Author: Olivia Dade
E-book, Amazon Kindle
I have seen this book described as a romantic comedy but it is SO MUCH MORE than that…
Being a fat person myself, I always look for representation. Sometimes you read a book that talks about the heroine’s “curves”, her “voluptuousness”and it might even touch the insecurities she might have concerning body images… and then you look at the cover!! There is the gorgeous no-more-than-a-size-6 model and and you go, WHAT THE FREAKING HELL?!!! Well, even though the cover for Spoiler Alert is an illustration, there she is – big thighs, pouchy belly, that arm we tend to hide with longer sleeves! She is REAL!! That was my first clue that I was going to be happy reading this book. Or at least see myself represented in that heroine.
SPOILER ALERT is the tale of a geeky, feisty geology named April, whose bigger sham is – GASP! = not her body, but the fact that she writes fanfiction about a very popular TV show. She loves the community, but she is living in the geek closet, so to speak. April made a great friend – BAWN (Book!AeneasWouldNever), who also writes fanfic and for whom she beta-reads, as he is dyslexic and has some trouble proofreading what he dictates. He also helps her in her own writing with amazing insights.
Marcus Caster-Rupp is the hunky “himbo” actor who plays Aeneas in the “Gods of The Gates” tv show. To the whole world, he is this vapid, vain hunk of a man who can’t put two sentences together. Unbeknownst to the whole world, Marcus is very smart and one of the things he likes to do is post stories on the same fan fiction server where April writes. It’s the way he found to vent his frustrations with the awful way the show runners are dealing with his character and the source material. The series has now reached a point where they have surpassed the number of books and they scripts are no longer book based. Sounds familiar, right? *winks*
One day, April decides to post a photo of herself cosplaying as Lavinia, a character in the show and – surprise surprise – the wrath of the internet falls down on her. How dare she?! Marcus sees tweet, retweets it, follows her and asks her on a date all the while not knowing that she is his friend from the fan fiction community. We can all imagine the ramifications of these two getting together, specially since Marcus would be in danger of a lawsuit and subsequently even losing his career if they found out that he is writing stories criticizing the way the show is dealing with the plot.
SPOILER ALERT gave me all the feels in terms of representation of a fat person. (Yes, I will use the word as this is the word I use to define MYSELF.) April has lived a life where her father basically tried to erase her imagine from family history and her mother – under the guise of “love and care” – sends her diets, tips on how to dress to hide herself better and “suggests”healthy options every time hey are eating together.
When April accepts Marcus’ invitation, no one seems to believe she is worthy of his attention. I mean, “Look at HER! That’s got to be a publicity stunt, right?! No way in hell he would go out with her willingly!”
April is very confident for someone who has lived through all she has, but we all have breaking point… and definitely reaches hers in this book.
Marcus also broke my heart. I was a foreign language teacher for more than half of my life and I know the struggle dyslexia brings to a person. The frustration of trying to make sense of things that seem so simple to other people…The shame of believing you are “stupid,” just because your brain processes things in a different way. I LOVED Marcus! he’s still the cinnamon roll here while dealing with his own crap! I wanted to hug him and tell him he was perfect! But the is a romantic novel, so I can let April do that! 😉
As for the parents – OMG! They were just HORRIBLE. But I dealt with parents like that in my professional life and I know the damage it can cause to a child.
FAN FICTION AND GEEK CULTURE – this book is ode to this universe! I was in HEAVEN! I always find it ironic that people can do everything a “geek” does for their fandom if it is related to sports (the jerseys, the memorabilia, the collectibles, the works) and no one bats an eyelash. Hey can wear the jerseys, decorate their homes in team gear and no one will think they are “weird”. Now, if you go to ComicCon, or buy a collector’s “Jon Snow” figurine people look at you funny. Go figure…
I also loved the subtle jabs at the last season of “Game of Thrones”! It was like finding snarky easter eggs all through the book. And wouldn’t its. Have been funny if we ever found out what Kit Harrignton or Emilia Clarke *really* think about that last season of the show? LOL
I totally recommend this book! It was definitely a five-star read for me. And I can’t wait to read “All The Feels”- apparently it was referred as “Slow Burn” before – which is the book that follows Alex, Marcus’s best friend and co-star in the show and his own HEA.
Possible triggers: fatphobia/fatshaming/emotional abuse/bullying/dyslexia/talk about dieting
