Are you a fan of The Bachelor/Bachelorette reality TV show? I am! Im super excited to share my review of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London today.
Synopsis
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. In this joyful, razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men–and herself–for a chance to live happily ever after.
Rating
4.5 Stars (An Excellent book!)
My Thoughts
As I mentioned above I am a huge Bachelor/Bachelorette fan. It is the only reality TV show that I keep up with because it is so addicting. However, there are so many things that the show can do better, including diversity. This book is the season of The Bachelorette we’d want. I LOVED it!
I really liked that the show was centered around a plus-sized fashion blogger/influencer and the topics it addressed. This is a romance book but it is not steamy and it is my kind of romance book with depth. I loved Bea and she was very relatable.
The structure of the show on the book is very similar to The Bachelor shows. I thought it was very unique to write a book that read like you were watching a TV show. The format of the book is different. Some parts of the book where narrated but others were articles or text message exchanges. I thought it was very creative!
This is a great book to read in the summer by the pool/beach. It’s easy to read and it is a story that you can get invested in quickly. I’m glad I included this in my Summer reading guide!
Content Warnings
Infidelity/cheating, Body shaming, Cyber bullying, mention of rape
Who I recommend this to
If you are a fan of reality dating shows I think you’d love this book. However, I think anyone looking for a great summer book would enjoy this one even if you are not a fan of the show.
Did I convince you to pick up this book? This book comes out July 7, 2020 (Thanks so much to The Dial Press for the advance copy!). Get your copy from bookshop.org here. Please consider ordering it from a Black owned independent bookstore. This list of Black owned independent bookstores accepts online ordering.
