Book Review: Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade




Review is also available on my site: https://roxannacross.com/2025/09/23/b...

Where to start? Dade presents a romance novel based on GoT fanfic that should have stayed on the AO3 platform. That being said, Spoiler Alert is available on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook formats, as well as at your local library or through the Libby App. The audiobook is narrated by Isabelle Rutther, and the story is confusing to follow. However, this is not a problem with the narrator, but Dade's book structure and writing abilities.

The simple act of copying and pasting fanfiction and adding two very unbelievable main characters does not make a book. Dade's female protagonist, April Whittier, a geologist with a secret online fandom life, writes GoT fanfic and creates Lavania costumes for cosplays. She describes herself as fat, not curvy, but very fat, with red hair. Dade's only adjective for this character is' round': shoulders, thighs, belly, round everything, so essentially a big, round ball with red hair. As for her male lead, Marcus Caster-Rupp, he's known to the world as Aeneas, the star of the biggest television show, and his public persona is that of a blond, muscled beauty with no brains who's obsessed with hair products. Why? At the age of thirty-nine, he can't admit he's shy, struggles with dyslexia, and his biggest secret of all is that he also writes fanfiction about his own show, and his co-workers and the fandom know him only as Book!AneasWouldNever. If that tidbit leaked out, he'd be finished in Hollywood.

The problems with Dade's premise for this book:
1. Kudos to her for introducing a plus-size protagonist, but April had no personality; at thirty-six, everything centered around her body image issues. She hid the most important parts of herself from everyone, including her online community and co-workers. Furthermore, everything needed to be about April all the time, to the point she came across as abusive with her mother and with Marcus. Because they didn't take into account how they hurt her feelings. That street goes both ways. Yet, Dade took the one-way approach, and somehow April always came out with what she desired, damn the feelings of others.
2. Marcus's story is even more unbelievable. With parents both being teachers at a prestigious prep school, it's simply impossible, yes, IMPOSSIBLE, for them not to recognize the signs of their child's dyslexia and not be able to obtain the best possible support for him to succeed. Dade's lousy excuse of 'they had blinders on' just doesn't jive. And not only is it far-fetched to think a responsible actor would violate their contract by posting fanfiction to work out their frustration against the show they're working on, it's ludicrous. Never mind announcing it at a con, as Marcus's best friend did when, during a Q&A with Cupid, he told everyone about his alter ego's writing of fanfic where he gets pegged. The absurdity of it turned the entire scene, which Dade probably intended to be dramatic, into a parody. The relationship with April is one where Marcus gives, and she takes, takes, and takes. When he can't give her what she wants, she lashes out until he caves into her demands. How is this not toxic?
3. It's baffling how this book managed to pass the editing process. The terrible fanfic included in the chapters, the confusion at times, wondering who's speaking, the scripts leaked on the net, everything turned into a jumbled mess. Makes readers and listeners wonder if the editors were asleep at the wheel when this came across their desk.

Honestly, read or listen at your own risk, as zero stars can be awarded to such a disastrous train wreck.



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