One To Watch

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
Published by Random House Publishing Group on July 7, 2020
Genres: Fiction / Humorous / General, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Source: Book of the Month

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Real love . . . as seen on TV. A plus-size bachelorette brings a fresh look to a reality show in this razor-sharp, “divinely witty” (Entertainment Weekly) debut.

“Effortlessly fun and clever . . . I found the tension impeccable . . . and that made my reading experience incredibly propulsive. Read it in a day and a half.”—Emily Henry, #1 bestselling author of Beach Read and The People We Meet on Vacation

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • Marie Claire • Mashable

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 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, wickedly observant debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men—and herself—for a chance to live happily ever after.

My Review

One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London was an add-on book for my Book Of The Month box for February. I chose this book because I had heard about it on a YouTube channel I watch and it just sounded well thought-provoking for me. I also chose it for another reason and that is that I needed a hit of body positivity…I needed to read about a girl who wasn’t the mainstream beauty portrayed in romance stories. This book did it for me. Don’t get me wrong it was a hard read at times as someone who struggles with body image issues and an eating disorder but I am so glad I read it.

Bea Schumacher is a fashion plus-size blogger with quite the following on Instagram and her blog OMBea.com. She has loads of friends and a great family but she lacks the romance in her life that she so desperately wants. Bea has been in love with her best friend Ray for years and I do not just mean a couple but more like ten. Ray is engaged to another woman but that does not stop him from leading his friend Bea on. Ultimately Bea suffers from a broken heart and struggles to do the day-to-day things of life. Bea believes that the reason she is not able to find the love she so desperately wants is because of her size, men just are not into bigger women. This is especially true on one of Bea’s favorite weekly shows called Main Squeeze. With the new season premier going on Marin (Bea’s bestie) and Bea decide to watch it together. This is the last straw for Bea and she decides to hop onto Twitter and tweet her reaction to the show and their Main Squeeze. Bea, it turns out has a lot to say on the matter of zero body diversity, her tweets go viral.

It is not long before the producer of the show contacts Bea. Lauren Mathers (the producer) requests a meeting with Bea to discuss some things. Bea is curious about what this woman could possibly want so she decides to take the meeting. This meeting changes Bea’s life forever. I am not going to say any more than that other than you MUST pick this book up and give it a go. I absolutely loved the story of Bea. I found her to be so brave and inspirational. I appreciated the journey Bea had to take within herself throughout this book and I will absolutely be rereading it at some point. It is a definite five-star read for me. I am eager to see if Kate Stayman-London will be writing anything else because I absolutely love her writing style.