Title: One to Watch

Author: Kate Stayman-London

Publisher: Dial Press 2020

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 432

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Winter TBR

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.

Overall a very enjoyable contemporary romance. It wasn’t a very surprising story, but I did enjoy following Bea and her journey to romance. I didn’t even get annoyed by our constant reminders of Bea’s size. Usually it was done in very kind way or in a more empowering way. Very cute story with a decent amount of heart.

Next up on the TBR pile: