One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
Plot: Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers--and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?
Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition--under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it.
But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale.
MY THOUGHTS:
For my first Book of the Month, I was highly impressed by this adorable book based on the world of The Bachelor franchise.
This book is honestly a hoot! The Bachelor is absolutely my guilty pleasure show but it is definitely problematic. The lack of diversity in the cast being the number one issue. Enter - One to Watch. This book is about Bea, a plus-size model, smashing society’s expectations by being the lead on a Bachelorette-like show “The Main Squeeze.”
One To Watch reads like a season of The Bachelorette, but like one we actually want to watch. There was great representation in this book between the cast and other supporting characters. I love that this book promoted really important themes like body diversity, confidence, and diversity. The characters were hilarious and beautifully developed. I also loved the format of the book with each chapter being a different episode.
The internet can be mean, and Kate Stayman-London nailed it with the commentary people feel entitled to post. We also got to see what happens behind the scenes with production, and yes, it was juicy. If this was actually airing on tv, they would have been absolutely right in calling this “the most dramatic season ever.”
This book was just as entertaining, dramatic, frustrating, cheesy, and emotional as the Bachelorette can be. It also offered decent commentary on reality dating shows, from the lack of diverse representation to producer manipulation and manufactured romance. I don’t think I have one bad thing to say about this book, obviously, it made my blood boil seeing people make nasty comments about Bea, especially as she is so down-to-earth and lovely. But I loved seeing her proving them wrong and rising above it all. It’s impossible not to empathize with her.
According to @noelle7pages on Instagram, “To me it felt like a romance in-name-only, and that it was really more of a cleverly disguised deep and raw character study in a cheeky romcom's clothing. And that is WHY I loved it so much.” It gave us so much to think about in regards to fatphobia (especially in the entertainment industry) and occupying a plus-sized body while trying to find love on reality TV. What a GREAT read!!
☆ Rating: 4/5 stars
