Spoiler Alert: I’m not the target audience for this book

I don’t read many romance novels, but after reading a few reviews for Spoiler Alert here on Cannonball Read, I just had to give it a go. 

April Whittier is a thirty-something geologist in Sacramento who writes Gods of the Gates fan fiction under the name Unapologetic Lavineas Stan. When a picture of her in Lavinia cosplay goes viral on Twitter, Marcus Rupp-Cutter, the actor who plays Aeneas in Gods of the Gates, defends her against internet trolls and asks her on a date. April quickly realizes the seemingly vapid pretty boy has hidden depths. What she doesn’t realize is that Marcus also writes fan fiction, and the two have been online best friends for years. But, Marcus can’t reveal this to her or to anyone because his fan fic could be considered critical of the show, which would destroy his career. Can their love survive his secret?

This book is very cute and there’s a lot to love, but I did have some problems with it. I’ll start with the good. The excerpts from Marcus’s screenplays and people’s fan fiction were hilarious and magical. I would read a book of nothing but those excerpts. Hell, I’d buy that book for everyone I know. I love that April is smart and confident, and that Marcus is so much more than a pretty face. Their personalities complement one another well and I found the progression of their relationship believable. But I do have some complaints. The book was painfully redundant. Every twenty pages or so we’re reminded that Marcus can’t reveal his fan fic alter ego to April without it potentially destroying his career. We’re also constantly reminded that Marcus is insecure about his intelligence. Around 60% I started skimming and would only read sections that weren’t retreads. My final complaint is that April is too confident. I love that she’s fat (her word, not mine) and is happy with her body. But she never shows any insecurity about any part of herself. Everyone is insecure about something. If not their weight or their intelligence, then their hair or nose or how they laugh or something. Except April. It made me realize her character has less emotional depth than Marcus’s character, which was disappointing because she’s an otherwise fabulous character. 

Rising Fury 

Summary: Aeneas’s invitation was only meant to be kind. But when the paparazzi insult his Twitter date, he finds anger isn’t the only thing of his on the rise. l

The last of the paparazzi slink out the restaurant door, broken cameras cradled in their arms. Maybe they’ll sue. He can’t muster any real concern, not with Lavinia candlelit across the table, her lush mouth parted in shock, her breasts heaving with the aftermath of violent confrontation. Blood running hot with fury, he finds his cock has become a divining rod, pointing hard and true toward the only relief for such deep, deep thirst: the woman he met on Twitter only yesterday. 

Dimly, he hears the shattering of glass. The gasps of other diners. 

“Um . . . Aeneas?” Her voice, sweet and low, only makes matters worse. 

“Yes?” He stands tall and proud and erect. In this moment, anything she wants, he’ll give her. 

“I think you just knocked over a water glass with your dick,” she says. And so he has.