Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade Series: Spoiler Alert #1
Published by Avon on October 6, 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchase
Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster. Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired. Immediately.
April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life” for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.
Even though their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.
With love and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely cancelled?
Spoiler Alert delivered ALL the feels! It was angsty and emotional, and ODade captured exquisitely the injury and scars that can come at the hands of those we love…those that are supposed to love us unconditionally. I am ecstatic that Spoiler Alert was chosen for February’s COYER Book Club and that I was able to read it with two of my COYER friends, Berls and Kristen.
April is a geologist. She chose her field because she loves rocks. She loves rocks for their layers and the stories they tell. She also has a side interest, that of writing fan fiction based on her favorite TV series. The parallels between April’s rocks’ stories and the stories she writes are myriad. When April decides to stop hiding her fanfic alter ego (using Twitter), there are repercussions, both ugly and beautiful. The most beautiful? Being asked to dinner by the actor who plays the character you write fanfic about after he sees a particularly ugly comment made about April’s body.
Marcus has made his career playing Aeneas. But while his character is a literary legend, Marcus is know as nothing more than a pretty face. It’s something he’s cultivated because he has a secret. He has dyslexia and being seen as vapid makes for much easier interview questions – something he learned the hard way. Empty-headed or not, Marcus couldn’t stand by and say nothing when a gorgeous creature is verbally assaulted for her unconventional body. Which leads to complicated results due to another secret Marcus has. He writes fanfic, too. And his fanfic alter-ego knows April’s.
ODade’s story is impressive to say the least. The way she wove in fanfic, mythology, a TV series, and the rest of the story was genius. I’m clueless about fanfic but the way she wrote it seemed genuine. (As an aside, I can’t count the times I had to look up acronyms and terms! LOL) I appreciated how ODade developed April and Marcus, not only in regards to their respective professions – the geology details as well as filming details – but also their childhoods and the baggage they were both carrying. April and Marcus were both damaged and found kindred spirits in each other – both online and IRL – but they both had some heat and pressure to endure before they could emerge as their best selves…together.
Spoiler Alert was absolutely lovely. And even though I tend to prefer more alpha in my book boyfriends, I completely fell for Marcus. I adored April and honestly identified with her on many levels. I fully intend to read the next in this series, about Marcus’s best friend, Alex.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Brandee is a mom of 3 and a soon-to-be empty nester. She is also an avid reader, a genre omnivore, and a compulsive one-clicker - but she's in recovery. Besides being a reader, she's also a writer and hopes to divide the vast quantities of spare time she'll soon have between reading and finally publishing her first book.
Wonderful review! I’ve read the second book in this series, All The Feels, but not this one. I’ll go back and get this one as it sounds just as good, or even better than the second book! Thanks!
Oh yay! I’m planning to read the second book soon so it’s good to hear it’s a good one. Thanks, Wendy!
Twitter: BerlsS
Such a great review Brandee! So many things I forgot to mention in mine, I was like “Oh yeah!” reading this. LOL! I think when a book is this good, it’s hard to hit everything in the review. You must read the second book soon, it was so good and it overlaps some with the first book so I think it works well to read them close together.
LOL You’re right, it is hard to capture everything in a review when you enjoy the story so much. 🙂 I plan to read the second book soon. You might need to keep reminding me though. LOL 😉
YES! I absolutely adore Ms. Dade’s storytelling and this is a favorite of mine. I love how her characters are relatable in some way – how they are real, even for famous actors! I love that they feel real emotions and can communicate. *sigh* I may need to do a re-read.
I’m definitely going to read more from ODade as she impressed me quite a bit. Good to know I have more goodness to look forward to, Jen! 🙂
I read an earlier book in the series and I felt the author really captured my emotions and connection with her characters. I need to keep reading them. Fab review, Brandee!
Oh, I’ll have to check out the other books in the series, Sophia! Thanks!
I’m going to read this book because of your review!!! LOL. In any case, I think love heals everything.
Twitter: nadz1809
This sounds lovely. Great review, Brandee
Thanks, Nadene. Hopefully you’ll check it out sometime and enjoy it too. 🙂
Twitter: Northwomn
It is emotional and the book does a lot to reveal their back stories and view their personal growth. I thought the relationship growth between them was a bit weak, a little too based on sex. But I did love when they supported each other emotionally.
Anne – Books of My Heart
I can see what you’re saying about their relationship being weak, Anne, and I kinda agree. The personal growth though and how they supported one another really kept me invested in them as a couple.
Twitter: Mollykatie112
I’m late commenting sorry. I enjoyed the book but I wished I hadn’t listened and just read it. I got so lost when she jumped from the story to the fan fiction. There were no breaks to tell you. I’m glad you enjoyed it. And I agree, I wanted him to be stronger than he seemed to be.
Hi Lorna! *waves* I’m late replying. LOL I didn’t think about how those parts would have been in audio – I can imagine that was difficult. I’m happy you enjoyed the book anyway. Maybe you can re-read it sometime…but so many books…LOL