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thefatpaperback's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“And that’s how solidarity works, Peter. Welcome to unfettered socialism, you utter skitstövel.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Olivia Dade is the queen of pining, longing, banter, and intimacy. Each book is new, thrilling, and swoon-inducing. She also beautifully builds characters who are so realistic and relatable and complex. In Peter, you get a man who has social anxiety due to his strained relationship with his father. In Maria, you have a shining star of a woman who once was a cold, sad child until the right family found her and loved her unconditionally. SHIP WRECKED delivers all those wonderful feelings Dade promises in each book, and weaves together a story that honors her characters. It’s truly masterful.
Maria sneaks out of the hotel room she stayed in the night before without leaving a note with the man asleep in bed. But hours later she sees him again, reading for the part of Cyprian to her Cassia. He’s very unhappy to see her, which is unfortunate—seeing as they’ve just been cast as leading characters on one of the biggest shows in the world. To make matters worse, they’ll have to film on a deserted island for years. At every turn, the question of whether they should give in to their attraction for one another or prioritize their careers arises. But once the show ends, that problem goes away…right?
🌟FAT REP: BOTH MARIA AND PETER ARE FAT YALL!!!!!!! BOTH OF THEM!!!!! The way Maria and Peter’s bodies are described is FANTASTIC. They’re both big, tall, strong, round, and soft. There are instances of workplace fatphobia in this book, but great representation of advocating for oneself and destigmatizing fat bodies. P.S. Maria doesn’t remove any of her body hair and I love seeing that in a fat character 💛
❤️🔥 FAT HERO & FAT HEROINE
❤️🔥 Grumpy/Sunshine
❤️🔥 One night stand to costars to enemies to friends to lovers
❤️🔥 THE SLOWEST BURN AND THE LONGEST PINING
❤️🔥Found Family
❤️🔥 Forced Proximity
SHIP WRECKED releases 11/15/22! Thank you to Netgalley, Avon, and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this ARC
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
sarrie's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade is, what seems to be, the final book in a trilogy that follows a cast from an ‘epic fantasy tv show’ that’s totally not Game of Thrones. Ship Wrecked follows Maria and Peter over the course of 6 years as they play the part of two ship wrecked warriors on a small island. It moves through time, from their first hook-up to their brief spat as enemies on set and shows how the two become close friends and co-workers and then eventually come together in the end.
I have to be completely honest in that I really didn’t enjoy aspects of the first book in this series, Spoiler Alert. It just did not weave together for me well and frankly the main heroines unreasonable reaction to the mere mention of exercise was borderline offensive to me. However I loved the representation in All The Feels. I felt like Olivia Dade’s writing and nuance had stepped up and this one really sold that to me. By the end of this I felt the two character’s dynamics. Yes, the third act breakup resolution ‘realization’ that one character went through was a little long, but it felt genuine. I felt Olivia Dade believed the things her characters were saying and felt them deeply. She captured them beautifully.
Our characters themselves felt familiar. If you’ve read many romances or Mrs. Dade’s you’ll fall right into them. The classic Grumpy/Sunshine dynamic applies here and she does it well. Maria is vibrant and feisty - I loved the jar of herring that repeatedly appears. She was by far my favorite character in the book. Peter felt just a hair flatter than her, a fact I think withholding a lot of his backstory for the later third of the book was to blame for. But I still enjoyed him and enjoyed reading his perspective.
These two really successfully wrapped up the series overall. I do wish we’d seen some of the other cast members, perhaps Ian’s redemption (I know, possibly controversial there) or the cast’s resident Cat Lady. But overall this felt like a good ending (?) to the series. I’ll definitely continue to pick up more from Olivia Dade in the future.
I have to be completely honest in that I really didn’t enjoy aspects of the first book in this series, Spoiler Alert. It just did not weave together for me well and frankly the main heroines unreasonable reaction to the mere mention of exercise was borderline offensive to me. However I loved the representation in All The Feels. I felt like Olivia Dade’s writing and nuance had stepped up and this one really sold that to me. By the end of this I felt the two character’s dynamics. Yes, the third act breakup resolution ‘realization’ that one character went through was a little long, but it felt genuine. I felt Olivia Dade believed the things her characters were saying and felt them deeply. She captured them beautifully.
Our characters themselves felt familiar. If you’ve read many romances or Mrs. Dade’s you’ll fall right into them. The classic Grumpy/Sunshine dynamic applies here and she does it well. Maria is vibrant and feisty - I loved the jar of herring that repeatedly appears. She was by far my favorite character in the book. Peter felt just a hair flatter than her, a fact I think withholding a lot of his backstory for the later third of the book was to blame for. But I still enjoyed him and enjoyed reading his perspective.
These two really successfully wrapped up the series overall. I do wish we’d seen some of the other cast members, perhaps Ian’s redemption (I know, possibly controversial there) or the cast’s resident Cat Lady. But overall this felt like a good ending (?) to the series. I’ll definitely continue to pick up more from Olivia Dade in the future.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Infidelity
sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
5 ⭐️
3 🌶
Tropes: one night stand, enemies to friends to lovers, forced proximity, Hollywood romance
Representation: 2 main characters that are plus size, both the FMC and the MMC
CW: death of a parent (off page), foster care- adoption, toxic relationship, infidelity ( off page mentioned not btw main couple), body shaming, sexual content
Every once in a while when you are reading books you find a gem that calls to your soul. This book did that for me. Peter is from WI, and I am from WI and the parts of the book when they were in WI and the talks and humor around the food just made me happy. Peter has trust issues and never really felt a part of the group or wanted. So he distanced himself in order to protect himself.
Maria needs connections and relationships to be grounded and okay. The love story and build was perfection, the spice was amazing and I just feel so good as a plus size woman to see the representation in Olivia’s books and also the advocacy for our bodies and people learning to respect us. I just feel like her books heal my soul every time I read one and for that I’m so thankful.
My only critique of this book was the break up- I honestly think that Maria needed to do some groveling as well but overall I would recommend this book and the whole series!
3 🌶
Tropes: one night stand, enemies to friends to lovers, forced proximity, Hollywood romance
Representation: 2 main characters that are plus size, both the FMC and the MMC
CW: death of a parent (off page), foster care- adoption, toxic relationship, infidelity ( off page mentioned not btw main couple), body shaming, sexual content
Every once in a while when you are reading books you find a gem that calls to your soul. This book did that for me. Peter is from WI, and I am from WI and the parts of the book when they were in WI and the talks and humor around the food just made me happy. Peter has trust issues and never really felt a part of the group or wanted. So he distanced himself in order to protect himself.
Maria needs connections and relationships to be grounded and okay. The love story and build was perfection, the spice was amazing and I just feel so good as a plus size woman to see the representation in Olivia’s books and also the advocacy for our bodies and people learning to respect us. I just feel like her books heal my soul every time I read one and for that I’m so thankful.
My only critique of this book was the break up- I honestly think that Maria needed to do some groveling as well but overall I would recommend this book and the whole series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
tiannakelly's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Death of parent, and Infidelity
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
uranaishi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Alcohol, Body shaming, Medical content, Bullying, and Sexism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence
purplepenning's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Grief, Cursing, Sexual content, Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Blood, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
noellelovesbooks's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I received an ARC, through Netgalley, ahead of release in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings: Loss of parent(s), crippling depression, anxiety, panic attacks, fatphobia, sexism, abandonment, cheating [off-page by one of the MCs exes], and years of foster care.
From the moment I saw Olivia tweet that we were getting another book, in the Spoiler Alert universe, I have been waiting for a chance to get my hands on it…so when I got the email Friday giving me access to the Netgalley ARC I hit download real quick!
I should have known this one was going to hit me harder than the other two books…just based on the beautiful dedication in the front.
What’s fun about Maria and Peter’s book is that we get to see them before, during, and after the show, GODS OF THE GATES. Both Spoiler Alert and All the Feels were set after the show had finished filming so it was fun to see a couple that worked so closely during the filming of the show.
Maria lost her parents at a young age and spent several years being bounced around the foster care system before finally having a family that was in it for keeps. Having the experience she did with foster care Maria is always apprehensive about relationships because in her experience, aside from the family that adopted her, everyone leaves. When Maria sees a handsome man at the sauna she’d determined to have a good night in his company but nothing more…so things get a little awkward the next day at her audition when he’s also there auditioning.
Peter grew up watching his mother battle depression and then losing her at a young age due to a stroke. Peter’s father always made him feel like he was not enough and never understood the passions that drove Peter to act rather than follow a “traditional” career path. All Peter wants to do is prove to his father that he made the right choice so he’s determined to “make it big” so his father finally recognizes all his years of hard work.
Maria and Peter are the first, romance novel, couple that I’ve deeply connected with, individually, on an emotional basis. Normally, when I read, I’ll connect with one and empathize with the other but I’ve never felt so deeply connected to both partners. Maria’s feelings of abandonment and Peter’s feelings of inadequacy are things I’ve struggled with since childhood and it made this a very emotional read for me.
I loved getting to see both Maria and Peter open up to each other and really work on understanding where the other was coming from. The way they both made it six years before finally giving in to their attraction again is just a testament to their individual strength…and stubbornness.
If you’re a fan of romcoms I highly suggest pre-ordering this fantastic book. I love how much care Olivia puts in to create each and every character. No matter the hardships they’ve been through they’re all determined, strong, and beautiful souls and I can’t wait to see what other characters Olivia crafts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Sexism, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Minor: Infidelity
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