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.
You want a book that’s funny? A book that will make you cry because it’s so relatable? A book that will make you swoon, fan your face during saucy scenes, and then some? And above all, a book that is a love letter to fandoms and fanfiction and to being a nerd? Well, look no further, my friends, because Spoiler Alert has got it all.
In Spoiler Alert, we meet Marcus Caster-Rupp, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, who has everyone fooled. The whole world believes Marcus is nothing but a dim-witted actor who skates through life by looking flawless. Forced into a role he didn’t choose, Marcus pretends to be the vapid actor when in reality, he is so much more. Dissatisfied with his scripts and the destruction of Aeneas’s (his role) character arc, he secretly writes fanfiction where he gets to take control over his favourite characters – something that would surely get him fired if anyone ever found out.
April Whittier is many things – a competent geologist, a doughnut connoisseur, and above all, a girl who loves nothing more than penning sexy fanfiction about her favourite characters Lavinia and Aeneas.
When the two of them “meet” on Twitter where Marcus comes to April’s rescue, sparks fly. And though their first date might just be described as a glorious disaster, Marcus is sure he wants a second and a third. When Marcus discovers that April is not only a gorgeous, funny and smart woman but is also the woman he’s been chatting with on their fanfiction site for years and considers his best friend, that’s just the cherry on top for him. Plagued by doubts and trust issues, though, he keeps their deeper connection a secret…and trouble and sparks ensue as their budding relationship turns into the media’s wildest dreams come true..
A celebrity who secretly writes fanfiction about his own character falling in love with a devoted fan who also happens to pen hot and steamy fanfiction about said character. Does that not sound like the single most perfect premise of a book ever?
And then Dade has the audacity to deliver everything the synopsis promises and more?! I’m still speechless.
There’s so much to love about this book but my favourite part was how this was equally a romantic comedy giving you all the second-hand embarrassment and fluff while also addressing real social issues. Marcus and April have sizzling chemistry and their banter is as funny as their flirting is enticing. But the both of them struggle with bigger issues as Marcus fears that he won’t be enough for people once they realise he is not just the carefree actor everyone has labelled him as. April on the other hand has a hard time believing that Marcus – or anyone, for that matter – can like her for who she is, fat and fine with it. There’s also a heap of emotional abuse the both of them experience at the hands of their family and that and causes trust issues the both of them struggle with. There are scenes with April’s family that broke my heart. Dade shows that hurt can be inflicted just as easily by well-intentioned commentary as it can be by insults. April’s mother has her own baggage to deal with but her running commentary on April’s choices of food and exercise cause a rift between them that is hard to read about.
Though there are of course conflicts and hard times, there’s also so much love in these pages – love for the fandom the both of them share, love for the fanfiction community they are both part of (even if April doesn’t know it yet) and love for friends who are supportive and make you better people by inspiring you to be yourself. Between every chapter, there are snippets from Marcus’s old movie scripts or excerpts from April and Marcus’s fanfics (and yes, we do get to the pleasure of seeing the AO3 tags like “the peg that was promised” and “angst and fluff” and it made my fanfiction-loving heart soar as it will yours). These snippets give the reader a deeper insight into what April and Marcus value and it added a greater depth to characters that were already amazing.
Lastly, the illuminating commentary Dade offers on the fatphobic society we live in was compulsive to read about. Dade does not hold back; from the public stigma being fat draws to the self-stigma April experiences as she is thrust into the spotlight by dating Marcus, we get to follow April going through frustrating conversations and heartbreaking self-doubt. There is no condescension between these pages; instead, we are regaled with a fierce protagonist who is smart, quick-witted, gorgeous and fat. Not in spite of being fat. Not because she’s fat. It’s just another adjective describing the brilliant woman that is April Whittier. It’s a powerful message, showing that yes, fat women are desired, they are loved, they are worthy of getting their happily ever after. It’s not the size of your body but the size of your heart that matters. This representation will mean so much to so many people (I know it did a lot to me) and I hope that everyone falls head over heels in love with April, just like Marcus does.
With flawed, complex characters that leap straight off the page and into your heart, Spoiler Alert is a love letter to fiction, fandom and fatness. As much social commentary as romantic comedy, this one deserves a spot on your favourites shelf!
Spoiler Alert is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 6th 2020.
Will you be picking up Spoiler Alert? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who’s secretly posting fanfiction of his own.
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?
i’m listening to the audiobook- the narrator is really good!
I am 55, male, with two Ph.D.s. I don’t read romance novels very often. But I will be getting this one. I read the preview and enjoyed it very much. It was well-written and compelling. No, I never studied Latin (though I did read the Aeneid), or read / watched Game of Thrones, or been involved in cosplay or fan fiction; and no, I’m not fat, although I wholeheartedly support the message of acceptance and respect. This looks like a good book, and I can’t wait to see what happens on the hero / heroine’s first date.
There’s no such thing as fatphobia. 99% of examples of so-called fatphobia are people quite factually pointing out that obesity is not healthy, and fat people crying about it.