I had the opportunity to download this book as a digital ARC from Avon and NetGalley.

I'm a nerd girl at heart. So I love to reading about people who are nerds and have nerdly interests. One thing a lot of nerdly people do is write fanfiction. Funnily enough I've never read or written fan fiction, even though I know the lingo, but I adore reading books about people who do. And that was the case here.

Almost everything about this book was completely adorable. The meet cute that was done both online and the real world. The fact that both April and Marcus were huge fanfic writers. The way they genuinely cared each other before even knowing what the other looked like and then how it grew when they met each other. The body positivity that April had throughout the book was inspiring as well Marcus's acceptance that his learning disability didn't make him any less intelligent than anyone out there. It wasn't as apparent when I was reading it but now, thinking back, one thing that set this book apart is that the journey of self-love was as important as the romantic one. Both Marcus and April still had work to do in that regard a lot of which came down to having to set boundaries with their family members. It is a hard thing to have to do.

Here's your warning that slight spoilers are ahead:
The one thing that did strike me is that a lot of their snags and pitfalls came from a complete lack of communication or not setting the proper expectations. They also let their past hurts have a lot to do with how they interpreted something that said by the other person. This happened more with April than Marcus with her understandable sensitivity to talk about food and not requesting to not be left alone when they visited her parents. And yes Marcus should have been honest about how they met but honestly, the thought of violating an NDA is terrifying, no matter how much money you make.. And someone as smart as April was should have known that. Yes in the moment she was hurt, and it was a rightful anger; but still....as pragmatic as she was, the Logic part of her brain should have chimed in harder. I will admit that this may have knocked off a star if that lightbulb hadn't turned on in her head at some point.

No more spoilers (heh sorry not sorry for that):
Ultimately though they realized they both messed up, they made their apologies and were able to move on. Marcus loved April just the way she was and vice versa. They bonded over mutual interests but also let each other have their own and encouraged them in that. They were also fiercely protective of each other to the point of acting as buffers between their respective parents which sometimes is more of a testament to love than one would think. This read had it all; a sweet and steamy love affair as well as self-love and realization that we do not have to change for anyone even our parents. . Five out of five....would recommend.