A review by bribreez
All the Feels by Olivia Dade

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A Hollywood actor constantly getting into trouble, while in the midst of filming of the final season of the prominently well known show, “Gods of The Gate”, it seemed like Alexander Woodwoe was going to need someone to keep him in line, and that was where Lauren Clegg came in. In the previous book, “Spoiler Alert”, we saw glimpses of Alex and Lauren and how they were forced to be around one another, but now in, “All The Feels”, we got to see everything unfold from the moment they met to everything that unraveled from there. With forced proximity, celebrity romance, Hollywood, plus sized representation, ADHD representation, humor, and heart, this was a cute story to read. 

Alex and Lauren were similar to Marcus and April from, “Spoiler Alert”, in that they came from different worlds, but somehow meshed well together. For all his lighthearted jokes and playing into his Hollywood persona, Alex was a very caring guy, and couldn’t help but feel protective over Lauren. Lauren was just trying to do her job of making sure Alex didn’t get into trouble, but also didn’t want to deal with her cousin, Ron a.k.a. Alex’s boss on, “Gods of the Gate”. When Lauren and Alex were forced to spend time together (in order for Lauren to do her job), Alex couldn’t help, but push Lauren’s buttons and try to make her smile/ laugh. Lauren was professional and cool at all times, but even she couldn’t help laughing at all the ridiculous things Alex joked with her about. 

Alex was such a smart mouth, and I loved it haha. Alex was charming, funny, and with the nicknames he came up with to call Lauren such as, Nanny Clegg, I found it amusing bur I’m sure Lauren wasn’t really a fan of it. In the previous book, I got an idea of Alex being a troublemaker, but honestly through this book, I was able to better understand him, and see the truth behind his motives. Alex was misunderstood in the fact that people such as, Ron and RJ (the show runners of GOTG), didn’t take the time to see things from Alex’s perspective or even treat him kindly. Alex was loyal and genuine especially with those closest around him such as, Marcus, Lauren, and his mom. I found Alex to be funny especially when reading his fanfics that he wrote about Cupid, and how needy he was wanting to have Lauren or any of his friend’s attention via text messages. By the way, including the snippets of Alex’s text messages and his fanfics was fun to read. 

With Alex by her side, Lauren had her hands full trying to maintain Alex’s behavior, but he also brought some much need lighthearted energy to her life. With Lauren leaving her job, she felt like it was the time to take a vacation and rethink her next steps, ironically enough while traveling to Spain, she got roped by her cousin, Ron to become Alex’s minder, and ensue he was on his best behavior. At first, it seemed like Lauren didn’t really want anything to do with Alex other than maintain a professional relationship, but along the way with Alex’s insistent conversations, random thoughts, and high energy, she was worn down, and eventually couldn’t help falling for him. I found the way Lauren was treated horrible, especially by Ron, and it made me want to smack him repeatedly! Lauren may have portrayed a strong front to her parents and even to Alex, but it still hurt her to hear such awful things said about her. Lauren’s story throughout the book was a mix of her finding her way back to what she wanted out of her life, but also taking a stand against those who treat her unfairly I.e. her dumb cousin, Ron. 

Overall, Lauren and Alex were great together, they had funny banter together, the way they were together was sweet. With the discussion of Alex’s mom and what she dealt with in her past, caused a lot of guilt on Alex’s part, but he learned that he shouldn’t shoulder all the responsibility or fault when he couldn’t have anticipated such a horrible thing that happened. Lauren also learned to stand up and advocate for herself which was amazing, and great growth in her character arc. The story was sweet, funny, and probably my favorite part was Alex’s nonstop random conversations and lowkey being obsessed over Lauren. Epilogue was also sweet, and ended on a strong note for Lauren and Alex.
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