This book was like Queer Eye and What Not to Wear with romance mixed in and I completely loved it. I loved reading about the main character, Everly Winters and watching (reading) her grow as a person through out the show. Everly knew what she wanted in the life and through On the Plus Side she learned how to achieve her dreams. I enjoyed the chemistry between her and Logan but found myself interested in Everly learning to be the person she once was more.

I will also say that I enjoyed how eloquently the author included plus size people into the book without being offensive. Not only is there an explanation in the beginning of the book, but also explains how society perceives “fat” people and how Everly was affected by this through out the show. This included clothes shopping, being out there more and just day to day life. As a plus size person myself, I related to this book even more because of it. Overall, this was a fun read and will be looking out for more books from this author in the future.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s press for the opportunity to review On the Plus Side.

Well-written and pretty wholesome, with a bittersweet sort of happy ending. I liked Everly and Logan’s relationship, but I thought it was maybe a little too fast-paced in the beginning; they fell in love fairly quickly. I also didn’t get James’ motivations at all. I really loved the relationships between all the other characters, particularly Everly and her mother and Jazzy.

CW: fatmisia, death of a grandparent (mentioned), cancer, toxic parent relationship

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for inviting me to review a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Jenny L. Howe was one of the first authors I discovered on NetGalley when I was able to get an e-ARC for her debut novel, The Make-Up Test, last year. I remember feeling so connected to her writing amidst the storytelling of fat people finding love and being their authentic selves. When I got the email from St. Martin’s Press asking me to review her upcoming novel (as well as one of my most anticipated reads of the year), On the Plus Side, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the e-ARC and I’m happy to report that Howe does it again with On the Plus Side.

On the Plus Side features Everly Winters, who always prefers to blend in than stand out after the loss of her beloved grandmother, is nominated for her favorite reality TV makeover show, On the Plus Side. Taken under the wings of the show’s outgoing hosts, a meddling showrunner, and a grumpy cameraman, Logan, Everly goes through a journey of self-love and regaining the ability to stand out. Yet, as she falls for Logan, she has to decide if she wants to put herself out there on national TV.

The thing that really makes On the Plus Side stand out is how Howe uses the concept of a reality TV show to provide an interesting perspective on fat representation. Howe does a good job of illustrating a platform for plus-size folks to be accepted for who they are but also deals with issues regarding being able to decide how one wants to present themselves to the world. For those of you who read The Make-Up Test, Howe dives more into the themes of fatmisia and fat advocacy in On the Plus Side, which makes the reality tv makeover a unique setting for these themes to be explored.

Another thing I really liked about On the Plus Side is that Everly and Logan are great MCs. I can really relate to Everly’s internal struggles with people saying she’s “too much” and I’m sure many other readers will relate to Everly too. I also like how Howe was able to develop a more fuller character for Logan as the love interest and dive into some of his motivations and struggles. Their relationship was really great to see play out on page (bonus points for no third act break-up) and you could tell how good they are for each other.

I can’t wait for On the Plus Side to be released in December and this book is definitely worth the wait. Along with cameos from characters in The Make-Up Test, you will also love this book if you are looking for a rom-com diving into fat advocacy and/or a new grumpy x sunshine book to try out.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

"Because no matter who we are and what we look like, we all deserve a mirror. We all deserve to be understood. We all deserved to be seen." I LOVED THIS BOOK! Jenny Howe knocked it out of the park from the author's note in the beginning to the end. As someone who has long navigated weight struggles and a diehard fan of What Not to Wear in the early 2000s, I was immediately drawn in. It was easy to relate to the FMC Everly. At the start of the book, she is struggling to accept who she is, not how she looks. She has long hidden behind her screen and avoided publicly showcasing her creativity in fear of getting rejected for being "too much." Through her time as a guest on On the Plus Side, Everly learns to love herself and believe that she is deserving of making her dreams a reality. I was absolutely #TeamLoverly and really loved how inclusive and supportive the characters were of Everly and her experience. Jazzy and Stanton seem amazing, and I just wish they made this show in real life! Everyone should read this book when it comes out this December.

I really enjoyed this romance. I loved the makeover show aspect and the characters. Everly has forgotten who she really is as she tries to blend in with the world and not be too much. I loved her story arc and the crackling chemistry with camera man, Logan Samuel. Their grumpy/sunshine witty banter and slow burn romance was a lot of fun. The running theme of body positivity was great too. I'll definitely look out for more books from this author.

If you are looking for a warm, generous, fat-positive romance, look no further.

Everly has been intentionally hiding in plain sight since the death of her grandmother, who had always encouraged her to live her most authentic life and to not be afraid to be fully herself. In her grief after her grandmother's death, she allowed her mother to encourage her to become more muted and not draw attention to her fatness--resulting in her living a quiet, nondescript life without much passion. That all changes when she is nominated to participate on her favorite reality TV show, On the Plus Size, where over the course of eight weeks, she will have opportunities to come back out of her shell and take chances in her career, her art, her attire, and her love life.

While she is more focused on rediscovering herself through this process, she can't help but notice the flannel-clad, bearded hottie behind the camera that followed her nonstop for weeks. She begins to break the fourth wall to exchange quips with Logan, who may seem like an utter grump but who very quickly proves himself to be her fierce supporter. He becomes her gruff champion throughout her on-camera journey. As their attraction builds and spills over onto the TV show, Everly must decide if she is ready to trust him and accept romance as part of her journey of self-rediscovery.

Throughout the book, Everly is aware that she is a fat woman and that after the death of her grandmother--a bold and unrepentant fat woman--she has responded to cues from the thinner people around her to shrink her life when her body will not. Yet it's clear she does not think herself to not be attractive--striking, in her words--or worthy of love or career success; she just needs help emerging from the cocoon she built when she was grieving. This means that as she considers two possible love interests, we don't see her doubting whether or not they could love her and her body. The story balances acknowledging the constraints Everly experiences as a fat person while still showing that she loves herself and is loved for all her attributes.

Everly and Logan have great chemistry and I found them delightful as individuals and a couple.

This was such a lovely read for me! It really gripped my heartstrings the entire time and it was so easy to fall in love with our two main characters. Their love is sweet, spicy, and over all made me feel so good!

On The Plus Side did a great job at plus-size representation in this book, making it so much more enjoyable and relatable. The author hit it on the head when she was writing this, and everything within the book feels genuine and real.

The realness of this book makes it! I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to read more from Jenny L Howe!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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

Publication: December 26, 2023

Rating: 4 stars

This is my first book by Howe and definitely won't be my last! Her writing was easy to fall into and get transported. I loved reading about Everly and Logan's relationship. I felt that I could resonate with Everly's character of losing who we are especially after a dramatic life change. Logan's grumpy personality was perfect!

This would have been a five star read if there was a little less descriptions of all the different settings throughout the book, it was first person POV plus a few chapters of Logan's point of view.

Perfect for fans:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Reality TV
Third Person POV
Women's Fiction

CW: Grief, Loss of a Loved One

Overall this is a cute, romantic book. I love books that are about reality TV. I enjoyed all the characters, the plot and the author’s style of writing. Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

"On the Plus Side" by Jenny L. Howe is a delightful contemporary romance that combines heartwarming moments, self-discovery, and the courage to embrace change. With its relatable protagonist, charming love interest, and a touch of reality TV drama, Howe delivers a captivating story that will leave readers with a warm smile.

"On the Plus Side", by Jenny Howe, focuses on Everly, a hard working businesswoman who prefers to stay in the background. She's content with doing the bare minimum to get by without drawing attention to herself. When she's nominated to participate in a popular reality TV show, she decides it's finally time to do something for herself for a change. While filming the show, she develops a bond with the camera man (Logan), who sees her for all she truly is: a fabulous woman despite the culture's disparaging attitude about her size.

I enjoyed how Everly learned how to stand up for herself, and how she learned that she is worthy of love exactly as she is. The chemistry between Everly and Logan was sweet and enjoyable. My only complaint is that this book was similar to several others that have come out recently, and so it paled in comparison. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really loved that this was more about feeling like “too much”, about family relationships, and about reality TV behind the scenes than it was about feeling bad about being a fat girl. There was a lot about how other people perceive fatness, about cultural stigma around it, and about loneliness and otherness and building fat community; but it was clearly stated so many times that Everly wasn’t ashamed about being fat and didn’t feel the need to hide from that and didn’t feel like she was unattractive because of it. As a fat person trying to find that mindset (and it’s haaaard, anti-fat culture is BIG), I really loved that aspect of the story. The experience of being fat was handled so well, and Everly’s struggles could easily have been about a straight size person without changing much at all. I also loved that there wasn’t (hope this isn’t a spoiler) ever a huge falling-out between Everly and Logan, that Logan stood by her and they had adult conversations about their feelings. Sometimes I get so tired of the miscommunication and drama in romance before the getting-back-together-and-professing-love scene. TBH the cover isn’t doing it for me, but the story itself? SO GOOD :)

Ok, I need to say that this is totally outside of my usual reading genre but I absolutely loved this book. As a plus size gal myself, I am all too familiar with the issues our protagonist Everly experiences. Hiding behind clothes, staying at home, or in her case, her brothers garage mostly due to issues related to grief….. But Everly has something that keeps her happy. A television show called On the Plus Side. Everly seems to be taking everything in stride, she works as a receptionist when she is really a talented designer and has a big crush on her co worker. She quietly lives her life and tries to live a homely life. That is until one day when representatives from the show On the Plus Side come into the marketing firm she works at and tells her she will be on the show. Things are sure to change for Everly. But what exactly will she do? What will everyone say? You will find yourself rooting for Everly and watching her come out of her shell will make you so happy! This is one book you will definitely want to read to watch her transition in front of you. Jenny Howe shows that she knows how to tell a story and has an even better knack of keeping the readers attention throughout. The characters are so well developed, honest, flawed, and make you feel like they could be your best friends.







5 stars out of 5

Thank you to NetGalley as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

A very cute and enjoyable read. Everly & Colton’s relationship was very dynamic and entertaining. I loved seeing the character development, also the representation for us thicc girls was nice. That was the main reason I really wanted to read this book

the whole idea of being a plus sized girl hoping to go unnoticed by others is sadly so relatable and it made me really connect with everly. this is a plus sized romance caught on camera for the whole world to see and i loved it!!

Ever since the death of her grandmother, who had been her biggest cheerleader, Everly has been perfectly happy to fly under the radar and avoid extra attention. Everything changes when someone nominates her for her favorite makeover show, ON THE PLUS SIDE. Not only is the show giving her an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover herself and her style, but it is also giving her the ability to further explore her interest in making her art her career. While being behind the camera may turn out to be more than she bargained for, she begins to enjoy her newfound camaraderie with the grumpy cameraman Logan. However, will this develop into something more than friendship or will Everly finally have the courage to go after the office hottie she’s been crushing on instead?

I adored this book so much! I really appreciated the emphasis on the fact that Everly was never trying to hide her body, she was trying to hide who she was to avoid the attention that would lead to rejection based on her skills or her personality. I also appreciated that the novel structure itself mirrored Everly’s wishes for her story arc on the show, focusing on her goals as an artist over “improving” her love life. I also thought that it was nice that the author showed that even people who may not appear it externally can still have their own battles with their views on their bodies. This book also surprised me with some twists and turns I hadn’t anticipated that really made it even more interesting. Overall, Everly shone brightly as she reached for her goals and showed the true depths of her talent. As for Logan, all I’ll say is that like Everly I’m a sucker for a man in flannel and I love the way he was always truly seeing who she is and understanding what she was trying to reach for.

CW: Fatphobia, death of a family member (prior to book), death of a pet (prior to book)

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review!

“She’d never looked in the mirror and hated what she saw. It was more that she hadn’t wanted to see anything at all”

I have an entire drawer with a stash of clothes I love but refuse to wear—crop tops, tube tops, bodycon dresses and short skirts (alongside a small chest full of bikini tops I can only wear in my backyard, bikini bottoms I refuse to wear at all). This confession is to say I emotionally connected with Everly’s story of feeling like too much, of wanting to disappear and blend in. Not because I find them unflattering or my body ugly. It really is about fear of what others are thinking. What gives me my worst anxiety is the knowledge that I’m being perceived no matter what. I sit still, don’t speak, make myself feel small to paint an unimpressive yet unmemorable picture of myself. And the lesson to learn is not that no one’s looking at you or to look your best at all times. The lesson is really about being able to not give a fuck, to surround yourself with people who uplift you, who want to see you happy.

Everly’s emotional journey was so so excellent, and the romance was just as good. Romance is usually not my schtick. But I was absolutely dying at the somewhat slow burn, blush worthy romance with a guy who is GRUMPY and somehow, still so loveable and kind. I grew up thinking, and still sometimes still succumb to the idea, that fat people were unworthy of love. And if they were loved it was humiliating or fetishization. So it was refreshing to see someone not only love a fat woman, but cheer her on in the process of loving herself. I also appreciated the smut for its briefness and low ~detail~. Low spice makes me blush, has me a bit flustered and I love that!

Everly’s mother was certainly realistic in the scariest way! I know she had her redemption arc but I genuinely was not prepared for the comments she made to Everly and others about fatness. She was such a well written character that I was seeing red any time she spoke. And I think she was, in the beginning, the true embodiment of a hater. The conversation between her and Everly was necessary, though I’m glad she didn’t completely forgive her. In the end, I think her character tells us that people who want to ‘help’ you should want you happy. No one should want to see you miserable to subside people’s comments or thoughts about you. Pure intentions are essential, but how people treat us is just as important.

There is such an obsession in books with fat MC’s wanting to lose weight, and too often the argument for body positivity gets dulled down for the sake of keeping straight sized people comfortable. I appreciated that Everly didn’t succumb to her mother’s harmful rhetoric. That the book was unabashedly advocating for fat people and their happiness the. entire. time.

There are certain narratives that fat people are allowed to have in fiction (and life!). Loving the way you look (literally just wanting to exist without judgement) is not usually one of them. We are always written like self-hating freaks who were always insecure, feel ugly, and are not ready for relationships. We could ~never possibly~ love our bodies as they are and are just waiting for other people to catch up. It was awesome to see Everly written as simply afraid to be loud. To love our loudness deep down, but driven to be quiet out of fear of making others cringe at the noise.

I cannot recommend this enough.

Book : On The Plus Side
Author : Jenny L. Howe
Pub Date : 26 Dec 2023

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press & the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I love the cover of this book, it is just so adorable! I had to start this review off with that. It screamed summer read to me. I’m a lover of a good cover 🤌🏻 and the description snagged me right away! I sat down and devoted a whole entire day to this read and I am glad that I did because I didn’t want to set this book down.

I am going to keep this review simple. I don’t want to give a lot of it away but I loved the sweet book. I loved how the author touched on self-acceptable of ourselves and put body positivity high up there. This is something that I love to see in books. The character development and relationships in this book were great as well. The characters were all very relatable. I adored Everly and Logans relationship the most. I love how Logan was the grumpy MMC with the soft warm cozy center. I am here for a grumpy character.

For being my first read by this author, I was thrilled and I can say that I will be looking for more books from Jenny in the future. This book was an easy 4 star for me and I will absolutely be purchased a physical copy to have on my shelf.

I felt so seen. Everly was such a realistic character for me and her experiences with fatness and fatphobia camouflaged as "caring" was something I related to so hard I had to walk away from reading at times. I loved seeing her step into herself and allow herself to take up the space she deserved. Seeing the way Logan accepted her where she was at and the only change he encouraged was helping her believe in herself was so healing. We get stuck in feeling like we have to adjust ourselves to be worthy or taken seriously, so it was amazing seeing a fat main character fall for someone who was happy to meet her where she is. This was a very fun and heartfelt read, and I can't wait to see what Jenny Howe does next!

I really loved this book! I have read several romance novels with a plus-size heroine; however, I have never related to one like I did Everly. We share so many similar experiences in our journey to self-love and confidence. While the love story was one of the main focuses of the book, I appreciate that the author allowed Everly to realize that before she could love anyone else, she needed to be able to find out who she is and love herself first. She didn't need a man to fix her (or fixing at all).

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for an arc of this book.