The flush in my cheeks as I start this review reminds me to add this caveat: I read this book mainly to satisfy part of a reading challenge (“read a romance with a fat lead”). While there seems to be an attempt recently to reclaim the “f” word I would still never use it. That being said, I will admit to a long standing, if standing at a distance, curiosity about the genre. Anything with such a passionate and extensive fan base has to raise at least an eyebrow. So I poked around for a popular author with the right main character and took the plunge. Emerging a few hundred pages later, I was just kinda baffled. How do I review this? If I relate it to what I normally like to read—I would destroy this book. I am handicapped by not knowing where it sits in relation to other Romance novels. Is Romance really its own world and any review from outside meaningless? So I will start with some positives. My favorite part relates to why I picked this book in the first place—the weight of the main character. Her weight is only referred to as an aspect of her attractiveness. There is no shaming, no commenting on what she eats or how people view her or any difficulties she has because she is heavier. I truly admired that aspect of the book. If not for the cover illustration, you wouldn’t know she was heavier until maybe a 100 pages into the book. There are quite a few attempts at humor and some of them do land—even the ones that don’t still create a pleasant atmosphere. I appreciated the sense of building a new community and a couple of the supporting characters were nicely drawn with little effort. A couple of moments were modestly moving—especially one in a cemetery at the end. And it was a fast read. Now for the negatives—it was a fast read. Very little other than occasional moments of disbelief at what I was reading made me want to slow down and savor. In fact I had to restrain a desire to skim over whole paragraphs. Much of the writing wasn’t bad but the idea seemed to be to paint the same image over and over until the picture was wet with hyper color. An entire paragraph devoted to pursed lips instead of what those lips might say. The swing in emotions is often ludicrous—character reactions extreme by any human standards. The shift from adoration to abominable cruelty and back at the bat of an eye is simply astonishing—I’m still suffering from whiplash. A third act surprise break-up I had been waiting 200 pages for was executed so irrationally that it still irritates me—I mean, grow up people. The gimmicky living arrangements of the main characters was a plot convenience that made little sense. Blasting audiobook porn out a home window in a small town and having everyone get into it stretched credulity among other things. And speaking of porn—not sure if this is reflective of Romance in general but holy macaroni some of this IS straight up porn. I could apply to medical school based on what was forced to visualize here. I wasn’t offended, just surprised. Is that my lesson from reading my first Romance novel—porn is the secret candy center to this whole enterprise. Read through a bunch of Goodreads and Storygraph reviews and found not a single mention of this aspect of the book so I’m forced to assume it’s par for the course—so to speak. The one thing I’ll remember the most was wading through one porn scene and the whole thing coming to a screeching halt for me because the author used the word “placket” (A placket is a finished opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck, front, or sleeve of a garment.) I had never seen that word before and it became a record scratch moment in the midst of fiery passion that I started laughing. Oh well, wasn’t my passion anyhow. Nor is this book. Or apparently Romance novels. ( )

There are a lot of laughs in this book, a good many of them hang on the multitude and flexibility of the monster pricks of the Sadie Brazen books within the book, as the ex-fiancé connects with the brother of the man who dumped her - on his insistence, has some interest and heat on its own, but not quite enough to make a soufflé of a set of relationships that ought to shipwreck. ( )

Olivia Dade is back to being my favourite author. I felt so seen in this story about a woman who switches jobs every few years because she gets bored. She feels like a failure now that she's in her 30s, which is something I felt like before I committed to theatre. I also felt for her counterpart who lost his childhood in raising his brother and doesn't know how to stop being in that position. (It took my sister saying to me outright "you're not responsible for us" for me to get there.) Add in the trademark Dade humour and I'm so there.

I also love how in both these characters we see traits that aren't common in romance (although thankfully more so now). There's so much I loved I can't categorize it all. I love this new world she has created and I guessed who'd be the focus of the next book. Cannot wait! ( )

When Athena Greydon bought the Spite House in the small town of Harlot's Bay, she intended to gift it to her fiance as a wedding present so that he could finally knock it down and expand his townhouse. But then said fiance dumped her two weeks before the wedding and Athena had no choice but to move in since she'd sunk every last penny of her savings into the down payment. Now the Spite House is living up to its name as she's next door to her ex-fiance, and even worse, across the alley from her ex-fiance's brother Dr. Matthew Vine, who played a major role in convincing her fiance to end the engagement. And now Athena keeps bumping into Matthew everywhere and while she'd planned to spite and despise him until the end of time, he keeps on doing the kindest things...

I think I can officially be labelled an Olivia Dade fan now. This newest romance is an utter delight. Both Athena and Matthew are wonderfully crafted characters who have flaws and baggage but whom you can't help but root for. The community Dade creates in Harlot's Bay is also charming as heck, with plenty of supporting characters who are quirky but endlessly entertaining. The steam level here isn't as high as some of Dade's other novels, as Athena and Matthew's romance is a slow burn enemies to lovers. However, to tide you over there are several sections when characters listen to monster erotica audiobooks (largely used for comedic effect - most effectively). My only caveat is that (as mentioned in Dade's content awareness note at the beginning of the book) there are some pretty vivid descriptions of a character dealing with depression, so keep that in mind when picking it up. An excellent contemporary romance that I highly recommend. ( )

I think with this book Olivia Dade has firmly solidified herself as the Jennifer Crusie successor that I've been missing lo these many years. It has all the feels. All the body positivity. All the super hard depression sucks and the interior voice sucks and people can help. And an absolutely hard beautiful sweet and funny love story to boot. I love the characters. I LOVE the monster porn theme. I love the hilarious absurdity and the sweetness and the community and the messages -- all the messages that are about self-love, and about taking care of the people around you and about taking responsibility for your own harms, and about letting other people love you. It's a joy of a book.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )