Thank you to Avon (via NetGalley) for the ARC.

Sigh. I was disappointed by this one. I had such high hopes because I've really liked everything else I've read of Olivia Dade, including Spoiler Alert, the first book in this series. But honestly this one was a little boring.

I say this as someone who has read a lot of romance novels. I know to expect a happy ending. I know to expect a third act disaster. I know how things work. But this was...blah. Like for all the talk about fan fiction tropes and how into them Alex is, it didn't use any of them really. And the tropes it did use, I just don't think it did anything original with them.

Maybe part of the boredom came from the fact that this book continues with the thinly-veiled Game of Thrones bashing, and we're long enough removed from the show ending that it feels stale to me. Yes, we get it. The show ended terribly. The creators ruined it. Everyone hated the last season. The timeline of this book overlaps with the first book, so a lot of the action is still happening while they're filming the show and dealing with how terrible the show and its creators are. And it just feels like old news at this point.

I also didn't really care for either of the main characters. Both of them were Extremely "woe is me" and constantly talked about how selfish and/or worthless they were and it just wasn't interesting. It was like a contest to see who could be more self-loathing. By the last 20% of the book, I was just skimming so I could get it over with.

Very specific NSFW complaint coming, so beware:

Spoiler

For all the talk of Cupid (and tbh, Alex) wanting to be pegged, and all the hints that it was going to happen, there is only one passing mention at the end of the book that Alex and Lauren actually engage in it. That's it. It felt like a lot of build-up for something that didn't even happen on-page.

It wasn't all terrible, and I did actually finish it, so I have to mention the things I enjoyed too.

Things I liked:
1. ADHD rep in Alex, the love interest. I haven't seen it in an adult before (in a book), so it was interesting to see how that manifested
2. I liked the ending (I won't spoil it, but I liked how things were resolved even though it was pretty predictable)
3. The fat rep. That's one thing that Olivia Dade always does well, and this is no different

I'm not sure if this series is going to continue (I couldn't easily tell from this book if another person from the Gods of the Gates cast would get their own story), but if it does, I will probably read the next book. Either way, I'll read whatever Olivia Dade writes next because I do enjoy her books. This one just didn't do it for me