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A review by earlgaytea711
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
While I can completely understand why some plus size women might not like this book I felt so completely seen. This book was such a breath of fresh air especially coming off a recent illness where I binged two entire seasons of The Bachelorette.
At the moment, I could gush about this book forever but I'll try to be concise. Up first, the characters. Each person we met (once we got past the whole 25 guys to get to know thing bleh) was a whole and realized person. They were complicated. They were flawed. They were real. I absolutely adored that. And no one fit that more than the lead herself Bea. She was complex and emotional and everything women are told they aren't allowed to be. I loved every second of getting to know her even when I wanted to shake her and ask her what she thought she was doing.
The premise! Can I just say, I'm new to the Bachelor/Bachelorette. When I'm sick I want reality TV and figured what better than that. It was perfect but it also left me wanting more. I wanted queer representation and racial rep and body diversity and that very obviously still isn't happening on the real world version of Main Squeeze but having that in book form definitely helped itch the scratch a little.
I also really enjoyed the mixed media format. It was fun and helped lend perspective to the entire plot. I also came to love seeing the hot takes and "Reactions" from all these small side characters that still somehow manage to have such personality with so little space on the page.
Onto the things that could use some work for me. There isn't much, I do wish the book itself might have given a little bit of a trigger warning for just how horrific some of the comments are in the mixed media portions of the novel.
But that's literally it. I loved every second of reading this book. So much so that I stayed up until 4AM reading the first half and had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep.
If you're sensitive to really fatphobic comments and negative self talk regarding weight I would definitely sit this one out. But for me, it was so real and cathartic. I felt myself reflected on the pages in all my complex messy glory and I loved every second of it.
At the moment, I could gush about this book forever but I'll try to be concise. Up first, the characters. Each person we met (once we got past the whole 25 guys to get to know thing bleh) was a whole and realized person. They were complicated. They were flawed. They were real. I absolutely adored that. And no one fit that more than the lead herself Bea. She was complex and emotional and everything women are told they aren't allowed to be. I loved every second of getting to know her even when I wanted to shake her and ask her what she thought she was doing.
The premise! Can I just say, I'm new to the Bachelor/Bachelorette. When I'm sick I want reality TV and figured what better than that. It was perfect but it also left me wanting more. I wanted queer representation and racial rep and body diversity and that very obviously still isn't happening on the real world version of Main Squeeze but having that in book form definitely helped itch the scratch a little.
I also really enjoyed the mixed media format. It was fun and helped lend perspective to the entire plot. I also came to love seeing the hot takes and "Reactions" from all these small side characters that still somehow manage to have such personality with so little space on the page.
Onto the things that could use some work for me. There isn't much, I do wish the book itself might have given a little bit of a trigger warning for just how horrific some of the comments are in the mixed media portions of the novel.
But that's literally it. I loved every second of reading this book. So much so that I stayed up until 4AM reading the first half and had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep.
If you're sensitive to really fatphobic comments and negative self talk regarding weight I would definitely sit this one out. But for me, it was so real and cathartic. I felt myself reflected on the pages in all my complex messy glory and I loved every second of it.