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literarylocd's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Would i recommend: No
TLDR at the end
What i liked:
- fat mcs being horny and finding love
- Maria MF Ivarsson. my queen, my wife, my one true love. what an icon. a legend. thee moment. i love that she doesn’t compromise her wants for the sake of others. and she’s not afraid of losing her job to uphold her values and beliefs.
- “It’s a job, Peter. Only a job. Not worth my happiness.”
What i didn’t like:
- the mmc is super immature and just not sexy. he’s a massive ****.
like okay you’ve got a dead mommy and your dad doesn’t understand you. get a therapist lad. He’s also a manipulative arsehole who thinks Maria should follow him until the ends of the earth because ‘if she loved him she wouldn’t leave him’. have a day off - this story takes place over 6 years but we don’t get to see much of them in between. we see them get to know each other and then we see them again being super familiar. it felt kinda strange
- maria’s only personality traits are that she’s genuinely a nice person, super sexy and swedish. and peter’s is being insufferable.
- “She was about to turn thirty, and it showed.” first of all, ew. second of all, i hated this so much with every fibre of my being. especially when the man saying this is about 9/10 years older than her.
- This book has A LOT of cameos (from the previous books) which started out cool but ended super convoluted. It was just a bunch of exposition on the page that the reader just didn’t need. The story would have worked the same way without all the unnecessary explanations.
TLDR; immature MMC, FMC deserves more. a bunch of corny Swedish jokes. Olivia Dade has better books. Read one of those instead.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Death of parent
Moderate: Fatphobia, Abandonment, and Grief
Minor: Mental illness
emsim's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
the_vegan_bookworm's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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
3.75
As much as I loved Spoiler Alert and All the Feels, I think this book was the weakest of the series so far. Peter and Maria are likable characters, but they get reduced to flat tropes repeatedly and it gets boring to read after a while. The last quarter of the book really dragged for me for this reason.
I love Maria a lot though, and a fat, hairy, take-no-shit female protagonist brought me so much joy. I just wish she wasn't reduced to Swedish one-liners in so many of her scenes - she can do so much better!
I love Maria a lot though, and a fat, hairy, take-no-shit female protagonist brought me so much joy. I just wish she wasn't reduced to Swedish one-liners in so many of her scenes - she can do so much better!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Infidelity
thewildmageslibrary's review
4.0
Rating previously held during the HPCUnion strike.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Abandonment and Grief
Minor: Death of parent and Infidelity
peachani's review
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual content
Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Cursing
emmas_bookshelf's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-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
4.5
This is my first Olivia Dade book and now I need to read her backlist because WOW! Imagine two fat actors were cast on Game of Thrones, had to film scenes on a remote island just the two of them with only a handful of cast members present, for six years, and finally can be together now that they’re no longer working together… if they can reconcile their personal baggage and logistics issues!
One of the things I really loved was how both leads were fat and fully accepting of their own bodies and each others. There was very minor fat shaming from outside parties either. The main character Maria talks about wanting to play roles as an actress where being fat isn’t treated as the character’s main personality trait and it felt like Dade wrote a book with fat characters where that’s also not their main character trait. I so appreciated that!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia
xeniba's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I like Olivia Dade and enjoyed this, but it was my least favorite of the series. As other reviews have said, the timeline jumps can be a little hard to follow and at times it felt like there was just so. much. exposition. We get it, they were both hurt in their past and it’s affecting how they relate to each other.
I love the bits where we get to see the cast interact with each other, as I did in the first two books. At the beginning I felt a connection with Peter and how Dade described his social anxiety/introversion. Beyond that, though, I didn’t feel like we really got to know the characters as well as in the first two books.
I’m torn because I like Dade as an author and I love the fat representation, but it didn’t quite gel for me.
I love the bits where we get to see the cast interact with each other, as I did in the first two books. At the beginning I felt a connection with Peter and how Dade described his social anxiety/introversion. Beyond that, though, I didn’t feel like we really got to know the characters as well as in the first two books.
I’m torn because I like Dade as an author and I love the fat representation, but it didn’t quite gel for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
iamsammie27's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Fatphobia
Moderate: Abandonment and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility
hazelgirl21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
roget's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
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
4.0
Summary:
Maria's a Scandinavian stage actress; Peter's a down-on-his luck, almost burnt out screen actor in LA. After getting off on the wrong foot, they're cast in an ongoing television epic that requires them to work together on an isolated, tiny island for years.
It's a slow burn (sort of), but more of the development is placed on how each character grows through their separate traumas to communicate and come together--especially Peter.
My thoughts:
First: I was beyond excited to see some body inclusivity extended to our leading man, here, as the first two titles in this series featured men with Ken doll physiques. (While couples come in all shapes and sizes, I was still happy to see Dade's inclusion extend to both Maria AND Peter.) The cover is really cute, too!
Dade wrote Maria like the big sister you’ve always wanted. Absolutely loved her, and appreciated her emotional clarity and boundaries and reflection. That self-assessment and adjustment was refreshing to read. I also loved her supportive family. <3
Peter was precious.
While some of the MA content isn’t exactly my thing, for those who prefer, those scenes can be easily skipped or skimmed without disrupting the story (except for the very first page—that was a bit jarring to me personally).
One of the things I love best about Dade’s writing is she really makes you believe the beauty of her characters--internal and external. Maria’s strength was lovely to witness, and Peter’s heart and care for his craft, in roles notable and niche, made me love him. <3
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an ARC of this book for review.
Maria's a Scandinavian stage actress; Peter's a down-on-his luck, almost burnt out screen actor in LA. After getting off on the wrong foot, they're cast in an ongoing television epic that requires them to work together on an isolated, tiny island for years.
It's a slow burn (sort of), but more of the development is placed on how each character grows through their separate traumas to communicate and come together--especially Peter.
My thoughts:
First: I was beyond excited to see some body inclusivity extended to our leading man, here, as the first two titles in this series featured men with Ken doll physiques. (While couples come in all shapes and sizes, I was still happy to see Dade's inclusion extend to both Maria AND Peter.) The cover is really cute, too!
Dade wrote Maria like the big sister you’ve always wanted. Absolutely loved her, and appreciated her emotional clarity and boundaries and reflection. That self-assessment and adjustment was refreshing to read. I also loved her supportive family. <3
Peter was precious.
While some of the MA content isn’t exactly my thing, for those who prefer, those scenes can be easily skipped or skimmed without disrupting the story (except for the very first page—that was a bit jarring to me personally).
One of the things I love best about Dade’s writing is she really makes you believe the beauty of her characters--internal and external. Maria’s strength was lovely to witness, and Peter’s heart and care for his craft, in roles notable and niche, made me love him. <3
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an ARC of this book for review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Abandonment
Minor: Body shaming