Spoiler Alert

by Olivia Dade

[Berls]

4.5 stars

I discovered Oliva Dade in 2021 and this has been on my TBR ever since, so I was thrilled when it won our votes for February 2022 COYER Book Club. And it did not disappoint. I loved every minute and found myself finding excuses to keep listening when I normally would have to put my book down.

The characters are wonderful. I adored April and related to her on so many levels. As I've come to expect from Ms. Dade's writing, the body positivity is everywhere. April is plus size and loves herself. Marcus is a fit as fuck Hollywood star and he loves April (including her body). So that's great. I did have a few - okay many! - moments where I was yelling at April and wanting to shake her with frustration because she's still very insecure about her body and over-reacts/reads situations wrong because of that insecurity. But GAH did that make her all the more real! Who of us - size be damned! - doesn't have sensitivities where are body is concerned?!

Marcus is just so... I challenge you to read this and not fall in love with him. Beyond his love of April, just the struggle he has gone through. Look - both April and Marcus have some shitty parent situations. April's I've been in, almost to the T, and so I commiserated with her so fully. But Marcus's parents!! I wanted to climb into the book and punch them out -- and I am not a violent person (pretty sure I haven't punched a soul in my life). But as a former teacher, I was infuriated with them, because as teachers they KNEW better. No should have known better. No. They knew better and acted anyway. Notice I'm not saying what they did -- read it and find out for yourself ;)

And as much as I challenge you to read this without falling in love with Marcus, I also challenge you to read it without crying. I sobbed. Many times. Happy tears and heartbreak tears. So why 4.5 stars? Well, there's one very specific scenario (that would be 100% spoiler to tell you) that April does something I can't understand and well it pissed me off. Maybe it was true to character, and it all worked out, but it pissed me off enough to lob off half a star.

The narration by Isabelle Ruther was fantastic. I just checked and I've never listened to her before. In fact, it doesn't look like she's narrated many books. But I wouldn't hesitate to pick her up again - she had great voices and I was able to enjoy at my standard 2x speed.