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crystalisreading's review
challenging
emotional
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I don't watch enough reality TV to know if this plot was plausible or not. I questioned that a lot though. I know all marginalized groups are entitled to wish fulfillment romances, but it was hard to believe in at lot of this. also I didn't really like any of the major characters, and didn't really buy the primary romance. two minor couples were cute though, and fat rep is always good. I just wish i had found this more enjoyable than I did. I much preferred On the Plus Side by Jenny Howe, for a reality TV show fat romance
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Alcohol, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Grief, Abandonment, and Body shaming
Moderate: Sexual content and Acephobia/Arophobia
ohheyitskaitlin's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Bullying
Minor: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Rape
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It started all right, but halfway through it went down in giant flames that make me say only two things: romance is a waste of time, and men are absolute trash.
The number one reason I rated this so low is the arophobia. Listen, I understand that many romance novels will have some level of amatonormativity. It's fine, I prepare myself beforehand. I thought this one would be better, because I heard about the aroace rep (which isn't as much rep as it is one of the guys figuring out he's aroace and being kicked off the show that very week, despite being one of only two viable choices at that point...). It's not. The entire book is filled with little digs that will make any romantic person feel like absolute shit. And when I say filled, I mean it's almost on every single page!
And that's not counting the acephobia that is just as present. Bea herself, the very chapter after being completely fine with one of the guys coming out as aroace (probably because she didn't have feelings for him) freaks out and believes none of the guys love her because two of them refused -- with VERY VALID REASONS -- to spend the night. That part alone destroyed all the good the small bit of rep could have done.
As I said, it started well enough. Up to midpoint, I was ready to give this a 4 stars -- with heavy TW. But it turns out that every single man (except one) she kept past that midway point was absolutely awful.
Luc is such a stereotype that I feel bad for French people. He's also the only pansexual character... whom the author also made sleep with everyone. Again, what could have been good rep completely obliterated by shitty plot points.
Asher is jealous and was horrible to her every single time anything happened with another guy. Dude, you can't be possessive on a freaking romance TV reality show! Huge red flag
And let's not even talk about Ray.
The only guy she had chemistry and a truly good relationship with, she let go because... they never argue?
The straights are not okay.
It's a shame that it was such a shitshow because there was some really good commentary about fat women and the way society treats them. The main character was realistic and I was really rooting for her, up to the moment it just dissolved into garbage.
The number one reason I rated this so low is the arophobia. Listen, I understand that many romance novels will have some level of amatonormativity. It's fine, I prepare myself beforehand. I thought this one would be better, because I heard about the aroace rep (which isn't as much rep as it is one of the guys figuring out he's aroace and being kicked off the show that very week, despite being one of only two viable choices at that point...). It's not. The entire book is filled with little digs that will make any romantic person feel like absolute shit. And when I say filled, I mean it's almost on every single page!
And that's not counting the acephobia that is just as present. Bea herself, the very chapter after being completely fine with one of the guys coming out as aroace (probably because she didn't have feelings for him) freaks out and believes none of the guys love her because two of them refused -- with VERY VALID REASONS -- to spend the night. That part alone destroyed all the good the small bit of rep could have done.
As I said, it started well enough. Up to midpoint, I was ready to give this a 4 stars -- with heavy TW. But it turns out that every single man (except one) she kept past that midway point was absolutely awful.
Asher is jealous and was horrible to her every single time anything happened with another guy. Dude, you can't be possessive on a freaking romance TV reality show! Huge red flag
And let's not even talk about Ray.
The only guy she had chemistry and a truly good relationship with, she let go because... they never argue?
The straights are not okay.
It's a shame that it was such a shitshow because there was some really good commentary about fat women and the way society treats them. The main character was realistic and I was really rooting for her, up to the moment it just dissolved into garbage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Infidelity, Body shaming, and Bullying
Moderate: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Minor: Stalking and Toxic relationship
brokenbodybitch's review
3.75
Don’t get me wrong I love all the little representation in here like the ace guy and the gnc kid and I love how it was so blunt and from what I know about living as a plus person it seemed to be good representation for that however the plot itself was debatably good. I went from loving it to just wanting to get through it around the 60% mark but that could also just be because I hate reality tv and I was not the target audience for that type of plot. The writing style itself though I LOVED, the way it jumped between her point of view and the articles and the podcast or whatever was really cool and fun
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
readwithde's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Plus-sized fashion blogger becomes the next "bachelorette" for a reality dating series; what could go wrong?
When I first heard about One to Watch, I was both intrigued and scared: would it be inspiring or another fakeout for this plus-sized reader? I was so scared of it belittling the main issue for the sake of romance that I waited nearly a year to read it, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance.
It takes a special book for me to read it in 3 days or less, but I finished One to Watch in just over a day, less than 30 hrs. Everything was so real, so down to earth; nothing was whitewashed or covered up. Though I initially felt disconnected to Bea, I grew to love and understand her.
Her relationships with the guys was all secondary to me; the real story was the growth each character made in order to be more of themselves, to lean into their unique identity and own that, which is still a needed and relevant topic, even in this highly tolerant era.
The book showcased diversity in race (white, asian, french, black), sexuality (aro/ace, non-binary, bi, lesbian) and sex positivity, social dynamics (farmers, lawyers, coaches, bloggers, celebrities, teachers, doctors), and obviously size.
The story handles all of this with grace and sensitivity and reality, which you wouldn't expect from a romance/rom-com novel based on the premise of a Bachelor-esque reality show. This book challenged me and suprised me, and I hope to become a brave and accepting of my body and identity as Bea became with hers.
When I first heard about One to Watch, I was both intrigued and scared: would it be inspiring or another fakeout for this plus-sized reader? I was so scared of it belittling the main issue for the sake of romance that I waited nearly a year to read it, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance.
It takes a special book for me to read it in 3 days or less, but I finished One to Watch in just over a day, less than 30 hrs. Everything was so real, so down to earth; nothing was whitewashed or covered up. Though I initially felt disconnected to Bea, I grew to love and understand her.
Her relationships with the guys was all secondary to me; the real story was the growth each character made in order to be more of themselves, to lean into their unique identity and own that, which is still a needed and relevant topic, even in this highly tolerant era.
The book showcased diversity in race (white, asian, french, black), sexuality (aro/ace, non-binary, bi, lesbian) and sex positivity, social dynamics (farmers, lawyers, coaches, bloggers, celebrities, teachers, doctors), and obviously size.
The story handles all of this with grace and sensitivity and reality, which you wouldn't expect from a romance/rom-com novel based on the premise of a Bachelor-esque reality show. This book challenged me and suprised me, and I hope to become a brave and accepting of my body and identity as Bea became with hers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Sexual content
memorable's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I think this book highlights a lot of important topics while being completely realistic in terms of reality shows. I’m not a huge fan of those; therefore, it was a bit too much drama for me. Nevertheless, I loved the different characters and representation in this book! Sometimes, it’s even painful to read but knowing that people actually say and believe these things makes it so important!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Biphobia, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Outing, and Panic attacks/disorders
courtneyfalling's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Wow. This book was full of emotional ups and downs for me. A few notes:
- The beginning chapters stretched on for so long. I wish we had fewer scenes of Bea pining over Ray and just received that backstory in condensed flashbacks. It felt like the author didn't trust readers to understand how Ray had hurt Bea or why he was capital-B Bad for her: we had to have it hammered in over and over.
- Marin, as a gay best friend, reads like a straight woman attempting to write a gay best friend. There was one really cringe-y line about how Bea should "become" a lesbian after Ray breaks her heart that did not sit well with me at all.
- There are also so many text message and email exchanges in the first few chapters. It made listening on audiobook really funky at times.
- This book really started picking up for me at Bea's first night on the show, meeting all her contestants. But that first night... so much to unpack about that chapter. We absolutely could have had more body diversity among the contestants
especially with how awful the only plus-size contestant ends up being with the book still criticizing the typical beauty standards of reality TV. It probably would've been better. - Also, plus-size reviewers have commented extensively on how this book handles/sometimes doesn't handle fatphobia, and those comments are really worth checking out. And especially in this scene of Bea's first night, I had so many frustrated feelings about how the book handles "diversity" over all. For a book with so much emphasis on body type and the cruelties of healthism, it has absolutely no awareness of disability or chronic illness. And there's a moment when Bea, on stage, considers how awful it feels to have all thin men presented to her, where she represents herself in a particularly victimized way... But this is an affluent, college-educated, nondisabled white woman who describes herself as medium-fat headlining a huge reality show. She minimizes the role of racial diversity in the cast as a whole and at no point in the book grapples with any of the privilege she has to be in these situations. This totally could've allowed for an examination of diversity within plus-size and fat communities, but... we never got it.
- The first group date made me uncomfortable to witness and Lauren overall is not a particularly redeemable character, even if the book tries to make her one. Producers overstep Bea's boundaries constantly.
- The one-on-one dates roped me into the "finding romance!" aspect of this book most. It is a little hard at first to keep the contestants clear, but I appreciated how quickly the cast narrowed down to the men that caught Bea's attention most.
- Wyatt!!! I love Wyatt. So much.
Even if a little sappy, Wyatt's decision to come out to Bea then the general public and his family as aroace felt really well-represented and wholesome. I will fight anyone who says bad things about Wyatt. - Luke bothered me for huge portions of the plot and I have to say... not surprising how he ended up.
Also stuff to unpack here about the villainization of polyam people and the conflation of cheating/non-commitment with ethical nonmonogamy... Jefferson sucks but I wish the one plus-size contestant of her season hadn't turned out to be so hateful himself. This is where it comes back to wishing more body diversity had existed among Bea's contestants... because then this wouldn't have been the only plus-size contestant turning out to have been an asshole all along. - I love the variety of emotions and backstories among some of the final men: Asher, Sam, and Wyatt all have such depth that made me care for them even through their flaws. And pretty big emotional and interpersonal issues are handled with genuine care.
I almost lost my damn mind when Ray showed back up on the show and started professing love for Bea. Really, fuck this guy and I wish I could read a version of this book with like 75% less Ray, maybe no Ray at all. Especially because it buys so heavily into the trope that you can't "move on" from an intense emotional relationship unless you realize the guy was a radiating red flag the whole time. No nuance, no sense of mutual incompatibility > individual monsterhood, no acceptance that "closure" isn't always the best option or an option... Anyway. Asher's response here also really bothered me and never got adequately dealt with. Asher absolutely didn't have to choose not to spend the night with Bea: he could've made clear in the dinner/interview portion that he didn't want to have sex to prove how emotionally serious he was to his kids, then still accepted the overnight to talk in private. I get why Bea didn't mention Ray's engagement on public TV: she didn't know if he was still engaged and I understand why she wouldn't want Ray's fiancee to find out like that. And Asher's rush to totally dismiss and insult her was awful and took all the trust I'd started to have in him and just blew it. We needed a much better apology scene, or maybe a drawn out return into Bea's life, than we got. - The end!!!! Okay.
I was really surprised at first, seeing Sam step out of the limo first. I truly did think she was about to end back up with Ray, with all her pining. But honestly, I'm glad we got this idea of being "picky" in love. And Sam becoming the next Bachelor and specifically asking for body diversity among his cast was so wholesome. I'm glad Sam found happiness, freedom, and a lasting relationship! I do think Bea was ultimately right about each of them serving as emotional growth for the other and I can envision a warm continued friendship. - The final reunion special was probably the funniest part of the book.
The kindergarten class teaching Jefferson about anti-bullying? Classic. Wyatt's mom offering public support? Beautiful. As much as I liked Bea with Asher for so much of the book and do think this could've worked as an ending... I needed more. More of a real apology and reassurance Asher wouldn't whip out jealousy and self-sabotaging distance again. You don't magically get forgiven for all the harm you've caused because people have harmed you too.
I do want to reread this in the future and see what it's like knowing what's coming. It's definitely one of the more engaging romance books I've read in a while and I had so many feelings, good and bad and frustrated, while reading because I was so engaged.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
moonlitemuseum's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was such a dream! I don't ordinarily read straight romance, but the reviews I heard by chance were so tantalizing I just had to try it out. Bea is a dream of a lead character; witty, passionate and terrified of her own vulnerability.
The writing is a little cheesy here and there but it adds to the charm; and the supporting cast, especially Bea's family, her best friend and the final four men she chooses for the show, are all so thoughtful and kind that I could feel my heart healing in real time.
Unfortunately I think the absolute peak of the book is deep in the second act. The first portion of the book is an understandable but gutwrenching gauntlet of bodyshaming, self-doubt and depression, while the third act conflict was a little agitating and predictable (though it read true to the characters). I was, as always, not a fan of the slap-argue-kiss dynamic that seems to plague most straight romance (a late game reveal that a minor m/f couple who spent their entire time barbing each other online got together felt weird and superfluous), but the book is great in terms of dotting LGBT rep around in satisfying dollops in characters that felt authentic.
When the book is good, though, it's GOOD. It feels exactly like binging a trashy reality TV show, but with all the meta commentary and interior feelings carefully curated for your benefit. A gem. As a side note, Kristen Sieh, the narrator for the audiobook, does a flawless job with the accents and building drama!
The writing is a little cheesy here and there but it adds to the charm; and the supporting cast, especially Bea's family, her best friend and the final four men she chooses for the show, are all so thoughtful and kind that I could feel my heart healing in real time.
Unfortunately I think the absolute peak of the book is deep in the second act. The first portion of the book is an understandable but gutwrenching gauntlet of bodyshaming, self-doubt and depression, while the third act conflict was a little agitating and predictable (though it read true to the characters). I was, as always, not a fan of the slap-argue-kiss dynamic that seems to plague most straight romance (a late game reveal that a minor m/f couple who spent their entire time barbing each other online got together felt weird and superfluous), but the book is great in terms of dotting LGBT rep around in satisfying dollops in characters that felt authentic.
When the book is good, though, it's GOOD. It feels exactly like binging a trashy reality TV show, but with all the meta commentary and interior feelings carefully curated for your benefit. A gem. As a side note, Kristen Sieh, the narrator for the audiobook, does a flawless job with the accents and building drama!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Infidelity
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
nemaria's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia and Sexual content
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