All the Feels by Olivia Dade

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Title: All the Feels
Author: Olivia Dade
Series: Spoiler Alert #2
Published by: HarperAudio
Release Date: October 26, 2021
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Kelsey Navarro
Length: 12 hours and 34 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »reference to parental domestic abuse, fat shaming « Hide Spoiler
Source: Chirp
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Winter, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

Following Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade returns with another utterly charming romantic comedy about a devil-may-care actor—who actually cares more than anyone knows—and the no-nonsense woman hired to keep him in line.

Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, God of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he’s dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness…not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

My Review:

4 stars — This one was slow for me to get into, but once I did it delivered right to the end

It took a bit to warm up to Alex.  I’m sensitive, so he came across mean at first.  I do know people who have that personality, and I will admit I’m taken aback when they “mean” tease with people they don’t know as well (calling her stupid, etc).  It’s not genuine meanness, b/c it’s sarcasm…but it can be hard to tell.  Once I figured him out though, and once they developed a friendship and report, then I absolutely loved him.

It took me a bit to warm up to the narrator as well.  She was good, there was just an indefinable quality that made her slightly less easy to listen to.  Which, again, doesn’t mean she’s bad, just that she probably won’t go on my favourites list.  She did emotions quite spectacularly in general.

I loved that Lauren was a different kind of plus size woman — short, round, smaller breasts.  True body diversity.  I also appreciated that other people’s “issues” with her wasn’t just about her body size, but also because she was unconventional looking.  It helps remind us that our society’s version of perfection doesn’t mean that people who don’t fit that mold aren’t beautiful to someone.  And fuck, aren’t beautiful in their own way.

I am in a weird reading space right now, so it took me FOREVER to finish this book.  My brain hasn’t been able to settle while reading, so it’s slowed down A LOT.  So I find it hard to tell how I feel about the book, b/c I don’t know if it was my mood that dragged it out, or if the book contributed…if that makes sense.  Other than the rough start (for me, with Alex and the narrator), I can’t pinpoint anything that would have me dragging this out on a normal reading mood.

I will admit that I cringed when we got to some of the miscommunication stuff — ie the “I’ll do what I think is best for you without consulting you”.  It’s a common trope, and not one of my favourites.  But I think the thing that Ms. Dade absolutely excels at is taking that normal trope, and having the characters (BOTH characters) actually learn and grow, and then both come back and GENUINELY apologize.  It makes something I normally don’t like somehow easier.  And I appreciate them both more, it makes them more real.

There were a lot of fantastic funny parts.  Once I got over the hump with Alex, he was absolutely hilarious.  He had such a weird sense of humour, but I kind of adored it.  He was also so wonderfully sensitive — he felt everything to the nth degree.  I also appreciated seeing him live with ADHD — the representation was very visceral and on point.  It was interesting to see how he managed it, and how it could disrupt his life at times.

Lauren was delightfully dry.  I was so glad to see her finally grow towards the end — that girl needed those lessons so badly, and I’m excited to see her accepting herself and not tolerating the bad as much.  It was a great compromise.  I definitely felt for the lessons she had learned in her childhood, and how they had shaped her.  And how hard it was for her to see how she had it wrong.

I feel like this review is all over the place, but it fits the mood I’m in, so I’m leaving it.

COYER Community: I buddy read this book with Lillian from Mom With a Reading Problem, and she gave it 5 stars (her review coming soon).  Well, I attempted to buddy read, but I fell really far behind.