Review: All the Feels by Olivia Dade

All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Series: Spoiler Alert, Book 2
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance 

ISBN: 9780063005587
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Source: Publisher
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Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, Gods of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he's dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness…not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

An impulsive, sexy television star meets his match in a no-nonsense therapist in All the Feels. Olivia Dade’s second Spoiler Alert novel features two likeable characters who are easy to root for, but the romance missed the mark for me.

Alex is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s so loving, protective, and open it’s easy to fall for him. He’s got sex appeal in spades and loves the spotlight, but somehow his need for attention isn’t annoying because he’s got charm and a good heart. He’s open about having ADHD, which I really appreciated. But Alex’s impulsivity is threatening to derail his career and his showrunners have hired a minder. Enter Lauren. She’s a former ER therapist hired to keep Alex in line. Alex may have a good heart but his unfiltered mouth leads to some backhanded compliments (they make sense in his mind but since Lauren isn’t in his mind it’s cringe-worthy). Lauren is smart, sensible, and caring. She isn’t beautiful and Dade doesn’t mask the cruelty someone who looks like Lauren faces. Though Lauren spends a lot of the reacting to Alex, when we do see her independent character she’s really interesting and I enjoyed her personal journey.

I loved Alex and Lauren’s chemistry at the start. Their banter is fun, his provoking and her shutting it down made me smile. They also take care of each other and learn about one another which I really enjoyed. I loved them as friends, but when All the Feels turns to lust the story just didn’t work for me. I really liked Lauren and Alex individually and as friends but I didn’t feel any romantic chemistry from them. When things heated up it felt inorganic, which was a letdown. From there, the story rockets from lust to love which felt forced, even taking into consideration Alex’s open, emotional nature. It’s a pity because after finishing Spoiler Alert I was really excited to read Lauren and Alex’s story. In the end, I had mixed feelings about All the Feels. I really liked Lauren and Alex, enjoyed their friendship, and loved Alex’s relationship with his castmates, but the romance wasn’t my cup of tea.



FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.