I was very excited to dive into this book as a GoT fan who is relatively new to the romance genre. I heard over and over again from booktubers whose opinions I trust that it was a fantastic read with awesome fat rep. I loved the cover and found the synopsis intriguing.

But.

This book was not what I expected it to be.

While I started off quite liking both April and Marcus, my opinion of them plummeted as the story progressed. April is supposed to provide positive fat rep, but (and I am not and have never been fat so take my opinion with a grain of salt) she was hypersensitive to any and all actions that could in any way be related to her size (and in almost every case, they have nothing to do with her) and refused to communicate her needs and feelings. Marcus felt like a teenager in a 40-year-old's body and was constantly over apologizing (and I have anxiety, I understand over apologizing. But he over-over apologized about everything to the nth degree). They were both incredibly immature, lacked communication skills, and were melodramatic as hell.

There were cute moments here and there (mostly concentrated at the very beginning) but my overarching feeling while reading this was discomfort, in large part due to the overt author-insert nature of the story and the very thinly veiled inspiration for Marcus, the famous actor. As an actor myself (though not a famous one) the idea of someone writing a romance with a love interest based on what they know of an actor from their work and interviews while making it blatantly clear which actor they're meant to be is incredibly unsettling. It feels like Dade crossed a line here.

It honestly felt like she wrote this book just to have an excuse to go on about her hatred of the final season of GoT for 400+ pages, which, while relatable, is in poor taste.

I'm glad this book served as positive rep for many fat and dyslexic readers, but I'd recommend staying away if what I've mentioned in this review has you feeling wary.  I'd also recommend reading reviews written by fat readers who can give their own views on the representation.