Summary: Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV,
Gods of the Gates,
he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous
and popular poster. Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations
with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature
the internet’s favorite couple to ship, Aeneas and Lavinia. But if
anyone ever found out about his online persona, he’d be fired.
Immediately.
April Whittier has secrets of her own. A hardcore Lavinia
fan, she’s hidden her fanfiction and cosplay hobby from her “real life”
for years—but not anymore. When she decides to post her latest Lavinia
creation on Twitter, her photo goes viral. Trolls and supporters alike
are commenting on her plus-size take, but when Marcus, one half of her
OTP, sees her pic and asks her out on a date to spite her critics, she
realizes life is really stranger than fanfiction.
Even though
their first date is a disaster, Marcus quickly realizes that he wants
much more from April than a one-time publicity stunt. And when he
discovers she’s actually Unapologetic Lavinia Stan, his closest fandom
friend, he has one more huge secret to hide from her.
With love
and Marcus’s career on the line, can the two of them stop hiding once
and for all, or will a match made in fandom end up prematurely
cancelled? (Pub Date: Oct 06, 2020)
A fun romantic comedy that is every fan's dream come true, hooking up with that pretty boy from your favorite show you've been writing steamy fanfics about.
3.5 rounded up to 4.
And that's how April found herself after posting a photo of her in cosplay and being defended by the main actor in the popular series she's a big fan of. Little did she know Marcus is actually her online best friend, who also writes fanfiction with her but could never reveal it or his career would be ruined. Between surprises, distrusts and secrets, will the two come unscathed?
As I have written fanfiction before, I couldn't help but relate to April. The whole story was very easy to imagine being real, as fantastic as it would be for a famous actor to secretly write for the fandom. I'm not sure they'd have the time to spare, really, but it was very nice to imagine nonetheless.
The book also discusses image issues as well as trust. Although it was very central to the story, it wasn't repetitive and I feel I learned a lot about the topics. There's actually one part after April faces her conflict etc in which she says some stuff I confess I took note, because I was like: I should have used this so many times in my life!
The plot itself is fun because of the fanfiction part—we even get to read some of them—but not creative. I also didn't find any memorable romantic moments. I like them as a couple but reading about them wasn't much and surely not enough for a five-star read.
Still, the book does the job of entertaining and I think it was realistic enough for us to relate. I'd love to read more stories like this, and it seems we'll get to check out Marcus's friend story as well. I hope I can get my hands on that one!
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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