[ARC Review] Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade is a love letter: a love letter to the fanfiction writers; to the people who don't fit society's ideals; to the outsiders who are struggling to be themselves. This is a story about self-acceptance and the often-bumpy road you have to travel to discover it.

April writes fanfiction for an immensely popular TV series; one day, she takes a leap and posts a picture of herself dressed up as one of the characters. The problem? She's a bigger girl, and the internet critics won't let her forget it. Enter Marcus, one of the stars of the TV series and a man who is often judged by skin-deep standards. Marcus asks April out, and loves who she is both inside and out. But when April realizes that Marcus has been keeping a huge secret from her, will their love and acceptance of each other be strong enough to bring them back together or is their romance destined to be shorter than the one-shot fanfics that April writes?

I really enjoyed Spoiler Alert. I loved how open and honest it was about body shaming, all without once calling April "plus size." Dade touched on many sensitive topics, including fat shaming and learning disabilities and addressed them with delicacy and poise through her characters. Neither April nor Marcus dismissed the other one's issues and, when it mattered most, supported each other through the tough decisions that we often don't want to handle on our own. 

Dade's writing was sharp, the characters at times painfully real, and the ending everything you could want. I can't wait to read the next book in this series. 

Many thanks to HarperCollins and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy.