Desire and the Deep Blue Sea (Love Unscripted Book 1)

Desire and the Deep Blue Sea is a sexy and fun novella that explores real life challenges that affect relationships and how important communication is on the path to a happy ever after.Callie can't stand her librarian co-worker Thomas. Even though they got along well when he first started and he's kind and friendly, his work habits have contributed to a lot of stress in her life, increased her anxiety levels and generally made her miserable. On top of that, she recently broke up with her boyfriend. That's a significant problem because they were supposed to go on a reality show together, HATV's 'Island Match', and her only real chance of a tropical beach vacation for some much needed rest and relaxation is looking farther and farther away.In a fit of panic, she tells the producers of the show not to worry, she has a new boyfriend already – Thomas! He's the only person she can think of who would likely not turn down the chance to go check out some tropical island locales as part of the reality show mission, and who she could probably convince to pretend to be her boyfriend. Even though she tries to avoid him at work. Right. She can do this for the beach reward.Unbeknownst to Callie, Thomas has a huge crush on her. He doesn't understand why she stopped talking to him but when she tells him her dilemma and asks for his help he is thrilled to be able to assist her. And to pretend to be dating? Heaven! But in the course of their pretense, can they actually find their way to real happy ending?This is an enjoyable, sexy and fun read with characters who are very appealing and who just needed a chance to have some real conversations outside of a work environment. Thomas is appalled to discover that his absentmindedness at work, and his sometimes singular focus made Callie feel inadequate and pushed her more and more to the sidelines of a job she once loved. Now that he knows her true feelings, he will do everything in his power to make Callie feel listened to, respected and appreciated.For her part, it's a weight off Callie's chest to share her feelings with Thomas, to explain how anxiety affects her and have him be remorseful and apologetic. He's not the villain of the story, and as she comes to understand him better, they are able to rekindle the friendship they had when they first started working together. She can admit that she's attracted to him, and since the feeling is definitely mutual, they explore a more intimate relationship while the backdrop of a tropical vacation plays out. Figuring out how to translate that into something more permanent at home takes a bit of work but it all comes together in the end. Olivia Dade writes real characters of all shapes and sizes, with feelings and flaws and makes her happy endings ones that any reader can relate to. I highly recommend her books and look forward to more of this latest series!

Desire and the Deep Blue Sea cemented Olivia Dade’s status as one of my auto-buy authors. I normally skip novellas because the story ends too quickly, but she packed just the right amount of plot points and character growth into one hundred pages or so. I was also impressed that she turned a somewhat ridiculous premise—inviting a coworker to fake a relationship on a reality show—into a realistic romance between people who had misunderstood and perhaps underestimated each other.I purchased the print edition, and I’m really impressed with the quality, particularly for a self-published book. The cover art is gorgeous, and the cover has a pleasing texture; not sure how to describe it, but it’s not the slick feel of mass-market paperbacks. The paper is good quality, and I definitely preferred holding a book the size of a trade paperback rather than a hand-cramping mass market edition.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I read Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade and loved it so figured I’d try out another one of her books and bought this one. It wasn’t nearly as good and didn’t keep my attention like Spoiler Alert. I didn’t realize, and shame on me, that the book was so short. The description says 129 pages, but the story itself is only 105 pages. The rest is a preview of another book. I could have had that read in a day if it kept my interest like the other one. I will get more of her books because this one was definitely not enough to turn me away from this author. The storyline itself was good, I just felt as though it really built the reader up for something that, when it finally happened, it seemed rather rushed. This book could have definitely used another 50-100 pages. Oh well, again, my fault for not realizing how short the book was when I purchased it. The other book in this series is just as short so I’ll just borrow that one from my local library instead of spending the money on it.

This was a cute short story!Honestly, I LOVED being in both characters' heads - it was fun to see things through Thomas' eyes. I also really enjoyed the fact that Thomas was neurodivergent and Callie struggled with anxiety. I mean, I didn't like that she struggled with anxiety, but it was nice to see that on paper and watch her have a relationship anyway. There were moments were Thomas was a little bit too good to be true, but overall a really fluffy story. There IS a "third act" conflict, but I appreciated the way Thomas and Callie were able to talk about their issues throughout the story.

Just a delightful and achingly fun read. Absolutely loved Callie and Thomas. Olivia Dade is one of my new go-to’s for contemporary romance. She has a way with MH and body representation that is brilliant.

A sweet fairy tale in which the zaftig librarian / princess who sometimes suffers from anxiety, find her loyal servant/ lover by seeing him in a different environment and learning to ask for what she wants and not suffer in silence when things are bad. Because it's. a fairy tale the servant/lover has s no wants of his own and lives to serve the needs of the lovely librarian. As you do.

If you're a fan of Olivia Dade's other books, you'll probably be a fan of this one too. It was a very quick read, and the characters were as well-fleshed as one can be in such a short page count. It wss 2.99 for the kindle version when I purchased it, and I feel it was well worth that.

Enjoyed the book. However I did have to return my purchase from Amazon and buy it at B&N because Amazon sent me a copy that was missing the first two chapters of the book. It was badly printed. That did not stop me from buying the book. I did find it available for pick up at my local book shop. I loved the book. Worth the search. Glad I was able to buy a copy.

This cute fake dating story was an easy and fast read with some spice. The author added depth to the story with a hero who reads like he may be neurodivergent and a heroine with anxiety issues. I appreciated that the heroine’s size is not one of her or the hero’s worries.

4.5 Stars This was so stinking cute. I could completely relate to Callie and I thought that Thomas was a precious teddy bear. It was sunny, pretty low angst and the body positivity?? We love to see it, we do.

3.5 stars: This is a sweet little novella full of wonderful human details. I like the way Dade thinks about how two people might fit together. What she comes up with is most often a story of a man who must figure out how to accommodate a strong women. And make no mistake, our heroine here *is* strong, despite character details that would normally indicate the opposite.My issue is that I’m starting to fear this author I’ve been really enjoying has a limited range of characters she can materialize. This generous man feels the same as the last generous man I read in her work.

A slow burn, super cute short story. Thomas is a great book boyfriend (I'm sure Callie is a wonderful book girlfriend as well). I loved all the tropes. I loved the character development. I recommend reading after 40-Love.

This was fun and I was rooting for the couple. My inly crit is I wanted a little more interaction before the declarations. The part where they get to know one another is referred to instead than being shown and I would rather have seen it.