All the Feels by Olivia Dade

e-Audio, 12:34:48
Narrated by: Kelsey Navarro
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Published by: HarperAudio
Read from: November 19-27, 2021
Spoiler Alert, #2
Source: Library’s Overdrive
TW: Fatphobia, Domestic Abuse Mentions
For Readers Interested In: Fat Leads, Body Positivity, Romance, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Adult

      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 THOUGHTS*

I can’t lie, I was a bit disappointed in this one. I LOVED Spoiler Alert and I was hoping it was more like that. But as a character driven reader, this was a little grating on my nerves. I wanted to know what made Alex tick from the beginning and we don’t get it till the literal end.

Alex lands himself in trouble (again) and his producers and directors seem to think he needs a babysitter now. In comes Lauren Clegg. She’s being charged with watching him to try to make him behave. It’s proving to be more work than she thought it might be. But as they spend more time together, they start to realize that neither is what they thought and they now know each other better than they thought.

Ok, so let me explain what I meant earlier. I did like Alex, but only when he was with Lauren. I didn’t care for either of them by themselves. Which is so different from the other one. I loved the first one. Both Marcus and April are were good together and apart, the romance was hot, and the story was interesting. This wasn’t really the case here. The story was a bit repetitive because she was constantly talking people out of getting him in trouble, Lauren without him was boring, and Alex without her was way too much. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. But when they finally got together and brought out the best in each of them, it was so much better.

The smexy times were ehh. I take that back. They were good, but not as great as Spoiler Alert. (I think this is my problem. I loved Spoiler Alert and I keep comparing this to it when Marcus and Alex are two different people.) But I did like the way they were together. As a short girl, Alex made even me feel pretty lol He kept mentioning it and making fun of her, but I know an “I like you so I make fun of you” when I see one. And this was definitely that.

This leads to the body positivity that I also loved. Lauren didn’t let Alex fight her battles and I did like that. This is when her spunk showed (like that ending was BOSS!) and that was more than what we had seen? Idk how to explain it. But the way she put people in their place and didn’t let people get to her, I admired that. As someone who is also plus size and short, everything people said about her reached me a little and I tried reacting like her instead of getting mad at them and I felt a lot better about it. She was a real inspiration.

As a character driven reader, I was a bit disappointed in this one. I wanted so bad for it to be its predecessor and when it wasn’t, it upset me. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked it and I still want to read the next one, but I definitely won’t hold this one against it.

Overall, I give this