I was disappointed by this book. I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but "Ship Wrecked" didn't have the charm of the first two. Also, I never warmed up to Maria. She was written to be a strong woman, but for me, she was barreling over Peter's demand for what she wanted without thought for his needs. Their relationship lacked the spark found between the main characters in Dade's other books. I was looking forward to this book, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

I have really enjoyed this series, but for some reason Ship Wrecked took me forever to get through. I liked the MCs but I think the distance from the original characters made it feel so separate I struggled to connect. I might have been better as a new TV show that had not connection.
The relationship starting with a one-night stand was an interesting introduction that caused a lot of weird feelings for both characters. It was definitely interesting.
The growth of the characters was probably my favorite part of the story, seeing them grow into their strengths and help with each others weakness resonated with me.

Ship Wrecked is a continuation of the series Spoiler Alert, novels that all take place around the actors of a Game of Thrones like TV show. Each book is independent enough that you can read them separately but the characters from the other books have cameos in this one to see updates into their lives.

This book is about two actors: Maria and Peter. Carefree Maria and by-the-book Peter. They have a one night stand before they find out that they're supposed to act together in a TV series in which they will be stuck on an island together for long stretches of time.

This is a one night stand that turns into a sloooow burn. It's also a super cute and spicy, opposites attract (kinda grumpy/sunshine) that will have to rooting for them from page 1.

I read Spoiler Alert (first book in the series) 2 years ago and absolutely loved it, the body positivity, the refusal to get into the cliche misunderstandings, all of it worked perfectly for me. Especially that the main character was fat (not only that, she also had body hair! 😲), unapologetically so, kind of changed my idea of what a romance book could be, what it could do for its reader. It immediately became one of my favorite romances.

At least in terms of the body and sex positivity, this book is no different. I love the way the main character is so comfortable in her own skin and so clear with her boundaries and principals.

Putting the body positivity aside, their romance was great too. The humor, the banter, the chemistry... all A+!! I could read a whole other book filled with their banter, it was that good.

Where this book really shines is in its individual characters, their past, their baggage, their heart break. The emotions that drive them, molded by their past. Olivia Dade knows how to create real, three-dimensional characters. Their conversations around the more difficult aspects of their past really gripped me.

Maria is Swedish and I really enjoyed all the Sweden references here. The author lives there so it also felt real and almost like a peek into the author's humorous thoughts on the Swedish culture.

I didn't love the third act breakup in this one. The feelings seemed too exaggerated, and it escalated so fast. The redeeming aspect of it was that they also realized how silly it was to not try to compromise, but sometimes I just wish people wrote romances without a full on catastrophic third act breakup.

One thing that threw me off massively while reading this book is that there's a biiig time jump about the third of the way through. I really struggled with this. It completely threw off the pacing for me. And I almost wished we had just skipped the previous years in favor of the later ones, since they didn't seem to add *that* much anyways.

Peter, the main character is a very materialistic character. And personally I'm just not interested in characters like that, who value money and fame above other things. I understand his has his reasons for being how he is, but I still wish he came off more as a perfectionist/workaholic rather than materialistic, which would have kept the rest of the story, his baggage and his motivations the same.
I also didn’t appreciate how much of an asshole he was to Maria at the very beginning. It felt unnecessary.

Overall rating: 3.8⭐

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Love the rep and just a fun snowy and sexy story. Also using this as a place to show my support for the Harper Collins union. Thank you to Harper for the gifted ARC my honest review.

The grovel at the end of this book was very well done, that’s one thing I can say for sure. This book took me a while to read, but not because it wasn’t interesting. I really liked Maria and the group chats / interview sections between chapters, and I loved all the ribbing on what was obviously a stand-in for Game of Thrones. Great dialogue & humor too.

I didn’t much like Peter, and I REALLY disliked the time jumps. It wasn’t just the six-year time jump, which I thought was a horrible idea on Dade’s end, but miniature time jumps (weeks/months) in the beginning and at the end of the story. Too much was missing, in my opinion. We don’t get to see how the relationships grow.

Staci McIntyre wrote this review for her blog/podcast Lit Shit Podcast. This is a fun, charming, steamy read perfect for the beach! We have sex on the first page (yes thank you) turned slow burn when one night stands turn out to be cast opposites in a tv show.

Maria and Peter are really great characters. Especially Maria being so open, positive and comfortable being plus size and who she is. Sticking up for herself and other plus size people and knowing her worth. Peter is also plus size which is rare for a male MC and I loved that. The side characters crack me up! Overall I think this last installment in the series was great. Glad we even got an epilogue tying up all the standalone books and their characters.

My two real complaints was 1) that this book didn’t have any fanfic. I really enjoyed that aspect of the previous one and truly missed it. However I do think the scripts and tv filming filled a little bit of that gap just not enough and 2) their story plays out over a couple books which leaves a bit of a gap in their story in this book but I still enjoyed

Dade deserved better than to have her newest romance release during a strike, but here we are. I will not be reviewing any HarperCollins books while the strike is ongoing, and the fact that it is still an issue at this late day gives me pause about choosing HC books in the future. Do better.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgalley and the Publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Do not let the cartoon cover fool you. Literally, from the first page, you are thrown into some hot stuff. Normally, I am not a fan of that insta love kind of thing. And it started to put me off at first. Boy was I wrong and so happy I held on to finish the book!

Peter, a long time actor from Madison, WI, has been dreaming of the day his big break happens. As a bigger guy, he had been pretty much regulated to smaller roles or lead roles that centered around his size. He was waiting for the day for the right role to come along that didn't focus solely on his size. When his agent landed him a chance audition for the hit TV show "Gods of the Gates", Peter was thrilled. After a callback, he took the night off to hit up a sauna where he meet a red bikini clad, BBW. From the moment he looked at her, he knew he had to have her. But to what lengths would he go to make that dream a reality?

"I want my hands on you. My name on your lips, my tongue on your clit. My cock planted deep in your pussy as you come hard enough to cry."

Maria, a larger than life Swede, never cared about what people thought about her weight. She spread body positivity all over her social media and in her life. After being abandoned at a young age and a rough few years in the foster system, she finally found a family that she loved dearly and couldn't imagine life without. On a whim, after a terrible break up, she sent her audition tape to "Gods of the Gates" hoping for a new start and to take her acting skills off of Broadway onto the silver screen. Receiving a callback to LA, Maria takes the evening to relax in a sauna to remind her of home and to center herself. In walks this tall, big beautiful man and she can't help but devour him with her eyes. She can only imagine how good he will taste or how that beard will feel in her most intimate places. While she will try to protect her heart by leaving in the middle of the night, fate has a funny way of coming back and biting us in the ass. Will she be able to keep her heart safe or is she destined for a broken heart or find love?

"I'm a big girl. Throw me around a little."

Peter, furious that the girl he bedded and seemingly fell head over heels for left him in the middle of the night, prepares for his audition and hoping for a change. As I mentioned, life/fate, whatever you want to call it, has a funny way of fucking with us. Peter is silently rehearsing his lines when in walks that beautiful Swede who stole his heart. Only to add to the fuckery, Peter and Maria get called in to audition and with some minor, not so nice critiques, the chemistry between the two is undeniable. Thus, our stars have aligned and Peter and Maria head off to a small island to spend the next six years filming for the show. Oh the tragedy...(not).

"Just get your very delightful ass over here before I spank it."

Y'all, this book had me laughing so hard at times. Also, it frustrated me when I realized that "Spoiler Alert" and "All the Feels" ARE FROM THE SAME UNIVERSE. They are all cast members on the show. *Insert Face Palm here* The representation of a bigger girl who is worthy of love was absolutely amazing. We see and read all the time about these smaller girls or girls that have a little meat on their bones but not ones like Maria, girls like me. I love how Dade writes for all body sizes. There's no skinny hate or anything. It's just celebrating our bigger girls for a change! And our bigger guys too! Also having our MC be very body positive and when the producers tried to change her, she stood her ground and won! The last thing we want to hear is what we need to change because that can be taken as we are not good enough. Dade reminds us that we are all beautiful. I will definitively be reading the rest of the series and any more that Dade writes. She just went right onto my insta buy list. The spicy is good, not overly spicy, but just enough spice to keep you warm under the collar. I loved this book so much and I encourage everyone to read it. Especially if you have ever had an body dysmorphia. This beautiful, body positive book will sure to become one of your new favorites.

3.5 Stars. This is a harder one to review, but let's get into it.

This is the first book from this author that I’ve read and was excited to read it based on the reviews from her previous books.

This story starts with Maria and Peter having a one night stand, which had me intrigued. Then Maria leaves with no so much as a note or a goodbye.

Peter is hurt of course and acts like a jerk. Which is kind of understandable but also no promised was made so he doesn’t have much ground to stand on.

Peter and Maria end up on the same set auditioning for roles alongside each other. The chemistry is off the charts and end up getting the roles they auditioned for.

Maria is from Sweden and has been acting smaller roles in her home country so this is a big role for her but Maria has other priorities. Even though this role maybe big for her she has other options and can always move back home.

Peter on the other hand has been an actor for over 15 years in Hollywood and this could be his big break. All he’s ever wanted was to be recognized for his skills and talent.

So to say their priorities are different is an understatement. And they know each other’s priorities so they know what’s important to the other, but still are strongly attracted to one another.

So they get on set and Maria is connecting with everyone on set and Peter has a hard time connect with people as he’s an introvert, so it’s not easy making small talk or doing all the things necessary for him to become a bigger actor. So this role is super important to him as it’s a leading role. Peter just doesn’t know how to because he just doesn’t know how to. With Maria's help he starts to form a connection and that only helps his career.

Now I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying that Peter is a jerk and those are also the reviews that didn’t finish the book and I thought the same but I kept reading and realized that he was just hurt by her actions. Peter was so different after the first 25% of the book. And you really get to see his personality show.

Now I enjoyed this book and the characters and I loved the fact that the main characters of the show were plus sized and they didn’t have to change who they were to play the roles. And I loved Peter and Maria when the finally got together after six long years. They secretly pined for each other but still kept it super professional.

But after the show wrapped Peter was done with playing it professional he wanted Maria and he was going to get her. Maria wanted Peter from the beginning but was heartbroken when he seemed as if he didn’t want her back. He was doing what was best for their careers.

And I loved all the secondary characters except for Ian of course and if you read the book you’ll understand why (iykyk). But everyone of them and the relationships they built even if they weren’t acting together was so lovable. I really loved the group chats between the characters and I loved how Maria kept including Peter in all the conversations. She made him interact with everyone when he didn’t know how to.

So let’s get to the hard part, what I didn’t enjoy about the the book was the extreme detail of everything that wasn’t necessary. For instance there were pages and pages of descriptions and monologues that didn’t need to be there.

Like at one point Maria was recalling her first kiss and she spoke about the name of the person that gave her her first kiss and some details which is understandable but then she goes on for pages about who her first kiss was, to me this was unnecessary.

And after a while I started to skim the pages because it was just way too long. Like why are we discussing this for so long. And not to mention when the characters were talking their would be pages of inner monologues that took up pages before a reply was said. I had to go back a few times to remember what the question was. This was way too much for me.

And after a while I started to just skim though the extra monologues and descriptions because it was just too much information that I felt like was completely unnecessary to the story.

This kind of took me out of the book for a little bit and that didn’t really sit well with me. I felt like the book would have been great had it not been so extra long. I hope a lot of that is removed from the final book.

And one thing I didn’t love was how selfish Maria was in the third act breakup. At it was revealed that she was selfish because of what she also wanted. Especially when she knew what was important to Peter and how hard he's worked and not to mention his past.

This annoyed me a little I didn’t feel like he didn’t need to be the one apologizing or groveling or whatever you choose to call it. I feel like Maria should have been the one to apologize.

Overall I really enjoyed the characters and their stories, I loved them together and their relationship. I just didn’t enjoy how long it was, it took way too long to finish.

This was a fantastic addition to the spoiler alert series! I enjoyed the sending, the friendship and honestly all the plus size steam. The representation was wonderful and overall it was just a great and believable story.

2.5 🌟 I enjoyed most of this book. Some funny, some spicy, some heart-warming. But it was loooong. And there was so much going on with side characters and subplots that I almost skipped the last 10 pages of resolution because I had no idea who half of them were.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for access to this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Oh my goodness, this book was amazing! Olivia Dade does it again.

Things I Loved: The tension, the pining, the banter. Peter is that man who just wants stability and love. Maria was so fierce, quick-witted, and real. This is a comfort read of lovers to friends to lovers again, giving people a second chance. This relationship felt so honest and natural. I loved the timeline giving us actual years of foundation of friendship. Steamy scenes, udder freaking perfection. Both of these MCs were fat, but this was not the focus, these characters were not focused on their bodies and I so appreciated that kind of representation.

Things I Didn’t Care For: I think with the conflict, I would have liked a bit more responsibility on Maria’s end, both had reasons to feel the way they did.

This is the third book in Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert series, and I thought it was super fun!

SUMMARY: Maria and Peter have a steamy one-night stand—that’s made insanely awkward when the two are cast as gods exiled together on a remote island.

Read it if you like:

💖 Enemies to lovers
💖 He falls first
💖 Found family
💖 Body positivity
💖 Mental health awareness

It's both funny and charming. You could read it as a standalone, but I appreciated having the additional context. This whole series exists in a universe in which a beloved fantasy series has been adapted for television (think Game of Thrones), and the stories revolve around the actors involved and their romantic pursuits.

As a side note, this is an open door romance that opens with a sex scene but then is a slow burn for quite a bit after that, so a mixed bag in the 🔥🔥🔥 department.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

This is the third book in the Spoiler Alert series and follows actors Maria and Peter. After a one night stand, the two find themselves filming together on an isolated island for 6 years. Despite their chemistry, they agree to stay friends only while filming. However, once those 6 years are over, they finally have the chance to deepen their friendship into something more. But adjusting to life together off of the little island may be more difficult than they both expect. Dade does a fantastic job closing out this series and I really enjoyed this romance. It ended up being more emotionally charged than the first 2 in the series and I think that was due to this book taking place over 6 years so we see a lot of character development. I loved Maria and Peter and found them both such interesting characters and they had so many layers to work through to finally be together. I loved that we got a few cameos from the characters in the other books and the epilogue was absolutely fabulous. As always, I loved the fat rep in this book, even more so that both of our main characters are fat and the amount of lusty descriptions from both of them about the other are fantastic. This is a longer romance at 413 pages, but considering we had 6 years to cover and a whole lot of character growth to get through I think all of that length is needed. That being said, the pacing was a little hit and miss for me. There were times where it felt like it dragged and then times where it felt way too fast. I do think Dade did a great job giving the reader glimpses of Peter and Maria over that 6 year period to help with this, but I think having that big of a time jump is just hard all around. I did like how we see their first year together and then we time-jump and the story moves forward from there so we have pretty solid footing with these characters before the jump.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC

Publication date was November 15, 2022

This is the perfect book to read while cozy on the couch with that great glass of wine. It just makes you feel happy and content! A solid read for a rainy day!

This is such a fun series and I really enjoyed the slow burn romance in this one. Lovers, then enemies, then friends, then lovers again, it's a roller coaster ride of emotions as Peter and Maria navigate their stormy seasons on God of the Gates. I loved that both characters are comfortable in their own skins, plus-sized actors who've worked hard to get where they are. The cameos are fun (Alex is still my favourite character, he's such a goof!) and the found family of the TV series really shines through. And of course our couple gets an HEA, one that shows they are both willing to bend to put their relationship at the top of their priorities. I'm going to miss the characters from the whole series, but glad I've got another series to re-read!

Hands down my FAVORITE of the entire Spoiler Alert series!

Maria & Peter are familiar faces to anyone who has read Spoiler Alert or All The Feels & here we start off with a bang - literally their first and only hook up 6 years ago before becoming costars on Gods of the Gates. The chemistry that these two have is insane but they decide for the sake of the show & filming to not pursue anything.. until the show finally wraps & they can no longer hold back.

This is the only book to feature two fat main characters & one thing I enjoy about Olivia's writing is how her characters are more than just their bodies. Even when producers insist on Maria & Peter losing weight & altering their bodies to 'appease the fans', Maria is steadfast in declaring that they can take her as she is or fire her, knowing that her body may not be 'typical' but is still strong & beautiful.

I also love the group texts & fan fic excerpts that are included - we get to still hear from the other characters besides the main couple & especially here, Maria & Peter's texts made me swoon. No to mention the adorable Swedish pet names?! I died.

This is swoony, sexy, sweet & oh so good. I'd definitely encourage you to check out the first two books before diving in but you could read this as a standalone if desired!

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. Somehow, I had managed to forget how much the books in this series made me laugh, but I spent a lot of time giggling in this book. If you are a fan of snarky banter, witty people, and friendly bickering, then this is definitely the book for you. I loved the body positivity in this book so much, and how much each character enjoyed each other because they look they way they do, not in spite of it. It was fantastic.
The characters were witty, funny, deeply emotional, and wonderfully real. It can be very hard to write a book that spans this length of time, but it was carefully and craftily done, and I never felt like I was missing out too much on their development. Would I happily read the missing years? Absolutely. Did I need to? Not really. However, you do really need to read the first two books in the series to truly understand a few plot points that occur with the rest of the characters. Overall, I enjoyed the heck out of this book, and I look forward to more books from the author.

I have read the first two books in this series and loved them. I was so excited to get my hands on the newest release. It did not disappoint! Oliva Dade has a knack for weaving characters so that the reader feels an intense emotional connection with them. I enjoyed every twist and turn in the story.

While this wasn’t technically a “holiday read,” I definitely got some cozy Viking romance vibes. This one-night stand quickly pivots into a slow-burn romance with simmering chemistry, forced proximity, and all the pitch perfect witty banter.
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Peter is the type of guy who falls hard, which is why he is crushed after a potential romance turns into a one-night stand when Maria (first name only) ghosts him the next morning. That next day, the two are stunned to discover they have landed the part of co-stars on a Game of Throne-ish sounding viking TV series called God of the Gates. Determined to stay professional, Peter swears off any possible romantic relationship with Maria for all six years of the series. What ensues is a beautiful friendship, followed by a second-chance romance. But with Maria set to return to Sweden and Peter determined to settle back in LA, will the two be able to make it work?
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I loved Maria’s character in this book. She’s a no-nonsense feminist who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and put her personal beliefs and ethics before her career. She laid down the law for the show-runners in this book and I was here for it. Loved all the messages of body positivity as well. This was my first book in this series, so you can absolutely enjoy it as a stand-alone.
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Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Ship Wrecked - Olivia Dade
4.5/5⭐️