Book Review: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

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Want to know whether Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade is worth the read? Here are my thoughts on the book to help you decide.

Spoiler Alert Review

Please tell me people who look like us can be loved

Please tell me people who look like us can be desired

Please tell me people who look like us can have happy endings

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade is a book that I have wanted to read for quite awhile especially after it was hyped up in the bookish community all over social media what with it having a positive representation of a chubby female protagonist.

So, after seeing its availability in Scribd, I took the chance and read it.

Reading Spoiler Alert, especially for the first few chapters was very refreshing because again, it’s quite rare to read about a positive representation of fat women whereby their fatness wasn’t the sole focus of the plot. 

It was nice to read about the characterization of April Whittier, our female protagonist. Yes, she is fat BUT that’s not the only thing she is. She is also fun, she also has hobbies and she has a job that she is passionate about. 

Being fat isn’t her WHOLE PERSONALITY and it’s realistic and it makes me relate to her.

This is because I too am a fat woman, I am not even talking about being chubby here. I am classified as obese in medical terms and like April, it affects my self-esteem, my confidence, and how I am treated.

Whilst being fat has a lot of drawbacks it is not the only thing I am thinking about 24/7.

Like April, I have a life OUTSIDE of my weight. 

So, reading about this woman just living her life is absolutely great in my opinion.

Another aspect, that I found realistic as well as so relatable in the book is when April is annoyed when people butt in and proceed to give their unsolicited advice or opinion on her body or what she eats as if she doesn’t realize nor notice that she is fat.

It’s so relatable to me because people like these (who mind you also fully exist in my life as well) think that I am not aware that I am obese. 

Like, Sir/Ma’am, I have a scale and a full-length mirror at home. I know what I look like and I know how much I weigh but why is it any of your concern completely baffles me. 

Yeah, I will notice that I am big especially when you are pointing it out like I am some animal in a zoo.

It’s so bloody annoying. What do they think? That I can just wish myself to be fit overnight? I wish! It would make doing BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) so much easier. 

In the book, April works as a geologist and when I read this tidbit I was FLOORED!

Because who else also has a background in geology?

ME!

THAT’S WHO!

It’s as if this book was specifically written with me in mind. If I happen to be Caucasian and had red hair instead of being Asian. 

Knowing April is a geologist just made me EVEN MORE invested in the book because who doesn’t love a badass bitch who is confident and has her shit together.

Plus, with her being a geologist I truly can insert myself into the plot and I can imagine that it is I who is in the scene. 

I am obviously imagining Tom Hiddleston as the male protagonist. 

At this stage, in my mind, this book will get a definite 5-star rating for me but alas, not all that shines is gold because after a time I found the plot lacking. 

Seriously, lacking. 

THERE WAS TOO MUCH FLUFF! 

I don’t mind books that have a lot of fluff and vanilla but don’t sell the plot to me whereby you introduce the characters being real and having depth and emotional baggage and trauma but then don’t delve deeper into it. 

Like, you are telling me April with her insecurities regarding her weight and being a closeted fanfic author got over her trauma so easily and not even showing the readers how she overcame it? 

And don’t even get me started on Marcus’s issues. 

Is this the whole trope of “love will cure everything” BS again? What is this? A Bollywood movie?

This pisses me off because I was rooting for the plot because I wanted the plot to show real-life steps on how to overcome your issues. 

Not only that, the sex wasn’t even great to read. 

It was so boring! 

Grow a spine Marcus and just take charge! Give me some spice! Because all I am tasting is a whole lotta NOTHING! 

Also, the book tells us that April is so hung up over her weight and her body but never really has the guts to actually address it. 

This pisses me off because if you’re not going to show how her weight affects her life why even include it as a major plot point whereby her weight insecurity is a big deal? 

Because if you’re going to include that, you have to include how she overcame this insecurity because trust me coming from personal experience it took A LOT of work for me to be okay with my body. 

And I mean  A LOT of work which is why now I am not so phased if I am fit or fat again because of all that groundwork I put in myself to realize that no matter what I am still me on the inside. 

Back to the fluff issue, all the book talked about is the relationship between Marcus and April and at first, it was great because there was tension due to them being new characters and we as the reader not knowing what to expect.

But once the tension is gone you start to realize the book is lackluster as nothing is happening. 

There were a lot of plot points that the author could have included making the book have more drama in it such as:

• Show how April could have been hounded by paparazzi and how she deals with it
• Talk about her work as a Geologist. Why even make her a Geologist if it’s barely mentioned at all. Is this to tick off the box stating that the author has a STEM female character? 
• Maybe show us some sex moves that are fat people-friendly. 
• Show her trying stuff that Marcus likes to do. 

Talking about showing April trying to do stuff that Marcus enjoys, truly she doesn’t even try to do things he enjoys. 

Not every physical activity outside of sex is fat-phobic you know. Like you never know you might enjoy it. 

People would be surprised to find out I genuinely enjoy working out considering I am fat and all that but I do. 

Exercising is therapeutic for me. So, reading how Marcus does everything that April likes to do and her not doing the same for him rubs me the wrong way. 

Aside from that, the pacing of the book is possibly the main killer of the book for me because I think it is the root problem for all the things I have discussed above. 

The pacing of the book at the start had good pacing but during the middle, it DRAGGED ON FOREVER!

It literally bored me to sleep. 

It bored me so much that I forgot Marcus and April genuinely had chemistry. 

There you have it, my review of Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. 

It’s a bit rambly and all over the place but I was writing from a place of hurt and disappointment because truly I thought this book was made for me only to realize I wouldn’t do half the stupid shit April did. 

Spoiler Alert Synopsis

Title: Spoiler Alert

Author: Olivia Dade

Publisher:

Rating: 2/5

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?

Buy Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade here

Amazon | Kinokuniya

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