2. Spoiler Alert

Olivia Dade. 2020.

I can see why Carolyn recommended this for me on like so many levels!  First off, it is the best kind of trashy romance novel!  The romance and sex scenes are fun and playful.  Second, because the book is about writers who are writing trashy romance, there is a self-awareness to the book that is clever and engaging.  As if that wasn't enough, the book is also about fandom in which really nerdy fans write fan fiction, go to conventions, do cosplay, and follow the Gods of the Gates tv show--which is a totally made up show based on a totally made up set of books.  The author goes to great lengths to build this entire world that the fans are obsessed with and that just adds another fun layer to the story.  Add to this that the entire plot of the underlying tv show, the fan fiction the main characters are writing, and the book itself is about how the surface of things are not as important as the substance of who you are.  Whether it is your body or a learning disability, deciding who someone is based on initial impressions or superficial characteristics plays out in both predictable and unlikely ways.  Also, in addition to all these things, the dysfunctional families or original, the complex dynamics that are the backdrop of the story are skillfully unpacked in a way that makes that entire story plausible and relatable.  Even the legal pieces that provide part of the backdrop that foils the romance make sense, which, frankly just never happens.  This is just a real treat of a book and I could not stop reading all weekend.  One of the best romances I have read in a really long time.  I think the last time I like one this much was The Chocolate Thief, which I read probably almost 10 years ago.

Highly recommend.

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