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A review by kbriney
At First Spite by Olivia Dade
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
This book gave me all of the feels (even more than Dade's book that's actually called "All the Feels"). I laughed out loud, I cried, I got hot under the collar, and generally experienced a whole range of emotions but in the best way possible.
The book follows Athena as she gets dumped by her fiancé Johnny one month before their wedding under his older brother Matthew's encouragement. That's awkward enough but the bigger problem is that Athena bought the "spite house" (a 10-foot wide, 4-story embodiment of "f--- you, I'm going to block all of your sunlight even though it makes for a ridiculously small house") that shares a wall with Johnny's house as a wedding gift for her (now) ex-fiancé and has nowhere else to live. And if that's not bad enough, most of the spite house's windows face the row house across the 4-foot alley that belongs to... Johnny's older brother Matthew. She's in a Vine brother sandwich and decides to be the embodiment of her house's moniker.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when Athena aims her spite at Matthew, particularly by blasting smutty monster romance audiobooks out of her windows and into Matthew's. The author pokes fun at monster romance while at the same time supporting the genre by having multiple characters enjoy it. The snippets of fake books are hilarious and the character's reactions to them even more so.
The other part of the book I enjoy is how the author deftly moves us through Athena's grief, determination, and pride into eventually falling in love with Matthew. There are, of course, bumps along the way but it's a naturally down-out tension between two people who were immediately attracted to each other but also bring complex histories and even trauma to the relationship. The pacing and emotional barriers the characters put up felt just right -- untangling the emotions was neither too fast to be believable nor too slow to keep the plot moving. And there was a fair bit of groveling at the end to round everything out.
Overall, I loved this book due to the depth of emotions the characters are dealing with and how they end up supporting each other. Do check out the content warnings (historic death of a child and mental health struggles) because some heavy topics are addressed. But if hurt-comfort is a favorite trope (and even if it's not), I encourage you to check this book out.
The book follows Athena as she gets dumped by her fiancé Johnny one month before their wedding under his older brother Matthew's encouragement. That's awkward enough but the bigger problem is that Athena bought the "spite house" (a 10-foot wide, 4-story embodiment of "f--- you, I'm going to block all of your sunlight even though it makes for a ridiculously small house") that shares a wall with Johnny's house as a wedding gift for her (now) ex-fiancé and has nowhere else to live. And if that's not bad enough, most of the spite house's windows face the row house across the 4-foot alley that belongs to... Johnny's older brother Matthew. She's in a Vine brother sandwich and decides to be the embodiment of her house's moniker.
One of my favorite parts of the book is when Athena aims her spite at Matthew, particularly by blasting smutty monster romance audiobooks out of her windows and into Matthew's. The author pokes fun at monster romance while at the same time supporting the genre by having multiple characters enjoy it. The snippets of fake books are hilarious and the character's reactions to them even more so.
The other part of the book I enjoy is how the author deftly moves us through Athena's grief, determination, and pride into eventually falling in love with Matthew. There are, of course, bumps along the way but it's a naturally down-out tension between two people who were immediately attracted to each other but also bring complex histories and even trauma to the relationship. The pacing and emotional barriers the characters put up felt just right -- untangling the emotions was neither too fast to be believable nor too slow to keep the plot moving. And there was a fair bit of groveling at the end to round everything out.
Overall, I loved this book due to the depth of emotions the characters are dealing with and how they end up supporting each other. Do check out the content warnings (historic death of a child and mental health struggles) because some heavy topics are addressed. But if hurt-comfort is a favorite trope (and even if it's not), I encourage you to check this book out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Mental illness
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts