A review by kurtwombat
At First Spite by Olivia Dade

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

 
The flush in my cheeks as I start this review reminds me to add this caveat: I read this book mainly to satisfy part of a reading challenge (“read a romance with a fat lead”). While there seems to be an attempt recently to reclaim the “f” word I would still never use it. That being said, I will admit to a long standing, if standing at a distance, curiosity about the genre. Anything with such a passionate and extensive fan base has to raise at least an eyebrow. So I poked around for a popular author with the right main character and took the plunge. Emerging a few hundred pages later, I was just kinda baffled. How do I review this? If I relate it to what I normally like to read—I would destroy this book. I am handicapped by not knowing where it sits in relation to other Romance novels. Is Romance really its own world and any review from outside meaningless? So I will start with some positives. My favorite part relates to why I picked this book in the first place—the weight of the main character. Her weight is only referred to as an aspect of her attractiveness. There is no shaming, no commenting on what she eats or how people view her or any difficulties she has because she is heavier. I truly admired that aspect of the book. If not for the cover illustration, you wouldn’t know she was heavier until maybe a 100 pages into the book. There are quite a few attempts at humor and some of them do land—even the ones that don’t still create a pleasant atmosphere. I appreciated the sense of  building a new community and a couple of the supporting characters were nicely drawn with little effort. A couple of moments were modestly moving—especially one in a cemetery at the end. And it was a fast read. Now for the negatives—it was a fast read. Very little other than occasional moments of  disbelief at what I was reading made me want to slow down and savor. In fact I had to restrain a desire to skim over whole paragraphs. Much of the writing wasn’t bad but the idea seemed to be to paint the same image over and over until the picture was wet with hyper color. An entire paragraph devoted to pursed lips instead of what those lips might say. The swing in emotions is often ludicrous—character reactions extreme by any human standards. The shift from adoration to abominable cruelty and back at the bat of an eye is simply astonishing—I’m still suffering from whiplash. A third act surprise break-up I had been waiting 200 pages for was executed so irrationally that it still irritates me—I mean, grow up people.  The gimmicky living arrangements of the main characters was a plot convenience that made little sense. Blasting audiobook porn out a home window in a small town and having everyone get into it stretched credulity among other things. And speaking of porn—not sure if this is reflective of Romance in general but holy macaroni some of this IS straight up porn. I could apply to medical school based on what was forced to visualize here. I wasn’t offended, just surprised. Is that my lesson from reading my first Romance novel—porn is the secret candy center to this whole enterprise. Read through a bunch of Goodreads and Storygraph reviews and found not a single mention of this aspect of the book so I’m forced to assume it’s par for the course—so to speak. The one thing I’ll remember the most was wading through one porn scene and the whole thing coming to a screeching halt for me because the author used the word “placket” (A placket is a finished opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck, front, or sleeve of a garment.) I had never seen that word before and it became a record scratch moment in the midst of fiery passion that I started laughing. Oh well, wasn’t my passion anyhow. Nor is this book. Or apparently Romance novels. 
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