Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

 

Reviewed by Ambrea 

Marcus Caster-Rupp stars on one of the biggest shows on television, Gods of the Gates, as the handsome hero Aeneas.  By the final season of the show, he’s less than enthusiastic about his role and the creative license the showrunners have taken with the original books—which is how he became a fanfiction writer under the pseudonym Book!AeneasWould Never.  Not that he’s ever told anyone else.  If it ever got out, he’d be fired.  Effective immediately.

April Whittier spends her days as a geologist, taking soil samples and studying rock formations; however, she’s also a hardcore fan of Gods of the Gates and Lavinia, Aeneas’ on-screen wife.  For years, she’s kept her fanfiction and her cosplaying hobbies separated from her “real life,” until she makes a career change and decides to finally be herself.  Her first public post in her Lavinia cosplay, however, gets more than its fair share of vitriol as people comment on her plus-size version of the character.  When Marcus comments on her picture and asks her on a date to spite the internet trolls, April is thrilled.

Their first meeting, however, doesn’t quite go as planned.  April isn’t terribly impressed by his stardom or his happy, brainless Golden Retriever routine, while Marcus quickly realizes he has even more secrets to keep.  As it turns out, April is Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom friend and fanfiction co-author—and she can never know the truth. 

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why it took me so long to read Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade.  I’ve been eyeing this book for well over two years, but, for some reason, I just never picked it up—and, now, I can’t help thinking I was missing out.  Spoiler Alert is a sweet, humorous romance with hints of spice that delighted me from beginning to end.  It reminded me of a bit of You’ve Got Mail, but throw in Brad Pitt circa 2004 (anyone remember Troy?) and a smidge of Notting Hill for added flavor and a pinch of Hercules:  The Legendary Journeys.  (I know Gods of the Gates was probably supposed to reflect the popularity of Game of Thrones—and its controversial final season—but I’m afraid all I could envision were episodes of Hercules and Xena:  Warrior Princess.)

Basically, it’s 90’s levels of rom-com sweetness—and I adored it.

I absolutely loved the characters:  I loved Marcus’s shy sweetness, and I loved April’s sense of humor; I loved their whole dynamic, as they learned to trust each other; I loved their growth as individuals, as they came to terms with their complicated—and occasionally traumatic—relationships with their parents.  In particular, I loved watching their relationship blossom, as Marcus trusts April with his dyslexia diagnosis and April confides in Marcus about the toxic relationships and fat-shaming she’s endured her entire life.

I also liked the fandom elements included in the story.  Not only does it give an added layer of depth to the characters, building up their interests and fleshing them out as individuals, it provides a little extra zest to the plot.  Each chapter is separated by a “bridge chapter” that shows the budding relationship between Unapologetic Lavinia Stan and Book!Aneas Would Never—April and Marcus—and how they bonded over their shared love of Gods of the Gates.  In some cases, those little chapter “bookends” are crucial to understanding a character’s frame of mind, or understanding just how close April and Marcus grew with their internet counterparts.

Overall, Spoiler Alert is a delightfully romantic story with humor and heart and complexity that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Reviewed by Ambrea

Elle Wittimer is dying to return to ExcelsiCon.  She’s been saving tips from her part-time job at the Magic Pumpkin food truck and building an excellent costume for this year’s Cosplay Ball.  Despite her stepmother’s attempts to dampen her dreams and destroy her love of Starfield, a TV show both she and her father treasured, Elle is determined to go to ExcelsiCon—after all, it’s the convention her father helped build and her last remaining connection to him.

Darien Freeman, on the other hand, is wondering how he can get out of going to ExcelsiCon.  He loves Starfield and he used to love going to conventions, but, since acquiring the lead role in the reboot of Starfield, most diehard fans have dismissed him as just another pretty face.  But one message to the wrong number will change his life forever and put him on course to meet a girl with a love for Starfield to match his own.

Geekerella by Ashley Poston is, of course, another retelling of Cinderella; however, I found it to be one of the more enjoyable ones I’ve read.  I love Cinderella stories anyway and I enjoy seeing how authors manage to tweak the staid Cinderella story in new, surprising ways.  In particular, I enjoyed Geekerella because it’s one of those retellings where the heroine does the unexpected:  she saves herself.

I always love a good story where the main female character has plans, where she’s working to save herself—where she has dreams beyond finding Prince Charming.  I genuinely liked Elle and I appreciated her as a character.  She was someone who had hopes and fears and dreams and, like all people, she makes mistakes.  Likewise, I liked that she wasn’t going to let anyone—not even her Stepmonster, as she’s appropriately named—stand in her way.

Speaking of the Stepmonster, I really disliked her.  She’s manipulative, controlling, and, sometimes, she’s just plain cruel.  It didn’t take much for my dislike to turn to immediate hate.  The Stepmonster—and her daughter—are not likeable characters.  I know they’re not supposed to be, but I really thought there might be something else there that would define them.

Nope.  They’re just surface level superficial and downright mean.

Overall, I really liked Geekerella.  It’s sometimes difficult to read, simply because the Stepmonster and Elle’s stepsister are so very horrible; however, it’s a fun, romantic and nerdy read.  I liked the friendships Elle builds along the way, and I even liked Darien.  It was interesting to see how their lives intersected and how their shared adoration of Starfield becomes the focal point of their budding relationship.

It's a lovely little story and well worth reading if you love a good fairytale retelling.