Olivia Dade’s debut romantic comedy, Spoiler Alert, is based in the world of fanfiction. Although it was sometimes difficult to understand some of the fanfiction, the two main characters and the story itself were delightful.
For seven years, Marcus Caster-Rupp has played Aeneas in the world-wide TV hit, “Gods of the Gate”. But, the television idol has a secret. He also writes fanfiction under the name Book!AeneasWouldNever where he can voice his frustration at the direction the TV show took after it continued where the books in the series left off. Marcus helped build the server for the Lavinia fanfic community, and spends much of his time communicating with his best friend there, Unapologetic Lavinia Stan (Ulsie).
April Whittier is a geologist who has hidden her identity and work on the fanfic site from her co-workers. As a consultant, she tries to maintain a low profile. Now that she’s moving to a new job in Berkley, she finally has the courage to post a picture of herself on social media in her cosplay costume as Lavinia. April’s confident in herself, though, and she expects what happens there, lots of ugly comments and fat-shaming when people see her body in her Lavinia costume.
It’s Marcus who hates the fat-shaming, and he publicly invites April on a date, not knowing that she’s his best friend online, not knowing who she is. It’s only over dinner that he realizes she’s Ulsie, his best friend from the site. But, because of worries about his career, he doesn’t have the courage to tell her he writes fanfic and he knows her fanfic identity.
Like any romantic comedy, this one gets a little messy at times, and both characters hurt each other. However, there are deep issues in the story, issues of fat- and body-shaming, dyslexia, and parent-child relationships. It’s obvious that Marcus and April truly love each other. They see beyond the surface image, and truly love the person, although, as April says of Marcus, “Doesn’t hurt that he’s the prettiest man I’ve ever met.”
Olivia Dade’s website is https://oliviadade.com/
Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. HarperCollins, 2020. ISBN 9780063005549 (paperback), 416p.
FTC Full Disclosure – Library book
