What if the star of your favorite show asked you out on Twitter? Olivia Dade takes that fan dream and amps it up a hundred notches in Spoiler Alert.
Not to mention there are a few more dynamics at play in Spoiler Alert, too. This is a definite must-read book this fall, especially for anyone who has participated in fan communities online and made friends writing fan fiction.
When I read the blurb for this book, I could hardly contain my excitement. It’s like the most perfect romance for Hypable fans to check out. I think all of us fandom fiends have envisioned a world where your favorite actor reaches out to you on social media and turns your whole world upside down. It’s too juicy a dream to deny.
It’s also so important to mention that the heroine in this story is one of the most relatable heroines I’ve ever read. April is strong, but not invincible. Confident, but not invulnerable. She’s the kind of heroine I love to read.
If you’d like a taste of this incredible story you are in so much luck. Read on for an exclusive excerpt from Spoiler Alert, and a chance to win an ARC!
Read an excerpt from ‘Spoiler Alert’
“I would love for you to tell me more about your work on Gods of the Gates.” As Marcus winced apologetically, April held up a hand. “I know you can’t say anything about the final season, and I’m not asking. I’m more interested in behind-the-scenes stuff, anyway. Your daily routine and what your actual job has entailed all this time. How you train for sword fights, whether you already knew how to ride a horse when you joined the cast, things like that.”
This time, when he pushed his hair back from his forehead, the motion didn’t look quite so studied. Not paired with that crinkled brow.
Article Continues Below“I’d bore you to tears, I’m afraid.” His smile was still bright, still genial, but now a wee bit tighter. “Why don’t we talk about my exercise routine instead? Or maybe I can tell you about working with Summer Diaz and Carah Brown?”
Those topics, he’d addressed numerous times, in countless articles and blog posts, and she didn’t care to discuss either one. The exercise stuff would, in fact, bore her to tears, and when it came to his costars, the man was a font of good-natured platitudes.
I’m lucky to work alongside such talented colleagues, and ones nearly as pretty as I am.
They’re true professionals, and as beautiful inside as outside. Like me!
The show couldn’t have found more lovely, gifted actors to play Lavinia and Dido. Or Aeneas, for that matter.
No, she wanted to tackle topics that didn’t allow for generic, surface-only answers.
“I won’t be bored, I promise.” Another neat slice of the chicken thigh, and she paused with her forkful of food just above her plate. “Did you ride horses before being cast on the show?”
“No. I didn’t.”
He was pushing a tiny cube of apricot around his plate with his own fork. Studying the circles it made with unusual focus as she chewed and waited for words that weren’t coming.
She swallowed before digging deeper. “Do you like riding?”
“Yes.” Instead of elaborating, he shoved a hasty bite of food into his mouth.
All right, no more yes or no questions. “What do you like about it?”
He pointed to his full mouth, and she nodded in understanding and waited. And waited. And waited.
His chewing had become extraordinarily thorough in the last minute or so. But if he was hoping she’d say something more or change the topic while he endlessly chewed his mouthful of polenta—polenta, which didn’t actually require chewing—he was doomed to disappointment.His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and she smiled encouragingly at him.
“Um…” His chest hitched in a tiny sigh, one so discreet she’d have missed it if she hadn’t been watching him so closely. “I like being outdoors. And, uh, I’m pretty athletic, so things like riding suit me. Fit my talents, I guess.”
Suddenly, he straightened in his chair. Flipped his hair back from his face with a practiced snap of his head. “To help strengthen my thighs, I had certain exercises my trainer suggested I do. I can tell you about those.”
Nope.
“I imagine you had to practice a lot, even if you’re naturally athletic and exercise the right way.” Barreling right past his attempted conversational misdirection, she continued pressing. “Did someone from the show teach you swordplay, or did you learn how to use a sword on your own?”
At that, he met her eyes again. Finally. “You want to hear about the crew?”
“Sure.” That might prove as revelatory as any other topic, she figured.
His mouth pursed, he gave a little nod.
“Okay.” Putting down his cutlery, he leaned forward. “Um…okay. Any skill with the sword I have, I owe to them.”
“How?” she asked.
Once more, she waited. And this time, the dam broke.
“From the moment I was cast, they started teaching me how to handle my sword and shield in a way that would look second-nature, as if I’d been doing it my whole life.” This time, she didn’t need to ask him to elaborate. He just did, without prompting. “How to walk, how to sit, how to stand at attention. And if I look capable on screen while fighting, that’s due to them too.”
No credit for himself. Interesting. “In what way?”
He barely hesitated. “The fight coordinators and choreographers, the stunt coordinators, worked like hell to make sure each battle scene not only looked impressive, but fit each character’s personality and history and the specific goals and mindset they’d have for that particular fight. Then they’d run us through the sequences again and again, until we knew exactly what to do and when to do it.”
In other words: Yes, with their help and guidance, he’d practiced a lot.
He was very skilled at erasing his own efforts from the narrative, though. Especially for a man whose vanity was legendary.“Some of those big battle sequences, they’d start preparing us months ahead,” he added. “Up to a year, in a few cases. Always looking ahead, always striving to make each scene convincing and spectacular and memorable.”
His blue-gray eyes were bright and intent on hers, willing to her understand the greatness of the Gods of the Gates crew, the extent of their hard work. He was gesturing with his broad hands now, punctuating his points with little waves and slashes.
It was like watching a ghost become corporeal once more. Life, where only a shadow once existed. Fascinating and disorienting, all at once.
She thought over what he’d told her. “So if they take each character’s history into account, someone like Cyprian shouldn’t fight as capably as, say, Aeneas. Because Cyprian wouldn’t be as battle-hardened and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn swordplay in the same way.”
“Exactly. Sometimes they’d have to tell one of us to dial back the skill a few notches.” He grinned at her, and it crinkled at the corners of those eyes in a very distracting way. “Between takes, the director would come around and ask each of us what we were fighting for in that scene. What our goal was. What had happened to us prior to that scene that would inform the moment for our character. So a battle might involve hundreds of people, but for the main actors, that scene, that fight, would also be specific. Different for everyone.”
His face was mobile with passion. So much passion and intensity and… intelligence.
She crossed her legs under the table. Uncrossed them.
“And that’s not even getting into all the work done by the weapons master, the sword master, the horse master, the VFX and SFX people…” He shook his head, his golden hair sparking in the candlelight, and she couldn’t look away. “The show has over a thousand crew members, and they’re all amazing, April. The hardest-working, most talented people I’ve ever met.”
That didn’t sound like a platitude. It sounded like a bone-deep truth.
For the first time that night, April excused herself to the restroom. Once there, she used the facilities, washed her hands, and didn’t leave immediately.
Instead, she dabbed more cold water on her wrists. The back of her neck. Only two of the many places she was suddenly much too hot, even though she knew better. She did.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Red hair. Freckles. Brown eyes behind contact lenses. Round breasts, round belly, round thighs. All normal.
Not normal: the rosy flush on her cheeks, and the slight ache between those thighs.
Because she suddenly wanted him. Marcus. Caster. Hyphen. Rupp. The dim, vain man who was, apparently, neither vain nor dim. Or at least not as vain and dim as he pretended.He was still gorgeous, however. Still famous.
And only having dinner with her tonight out of kindness, not desire for her company or her body or anything else specific to her.
Well, shit.
Great stuff, am I right? This is one story you definitely don’t want to miss out on.
Enter to win a ‘Spoiler Alert’ ARC!
Do you want to get your hands on a copy of Spoiler Alert and avoid having to wait another long month and a half for it to finally hit shelves and e-readers? Well you are in luck! Hypable is giving away one Advanced Reader Copy (also known as an ARC) of Spoiler Alert thanks to our friends at Avon Books! Check out the giveaway below!
Best of luck to all those entering for a chance, and I hope everyone will pre-order their copy of Spoiler Alert from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, or Book Depository. And add it to your Goodreads, too!
About Olivia Dade
Olivia Dade grew up an undeniable nerd, prone to ignoring the world around her as she read any book she could find. Her favorites, though, were always, always romances. As an adult, she earned an M.A. in American history and worked in a variety of jobs that required the donning of actual pants: Colonial Williamsburg interpreter, high school teacher, academic tutor, and (of course) librarian. Now, however, she has finally achieved her lifelong goal of wearing pajamas all day as a hermit-like writer and enthusiastic hag. She currently lives outside Stockholm with her patient Swedish husband, their whip-smart daughter, and the family’s ever-burgeoning collection of books.
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