ARC Review: All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Publication Date: November 16, 2021

Publisher: Avon

Pages: 385

Genre: Romance, Smut

Rating: 4/5

All the Feels is a sweet, funny, heartwarming, emotional and smutty romance about two characters that I won’t forget for many years to come. It is the last season of God of the Gates (think Game of Thrones) and Alex (think Jamie Lannister) has just gotten into a bar fight and that coupled with issues he’s had on other sets makes the show runner, Ron, hires his cousin, Lauren, to be his minder. Lauren is tasked with never letting Alex out of her sight lest he get himself into more trouble. While this story seems like a simple and straightforward romantic comedy it has many complex layers that give it so much heart and many moving moments.

Alex is everything one would want in a hero as he was equally funny and swoon worthy. However, Alex is dealing with some heavy emotional baggage due to some past regrets. Lauren is at a cross roads with her life since she just took a leave of absence from her job as an ER therapist. They are both thrown into a situation that requires them to be together almost constantly and this leads to them becoming friends and then slowly falling for each other.

I love how during their friendship and then eventual romantic relationship Lauren and Alex are navigating some tough issues together. Because of her past, Lauren has learned not to stick up for herself in any situation. Alex, because of his past, has big reactions to anything or anyone that he thinks his harmful. Confronting their trauma and past helps to solidify the bond between them and led to me yearning for them to have their happily ever after. I’m usually not a big fan of epilogues but I throughly enjoyed the one in this book and I even got teary eyed at the end.

To lighten up these tougher moments, Dade makes sure to throw in lots of fun and levity. The Spoiler Alert series is known for their basis in fan fiction and I have to admit that I had never heard of most of the smutty fan fiction tropes that are out there. It was very intriguing and Dade was even kind enough to throw in some fan fiction stories so we could clearly see the tropes in action. Also, if you wanted to, I’m sure you could have a drinking game (be responsible!) while reading this where you take a shot every time pegging is mentioned (spoiler: you will be very drunk).

My only negative to this book was that at times it felt overwritten. The characters would be in the middle of a dialogue heavy scene and Dade would interrupt to tell us how someone was feeling. Or that the other character knows how the other person is feeling because of x, y and/or z. It was a little frustrating to get taken out of the emotion or humor in the scene when it wasn’t necessary. Other than that I was fully immersed in this story and I love the world that Dade created. Especially as a fan of Game of Thrones who absolutely despises the last season, this felt like the perfect antidote to it.

If you are looking for a romance that will give you all the feels and also have you smiling/laughing practically the whole way through then I can’t recommend this book enough. Lauren and Alex took me on a journey that I absolutely loved and I know that I will continue to think fondly about them for awhile. I have my fingers crossed that the third book in this series will feature Lauren’s best friend but I will happily read any story that Dade releases.

~Cassie