laughing out loud. Alex and Laurens characters are complex and have very real baggage that they spend the course of the story working through.

One of the downsides of this being a sequel to “Spoiler Alert '' was the massive amount of overlap between the two books. I feel like some of the bigger moments in this book were diminished because I already knew they were coming. While I thought the progression of their relationship from awkward acquaintances to friends was well done, the romantic progression seemed to go from 0-100. It's a slow burn, but I needed more pining!

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable read that skillfully balanced deeper themes with witty romance.

P.S. For all the talk about pegging this book has, it seems practically criminal that we didn’t get any

"Delightful asshole please meet Big Harpy Energy."

Alexander Woodroe & Lauren Clegg might be my favorite couple of the YEAR!!! The brief time we got to enjoy them in Spoiler Alert made me intrigued about them but All the Feels made me fall helplessly in love with them!!!

Alexander Woodroe is everything you would expect of one of the stars of the biggest shows on television, God of the Gates. He is tall, charming, witty, and oozes sex appeal but his characters development has gone to hell, and he is still dealing with demons from his past. When one stunt goes too far, he is left with a "keeper" enter, Lauren Clegg.

Lauren Clegg is a former ER therapist who needed a break from work to just breathe and catch up on some much needed "her" time. On the first leg of her vacation, she is put in a difficult position and has no choice but to accept the job of being "babysitter" to the impulsive Alexander Woodroe.

As Alex & Lauren start to spend more time together the lines set in place start to get blurred and Lauren's heart is starting to get involved. Alex might be impulsive but everything he does is for the people he cares about, and Lauren is quickly becoming one of those people. When Alex goes too far, and Lauren loses the job as his keeper he realizes that Wren is so much more than just his keeper. Now, that everything has imploded how can he show her that he is serious and wants more from her than just their witty banter and easy chats.

Reading about characters who are fat is a hate/love situation for me because their characters are usually so misrepresented, but Olivia Dade has not only busted through that ceiling, she shattered it!! Lauren was not only strong, but she was genuine in her feelings and even though it took time for her confidence to shine through it was brilliant. I adored the fact that her nose was a "bird nose" and that she was short & fat. Not just exceedingly tall with a little bit of "extra" weight as so many women are portrayed. She was flawed, but perfect in her own Nanny Clegg *snort* way!!

Alex was so freaking genuine I was caught between wanting to help heal is broken heart and cuddle him close to make him feel better. He was tall, delicious, and obviously dreamy but that was just physically. His heart was pure, he gave to charity, but he also protected those close to him fiercely despite the consequences. Alex wasn't a playboy; he was just a guy who fell in love with a girl and the fact that he saw her for who she was brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion.

Honestly, I could rave about this book all day because somehow All the Feels was even more impressive than Spoiler Alert for many different reasons but for me it was all Lauren. Yes, I loved Alex whole heartedly, but Wren really stole the show for me because she was vulnerable but tried not to show it and we have all been there before. Not wanting to show our feelings too early, or to show our feelings to someone who might break our heart. Lauren & Alex will forever have a place in my heart, and I really hope we have not seen the end of the Spoiler Alert Series!!

In this sequel, we get to see Alex’s experience with the end of the filming of Gods of the Gates, the assignment of a minder after a bar fight, and his crazy interview that went down at the convention where he admits to writing fanfiction in response to his feelings about the last season of the show. We also learn what happens with his minder Lauren and everything that goes on after his meltdown.

I loved being able to experience a part of Spoiler Alert from another perspective and loved Alex and Lauren’s love story.

I am a HUGE fan of representation in books. I love when the MC isn’t your run of the mill, cookie cutter character. I’m here for different body shapes, backgrounds, orientations, you name it. What I don’t like, is when those “differences” are the main focus in what seems like a negative or demeaning way.

Throughout this entire book I felt like there was a certain level of hatred towards Lauren from the shape of her body, to her “bird like” features, to even her dull personality. Alex and Ron slammed her right off the bat and Lauren let them. Lauren received a continuous amount of negativity directed her way and she always just accepted it. She ALWAYS accepted people putting her down. Girl, stand up for yourself!!

As Alex and Lauren grew as friends, Alex’s negative remarks stopped coming from a place of loathing, and came from a place of caring and gentle teasing. I still hated that he called her names, talked about her body, and basically put her down. I’m not a fan of belittling someone no matter your intentions.

If anyone other than Alex commented on Lauren’s appearance, he would fly off the handle in a fit of uncontrolled rage. Hypocrite much?? I get that he was trying to defend Lauren, but I was really turned off by his alpha male protectiveness, especially because I didn’t find him much better than the rest of her haters.

It wasn’t until 95% into the book that I really felt like there was any sort of character development from either Lauren or Alex. It was disappointing. By then, I wasn’t a huge fan of either of them, especially Alex.

In the follow-up to Spoiler Alert, we follow Alexander Woodroe who ostensibly has it all—charm, wealth, fame, and an irresistible smile. As part of one of the biggest TV shows, God of the Gates, Alex should be happy. But as the producers destroy his character on screen and he powerless to stop it, Alex turns reckless and ends up in the tabloids one too many times. Everyone agrees: Alex’s career is on the downslope.

Enter Lauren Clegg, a former ER therapist who is hired to keep Alex in line. Compared to her previous work, being a glorified babysitter shouldn’t be a challenge—but she didn’t expect Alex to be quite so difficult…or charming. Yet the more time the two spend together, the harder it gets to keep their professional distance. When another scandal lands Alex in major trouble and costs Lauren her job, she’ll be forced to choose which side to fight on—and whether to protect her heart or the man who’s trying to steal it.

Truth be told, I initially had a hard time reconciling the charming Alex we met in Spoiler Alert with the one in All the Feels. In the first few chapters, Alex is everything but charming, and often made me cringe with the type of blatant mean thoughts he has about Lauren. And though, yes, we get to see Alex’s point of view and realise that he sometimes says things he doesn’t mean, I honestly couldn’t move past a certain few thoughts he had about Lauren, not to mention how he talks to her. There were instances where it was made plain that Alex was kidding but other times, when he called Lauren “dense” or belittled her, I really just wanted to wave all the red flags and call it quits. There’s a thin line between something being said in jest and just plainly insulting someone. However, and I say that very candidly, I’ve read through quite a few reviews and odds are that this was a me problem—it just didn’t suit my reading tastes. And Alex did eventually win me over once the story got going.

Putting all of that aside for a moment, I really enjoyed Alex and Lauren on their own. Alex has ADHD and the representation of that was just so relatable for me. He is hyperverbal which causes a lot of fun banter between him and Lauren, who is rather reserved and quiet because of her former job. While Alex talks about everything and nothing, Lauren keeps her feelings to herself in an attempt to protect herself from the horrors she has seen in her ER line of work. Both of these characters have a lot of issues on their own, especially with self-image and self-worth and I enjoyed the deep dive Dade took into how their actions informed their feelings—for each other but also for the person looking back in the mirror. There was also some great growth for both Alex and Lauren and I loved how we got to see them grow into more confident individuals as the story went on. While I wasn’t super on board with the romance, toward the latter half of the book we get Alex and Lauren playing around with a few tropes he wants to…investigate and that aspect was so much fun and reminded me a lot of the entertainment I felt while reading Spoiler Alert.

Unsurprisingly, my favourite part was everything surrounding the actual show and the fanfiction Alex finds himself enamoured with as the story goes further. I love how we got to explore what tropes Alex likes and which he wants to chuck out the window. We also get some hilarious fanfic excerpts and cringey excerpts from the show scripts that make it plain just how ridiculous the things Alex has to portray are and why so many fans ventured into fanfiction to give their characters the ending they deserved.

With All the Feels, Olivia Dade delivers a satisfying follow-up to Spoiler Alert, perfect for fans of slow-burn romances, the forced proximity trope, and everyone who needs a bit more fanfiction in their traditional romances!

I don’t know how Dade did it, but All the Feels is even BETTER than Spoiler Alert!!

Lauren becomes celebrity Alex’s minder when he gets arrested in a bar fight. But he’s not out of control. A delightful asshole with too much energy and disorganization: yes. Out-of-control drunk: no. As they spend more time together, they break down one another’s walls and really come to fall for each other.

What makes this book unique is that it’s not haters-to-enemies but genuine “oops we fell in love when we weren’t looking.” Neither Alex nor Lauren have feelings for one another (beyond aesthetic appreciation) for at least the first half of the story. And then they fall fast and hard. And happily. And sexily. *winky face*

As with Spoiler Alert, the fanfiction/breaking of the fourth wall is utterly delightful.

Ability diverse: Alex has ADHD and takes meds for it.

This book was just as delightful as Spoiler Alert, and I adored every minute of it!

Alex Woodroe is an actor with a starring role on a very popular fantasy TV show, which is in its final season. He's very unhappy with his character's trajectory, but there's not much he can do about it. Except write fan fiction fixes. Anonymously, of course. One night, he gets into a bar fight and gets arrested. Everyone is mad at him, but no one actually asked him what happened. The showrunners assign him a keeper, who is the cousin to one of them. She is to stay by his side any time he leaves set or his house, and keep him out of trouble until the final season has aired.

Lauren Clegg is a former ER therapist who is currently on a break after burning out. She's on vacation when she gets rooked into helping her (hated) cousin by becoming a minder for his misbehaving star. But she realizes pretty much right away that Alex is more than what he seems. As they spend time together, and become friends, they begin to care for each other more than either of them expected.

Alex is the traditional handsome Hollywood heartthrob, and Lauren is a very short, very round woman. They're technically working together. They have very different lifestyles. To the outside world, it would seem they don't "fit". But, they really have a lot in common, and they care about each other so much. I loved watching their soft, slow, unexpected descent into love, and how they both ultimately embraced it.

Both Alex and Lauren had family drama (past and/or present) that caused them pain and worry, and that helped them relate to each other even more. They also each had a great best friend to help them keep their wits about them: Marcus (the hero from Spoiler Alert) for Alex, and Sionna for Lauren. They had great friendships, and really used their BFFs as sounding boards, and support systems, as needed.

Alex and Lauren both faced job uncertainty, weird family dynamics, self-image and self-worth conflicts, and their unexpected feelings for each other. They muddled along mostly gracefully, though not without issue, and I appreciated each of their self-reflections when things did go awry. This book was so sweet, and soft, and sexy, and I adored every minute of it! Alex and Lauren were perfect for each other, and were a joy to read. I can't wait for more from this author!!

STATS:
OVERALL RATING - 5 / 5
CHARACTERS - 5 / 5
WRITING - 5 / 5
PLOT - 5 / 5
SPICE - 🌶🌶 / 5

"Lauren's presence wasn't an intrusion, though. It was a completion."
- Alex Woodroe, All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Do you know what's better than a man who reads fanfics? A man who writes and puts their knowledge into practical use, that's what. All the Feels, a fitting name, for a book that will definitely give you all the feels. Having not read any other books of this author prior to this one, it easily cemented my decision to read more of her works.

The story follows a celebrity who doesn't particularly have the best reputation and an ER clinician who seems to be a killjoy. Utter and complete opposites from one another. Another fantastic trope but see, the thing with this trope is that, unknowingly, they're way more similar than they had ever anticipated which makes the tension and bantering all the more enjoyable. I absolutely loved the writing style and the way she writes the characters banter. This book has successfully made me audibly aw and laugh more times than I can count.

In addition to this, this book features curvy heroine rep as well as ADHD rep! I love how it challenges the stereotypical beauty standards and shows the reality of how much damage even having a standard can do. Lauren Clegg, our wonderful and confident lead, she's a character to be admired. Her will to stand up to people and her will to accept and move on is something to be proud of and clearly, Alex is living (well, fictional) proof of this. I stand by my self-proclaimed belief that any character named Alex will always be superior and this man in this book proves my point. He's witty, charming and so selfless. On top of that, he reads and writes fanfics. Come on, now. This man is well versed with the one-bed trope.

Lastly, I think what makes All the Feels unique is that it presents character development so well. Author Olivia Dade ensured that her characters were able to grow on their own instead of being completely reliant on those around them.

PROS: Good representation and has several tropes including: close proximity, opposites attract, reverse grump x sunshine trope and the iconic one-bed trope.
CONS: Ron. (and perhaps, the way the perspectives are written. It's quite confusing to note whether it's focused on Lauren or Alex)
FINAL THOUGHTS: It's a book that should be placed in everyone's tbr if it hasn't been already. You'll easily fall in love with the characters with their overtly funny banter and their progress in trying to better themselves <3

Thank you to NetGalley, AvonBooks and HarperVoyagerUS for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was really excited about the premise of this book. I liked the body positivity message and this book definitely made me want to get more into fan fiction. The first half of this book really dragged for me. I felt like Lauren had no personality so it was hard for me to connect with her even when she opened up a little more later in the book. Alex became Lauren’s biggest defender in the book but he also called her names throughout the entire story. He obviously did it more in jest but his teasing was relentless and I didn’t always find it charming. That said Alex did have some very funny moments. I also liked Marcus. I haven’t read Spoiler Alert yet but this book made me want to go back and read that one. Even though some of the book was slow the second half picked up and I really liked the ending.

3/5

All the Feels is the charming follow up in the Spoiler Alert series, chock full of road trips, grumpy sunshine dynamic, and only one bed trope. With Olivia Dade’s delightful writing style and hilarity out in full force, it's no wonder I adored this almost as much as the previous book in the series. The characters felt entirely unique beside a romance that was so heartwarming. Where this lacked is while Spoiler Alert had me devouring its contents, I struggled a bit more to get through All the Feels. This was surely due to how much was happening in the plot. The relationship between the main characters was deeply explored, but there was so much going on off to the side that I wasn’t able to connect with them as much as I’d have liked. The length of the novel also hindered the relationship development, making it seem more rushed than it should have been. It’s clear what the characters felt for one another, and I loved their individual character arcs, but there needed to be more build up in my opinion. Besides that, this was an unbelievingly sweet and fun romance that many readers are sure to fall in love with.

Trigger Warnings: fatphobia

I loved, adored, devoured Spoiler Alert. When I saw there was going to be a sequel I was so excited. I was less excited when I realized it wasn’t going to be about Marcus and April. I remembered the few, seemingly inconsequential moments between Alex and Lauren in Spoiler Alert, but they weren’t who I was interested in. I really liked that these two huge stars were in love with fat women, but other than that I was one track-minded.

Like his best friend Marcus, Alex has been working on the worldwide hit, Gods if the Gates. However, because of his ADHD Alex tends to act first, think later. As the final season approaches, show runners Ron and RJ are worried Alex will do or say something to spoil it. And, after an altercation at a bar, it’s the perfect excuse to get him a minder.

Enter Ron’s cousin, Lauren. An ER therapist, Lauren’s much needed vacation was interrupted as she was voluntold to help her cousin out by her family despite her longtime hatred of him.

After a rough first meeting, Alex slowly pulls down Lauren’s walls…at the detriment to his career. Lauren and Alex are different people, from different worlds with clashing personality types, but they want to make them work.

As fast as I ate through Spoiler Alert, I crawled through All the Feels. Compared to anything from the first book, it felt like Lauren and Alex were carbon copies of Marcus and April. Sure, they were different enough, but everything they went through felt just like Marcus and April. Spoiler Alert felt organic; All the Feels did not.

One thing that really, not bothered me necessarily, but put me off, was the sexual attraction. Alex and Lauren start off pretty basic: they don’t like each other. Alex doesn’t like that he’s been assigned a “nanny” and Lauren doesn’t like that she was forced to babysit who she assumes is a spoiled star. They five each other attractive, and it stops there. The sexual stuff came on so abruptly it felt forced. Dade provides reasons fir why sex wasn’t at the forefront immediately, but it felt flimsy to me. How can you go from no sexual attraction to continuous sexual arousal? Feel like we skipped a few steps. It would’ve been interesting if one of them were asexual and explored how this person made them interested in sex, but that wasn’t the case.

Also, maybe petty, but the spice in Spoiler Alert was so much better.

Another thing that bothered me was how much the book seemed to be about Alex and Lauren. Other characters took such a far backseat they were basically in the trunk. Despite mentioning problems with her parents, and alluding to confrontations, Lauren’s parents don’t make an appearance. The Gates group chat, and even his costars, are lacking. Maybe three or four interludes, and basically no mention in the regular bulk of the book. Even the bits and pieces we got of Marcus were stiff and served as convenience. April was only mentioned- never even made an appearance. The only side character that was brought to the front were Alex’s mom. But only then because she was a plot device to further Alex’s character.

After Spoiler Alert maybe my expectations were too high, but I wasn’t half as invested in Alex and Lauren as I was Marcus and April. All the Feels had its cute moments, but they weren’t enough to drive me to love Alex and Lauren. Honestly, the more I read and the more the timeline deviated from the one established in Spoiler Alert, I was just hoping we’d get new April/Marcus content. Alas. Not a disappointing sequel / companion, but it fails to live up to the first b