A review by yvo_about_books
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
3.0
Finished reading: December 21st 2020
“I'm afraid that you're looking for your next chapter, and I'm looking for the whole rest of the book.”
Spoiler
I've been looking forward to read this one... Both because I've been in the mood for contemporary romance lately and because of the promise of a plus-size main character and a body positivity angle. I confess I'm not a fan of the kind of reality TV shows as described in the blurb, but I was hoping it would give One To Watch an interesting angle... As a whole, I ended up having mixed thoughts about this story though. I still like the idea behind this story, and I also liked the inclusion of text messages, emails, podcasts etc in between the chapters. BUT. I really struggled with the way this was supposed to be a body positivity celebrating book, but ended up being yet another cliche of a plus-size woman. I wasn't able to relate to the main character at all, and instead of finding a strong woman who accepts her body and isn't afraid to show the world, we have another insecure and cliche stereotype who doesn't just whine a lot and seems incredibly immature for her age, but also lets those horrible men walk all over her and constantly doubts herself and thinks nobody could actually love her. UGH. So SO frustrating! On top of this, the whole 'diversity' angle felt mostly like ticking boxes instead of adding more dept. Lesbian best friend? Check. Black character who you don't even realize is black until you pick up the TWO only mentions in the whole book? Check? Asian character with cliche behavior? Check. Asexual character without dept? Check. Gender nonconforming character that could have had potential but was once again used as a prop instead of a real dept character? Check. Honestly, this was just such a disappointment for me, and then I'm not even talking about the horrible and cliche way most men behaved. I mean, a cheating and womanizing French man? The whole bullying? The unwanted advice to help lose weight? There were just so many things that left me with a bad taste in my mouth that I was unable to enjoy the rest of the story to its fullest. The ending was quite predictable too, and while this was a fast read, in the end I didn't exactly have the experience I thought I would have with One To Watch. It definitely smells of missed potential!
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