Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - One to Watch

Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

140 reviews

jenny_librarian's review

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.

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semeyers's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have no idea where I stand on this one. I liked it, but I didn't. I finished it in about a day, but I also debated DNFing about 80% in.

I enjoyed the overall concept and the mixed media format, but I didn't love most of the characters. I thought that was the point at first, but by the end I realized I was supposed to have loved Bea the entire time. I also did not buy her character arc of going from someone who could barely express her feelings to someone who was having lengthy, therapist-level, conversations about insecurity and love in an 8-week span while on a reality show. It didn't feel real to me. The men were all either straight up mean or, like Sam and Luc, one-sided.. Asher was the only one who really developed at all.

Bea playing into "fat stereotypes" didn't bother me too much - fat people who don't eat salads and don't love exercise also deserve to love their bodies and find meaningful romantic love if they so desire - neither did her insecurities. I didn't like the book's one example of a shopping list for Bea which was a breakup shopping list that included exclusively "unhealthy" food in ridiculous amounts. I'm talking 25 boxes of mac and cheese and 10 pints of ice cream to start. If you include that, how about including shopping lists when she was out of the post-breakup phase and feeling confident? Or living her dream after the show? Or just don't include it at all?

There were some other small inconsistencies that had me rolling my eyes

Luc mutters curses/insults in French in Morocco as a secret when French is widely spoken in Morocco and the people likely would have understood him, for example

but overall, this book was entertaining and if you're on the fence about reading it, I'd give it a shot.

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sderrig's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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brokenbodybitch's review against another edition

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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

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june_haya's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love that this is all the reality TV bachelorette- vibes that I wanted. The cast was really diverse which I loved. The fatphobia was kinda rough (and sometimes a bit exaggerated)? In day to day life there are way more micro aggressions than blatant acts like in the book. But anyways, read like trash tv. Characters were great. Really addictive and character growth was great.

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maddysbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

3.75

this book was very cute and entertaining to read. i always love reading romance books with a plus size main character and i loved bea. the romance and reality tv aspect of the book was fun, i just feel like the chapters were longer than they needed to be, which made the book drag a little for me.

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