✱✱Book Review✱✱ One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

One to Watch 

by Kate Stayman-London

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.

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Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

I confess - I've never watched a full episode of The Bachelor or anything similar. I watched part of one episode once, just enough to know it wasn't for me. Of course, I've seen plenty of previews, and I have to say that I agree with Bea, there's a noticeable lack of 'body diversity' on those shows. I think that's why this book appealed to me. I was hoping for a witty story that maybe even poked a little fun at some of those shows. And it is certainly entertaining. Bea is a terrific character and so easy to like. The story is very well done, and I really think Kate Stayman-London has done a great job of making this one something that will appeal to those who love the dating shows as well as those who don't, like myself. I wasn't all in with romance. I feel like the potential was there, but something just didn't work for me. Nevertheless, the story is engaging and funny, and there are plenty of feels thrown in to get us invested in Bea's journey, so I really didn't need a big dramatic love story to keep me turning the pages. Bea does that all on her own. 

❃❃ARC provided by NetGalley and Random House

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