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A review by thelegendofguava
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
2.0
Strap in, folks, this review is going to be a journey! When Bea Schumacher, a plus-size fashion blogger, criticizes her favorite TV show, Main Squeeze, for their lack of body diversity, she gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she’s offered the chance to be the next Main Squeeze! I was really hoping this would be a fluffy story following a fat main character living a fairy tale romance on a TV show where she’s fawned over by multiple men. This... was not quite that.
First of all, this book had a fantastically diverse cast of characters, including:
- Diverse characters of different races/ethnicities
- A Gender non-conforming character
- An Asexual/Aromantic character, a Lesbian character, a Bisexual love interest and other queer side characters
(... but I will say, the Bisexual character played into some unfortunate stereotypes.)
This book definitely feels like it was written from the limited perspective of a viewer, rather than a participant. There isn’t much shown happening behind the scenes, very little interaction with the producers, and scant mention of the actual production besides “and the cameras captured all of it.”
There were too many men. Even down to the final four men, it was TOO MANY MEN. Bea had next to no time with each of them, which she remarks on several times, yet their conversations jump from barely-acquaintances to “I could spend my life with you” in the span of mere pages. On top of this, Bea is so insecure about every aspect of being in a relationship—if she doesn’t even believe in the romances she’s building, how can I be expected to believe?
Speaking of Bea’s insecurities... I wouldn’t call this a beacon of fat-positive representation. The fatphobia is especially intense in the beginning, as presented through fictional comments, tweets, blogs, and opinion pieces when Bea is announced as the next Main Squeeze. Bea herself never seems very comfortable in her own skin, as much of the drama surrounds her projecting her insecurities about her body onto her relationships.
Overall, though this book was compulsively readable (I devoured it in a little over 24 hours), the more I read, the less I wanted to read.
First of all, this book had a fantastically diverse cast of characters, including:
- Diverse characters of different races/ethnicities
- A Gender non-conforming character
- An Asexual/Aromantic character, a Lesbian character, a Bisexual love interest and other queer side characters
(... but I will say, the Bisexual character played into some unfortunate stereotypes.)
This book definitely feels like it was written from the limited perspective of a viewer, rather than a participant. There isn’t much shown happening behind the scenes, very little interaction with the producers, and scant mention of the actual production besides “and the cameras captured all of it.”
There were too many men. Even down to the final four men, it was TOO MANY MEN. Bea had next to no time with each of them, which she remarks on several times, yet their conversations jump from barely-acquaintances to “I could spend my life with you” in the span of mere pages. On top of this, Bea is so insecure about every aspect of being in a relationship—if she doesn’t even believe in the romances she’s building, how can I be expected to believe?
Speaking of Bea’s insecurities... I wouldn’t call this a beacon of fat-positive representation. The fatphobia is especially intense in the beginning, as presented through fictional comments, tweets, blogs, and opinion pieces when Bea is announced as the next Main Squeeze. Bea herself never seems very comfortable in her own skin, as much of the drama surrounds her projecting her insecurities about her body onto her relationships.
Overall, though this book was compulsively readable (I devoured it in a little over 24 hours), the more I read, the less I wanted to read.