ONE TO WATCH is a fast-paced, humorous, and heartwarming read that doesn’t just appeal to fans of reality TV. Yes, Bachelor watchers will appreciate the familiar references but Bea’s emotional journey to find love—the highs and the lows—will resonate with all readers. 

As a plus-sized woman, I definitely found myself relating to Bea who, even though she has learned to be comfortable in her body, still questions her own attractiveness. Oh, how I felt for her in those moments! Because while I was invested in Bea’s journey to fall in love with her perfect man...I was riveted by her journey towards loving herself and her body.

I really enjoyed the author’s use of a variety of different formats—articles, texts, emails, and tweets—to help tell the story as well as the diversity of the characters. 

This book is full of heroes and villains, joy and sorrow plus a whole lot of laughs. Be sure to add ONE TO WATCH to your summer reading list, you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to Random House for the advance reading copy.

If you love the bachelor you have to pick this one up! Bea is a plus size blogger who unintentionally sets her self up as the main contestant for the reality show the Main Squeeze. Bea is fun, sassy, and wildly insecure. I rooted for her throughout the whole story. Put it on your summer reading list!

This was delightfully fun, closed-door romance with serious ability to tackle social issues AND great representaion with regard to body size, sexual identities, and all that great stuff! I'll add a trigger warning for anyone who has experienced weight related bullying. Some of this is TOUGH to read.

This is a delightful book full of snappy dialog and swoony romance. I love that the heroine is truly plus sized and while mostly content, still at odds with her body sometimes, which felt very real. Also, really great diversity in th characters!.

NetGalley Arc | If you are looking for a fun and uplifting July 2020 book release and rom-com perfect for the beach, don't miss One To Watch.  One To Watch is also a June BOTM selection--grab it, for sure!

Although I don't typically watch The Bachelorette, I am such a sucker for loves stories like this (did anyone else devour The Selection series?!).  A body-positive novel, watch as Bea learns to love herself and date a handful of men with different motivations.  Bea is strong and real--and I adore her and her sense of fashion.  

Bloggers will appreciate this one, too.  I devoured this book in a day and cracked up at the podcast commentary.

You can see my complete review on The Uncorked Librarian: https://theuncorkedlibrarian.com/july-2020-book-releases/

Thank you to the author and publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love Bea!  One to Watch is a fantastic story for fans of reality tv, but it also carries a wonderful message about loving yourself and body positivity.  The book is a fun and fast read, but it is also brought up some strong emotions as I read.  I was able to connect with Bea's struggles and that allowed me to love this book even more.

This novel is something different, at least for me. Too often all the heroines are described as "willowy" or "slim" or "slender" or the like and it was refreshing to read about someone who is none of those and still gets along just fine.

Bea Schumacher is fat (her word, not mine). For most of her life she has done her best to be invisible and unnoticed. A chance encounter in Paris during her college years starts her on the path of fashion blogging, where she makes a name for herself. When it comes to her love life, she is struggling and nursing a crush on friend and former co-worker Ray. Then she writes a fateful email to the television show Main Squeeze (the Bachelor by another name) and finds herself signing a contract to be the next Main Squeeze, and the first one that doesn't fit the usual size 0 mold. Will Bea find happiness at the end of the show? You'll have to read the book to find out for yourself.

I enjoyed the look behind the scenes of the fictional reality show. It did make me wonder how much of what the author described really does go on. I'm guessing a lot of it. Most of the male contestants and supporting characters are not fully fleshed out, and even Bea doesn't give us a lot of character development but it was enough to thoroughly enjoy myself. I love that she doesn't make apologies for her size and she doesn't try to hide herself behind baggy clothes. She is a fashion blogger after all.

Read this by the pool or ocean this summer and let Bea's body confidence inspire you. You'll find yourself cheering her on and she takes on society's view of what the female body should look like.

I had never watched The Bachelor until about 3 or 4 years ago. I think Arie was my first season. I’m not huge on reality TV shows and really I didn’t have cable once I got out of college. One of my best friends though loves The Bachelor and she finally wore me down to where I’d come watch it with her and a group of girls. I finally decided that even if I didn’t love The Bachelor it was a great excuse to simply drink wine on a Monday night with girl friends. Except I am now obsessed. How did that happen?!

One to Watch, is a iteration of The Bachelor and is told through various perspectives. Our main character and POV is from Bea. A Plus size blogger who is cast as the ‘Main Squeeze’ aka The Bachelorette in an effort to make the show more body positive. Going in with the attitude to simply promote her business, Bea never dreams she’d find love on the show.

When we first met Bea, even though she alludes confidence, she’s very aware and self conscience of her weight. Also having been on the heavier side, Bea uses fashion to give her the confidence to be a bada** business women. But love has alluded her and when her long time crush, Ray, finally sleeps with her than ghosts her, her love life has hit rock bottom. Then she’s asked to star on the reality TV show, Main Squeeze, where 24 Bachelors will fight to win her heart. But can Bea let her insecurities go in order to let love in or will she self-sabotage herself again in order to stay in her comfort zone.

I like Beau but when we first meet her even though she acts confidence, she let’s what other’s say really impact her. She also finds that she is unworthy of love just because she’s plus size. I really hated how much she hated on herself, but we do really see her grow through the book.  She also has a bit of a bad attitude when first going onto the show, constantly worried about people being fake or lying to her about their motives. While I can see where she’s coming from, you can’t expect to find love or friendship if you continuously think the worst of people.

Other than Bea’s POV, we also here the story through a weekly Podcast, which is totally the same way my girlfriends and I chat about The Bachelor every week. That along with text message and email dialogues peppered throughout the story, really make this book fast read.

I highly recommend for anyone looking for a fun rom-com read. This book may be a take on The Bachelor but it goes deeper than that by promoting body positivity and that what really matters is intentions and what’s on the inside.



I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on One to Watch. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

I am so glad that I got to read a book about body positivity. Bea was a wonderful, complex character. I felt her pain, emotions, conflict. I hate reality TV, & loved how honest this book was about it. Although this book is written by a white woman, I found there was more diversity in this book among the cast of characters than other books I’ve read recently. Also, the fashion described was inspired!

I LOVED this book! I'm a big fan of the Bachelor franchise, but see it's problems with representation, and "One To Watch" tackles that right on. I'm not usually a romance reader, but this offered so much more! I also really enjoyed the mixed/multi media within the texts (blog posts, tweets, emails, etc). I could NOT put this down- the perfect summer read.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a lot of fun and I literally laughed at loud at times. If you're a fan of the television show The Bachelor, you'll enjoy this book. Bea is a curvy, fashionable girl who's content in her professional life but knows having someone to share her life with would make it even better. While it was a fun, tongue in cheek look at reality television, there were deeper issues at hand including the obvious issue of men treating a larger woman differently than they would a size 2 woman. This would make a great beach read this summer.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Couldn’t stop reading this book. Smart, funny, and a very interesting look not only at what it means to be fat in the public eye but also how difficult it can be to navigate womanhood, relationships, and other interpersonal connections as a plus-sized person. Some of the interview transcripts and other epistolary elements didn’t really work for me—they seemed a little bit on-the-nose—but I do love the reality tv angle, and I thought this book was a blast.

If you are a fan of the show The Bachelor/Bachelorette, this book will fill the void of not having a season to watch this summer.  This is a fast read that is entertaining.  It will make you angry and happy as you ride the emotions through Bea’s filming.

This book is not just about showing a plus size social influencer can find the love of her life, it is also Bea’s personal journey to realizing and accepting that she deserves to be loved.  Most of the men on the show are terrible, but most likely very realistic.  With the cameras on you 24/7, how to you keep your walls up when you’re treated so poorly?  

Prior to agreeing to do the show, Bea’s heart was already broken after one-night stand with her best friend and then having him ghost her.  Yet another set of emotions that Bea must work through during this journey of self-discovery and finding someone she may truly fall in love.

I’m a big fan of reality love shows, so I knew this book was going to be one that I would enjoy.  It did not disappoint.  I love the personal journey of Bea and was delighted with the outcome of the “show”.  This is a 5 Star read for me as it left me with that giddy warm fuzzies 😊

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/ Dial Press for sharing an advanced copy of this book in exchange my honest review.

Pub Date:  7/7/2020

This was such a fun read! Bea is a reluctant trailblazer as the first fat-positive star of "bachelorette" style reality dating show. Seeing the combination of how the world, the men, and her own on internalized fears all play a role in why Bea has a hard time finding and accepting love was a journey.  What sets this books apart is the format. I loved that each episode had the tweets, transcripts, and articles to supplement the story. Being able to read how the world views Bea was shocking at times. The hate and vitriol in the messages and tweets from body shaming trolls had my jaw on the floor.
Kate Stayman-London does an excellent job of balancing the struggle Bea faces to be accepted with some reality-tv worthy romance. If you love a guilty pleasure on screen then this will keep you entertained between seasons as well as have you asking for change when your favorite shows return.
4.5/5

I predict One to Watch will be one of the most popular reads of summer 2020! The story follows Bea Schumacher - a plus-size fashion blogger who agrees to appear as the Main Squeeze (aka the bachelorette) after a drunken blog post about the misogyny of reality dating shows goes viral. As she embarks on the journey, she's working through insecurities and lingering heartbreak as she tries to decide whether or not to open her heart to any of the men vying for her attention.

This book was laugh-out-loud funny. Like - I woke up my husband while I was reading in bed because I couldn't stop laughing. There's a big cast of characters and they are all well-developed and easy to like (or hate!). The author mixes narrative with clips from articles, text message transcripts, Twitter threads, and other elements which was a really fun way to mix up the chapters. Usually, with rom-coms like this, you know exactly how it's going to end by the second chapter. Not so here - I honestly didn't predict the ending and that made it all the better.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review. I can't wait to recommend this book to everyone!

After reading a few darker books lately, this rom-com was such a fun pallet cleanser. Everything you need to know is right there in the synopsis: plus-sized girl Bea gets cast on a Bachelorette type reality show, and we follow along as she participates in the show. I really enjoyed the mixed media aspects of the book - we get an array of things like blog posts, texts, tweets, and tv transcripts thrown in there. It’s a fun modern inclusion, and we get to see how the ‘audience’ is reacting to the show.

Throughout the first half of this book or so, I really thought I would be giving a higher rating to this book. I liked Bea's voice and the complexity of her character - how she wears flashy fashion to stand out, but is not comfortable in her own skin at the same time. I think many of Bea's struggles with dating echo those of many of us who are considered plus-size, and so I found myself nodding along to those frustrations and confidence dimmers. However, I felt that the book got really repetitive in the end. As the weeks passed while Bea was on the show, there seemed to be trends - one or more of the guys would surprise her with his kindness/compassion/etc., then she would secretly or not-so-secretly question his motives, then she would struggle with her own self-worth, and then she would believe the guy(s) when he/they said he/they were there for her and were attracted to her. And so this cycle, or some version of it, seemed to happen every single week. It just got really old, and I was just tired of it by the end - I didn't really trust any of the guys, and didn't really trust Bea either - because everyone kept changing their mind/heart throughout the whole book! It was honestly a little exhausting. I did like the commentary on the need for diversity in media with showing more plus size men and women, especially since the average American is considered plus size. But I just felt that the overall message got drowned out in the wishy-washy nature of the characters, which kept me from enjoying it overall, in the end.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably know I'm a massive fan of The Bachelor franchise. The manufactured drama is the perfect escape, but for years the franchise has had a massive diversity problem, in both race, ethnicity, and body type. When I saw that ONE TO WATCH was a story about a plus-sized fashion blogger who gets asked to be the lead on a Bachelor-like show after her critique of the show goes viral- I was in.

At first, Bea is skeptical. She's still secretly in love with her best friend but decides to take a risk and go on the show to help her career. She never expected to actually form connections with some of the guys, nor did she expect to be manipulated by the producers for ratings. But that's show biz!

I enjoyed reading this and breezed through it in a couple of days. It's a perfect rom-com for anyone who wants to root for a smart and relatable heroine who isn't willing to compromise who she is to fit into society's idea of someone worthy of love. One complaint is that one of the characters is Black- and I didn't realize it until the very end. I would have loved to see them have a discussion about dating outside of your race- but overall I would recommend this book.

I absolutely adored this book! It was a perfect summer read. 

Bea is a plus-sized fashion blogger who's been in a little (or maybe a big) dating rut after a long-time crush ghosted her (twice!). Following a night watching Main Squeeze over a few too many drinks, Bea writes a scathing post about the lack of diversity on the nations favorite dating show. Well, one thing leads to another, and Bea find herself as the first plus-size Main Squeeze in franchise history. 

As a plus-size woman myself, I found this book extremely refreshing. Many of the thoughts Bea expressed about why anyone would find her attractive are thoughts I've had myself. I loved that Bea didn't just snap out of her negative mental space in the span of 10 pages, she worked on herself and grew throughout the entire novel leading to a very fitting ending.

I did think the villains that were on the show were maybe a little too one-dimensional just there to serve some nasty one-liners. I don't know if I wanted more depth from them, but there were too many that had very short appearances. 

Overall, I found One to Watch a refreshing summer read. I can't wait to read what Kate Stayman-London does next! Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for this ARC.

This may be the most fun book of the Summer of 2020. This book takes you on “The Journey” (See what I did there Bachelor/Bachelorette fans) as Bea Schumacher , a plus-sized fashion blogger goes from being a girl who, “Mastered the art of being large and invisible at the same time”, to a woman who is confident and strong. Just like a good portion of America, Bre is hooked on Main Squeeze (Think The Bachelor/Bachelorette)  and tweets about the show. After one drunken night and some realistic tweeting she is approached by the producers of Main Squeeze to be their first plus-size leading lady 
This story is surprisingly sweet, with all the twists and turns of a season of The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Told with snippets of text exchanges, texts about Fantasy Pools, podcast interviews, online articles like Deadline and TMZ, and tweets all add to the THE MOST DRAMATIC SEASON EVER! (Again, see what I did there Bachelor/Bachelorette fans?!) 
Stayman-London brilliantly writes as if you are physically there. I can picture this perfectly as a TV series or movie and I would love to see these outfits recreated, especially that Chrstian Siriano gown! I don’t want to give too much away, but the character of Linus is one of my favorites. 
If you are a fan of The Bachelor/Bachelorette, any reality tv or just a fan of something sweet and fun, this book is absolutely for you. This book comes out July 7th.

Thank you #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.