Author spotlight: Olivia Dade

 After my previous post on romance tropes that I dislike, I wanted this next post to be about a romance writer that I am really enjoying right now, and whom I think deserves some attention! (Note: I don't know her, have never talked to her, am not working for her, etc. I just really admire her writing.)

I am currently trying to complete Book Riot's Read Harder challenge for 2022, and task #7 is "Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40." When Book Riot sent out their list of suggestions for the task, Olivia Dade's book, 40-Love, was on the list. 

As you can tell from the cover, the protagonist is a fat woman. Not merely "curvy," the way some books will describe their protagonists (when really they mean, she has an hourglass figure and flat stomach, a la Kim Kardashian or something), but an actual plus-sized woman. So I saved it to my TBR list.

HOWEVER, that was not the book I ended up reading. Teach Me, which is in the same series, caught my eye because, well, it's about teachers!

(Also, how damn cute are these covers? I'm not embarrassed about the fact that I read romance, but I kinda prefer these illustrated covers over the typical photos of nearly naked models.)

So, now we have a 40-year-old, plus-sized protagonist who is also a high school teacher? Count me in!

Teach Me did not disappoint (and I immediately read 40-Love and some of her other books afterward). I LOVED reading about a woman my age who looks like me (body-wise; not Asian), who also has the same overall job as I do, and is written like a fully-realized human being. The romantic struggles in this book are not due to her being fat or being "old." (In quotes because 40 seems to be old by romance novel standards.) Those are her descriptors, but they are not her entire character. 

The development of the characters, as well as the romance, plus the bonus joy of realizing that Olivia Dade seems to actually know what it's like to be a high school teacher (it was probably the most accurate fictional depiction I've ever read--I think her bio said that she used to teach as well), made for a really enjoyable read, as well as an empowering one. I felt SO excited, and SO refreshed, and just so SEEN. There is no better feeling than the validation of aspects of your identity when you're reading.

I realized afterward that her name and the artwork of her books was familiar to me because I have seen her book Spoiler Alert in store before, and again, noticed the size of the heroine:

I had honestly mistaken this for a YA book at the time because of the cover style and the book blurb (about a girl--who is actually a woman in her 30s--who is a fanfiction writer), but being now familiar with Dade's writing, I knew it was definitely an adult novel. I read this one as well as its sequel, All the Feels, and I loved it so much. I loved how Dade never once treats being a fic-writing, cosplaying, hardcore fan of something as being ridiculous or frivolous--being in a fandom is often where we find community, friends, and family. 

There are a couple other series of hers that I haven't read yet, but I definitely plan to! I have loved everything I've read from her, and her books have refreshed my love for romance in a big way--I am finding myself looking for similar books that are more like sexier rom coms, with dynamic characters who are more than just bombshells and beefcakes. (Another writer I'm loving: Ali Hazelwood. Maybe I'll post about her books later.)