Lia's story was such a good representation (in my opinion) of what life can feel like being a bigger girl in today's world. Add in the pressures of having a parent with a mood disorder, best friends leaving for college, a high stakes prize competition, a bit of whimsy and a new love interest and this one's got a little bit over everything. This is my first Jenny Howe book but certainly not my last! I really enjoyed the somewhat surprising conclusion to this one and the message to follow your dreams no matter what anyone else expects of you.

Love At Full Tilt is a YA Romance written by Jenny L. Howe. The novel tells the story of three friends who have just graduated from high school, and are participating in a contest at Fableland. Fableland is a large amusement park in Florida modeled after Disney World.

This book is a Romance, but also is a wonderful coming-of-age story. At Fableland, Lia and her two best friends work out issues and become closer as they reveal secrets to each other. Lia meets Mason during the contest, and they are instantly drawn to each other. I’m not a fan of insta-love, so this trope didn’t really work for me. However, as they work together to solve the challenges of the contest, they get to know each other and fall in love. They discover that finding each other is a greater gift than winning the contest.

I enjoyed this book overall, but got irritated with the intensity of Lia’s thoughts and feelings. As the narrator, her constant angst and turmoil felt repetitive. This book is a YA Romance, and the main characters are adolescents, so the drama and intense feelings are realistic, but slowed down the pacing of the story. However, I appreciated Lia’s strength and courageousness as she fights tooth and nail to win the contest.

Love At Full Tilt is a YA romance, perfect for readers who love Disney and amusement parks. The author wraps up the story in a positive way and all conflicts are resolved as the book concludes. I was really happy to see Lia solve her own problems, and move forward with a future of her own choosing. The angst of this YA novel with teenage characters was a bit much for me, but I’m sure other readers will enjoy it.

Thank you to Jenny L. Howe, Random House Children’s Publishing, Delacorte Romance & NetGalley for an advance reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks so much to Delacorte romance for an advanced copy to review!

Jenny Howe wrote this book for me, specifically. First of all - a moment for this incredible cover, please!? As a plus size teen girl - seeing this cover on the shelf at a bookstore would have made me cry happy tears. Knowing that this is going to be out there for all of us grown up fat girls too - brings me such joy.

There is a particular experience in this book that Lia has which could have been plucked directly from my life. My heart was in my throat because I’ve felt that horrible shame, the awful feeling. Too real.

Oh how I LOVED Mason. He was the softest sweetest boy and I just wanted to hold his hand. He saw Lia for her and he showed her what it meant to care. I felt like Lia was so relatable and I loved her drive. I also loved her self respect and confidence, as well as her understanding of what she needed to process her emotions. She dealt with a lot of heavy things and she is a very well rounded character.

Our side characters were just as good! I love that Jenny made them feel like normal teens who fight and make up and figure it out.

This was the sweetest YA romance and I ate it up with a spoon.

Thank you Jenny for this story. 🩷

3.75 💛
I really loved Love at Full Tilt by Jenny L. Howe on I was sucked in from page one! I got the chance to read this early thanks to Jenny and NetGalley, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. 💛
The characters were so vivid and easy to connect with. Lia’s friends did get on my nerves at times, but I had to remind myself they’re fresh out of high school, they don’t have it all figured out yet. Still, I found myself relating to them more than I expected. I’m going to miss these characters a ton, but I’ll always remember them. 💛

A theme park scavenger hunt, a swoony rival, and a big-hearted heroine you’ll want to root for—this is the ride-or-die romance of the summer. 🎢💖

Lia Baker is the kind of protagonist readers will instantly fall for: funny, smart, and fiercely loyal, even as she wrestles with the weight of family expectations and a future that feels uncertain. Winning a coveted spot in Fableland’s anniversary contest is the escape she didn’t know she needed—a dreamy, nostalgia-filled setting where fairy tales come to life and where, maybe, she gets to be the main character for once.

Enter Mason: charming, competitive, and just the right amount of infuriating. Their chemistry crackles from the start, making their team-up feel like destiny (with a little Disney-adjacent magic). As the scavenger hunt unfolds, so does Lia’s confidence, reminding readers that plus-size girls absolutely get to take center stage, fall in love, and write their own happy endings.

Full of pop culture love, earnest emotion, and the giddy rush of first romance, this is the kind of story that will leave you smiling long after the final clue is solved. Perfect for fans of Geekerella, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, and anyone who believes magic is real—you just have to be bold enough to chase it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, Delacorte Romance and Jenny L. Howe for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I've been secretly planning a Disney trip for my family in the next few months. I've been overwhelmed by it all and unmotivated to make the necessary detailed plans. I had no clue that I needed to read a book, this book, to get me excited for the trip. Not the author's purpose or intention- but it is the byproduct!

This is a very fun YA romance- set at a very Disney-esque theme park campus. I enjoyed the theme park elements, the complex scavenger hunt with deep lore, the chemistry between our MCs and our FMCs experience living in this world in a large body- especially challenging at a theme park.

First of all, thank you NetGalley and Random house for the arc! I am very grateful to have receivers one!
This was a solid read for me, and I have some pros and cons!

The pros were the plus size representation. I thought it was done well and felt it was also very appropriately don! While I’m not plus size, i know there are many out there who want more representation and I think books like this will help!
I also loved the theme park concept! It felt like Disney world and I loved how Lia talked and reminisced about it in a way that I did about Disney! I also felt the mental health representation was great too!!

I really did not like Lia’s friends in this book! I wish I did but they honestly kinda soured a lot of the book for me! They were not as supportive about Lia’s dreams as they should have been. It kinda kept driving me away from wanting to finish the book.

It was the ending that felt a bit underwhelming for me. I do t want to spoil it in the book, but I felt that one character didn’t really get a part of the ending that they deserved. But overall it was not a bad read, and I’d encourage others to give the book a try!

Love at Full Tilt is about Lia and her friends who go to Fableland for a scavenger hunt that Lia is part of. Lia wants to win the money because she feels it is her only way out of the future she feels her parents set up for her. Once she is there she meets Mason who is also part of the scavenger hunt and is wanting to win the money so he can go to college.

I love the idea of the scavenger hunt through the amusement park. I think it adds another aspect to their romance that develops. During the trip Lia also has to work through her friends going off to college and she feeling abandoned by them and through her mother’s mental health. I like that Jenny through other parts of Lia’s life that she is working through or navigating while developing this romance with Mason. I feel like it gives the story more of a real world aspect.

Thank you Random House Children’s and NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am beyond grateful to have received an ARC of this whimsical, heartfelt gem from the author! 💌
Lia Baker’s life is stuck in pause—her friends are moving on, and she’s left behind dealing with a job she doesn’t want and a mother battling intense anxiety. But everything changes when she wins a coveted spot in the 50th-anniversary scavenger hunt at Fableland, a magical theme park where stories come to life… and where she might just get the chance to rewrite her own.
I adored the concept of a scavenger hunt through a story-driven theme park—it gave total Disney vibes and had me reminiscing about wandering through parks as a kid, letting the magic of movies and memories take over. I felt like I was racing through the clues and going on each ride myself. The “lair of toy experiments” in particular had me wishing Fableland was a real place. 🔍🎠
The romance between Lia and Mason was charming, with just the right amount of slow-burn tension and emotional depth. Their chemistry made my heart do a little loop-de-loop. 🎢💘
What really stuck with me, though, was the layered portrayal of the characters. From anxiety and the pressure of expectations to identity and friendship dynamics, this book had so much heart. Lia’s relationship with her mom felt raw and real, and the exploration of how anxiety affects family life was beautifully handled.
✨ Love at Full Tilt releases July 22nd, and I highly recommend adding it to your summer TBR! It’s a sparkling, thoughtful ride with all the thrills of a theme park and the emotional payoff of a great YA coming-of-age story. 🎡📚
#LoveAtFullTilt #JennyHoweBooks #YABooks #BookReview #ARCreview #Bookstagram #BookishMagic #SummerReads #ThemeParkBooks #ReadersOfInstagram #BooksThatMatter #BooksAndMentalHealth #BookLove #FablelandAdventures #ScavengerHuntStory #BookishRomance #SlowBurnYA #YARomance #BookishEscape #BooksWithHeart #RepresentationMatters #DisneyVibes #ComingOfAgeBooks #AnxietyRepresentation #OwnVoicesYA

Wow.
This book is good on so many levels. The different characters relationships with their parents was honest and sometimes overwhelming. You felt the frustration and anxiety and anger yourself as you are reading it. I also loved how the relationships between the friends grew, changed and developed as they were facing major changes in their respective lives. And the romantic relationships were so engaging and fun to see begin and mature as time goes on.
But that's just the start! I have a new respect and empathy for people of various sizes and how many things are not made for them. I felt the embarrassment and humiliation as the main character dealt with it. And it was so much fun to go along on the scavenger hunt!
Enjoy!

A bit too YA for my tastes, but still a cute read! I loved the Disney-esque world and the scavenger hunt through the parks. Lia is such a relatable character and I really sympathized with her and her struggles as a plus sized teen. I wasn’t as invested in the plot as much as j would have liked, but I did enjoy it.

I loved Howe's books before and the the fact that she focuses on showcasing beautiful fat characters on page and on the covers (and we deeply need more fat characters on covers).

Her first dip into the young adult world was joyous and enjoyable! I didn't appreciate it as much as her adult novels, but it isn't a criticism of her talent. It's just that young adult books have become a hit or miss more easily for me.

This was the book I wish I had as a teenager. Seeing a plus size girl get the cute guy who sees her for who she is would have done wonders for teenage me. On the flip side it also means I relate to a lot of Lia’s struggles and insecurities as well. I really loved Lia and Mason together and it was so cute watching them fall for each other. I really admire the author’s imagination in creating a whole fictional theme park and essentially a whole franchise. The scavenger hunt idea was so fun. I found myself loosing focus a little bit with all the detailed descriptions but it was still cool to imagine this whole other world.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year (I absolutely ADORE Jenny L. Howe's books) but this fell short for me, and I considered DNFing pretty much throughout.

I'll start with the things I liked:
1. The fat rep. As always, Jenny wrote this very well. Lia's own relationship to her body, having to calculate if she'll fit places, not being able to ride one of the rides, and her skinny friends not understanding and being dismissive in their attempts to avoid discomfort all ran very true, and I think there are a lot of teens out there who will see themselves in those aspects of the book and find comfort.
2. I also liked the setting a lot—there were areas I thought we could get more of it, but there were times I could feel the Fableland magic.
3. The relationship itself was also lovely. I loved the interactions between Lia and Mason, and I actually wish we'd gotten more of a focus on them, because they were great together.

Now for the issues:
1. Lia's friends. I know I was supposed to be frustrated with them, but I don't think I was supposed to outright hate them, and I did. I think the combination of being in Lia's head so not getting to see any good things her friends might have done, coupled with the combination of their (usually accidental/well-intentioned) fatphobia, AND their utter dismissal of the importance of the competition (especially considering it was the only reason they were all there) made me actually hate them and want Lia to leave them behind. I think getting more happy memories or non-tense moments in the park would have helped, but straight up I didn't feel like these people should be friends.
2. I was confused by the competition structure. I expected there to be mixers, events, etc. considering the park paid for all these people to be there. But aside from registration, there were no actual obligations (not even social media post obligations) which felt like a missed opportunity from a plot standpoint AND I was confused about what the park got out of the competition. This wasn't a huge issue, it just kept popping up in the back of my mind.
3. Mason's grand gesture felt like a very big sacrifice on his end for someone he barely knew. He was so driven toward his goals, and being willing to walk away from that so easily felt like a 180 that I don't think we really got a good enough foundation for. I know it's hard to show thought process in a single POV, but it felt too out of the blue for me to really be into it.
4. The mother's anxiety. This was my biggest issue by far. If this book were adult I think I would have been more okay with the portrayal, but with it being YA I think it was written irresponsibly—I think there will be teens out there who see Lia's mom's behavior and compare it to their own parents' less extreme behavior, and their takeaway will be that their own situation could be worse. Lia's mom has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and is on medication, and the narrative treats it as though because she's trying her best, Lia should be more understanding. The thing is, GAD on its own doesn't explain the extremes her mom goes to, and she's fully controlling ever aspect of her daughter's life (and keep in mind at this point Lia is 18). She straight up needs inpatient care, and NONE of Lia's thoughts, feelings, or words to her mother are an overreaction in the slightest. Lia is frustrated, but I think the narrative kind of justifies her mom's behavior because she's mentally ill and trying, but when her illness is impacting someone else THAT extremely, she needs a higher level of intervention. In an adult book I might have felt differently about how that arc resolved (Lia and her mom apologized to each other, but there's no mention of her mom getting a MUCH higher level of help than she's getting) but I think when writing kidlit there's a much higher level of responsibility and care that needs to go into it and I think the anxiety rep fell dangerously short of that.

Jenny L. Howe is one of my favorite authors (seriously I am OBSESSED will all her other books), but I think I'll be sticking to her adult works.

Love at Full Tilt was super cute, and I love me a plus size fmc, but this didn't quite hook me in the way I expected. I think the fact that Lia and Mason fall in love in like 2 seconds flat is what kinda let me down.

This was a solid 3 star read for me. I appreciated the fat main character rep, and the fact that she gets to have a cute boy interested in her. And I thought the idea of the scavenger hunt within Fableland (which is 100% just fictionalized Disney World) was a fun story.

But overall, I do think this lacked a major hook. All of the conflicts in the story could have been EASILY resolved with one simple conversation. I also felt like in parts of the book, Lia didn't understand why her friends wouldn't let her focus on the competition, but then a day later, she was upset that they weren't spending enough time together. It also irritated me when (and this is silly, y'all. I'm aware) in chapter 6, Lia describes Mason's scent as "something wintry like mint or eucalyptus". But later, she talks about his "pine scent" on his clothes. Sure, pine is also winter. But those are very different things. I know that's a minor inconsistency, but it stuck out to me every time.

Most importantly, I hated the way the competition ended. For a HUGE ordeal that they're basing parts of their future on, I found the way it ended to be a bit lackluster. There isn't even an awards ceremony? Or anything? Lastly, I was annoyed that someone would want to become a writer for this GIANT company and only says, "I want to write a fat character" "I want a fat princess." I'm sorry, but if I'm supposed to believe this is some major company, I don't think you're going to get hired on as a writer with an idea such as "I want a fat princess. And maybe some angels." Ultimately, I guess I just felt like this book tried to take on too many different things, and none of them were fully formulated.

Love at Full Tilt perfectly captures the highs and lows of being a teenager — from messy friendships to the weight of expectations. Lia Baker feels like a real, complex teen, shaped by her mom’s anxiety and her own desire for freedom and understanding. Her romance with Mason is sweet, if a bit insta-lovey, but their connection feels genuine.

Set in a vividly imagined theme park, the book mixes fun adventure with deeper themes like body image, anxiety, and wanting to be seen. Jenny L. Howe does an amazing job creating a magical, relatable world while tackling important topics with care.

Overall, it’s a heartfelt, Disney-esque summer read with charm, emotion, and just enough magic.

THOUGHTS

This book is really cutesy and fun, just like the cover promises. I loved the theme of striving to be yourself, to figure out how to live the way you want (even if that means breaking out of the expectations that have been placed on you; even if that means making difficult conversations and confrontations unavoidable). Was this book mind-blowing and revolutionary? Absolutely not. But what it does, it does really well.


PROS
Pro-Body: This book is body positive but in a way that really highlights the reality of being plus-sized. This book doesn't just say, "Oh, I'm plus-sized and happy" and move on. Lia's struggles are real, and while they aren't constant (because she's a person living her life, with all kinds of ups and downs), they definitely play a role in the way she experiences her story. And I appreciate that.

Park Magic: Jenny L. Howe does a really good job of capturing a sort of magic in this theme park (one that I, personally, have never experienced in a real theme park, which usually aren't my thing). It feels very Disney-esque but specifically through the lens of an ultra-fan, which makes it all the better. But add in the strange fantasy lore to this park and the extra attention to detail given when food is involved, and this does sound like the vacation of a lifetime!

Generational Woes: Lia's mother suffers from an anxiety disorder, one that's pretty severe, and this anxiety affects Lia's life in a big way. This book does a really good job of balancing the more whimsical, romantic, cutesy plot of the scavenger hunt with this background plot of her mother's unchecked mental health. It can be hard to read at times, because it is a hard reality for Lia to bear. And I like that the weight of the burden that has fallen on Lia's shoulders is such an integral part of the story. It might be hard to read sometimes, but it is important, too.


CONS
Insta-Love: As cute as this couple is, there's really nothing laid out in this book to connect them. Don't get me wrong. I liked them together. But their attraction feels very... superficial. It feels very quick. It feels very... cute. But cute isn't always enough.

Friendship Faults: This book starts as a girls' trip, and it develops into a vacation romance. This is absolutely not a trajectory that I am against. But I would have liked Lia's friends to be more, you know, developed, given where we started. They're not exactly two-dimensional friends. They don't develop beyond the initial sketches we get of them in the opening pages, because Lia spends so much more time with her love interest. And I would have liked to see a fully fleshed-out cast of ladies here, because that's really refreshing in a romance. Alas, I didn't get it.

No Hunt For Me: This scavenger hunt really is only for top Fableland fans, and unfortunately for me, Fableland is fictional. If you're hoping to follow along, to work out the clues as the competitors do, this isn't the book for you. You'll get the lore drops if and when you need them, but putting the pieces together step by step isn't likely to happen (since you won't have those pieces until the puzzle's put together). Don't get me wrong. This wasn't a major detractor from the book, but in an ideal world, I would have had just as much fun with this scavenger hunt as these characters did. And that just isn't possible.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of Ashley Schumacher's The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway will like this body-positive romance with a touch of on-theme magic. Those who enjoyed Joan F. Smith's The Half-Orphan's Handbook will like how this book mingles escapism with the reality of living in a broken world.

I wanted to love this book! The cover is what drove me to the book and I thought I would like the plot, but I just couldn't fall in love with it.

18-year-old Lia enters a contest for superfans of Fable Industries. The contest is an opportunity for Lia to have freedom from all the things bringing her down while getting to experience Fableland for the first time. When she meets Mason, fellow superfan contestant, will she risk it all for love or put her all into the contest and the $50,000 grand prize that could change her life?

I thought this was incredibly cute! There is a whole cast of characters, all of which blended really well together. The entire book is woven with intense imagery to help us understand the magic o Fableland, At first, I did think it was too much, but as the story continued, I fell into the magic. There are life lessons and real and raw engery woven through. From mental health, to self-acceptance, to financial stressors, to grief and loss. Every moment felt real and relatable. This is a slow burn sweet insta love romance.