I really loved Spoiler Alert, so I was so excited to see some of the characters set to return in All The Feels. This time, the story focuses on gorgeous actor Alexander and Lauren, the woman hired to be his minder in response to a string of bad behaviour.

Unfortunately, although I loved Alexander and Lauren in the first book, I just didn't click with them in this one. Something felt off about their relationship and I found I wasn't enjoying reading about them. I found the plot fun, but the characters just weren't my cup of tea.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. I hadn’t realised until after I had finished it that it was the second in a series but it made no difference to my enjoyment that I hadn’t read the first. The characters are believable (who hasn’t met an Alex) and the writing is funny and also deals with some big issues. I give it 5 stars and I can’t wait to read more by Olivia Dade

I loved this book. Having read Spoiler Alert and not gelling with it completely, I wasn't sure All the Feels was going to fully work for me but I had ALL THE DAMN FEELS. Alex is probably one of my favourite characters ( liked the ADHD rep) I had read about this year. He is the reason for my star rating. I loved how funny and endearing he was, whenever he asked Lauren questions he almost always had me laughing.

One of the main issues I had with Spoiler Alert was the fandom, fan-fic aspect BUT it really worked for me in this book and I loved that he was writing fan fiction and asking Lauren about specific things and she was reading what he was writing. OBSESSED.

There was a really great balance of light and funny moments mixed with the darker issues that they are both dealing with. This is more of a slow burn romance which isn't usually my favourite but it made sense for the characters in this book. One of the things I didn't personally love was how much specifically in the beginning of the book Lauren's appearance is discussed, the writing does not let you forget how 'not attractive' she is.

I’m absolutely gutted about this. I really am. Let me start by saying I adored Spoiler Alert and gave it 5 stars. The fat girl empowerment, the banter, the romance. Loved it.

All The Feels just fell totally flat for me from the moment I started. I just didn’t like the characters, particularly Alex. He was horrific to Lauren, continually putting her down about her appearance, calling her bird like (is that even an insult? Birds are fab) and commenting on her height. I just found him insufferable.

I totally struggled to believe that a romance would blossom between them. Even the spicy scenes weren’t for me at all in this one. A real shame. I’d definitely read another series by Olivia Dade in the future as I did love Spoiler Alert so much but unfortunately I think this is the end of the line for me with this series!

After reading Spoiler Alert I was so excited to see Alex and Lauren's relationship up close.

Alex is a famous actor, the show he starts in is the biggest hit on TV at the moment, which means that when he gets involved in a bar fight the news are everywhere and that lands him in a predicament.

Lauren had different plans when she went to Spain but from a series of events she is now in charge of keeping Alex out of trouble. She must accompany him everywhere and makes sure he is behaving.

Their first meeting could have gone better, but while they are forced to be together at all times they develop a genuine friendship.

Alex was a bit much at times but that's part of his charm, he was incredibly sweet and protective over Lauren.

Lauren is a plus size woman who is often overlooked because of that, she has learned to tolerate any comments about her appearance. The plus size representation was very well done.

The couple has wonderful banter and even more chemistry. I truly liked them together especially they way they always looked after each other.

I enjoy how the book mention fanction and the tropes are used often in the story without dismissing it but showing how people enjoy that. Alex reaction when he saw there was only one bed was priceless.



* I received an ARC through Netgalley and this is my honest opinion

All the Feels, a heart-warming Hollywood romance, Olivia Dade

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:Romance.

I didn't realise til I started reading that I'd read the earlier book in this series about Marcus and April. My comments then about fanfic ( never read it, still on my todo list, so don't really understand too much about it) still stand. One day I'll get round to it, tbh it sounds such fun!
Anyway, Lauren, she's a sweet lady, currently starting a much needed extended holiday, but like so many “nice/good/sweet” people she's not really valued by those around her, except her fantastic best friend who tries so hard to boost Lauren's self esteem. I want to be a Harpy too – I need that Big Harpy Energy. I've been Lauren ;-) where saying no feels selfish and letting others down. I so felt for her. Her family didn't intend to be unkind, its just they and she have fallen into the trap of feeling everyone else' needs come first. And once more its Lauren stepping into the breach after the family pushing “but you're not working Lauren, and Ron needs you...” or words to that effect. So here she is helping out her obnoxious cousin Ron, trying to keep Alex out of trouble.
At first Alex appears as obnoxious as Ron, but as Lauren gets to know him she sees that's not the case, that Alex takes care of people, has good friends and isn't the troublemaker the media and Ron make out.
I loved Alex, if Marcus was the Well Bred Retriever Alex is the bouncy, Over-Exuberant Labrador Puppy. We have the same issues in the family, my eldest grandson talks a mile a minute, is constantly on the go, always has to be moving or doing something, jumping from one thing to the next, changing tack mid sentence....Alex felt so familiar.
Its a fun story, with some serious issues at its heart. Alex feelings about the last episode, once we knew more about him, were so understandable. His past really has affected his present and his behaviour, and Lauren can only do so much.
When disaster strikes, that's the bit I always love, the emotions, the despair and Olivia really worked that well. It made for a fun read that I really enjoyed. Not quite a five but very close.

Stars: Four, a fun read, good to see characters from past book, and to have some serious issues running through and treated properly. I loved Lauren and Alex, they were perfect for each other.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

I really tried with this book but I found it so difficult to get into, Alex and Lauren didn't gel for me and I couldn't wait to finish, not a book I could recommend.

I've heard so many good things about Spoiler Alert (but I've yet to read it) that I requested the ARC for All The Feels to get to know this author.
Unfortunately, from the first interaction of Alex and Lauren itself, it felt like a let-down. Alex sees Lauren as a short, bird-like, ridiculous person. Her cousin also doesn't treat her very well. I wanted to DNF from this point itself, but thought that I was not giving it a chance, and forged ahead. However, not many pages later, we come to this (I don't know if I'm reading too much into it, but it feels like he's alluding to her being stupid from the following snippets):
- “I’d hoped for an intelligent conversation on the topic, but alas,” while talking to her about fanfiction, and
- “Lord, you’re slow," during the same conversation.
I seriously don't want to read any further. I dread having to pick it up again, so I'm going to stop reading here.

ARC provided by Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK in exchange of a honest review.

Loved this book!

Lauren is bullied in to being a minder for Alex by her cousin Ron. She doesn't really want the job, but needs a break from her usual job in ER. Alex doesn't want someone minding him, but as he gets to know Lauren he starts to fall for her, and her for him. But he can't help but create scandal and will that cost Lauren her job?

Hope there are more books in this series! Once I had finished I went back and reread the previous book, Spoiler Alert, as some of the parts of the books run concurrently.

Three and a half stars.

Alex Woodroe is an actor who has played Cupid in one of TV's longest running epic series (Think Game of Thrones) called God of the Gates which has just finished filming its final series. Just like GoT, the showrunners have deviated from the original books and Alex is seriously unhappy with the way his character is portrayed in the final series. Then he gets arrested one night in a bar and Ron, one of the showrunners, islivid. As punishment, Ron sics his cousin Lauren Clegg onto Alex as his nanny/minder. Alex can't go anywhere or do anything without Lauren coming along.

Lauren is an ER therapist, mentally and physically exhausted from dealing with patients at the height of their emotional traumas, indeed her crooked nose is testament to how physically violent some of the patients can be. She was intending to have a relaxing holiday in Spain until familial pressure forced her to visit her obnoxious cousin Ron who then forced her to babysit what could objectively be considered one of the most beautiful men on the planet. Lauren is short, plus-sized and has the afore-mentioned crooked nose. Alex thinks she looks like a bird.

Alex does his best to torment Lauren, calling her Nanny Clegg, and intimating that she is his jailer. For her part, Lauren finds Alex pretty amusing but she hides it all under a veneer of indifference. But as the weeks go on, Alex starts doing everything he can to provoke a smile, or even a reaction, from Lauren and the two become friends.

What did I like about this book? First, Alex might be a beautiful actor with a heart of gold, but he also has his own issues to deal with, which require medication and dietary care. He is genuinely torn between calling out bad behaviour and the consequences for others if he does so. Similarly, Lauren is unashamedly plus-sized, she has to get seat belt extenders on airplanes and narrow chairs are uncomfortable to sit in. She's not just one size larger than average, or even the Hollywood version of plus-sized which is normal for the rest of the world. And that doesn't change. I also loved the banter between these two characters, Olivia Dade does very good banter.

So what didn't I like? You could call this slow burn but in my opinion it tended towards the flabby. I thought I was close to finishing this book last night (heck, at gone midnight) but to my surprise I was only just over halfway through, and while I enjoyed the extra story I felt it didn't really take the characters much further and went a bit more mainstream romcom. Also, the gorgeous actor with the plus-sized, less attractive 'normal' woman was too similar to the characters from the previous book Spoiler Alert.

Nevertheless, Olivia Dade has got a great writing voice and her characters jump off the page.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is the first work of Olivia Dade that I've picked up and I regret not reading her books earlier because her writing is truly fantastic. All the Feels is one of those rare few books where I easily connected with both the main characters; and this made the reading experience so much more enjoyable and fun. The dialogue was so realistic and felt like an actual conversation and there were so many lines that made me laugh so hard.

I could see bits and pieces of myself in both Lauren and Alex; Alex reads fanfiction and our sense of humor is pretty similar. Parts of Lauren's personality were like a mirror reflection of mine and that made me connect with her so much. This book spoke to my heart as someone who continues to love fanfic and is a part of many, many fandoms. Plus, there is this one specific scene with the 'there-is-only-one-bed' trope and what made this so different was that Alex knew about this trope and it was one of his favorites.

I knew just four or five chapters in, that this was going to be a 5 star read. And now I'm going to pick up all of Olivia Dade's books.

I highly highly recommend this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The romance is sweet and not at all the sort of typical romance you’d read in fiction normally. I loved the chemistry between the two main characters and loved how they sparked off one another

I have conflicting feelings about this book-- I was excited to read Alex and Lauren's story as I really enjoyed their characters in Spoiler Alert (the first in this series) and I did like their dynamic and banter in this book too. However, half of the book runs parallel to the events in Spoiler Alert, so while it started off as interesting to see these events from a different perspective, it eventually began to feel like it was treading the same ground. This also goes for one of the points of conflict in the book, where the plus-size, not 'conventionally attractive' female character is derided for their relationship with the male character, who is famous and very conventionally attractive. This dynamic was also present in Spoiler Alert, and while I always appreciate plus-size representation, this felt a little repetitive. This book is also guilty of my pet peeve, where the third act conflict could have been resolved straight away by a conversation, but was instead needlessly dragged out. Problems aside, this was a fun read, a celebration of fandom culture that relishes in tropes rather than mock them and gives more positive plus-size rep which is sorely needed in the romance genre.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

The story
Lauren is a therapist who has taken a break from her job in the stressful ER in LA. She travels to Spain and the set of a series production led by her less than nice cousin. Soon she is roped into a job babysitting the star, Alex, whose antics have landed him in hot water. His first thoughts of Lauren are that she reminds him of a short, round bird. But as he gets to know Lauren (or Wren as he starts calling her), he falls in love with her good heart, kindness and calm nature, accepting her plus-sized-ness as part of her. Lauren realises quickly that despite Alex’s movie star good looks and quick temper, he is a good person who cares about and supports those around him, his mom, his housekeeper and domestic violence charities. The part that he is playing doesn’t fit with his stance on domestic violence and dominance and this makes things hard for him to accept.

My thoughts
This is the second book in a series, and I didn’t read the first book but have seen positive reviews of that book. I so enjoyed this story and the realisation that all was not what it seemed at first. Alex has strong morals and beliefs and is hardly a drunken hot-headed star. Although Lauren is calm and collected, this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t make mistakes as well. Also just because she is not as attractive as Alex, doesn’t mean that he is not attracted to her and can feel that she is his soulmate. This is a beautiful storey that was easy to read and enjoy.

So I'll start by saying I didn't like Spoiler Alert. But my issues with that didn't look like they were going to be present in this book.

Sadly we got a jerk of a love interest instead, and I wasn't here for it. It's a shame as this book sounded right up my alley.

This was fun! A fandom, body positive romance set in Hollywood with a love interest with ADHD - there were a lot of things I loved here. I'm not sure it entirely works if you haven't read Spoiler Alert - the fandom elements didn't really feel as cohesive as they did in that book, and I didn't entirely buy Alex's life as a celebrity in the same way I did with Marcus. There were a lot of snap decisions made that didn't really get built into story.
Saying that, I read this all in one sitting and had a lot of fun - it's funny and sweet and feel-good! I hope we get more in this series.
(also the <spoiler>soulmark tattoo Alex gets at the end? </spoiler>CUTE!)

I love Olivia Dades books and this was no exception. I read this in one sitting. Great for summer as a light fun romance.