4 stars

Such a satisfying end to this series! A slow-burn friendship with tension, lots of room for quiet dramas and growth, and a sweet romance at its core.

Characters: ★★★ 1/2
Plot/Pacing: ★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★

Ship Wrecked comes out on November 15!

Please Note: This book is the third installment in the Spoiler Alert series by Olivia Dade. While this is technically a standalone romantic story between two characters, I highly recommend reading this series in order to get the full context. There are a TON of references to the first two books in this one, and Maria and Peter's story exists in a dense bubble of context references from the other books.

Maria and Peter are both costars on the same TV show, Guardians of the Gates. It's a Game of Thrones-esque show with an international following and a lot of drama and character arcs.

Their characters play two isolated gods who have been stranded on a remote island with just the two of them.

It's just them. And a small production crew. On a very small island. Staying in a limited-space boutique inn.

Why does this matter, you ask?

Because Maria and Peter had an explosive, no-holds-barred sexy one night stand the night before they both landed roles on Guardians of the Gates. After one night of perfect passion, the last thing either of them thought would happen would be to see each other again. And now they're not just seeing each other—they're acting face to face, in a remote location, for several years of filming.

It's not... shall we say... ideal. Especially when their passion still exists, and yet personal hang-ups and a desire to maintain professional boundaries keeps them from ripping each other's clothes off and resuming their hot-HOT chemistry.

Can these two costars make it through the slowest burn of their lives? What will happen once they have the space to make their own decisions?

Ooooooh, oh. Ship Wrecked was fun, y'all. I enjoyed it very much. The tension, the soft drama, the dual points-of-view of two characters and their unique torture of falling in love while being unable to admit it?? Delicious.

This was a very sweet end to a wonderful romance trilogy. I think fans of Spoiler Alert and All the Feels will be quite satisfied. I definitely was! While this one had the most worldbuilding context and the least amount of fanfiction references—the first two books were heavily influenced by fanfiction internet culture—I do think Maria and Peter's story fit the series. And, just as important, Ship Wrecked provided a happily-ever-after ending for all of the people we've grown to love over the series.

Thank you to Avon for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the romance. I liked the setting and romantic situation and I appreciated the characters were plus size and sex positive. However, I found the story stilted and the writing awkward. The way so much time passes without scenes felt wrong. So much so that the HEA didn't feel completely earned.

I love love love love love love love love Olive Dade!!! She somehow created these two characters and made them both such real loveable people, that most times you forgot they were actors. You forgot these 2 were supposed to be super successful actors she made them so relatable. The way she made Maria such a feisty character that just fought for everything she believed in no matter what it cost her, and Peter was a fallible man who towards the end admitted he wasn't perfect didn't deserve her yet would do anything to be with her and loved her with all he had. AHH!! Just loved this book!

What I especially loved about this series is how everything is happening simultaneously throughout all 3 books. I think it might even be harder to write but it makes it such an enjoyable experience for the reader. I've said it before, and I'll say it again I will read anything Oliva Dade writes.

I received an Arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review as always, all words are my own.

TWs: fatphobia (challenged on-page), death of a parent (off-page), cheating (off-page)

Olivia Dade's books are always a good time, and this was no exception. However, it didn't quite measure up to Spoiler Alert, my favorite of hers, in my opinion.

The timeline of this book didn't quite work for me. The first 1/3 or so of the book took place over the six years that Maria and Peter starred in Gods of the Gates, and it felt rushed to me. It's difficult to balance a timeline like that because you don't want to drag it out, but you also want it to be meaningful enough that you can see the relationship develop between these two characters, and we didn't get that, unfortunately.

The ending didn't make a ton of sense to me either. Maria and Peter are both actors and understand the responsibilities that can come with that job, yet that was the source of tension at the end of the book. The reasoning behind it both made sense and didn't, and the resolution wasn't very satisfying. It seemed like one character was getting everything, and the other truly received the short end of the stick.

I did love the body positivity in this book, and Maria was an incredible character in particular. She is such a confident, funny, badass who is unapologetically herself, and I rooted for her so easily.

While this wasn't my favorite book of Dade's, I still think this trilogy is still worth reading and would recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3/5. Releases 11/15/2022.

Peter and Maria are the stars of Gods of the Gates, TV's hottest fantasy show--and they happen to play the two most-shipped characters. What fans don't know? Just before they were cast, the two had a one night stand... which has not been repeated in the six years since, despite how much they both want it. But with the series about to end, Maria and Peter have an opportunity to act on the tension that's been simmering for so long--the question is, what will this lead to beyond one evening?

So I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. I literally don't know how to feel about it. I've been trying to think of clearer ways to express my vibes on books in general--let's try it out here.

What I Liked:
--The sex in this book is really, really good. Dade knows how to write it, she knows how to make sex correspond with the emotional development of the relationship, and I just believe all of it. Shedif also really gets a lot out of the sexual tension of two people who want to bone down so badly but instead have to act out intense sex scenes together. I totally bought it.

--Loved that Peter and Maria are both fat and presented as extremely desirable, not just to each other but the world at large.

--The age difference was perfection and added an element of complexity to the relationship.

--Maria's backstory was really heartbreaking, but not in a sappy, self-pitying kind of way. I really loved it; and honestly, I loved her. Sexy, blunt, confident, a bit damaged and distant but in a manner that came off as human rather than quirky. She's great.

What I Disliked:
--I thought the six year timespan was covered well, but the issue is that not enough happened to them individually. These people are two attractive, sexual adults who choose to not have sex for six years and they don't really have like... hookups, situationships, relationships in that time? I just didn't buy it. Six years is a long time, and they both felt like they were the same people at the beginning of the book and when they finally hooked up again.

--Peter is the type of hero that will work for many people, I'm sure. He did not work for me. He seems great in bed! But his insecurities are TOWERING. He's pissed that she left him without a word after their one night stand and essentially negs her about her acting ability--her work!--as a result. Literally, I would be done wit the man immediately. It was a one night stand bro, you're thirty-six, I don't super care about what damage brought you to this, that is so unattractive. Don't fuck with my work.

I also found that Peter's backstory was just... He has a good one relating to his family, which works as Maria's backstory is also related to family and parental relationships. But then, for some reason, Dade added another backstory which essentially amounts to Peter getting dumped by his ex-fiancee a few months into their engagement for reasons that... Listen, I don't think they were as black and white as the book made them out to be. I'm very wishy-washy on the evil ex thing in general--but this one just left me totally sympathetic to the ex. I got it. She just wasn't a good match for him. By the time he and Maria get together for real, it has been OVER SIX YEARS!!!! since they broke up. It had been a decent amount of time since the breakup when he sleeps with Maria the first time. This man is still sore about it! My God!

I suppose this is also where I can run into issues with contemporaries in general, which isn't Olivia Dade's fault. It's just harder for me to dismiss this type of shit compared to like... a rogue kidnapping a lady, or a vampire biting a woman without asking. Peter's misdeeds are comparatively minor, I guess, but they're so real. And I just know that I would be annoyed as fuck by them. Again, this doesn't mean he won't work for other people. These issues just made him very unattractive to me, which sucks because in the sex scenes he was very! Attractive!

--Let's get back to the fat rep. I do love that Maria and Peter are both hot fat people. As someone who's blogged a good bit about fat rep--I cannot wait until we're at the point where fat people are just characters, and their lives don't revolve around their fatness. It felt extremely unnatural to have Maria just randomly say in conversation to Peter, "amazing that this show is casting us, the resident fats, as characters who weren't fat in the source material". COOL. Maybe one comment would make sense, but this was said several times. There's a whole plotline about them being pressured to lose weight by the show--and while that's realistic, I just didn't want that from my fat rep romance. Maybe some people will like that; for me, it was just a huge bummer, and as the rest of this book wasn't particularly realistic, it didn't feel necessary.

It's mostly the *focus* they both constantly have on it, especially Maria, that got me. These two people get worked up and he suggests taking it to the shower and Maria's response is basically "that shower will not accommodate two people of our size". Okay? Why did we have this scene? Or I don't know, have them go to the bathroom and just naturally figure out how to make it work for sex things, which is what they do anyway? Like people just... do? I mean, if we're going off that book cover and the general descriptions, Peter and Maria are big people, but I don't think either of them are so big that every basic act turns into a TASK.

I don't know, it was just kind of.... not what I wanted in a romance about fat people. I did not find it comforting or validating or reflective of life. It was just awkward.

The Verdict:
Here's the thing. For all that I had big complaints, I did really like Olivia Dade's writing style, and the components I enjoyed I really got a lot out of. I'll definitely give different books by her a try--I just wanted this one to work so badly. It's a disappointment, but again, one that I think will work for other people.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley and Avon for an advanced copy.

I loved the first 2/3 of this book, and devoured it all in one night (but it was a school night so I had to stop). However...the last act nonsense reason why they couldn't be together was such bullshit it ruined everything. It made me hate Maria and all of her quirky personality traits became grating and annoying. I'm going to be honest, I couldn't even get myself to hate-read the last 4 chapters, just skipped right to the epilogue and hated it.

This book followed the typical pace and plot points of most romance and would have been on pace for a 3.5-4 star but it degraded to a 1.5 star rounded up for the steamy scenes and accurate representation of the Midwest.

This BANGS like a drum line with spicy chemistry, body positivity, and plus size rep.
Peter is a cinnamon roll viking character actor making his move into leading man territory.
Our heroine, Maria, is a Swedish stage actress making her big break into TV, but refusing to do it at the price of her dignity. As a 35 year old, plus-sized woman who doesn't want kids I felt SEEN when Peter and Maria had the conversation about kids.
It had all my favorite tropes: forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, return of the one night stand. Is it any wonder I gave it 5 stars?

Olivia Dade does it again. I don't know what magic she has to create another Gods of the Gates subplot that sandwiches in seamlessly with the existing canon, how she crafts relationships with new and old characters that feel so comfortable and fresh, but she does. Honestly, new readers could pick up this book as a stand alone. Of course it is much more rich a reading experience as the end of the two other delicious books in Dade's series.

I absolutely adore the variety of ages Dade gives her characters. The backstories and reactions feel real and not dramatic the way even good romance books can have at times. I am unbelievably grateful to be able to read this book before publication- thank you NetGalley and Avon for an early read in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! I have read all of the books in Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert series, and this is my new favorite. I loved the main characters, the writing, and romance. I really just loved most everything about this book. Maria and Peter have a one night stand, only to learn that they’re cast as love interests on the very popular God of the Gates television series together, where they’ll be filming on a remote Irish island for years. Can they overcome their awkwardness and lust to find love? It’s rare that I love characters as much as I loved Maria and Peter. Neither character was perfect, but Dade does a great job beautifully portraying two different people that love each other and see each other for who they are. There are a lot of romance tropes in this book, but I think Dade does a great job of making these plot points charming and fresh. Friends to lovers, one-night stands, slow burn pining, steam, angst, and more: it’s all so well written. This book made me cry multiple times with the poignancy of the storylines about these characters overcoming past trauma and heartache, as well as truly knowing what you need to find love. It’s a great blend of soft, sweet, funny, and steamy, and that’s a rare blend and it was a joy to read. I recommend this book for fans of Olivia Dade and this series, fan fiction, positive fat representation, steam, and contemporary romance.

Ship Wrecked is a fun and comical, if somewhat predictable, journey through Peter and Maria's tumultuous and lusty to finding love with each other. After a one night stand that ends in a disappearing act from Maria, Peter finds himself in a position to have to be in close proximity to her for an indeterminable amount of time filming for the big TV series, Gods of the Gates. Peter, a hard nut to crack, with the help of Maria opens up and finds a family with the cast and crew that he never expected. As the years pass, affection and maybe love grows between Maria and Peter and they find themselves needing to make a pact to not act on their bodily needs as well as their emotions. As the end of the show wraps up, six LONG years later, Peter and Maria find themselves able to finally act on their desire that has only built over those years. Their relationship builds quickly and crashes and and burns just as quickly when time and time again, Peter puts his acting career above Maria.

Olivia Dade can do little to no wrong for me. I love the body positivity that comes from her characters. Peter and Maria, if anything, are my favorite couple from this series simply because they are so real. I found both characters extremely relatable as a realistically sized woman who puts work over everything else. I liked the build-up and the awkward back and forth developed from how their relationship first started.

The plot development was a bit weird for me. Between the weird passing of a lot of time in such a short amount of book and the back and forth in time with the text messages left me confused at times. I was really excited how Peter and Maria came together at the end of the book, but it was, again, kind of weird how it all happened so quickly. The book would have benefitted from a slower realization on both Maria and Peter’s part and would have made the ending more realistic and relatable.

A fun read that I will recommend to friends and patrons.

I generally LOVE all Olivia Dade books and have super high expectations of them. Shipwrecked had complex character and the char avatars had wonderful growth and I enjoyed watching the story play out. This was a slower paced story that I found hard to stay fully invested in. Overall it was still a great story, but not one of my favorites.

The day after leaving a one-night stand asleep without a note or even remembering his name, Maria runs into him at an audition, and their chemistry is perfect for the show. Now Maria and Peter will be spending the next six years filming Gods of the Gates together on a desolate Irish island. To avoid awkwardness and to prevent issues with filming and the other crew members on the island, they agree to only be friends. But their feelings only grow, and by the end of the show, they refuse to spend another moment apart. I love the Spoiler Alert series, so I was so excited to read the newest book, and it did not disappoint! The characters in this series are so engaging, and I love each and every one of them! Peter is a brooding introvert, while Maria is very outgoing, but they match each other's energies perfectly. I loved their banter throughout the novel, especially with Maria constantly insulting Peter in Swedish and threatening him with jars of pickled herring. I also loved how this book fits seamlessly within the Spoiler Alert series and incorporated the other main characters, as Alex and Marcus are also cast members of Gods of the Gates. Alex is still my favorite character in the series, so it was fun to have him mentioned and directly involved in this story. He is constantly in their group chat and sends Maria and Peter fan fiction about their characters and fanmade compilation videos of their interviews that make fans think they are dating. Fan fiction played a significant role in the first two books, so I am glad it was at least mentioned in this book, even if it was not central to the plot and mainly used to torment Peter. I loved this book and can't wait to see what Olivia Dade writes next!

This book was not my favorite book of the year, but I didn't hate it. The writing was well written in some parts and dragged in others. I think what was hard for me was finding a connection between the MCs and myself.

Thank you for the ARC for review.

Story of one-night hook-up which later becomes awkward when they have to work together on a TV series. Six year of waiting for the series to conclude before they decide they can try to be together again.

Sadly, six years was too long for me. DNF - I finally gave up 45% through.. I tried several times to get into the story but there were too many side stories that really derailed the progression of the two main characters. I also couldn't really summons a lot of interest of Peter.

Cute rom-com about two meet who have a 1 night stand and end up working together on a TV show. We meet Maria, spunky Swedish woman who decided she wanted to try something different from theater and dive into acting in LA. Her costar Peter is a more experienced actor who finally lands a big role only to end up working closely with his one night stand gone wrong. You watch their relationship blossom and develop over the course of 6 years. There were parts that I felt dragged on longer than necessary and other parts that felt it was missing something. Overall I did like the book and the characters.

All hail Queen Olivia Dade and her castaway Vikings! She created a wonderful universe with her Gods of the Gates cast and I hope we continue to see more books from this series, hopefully of Carah and Summer and more.

This third installment took us to some really nice family centric storylines that didn't revolve around size or appearance, though of course the show runners were absolute tuna breath dunder brains to both Peter and Maria about their weight. It took me a while to warm up to Peter because he kept his feelings close to the chest (when expressing them would have solved many a pickle...d herring) and Maria is probably my favorite heroine thus far, even though I loved both Lauren and April.

Highly recommend this book and this series to ALL readers. If you haven't picked up an Olivia Dade book yet, what are you waiting for???

I love the Spoiler Alert series by Olivia Dade so much. She has created beautifully whole characters who really come alive on the page. In this third installment, we get to see the full story of Peter and Maria. Dade has written a book that is simultanioiusly hot out of the gate and then a slow burn for a good portion of the book. I loved Maria's strength and vulnerability and while Peter took a bit to get to know, I came to love his fiercely protective heart. I'm not usually a fan of third act break ups, but Dade handles it with a deft hand. I think this may be goodbye to the Spoiler Alert world and it had a lovely end. I certainly wouldn't mind if we got to return to these characters.

DNF after the first chapter. I walked into this expecting the slow build up as the first two and right away we are in the middle of a spicy scene. The other books were five stars for me. I LOVED THEM. The others were fun and organic. I know this one is about a relationship off a one night stand but why did we have to start w a saucy scene on page one. I couldn’t get over it. So sad, this was a most anticipated of the year for me.

I will ready ANYTHING and everything Olivia Dade. I am so excited to see more of the Spoiler Alert universe and cannot even beging to describe how much it means to see cool, fat, nerdy girls represented in fiction. While this is my least favorite in the series, there were some really great moments.

What I loved:
Ship Wrecked occurs within the timeline of the first two Spoiler Alert books, if somewhat tangentially. Our main characters, Maria and Peter are both unapologetically fat. Maria is a feminist icon and body autonomy is a HUGE theme, which I loved. Maria is also Swedish, leading to funny uses of Swedish phrases and threats (iykyk!). As with the rest of the series, there are many fanfic moments and funny cast text threads sprinkled in there. The con also happens in this book, which makes my nerdy heart so happy.

What I didn't love:
I had trouble getting in to this story. As I did, I found it frustrating how much of what was pushing the narrative forward occured off page. Friendships were developed, years passed, relationship dynamics changed and we didn't get to see that really play out. I also wanted MORE of the other characters from the series--we hear about how they are such great friends, but have to read 7/8 of the book to see that. Also, maybe just my personal opinion, but Peter did not 'speak to me'. He is grumpy to her sunshine, but sort of lacked other personality.

In the end, it wraps up with a big cheesy bow. If you loved the rest of this series, this book will feel like reconnecting with an old friend.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for the ARC of this highly anticipated romance!!!!!!!

Listen, my reading tracker tells me that this is the fifth book I’ve read this year by Olivia Dade. When I’ve read this many of an author’s books in a relatively short amount of time, I prepare myself to be disappointed. I mean, no one is perfect, we can’t always write 5 star reads. Well, spoiler alert (IYKYK), this one is a 5 star read. From one night stand, to co-stars and friends, to maybe more… Peter and Maria are lovable characters with wounds to heal and love to give. If you love a good slow burn romance, my friend this one is for you. Release date 11/15/2022, so you don’t have to wait too long! Pre-order from Two Friends Books for your “I’ve had too much Thanksgiving togetherness and I need to read now” reading.