Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the advance reader copy.

I genuinely enjoyed this book and reading it, the inclusion of mental health issues and also found family and family in general was great,

The main characters were fantastic and I did love how Athena seemed all bubblegum but also had a great personality.

Also, having a FMC who was plus sized and it wasn’t a whole thing was great, especially as it isn’t always a big deal and didn’t make up her whole personality.

I recommend this especially if you need a new romance to read.

I finished this book at 2.30 in the morning. I think this says it all. From the first chapter I was hooked and I could not put it down.
This book is not just a healthy romance with a grumpy/sunshine trope. It also includes one of the healthiest relationships of friends to lover as it discusses mental health in a way like no other. When you have depression sometimes it is hard to get out of that hole and it is tough doing it on your own. To have a person there is ready to help in any way or in every way this is healthy. Dade does this brilliantly.
The characters and location are brilliant. I loved the grumpy Matthew as Dade made have more layers than most of her characters and he is somewhat delicate some ways.
After reading this book I kind of want my own Spite house. Dade hits again with brilliant romance with spice, plus-sized characters who are realistic. I feel this book might also help a lot of people who find being themselves hard at times. I feel I needed this book a lot earlier on in my adulthood, but I am thankful that it is here now.

Olivia is definitely making me want to get more into reading romance's and enjoy them! The characters were well written too which adds to the positive elements of the book.

I enjoyed this! I've read quite a few Olivia Dade's and all hit a sweet romcom spot. This is no exception - I loved all the characters in the town, and the gentle evolution of the core relationship. It wasn't my personal favourite set-up, but it didn't detract from the story, which was deep and multifaceted without feeling rushed.

Thanks so much to Piatkus, NetGalley and Olivia Dade for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

I have mixed feeling about this read, I absolutely adored the way in which Matthew's and Athena's relationship unravelled, the chemistry was electric and palpable from the first meeting when they bonded over their reliance on Professor Google. I loved the underlying tension and the way their relationship transitioned to more. The best part about the book is the moving portrayal of depression and grief, and is portrayed in an accurate way. Dade creates a wonderful pair who support each other during troubled times, and I loved seeing how they pushed each other to the edge.

Despite the plot being excellent, I found the dialogue a little strange, at times it didn't seamless nor realistic, and found it a little stunted, however I think this is more a personal preference.

Other than that, I would highly recommend, and will definitely be exploring some of Dade's other work.

I am not usually a romcom reader, but i adored this.

I am now an Olivia Dade fan.

It was such a fun read, whilst also managing to touch on some hard and serious subjects in a beautiful way.

As with previous Olivia Dade books, this one is a wonderful combination of representation, a steady thought out and realistic romance with humour and spice.

Athena and Matthew are both complex and interesting main characters. Their enemies to lovers romance is a realistic progression of two characters that - as Athena's psychology degree helps her figure out - develops from a series of situational events blown out of proportion due to numerous issues.

The monster-fucking audio books was a fun plot narrative - the zero shame the town had around such a thing bringing fun and representation of sexual freedom in the book was great!

The key issue within the book: athenas depression I thought was handled really well. The way that they portrayed her sadness and then inactivity and just lack of care for herself and life was so real. Usually, from what I've seen in the past, authors or film scripts will write about the more active harm side of depression and forget about the other inactive signs that are usually missed until it's too late. The way the book slowly builds this into Athena's character and then shows how each situation she's put through can play into that bad mental health whilst her still being a genuinely cheery and interesting character was so well done as I’ve very much experienced the same so know it to be true.

Having Matthew as a male character who is not afraid to show his feelings, be embarrassed, face real fears and not be the hyper sexual lead was refreshing and made him a more realistic and believable character that you rooted for.

Overall it was a great read, the love being all the more important and special for the darkness that the two characters have felt and the light the other brings to their life.

I'm sorry but I have to DNF this after four chapters because I just can not get passed the constant referring to the male lead as "Dr. Matthew Vine The Third' and also the 'Professor Google'.

I really wanted to enjoy this book as I loved the cover and the synopsis but I felt like I was reading a fanfic from 2013. Considering four chapters for eighty pages long it felt as though nothing really exciting was happening for me to carry on reading and this book is 400 pages long (Ebook/Netgalley) so how slowly does this book move? My attention span isn't being captivated enough for me to last that long unfortunately.

Such a shame, maybe it gets better as you read on but for this moment in time I won't be continuing it.

3.5 stars!

This was a book I was really looking forward to, the cover, title, just what the book was about in general.

Even though I did enjoy reading this book I found it a bit hard to fully give it all my attention. It's well written but it didn't flow as smoothly as I expected, having read Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade (and loving it!) I had high expectations.

However that being said this book did touch on some important subjects and real-life situations. It's outlook on depression is raw and real, the characters in this story come together in the most unexpected way.

Matthew is caring, thoughtful and a lovely guy. Then we have Athena is trying to stand on her own two feet after her wedding to Matthew's brother was called off.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but it definitely won't be making any of my top lists for 2024. If you are an Olivia Dade fan, I am sure you will still love this book - it just didn't read as easy as I thought it would.

This was delightful to read! It's actually set a certain bar for the romances I read going forward this year.

Firstly, I loved Athena. She was one of the most relatable characters I have read in a long time. Her constant need to consult Google, the potato obsession and the love of books (please check her reading history for a long list of monster erotica). She was also a really great example of effortless plus size representation. Obviously, from the cover I knew that Athena was plus size, but the way Olivia Dade so subtly included little bits of information that made it clear. Athena's mental health struggles were also pretty relatable for me personally and I think that Olivia Dade did a great job with this.

Matthew Vine... how do we discuss this man? Well, first we acknowledge that he did a kind of shitty thing, but then we also acknowledge that he was one of the nicest and caring book boyfriends we've ever encountered. Matthew had his own struggles, but he came out to be such a nice man who just wanted the best for Athena.

As for Harlot's Bay as a setting like please I want more. Karl the monster erotica loving grumpy baker, Yvonne the no nonsense best friend of Matthew to the emotional support chicken we all so desperately need.

I was not a huge fan of the third act conflict (what romance fan actually enjoys them), but at least it wasn't dragged out and made into something bigger than it needed to be.

This book was everything. The kind of book that makes me wish I'd written everything down throughout.

So, initially, I couldn't work out how Dr Matthew Vine the Third was ever going to redeem himself - I mean, he made his brother dump his fiancé, Athena, a month before the wedding. There's no coming back from that, right? Wrong.

Matthew Vine is the book boyfriend to beat this year!

Olivia Dade has such a beautiful way of writing that draws you in and I could not put this book down. The characters are so real and perfectly flawed, the issues dealt with are raw and beautifully handled and the humour is too notch.

I can't say enough good things about this book, we are only 10 days in to 2024 and I already know that this book is going to be in my top ten of the year. Everyone should read this book.

I loved the beginning of this book, but not the end. I devoured the first 50-60% of this book, I loved the writing, the characters and the way the author showed what it’s like to suffer from depression. After that, I found the story a bit lacking, I don’t know how to explain it. I think there wasn’t enough build up to them getting together and then not much happened before the 3 act breakup. So I felt like the second half really let the first half down. That being said I still really enjoyed this book.

Summary: Athena faces challenges in her Spite House, sandwiched between her ex and Dr. Matthew Vine, his brother who is the reason she is single. However, unexpectedly, loathing turns complicated with shared moments and desires.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.