I am not sure how I feel about this one. I might not have been in the right headspace for it. It dragged and I wasn’t motivated to pick it up. I did enjoy seeing the interactions between the contestants.

I finally was able to finish the last 40% via audiobook (thx PRH audio).

Overall it was fine? This is an awful review but I guess that shows how impactful the book was on me…

If you watch any of the dating reality shows, like the Bachelor etc, this book will expose just how "un-reality" these shows are. I don't know if the author has inside information about how these shows work but if she is right, everything is staged. And there is an awful lot of hurry up and wait. How anyone could fall in love under those circumstances is simply baffling. The story made for a very interesting read and confirmed my position of not watching any of these kinds of shows.

This is really a spoof on the Bachelor TV show. It's a behind the scenes look at what happens to make the show. Each contestant is assigned to a producer who really manages that person and encourages them on what to say and what to wear.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

As a major Bachelor fan, I could not wait to read this story. It felt like a behind the scenes look at the filming process of this show, complete with insight from producers and contestants.

The story follows the taping of the new season of “The One” where Dylan is searching for his wife. We meet most of the girls competing for his heart, and their producers. But the story mainly focuses on one contestant Emily, and her journey to love.

I will say I couldn’t put the book down, I wanted to continue reading to see who would be eliminated and kept at each weeks “necklace ceremony”. However, as I got to week eight it felt like everything happened too quickly. Decisions were made, and I felt like even at the end of the story we weren’t given answers. As much as I enjoyed the story the ending just wasn’t enjoyable for me because it just kind of ended without any type of resolution. Would also like to add some of the traditional “gender roles” discussed in this book had me rolling my eyes.

The One by Julia Argy is a fun take on a “Bachelor-ish” reality dating tv show and is not to be missed!

This debut novel is about Emily who is fired from her job and that same day meets a producer for the reality show The One. Emily auditions for the show and is placed on the season starting to film immediately.

Through some (surprising!) twists and turns The One follows Emily and her friendships with the other contestants and relationships with the producers as she tries to win the heart of Dylan.

If you can’t get enough of reality dating shows The One is entertaining! While the chapters are on the longer side, they read very quickly, with each chapter covering a week of the show.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm very confused what this book is trying to be or try to do.

The One by Julia Argy is being billed as a modern take on a Bachelor-type program and one of it's contestants. Emily has recently been fired from her job and has nothing else going on, so she auditions and is cast on The One. She's one of many women, competing for Dylan's attention.

A second storyline, of the producer Miranda, who is career driven and will do anything she needs to get what she wants. And here's where it's confusing.

Both of these people are .... boring? Sure, overall, I'm not a fan of these types of shows so I already went into this with a negative view. But I was hoping that at least the characters would help move it along. But....not a single bit. I didn't care about either woman or their progress.

ALSO, there was a weird...religious/God angle that I just couldn't get past. There are two things that I hate with book plots:
1. Religion/God plots.
2. Reliance on 9/11

This just is NOT for me. I should know better by now.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The novel is based around a group of women competing for a necklace in a Batchelor-like reality show. The main character, Emily, has an epiphany towards the end of the novel that changes the expected ending.

This book just didn't click for me. The premise seemed fun, but ultimately the execution was disjointed and left me skimming through large portions. The book touches on several big topics, but doesn't go deep enough into any of them or the development of the characters to make me care about any of them. Glad to see others enjoyed it more than I did! Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I liked but didn’t love this book about a Bachelor-type reality show. Appreciated the feminist bent, but, it just didn’t quite pack a memorable punch.

Let me start by saying right up front that I hate reality TV AND know someone (an individual I quite respect, who shocked us all by going on the show) who was on The Bachelor. So i came into this one from strange perspectives that are probably unlike many other readers. I expected a bit of a send-up of the format, given the description, as well as some sweetness, some provocation, and some girl power. What I found was more simplistic than that, and I must confess it didn't hold my attention very well for large swathes of the book. Emily is very bland and it was tough to feel anything for her - and in a fairly character-driven book, that's a tough spot to be in. I forced my way through to see where the ending would take things, but it was fairly unsatisfying for all that. This one wasn't for me...

In all honesty, based on the subject matter I didn’t think this book would be for me but I was very pleasantly surprised by how thoughtfully the author approached both the world and the characters. Yes, it was a juicy page turner, but this book also interrogates the cultural reasons a woman may want to participate in this type of show and most importantly how the fishbowl environment would force her to in turn interrogate herself. I like as well that the author chose to portray supportive female relationships which actually adds to the artifice of what the producers create on the screen. And I also liked the portrayal of Miranda, the producer, who has become so trapped in this world of artifice that she can no longer find her way out.

This book is like an episode of "The Bachelor" until it isn't,

Emily has just lost her job when she's approached by Miranda about becoming a contestant on a reality tv dating show. She doesn't have anything else to do at the time, so she agrees. It's a fun behind the scenes look at the contestants and their lives at the mansion on a daily basis. Emily is so uninterested in the male character and it's funny to see things from her point of view.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

I always hate to give bad reviews, but this book was just not very well written. The word that comes to mind is "abrupt" - the beginning, the end, and several places in the middle. I don't feel like we got to truly know any of the characters, I didn't feel like we got much of anything of the relationship between Emily and Dylan, and even the relationship between Sam and Emily seemed to come out of nowhere. I feel like this book needed a LOT more detail to make it make sense. The concept is good, but the execution needed work.

I think this one read better as a concept than it was to actually read. Not horrendous, but I don't think its a must purchase.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: April 18, 2023

I had a feeling right off the bat that this book and I would not get along. I didn't watch many dating shows in high school like the Bachelor but I was willing to give this book a try. Unfortunately, we didn't match. I found this book boring and so slow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Three days of my life I won’t get back. 😢😂 The premise of this book? Awesome. I absolutely loved watching The Bachelor with my mom when I was in high school, and this is the third book I’ve read featuring a television show of the same concept. But the execution of this book? Terrible. I unfortunately was bored for the majority of it. The main character, Emily, was super uninteresting. She does not apply to The One to find love, but rather was approached by a producer on the street and asked to join because she might fit the show’s image. She agrees to the offer because she “just got fired and has nothing better to do.” Huh? The author glossed over a lot, and I didn’t find myself rooting for any of the characters at any point. There was even a passage in which she tried to convey that women control society with sex. A very weird attempt at a feminist(?) book that I would not recommend. Good thing it was only 300 pages. Found one good quote, though!

“‘I had better things to do because I had my person to go home to. Don’t you want that for yourself, to have your person? Don’t you want to have a better place to be?’”

The book talks about Emily, who lost her job, and a producer, Miranda, finds her and encourages her to sign up for a show titled "The One". The show is like "The Bachelor" and other dating shows.

It's an excellent read and inside there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes with the cast and production team.

Thanks to the publishers at PENGUIN GROUP and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

This has done nothing but strengthen my opinion that tv reality shows of this ilk are incredibly vapid and manipulative. They are not even on my radar as a guilty pleasure (well, I'll admit to being interested in the first season of The Bachelor), but I definitely understand the appeal. All that being said, this was a completely readable look into this author's take on what goes on behind-the-scenes. I personally could have done without the relationship twist thrown our way as it didn't seem all that genuine or organic to me, but tomato-tomatoh. If you think you would enjoy a look behind the curtain of reality shows such as The Bachelor, you will most certainly enjoy this.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy of this book!

On the same day she's fired from her job, Emily is aproached to go on reality dating show The One. While I was expecting this to be a romance read, it was more of a contemporary fiction read with a side of romance.

This was a lot like taking a behind-the-scenes look at The Bachelor, both from a contestant and woman producer's point of view. During the show, Emily goes on a journey for all the wrong reasons, but ends up learning a lot about herself, reflecting on her Catholic upbringing, role of women, and her sexuality. She's honestly pretty uninteresting until about 60% through the book. I flew through this read because I wanted to see what would happen, but felt the ending was a little lackluster and could've used more of a resolution.

Read if you:
- are interested in the behind-the-scenes of The Bachelor
- have ever felt like you're putting on a front
- like Sally Rooney books

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really liked this book the entire time and found myself unable to put it down waiting to see how it would all end and found myself to be disappointed.

Nevertheless, it is a good, quick entertaining read. I love a good reality tv show and to be able to feel like I was watching The One with knowing everything going on behind the scenes was amazing!

I wonder about the shows I tune into on streaming and what really goes on so this definitely was fascinating and Emily is truly a character! I hope somewhere in the bookverse she is living happily and authentically.

*Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.