Title: One to Watch

Author: Kate Stayman-London

Published: July 7, 2020

Publisher: Dial Press

Cups of Tea: 4/5 ☕☕☕☕

My Thoughts

**I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

I went into this book with an open mind; I wasn’t expecting much other than a fun summer read to help me get out of a reading slump. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would!

One to Watch focuses on a romantic reality show called ‘Main Squeeze’ which is like The Bachelor. Bea is a plus-sized fashion blogger who is asked to be on the next season of the show after she publicly criticized the show for not showing more diverse body types via her Twitter. The show asks her to be on the next season with 25 men who are selected to fight for her attention which is very similar to the actual Bachelor franchise. This read like a season of The Bachelor holy crap. I would have loved to see this play out for real on TV it was so good.

Side note: my friends and I have been saying this for YEARS! I think a couple of seasons ago there was ONE PLUS SIZED CONTESTANT ONE!! And she was quickly booted off, one of my friends is still mad about that. So please, ABC, HAVE DIVERSE BODY TYPES!

It was so refreshing to read this book, finally a book with a character about a plus-sized person who’s a fashion blogger. I love how this book doesn’t soley focus on Bea’s size, yes it’s mentioned but it’s mentioned at the right time. It doesn’t seem out of place or forced. It was a lot about her inner journey to realize what she deserved—that she deserved to be loved and not someone’s second option. Bea made peace with how she looked, and to strive for her dreams and a bigger future for herself. It inspired confidence in me; I will always recommend this book it’s not just for The Bachelor fans.

I’ve dabbled in The Bachelor/The Bachelorette franchise over the years.  I think the only The Bachelor/ The Bachelorette season I’ve watched all the way though was Chris Soules and Kaitlyn Bristowe’s seasons. I still follow Kaitlyn on her Instagram and I’ve been known to call her “my girl Kaitlyn” occasionally.  There were little nuggets of The Bachelor history sprinkled throughout the book which made me ask my bachelor loving friends if it actually happened. They got excited when I talked about this book and I think I convinced them to buy it!

The thing that bothered me was the news articles, the tweets, group texts, etc. sprinkled throughout the novel to help get the message of what was going on from fans/media perspective. I understand why it was done, but I think it took away from some of the drama of the book. I found it didn’t add much and I could have done without about half of the tweets/news clippings. I wanted more from Bea’s experience, some of the big moments the read finds out via the news instead of from Bea’s perspective. I loved getting her perspective on the men on the show, she read so well for me. I felt like I knew her by the end of the first chapter, she was so relatable.

The ending was just okay for me… it was what I was expecting; I think I wanted another ending which would have made more sense for me… I could state what I want, but it’s a spoiler. Oops. I don’t think it was overly romantic, and I really dislike romance novels, something about them just irks me. It was such a fun summer read, exactly what I needed to get out of this reading slump!