One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London a five-star read that is most certainly one to watch. When I realised what this one was about, the reality Tv aspect and social media I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it, as I cant often be bothered with either, but I loved this the multimedia was done very well, the text exchanges were real, like honest to god what you would put and not what you usually find in a book, where you get an edited down version, throw in some great transcripts, blog posts and emails and other stuff and it just have a great story across so many platforms. Throw in a body positive main character and you have a winner, if there wasn’t so much body shaming from them it would have been perfect. I have it five-stars as I enjoyed it overall, even with the issues.

Bea is a plus sized blogger. She's asked to go on a reality show Main Squeeze where she has to pick one of 25 men to become engaged to. She's not had the best experiences with love and doesn't have many expectations.

A refreshing, funny read with a lot to say, Kate Stayman-London's "One To Watch" is a rip-roaring homage to our obsession with reality television and social media. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have no doubt that this book will fill a big Love Island shaped hole in people's lives in Summer 2020. Perfect beach read!

I don't know if I'm missing something but Bea seemed really miserable, narky and neurotic all the way through the book, even when she was being given beautiful clothes and romanced all the time, made desserts and given champagne etc.
I love books about bigger women - Jennifer Weiner's are some of my favourites - but she manages to write about being big without it all being too much for her heroines to contemplate.
I did skip to the end to see who she ended up with, but there are better reality TV-influenced books out there, whether literary or commercial - and two of this summer's, Big Summer and The Shelf, I preferred to this.

I don't know what I was expecting of this book. Possibly just some fluffy romance piece where the fat girl realises that she's beautiful after all and ends up with her Prince Charming who also realises that she is beautiful on the outside as well as in (of course, after some misunderstandings and a villain or two).... Actually, that is essentially the book but One To Watch was written in such an emotionally moving and deeply understanding way. I'm not ashamed to admit, I did cry reading this book as at times it felt like the author was pulling thoughts and feelings I had had in the past about my own self-worth and relationships straight from my head and putting them on the page.

I enjoyed the various styles of writing that were present, from first person narrative to text message exchanges and Twitter threads, to scripts, blog entries and interviews. For some people this may come across as disruptive and confusing, especially as a Twitter thread could give a hint or spoiler of what was happening next in the narrative, but for me I liked how they all wove together to create a seamless story. It felt appropriate to have a story about a blogger and Twitter personality who appears on a reality TV series have Tweets and blogs and interview segments within it.

I enjoyed this book. The sentiments were so relevant in the modern society- how the larger person is still entitled to find love.
However, I felt that the story was long and would have benefited from having less suitors at the start- maybe 10? Just so that the reader can get to know each man more thoroughly and could become more engaged and involved in the story and the different merits each man posed for Bea,
Bea was a great leading character and I felt her frustrations with people's judgments all the way through.

One To Watch, Kate Stayman-London

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Women's fiction, Romance,

Arghhh, Women's fiction again. Why? Why assume men won't read this? Men write romance, men read romance.

This was a real treat to read. Somehow Kate brings in so many minority groups, plus size, black/coloured/LGBT/even asexual, and that rarely crops up. You missed my group though Kate ;-( Disabled. Wheelchair users very rarely crop up in romance, yet we want love too.
Still, it was wonderful to see so many groups here and brought in as part of the story, everyday stuff, not a triumphal “ wow!! look! A minority person!” I so hate the token folk – usually LGBT – that are the stereotyped lip service to inclusion in so many novels.

Anyway, the writing was sharp and funny, very on-point, I loved it. I really felt for Bea. She's the odd one out in a happily married family, and knows her parents love her but inside she misses what the rest of the family have. She's successful, loves her work, has good friends and yet still there's that tiny bit that you can feel she misses, will she get love? Is she doomed to forever reminisce about her lost love?
Why don't programmes like so many people's secret addiction reality shows have people like her, minority groups, she wonders. So after her diatribe on exactly that, when the programme wants her to be their next star, she stipulates she does not want 25 of the usual, white, well muscled males but a group that represents reality.

There were some fabulously funny moments, and some emotional ones that made me almost tearful. Surprises? They are there in spades, this was a totally unpredictable novel and I loved that I just didn't know what would happen next. The clothes she got – I know nothing really about fashion, so the names went over my head but the descriptions sounded so perfect. I want a clock like that first one!
I loved the mix of men, guessing who really meant what they said, who was just there for publicity, who was secretly thinking about Bea's weight in an unpleasant way. ( Way to go Tim! Bea's brothers certainly teach an excellent lesson in respecting their sister! )
Then there's the wonderful dates, so enjoyed reading about them. Balloon trips, museums and art, Marrakesh and camel rides, just wonderful.

The ending? TBH I'm not wholly convinced by how it played out. I want to be, but after all the things she's been through I'm not entirely certain its a HEA, but its certainly HFN.
I've seen some criticism of the way its laid out, tech style, and that made me cautious. I've tried – and failed – to enjoy books written in film script style, and was concerned this might be. Its not. There are a lot of email/twitter posts but that was fine. I use those everyday so embraced it, and it gave a way of the story connecting to the outside ( of the tv prog) world easily. I'm 62, its not a book just for the young, tech savvy people.

Stars: Difficult, I'd say five but I'm not entirely happy about the ending. So four and a half, the rest is just perfect and well done for all that inclusivity but fitting the characters in so naturally. Real world.

Arc via netgalley and publishers

A feel good, brain candy book that will make you laugh out loud but also reflect on some important issues. Body positivity and fatphobia are big themes in this book.

A really enjoyable debut novel, the structure was a bit different, and reminded me on Where’d you go, Bernadette? - It was a mix of Bea’s POV, text threads, emails, tweets, articles etc. I like it when the author mixes things up! So the writing style was great … the premise super fun and engaging and really kept me turning the pages to see who Bea would end up with (if anyone!)

I loved Bea’s character, she is bold, unafraid but does have insecurities when it comes to her dating life. But, mostly, her message is pretty clear: embrace who you are and stay true to yourself.

Bea is a successful plus-size blogger. After her scathing blog post on the lack of diversity of pretty much anything on the hit TV series The Main Squeeze (think the Batchelor or any other one v many dating show) goes viral the show slumps to its lowest ever ratings, its sleazy producer is sacked and the new Executive Producer approaches Bea with an offer, be the next show's main squeeze. Bea doesn't even have to fall in love, just prove that a plus-size woman is attractive to men.

Despite misgivings, Bea sees this as a chance to get over her broken heart after her BFF Ray slept with her then went back to his fiancee and ghosted Bea. Whilst the men she gets to choose from might be racially diverse, only one is plus-size and they all look like male models. But as Bea and the new EP whittle down the hopefuls there may really be a chance for Bea to fall in love.

There's Wyatt, the kind, gentle cowboy. Sam the younger guy and teacher, Asher the college professor, Luc the French chef and Jefferson the token plus size guy. All of them have expressed interest in Bea and she likes each of them in different ways, but as the show progresses she learns that none of them are exactly what they seem.

If you've ever rolled your eyes at the lack of diversity on reality TV shows, where having short hair is considered subversive, or wanted the heroine to be something other than a lollypop then I think you'll enjoy this, especially if you love clothes. Bea is swathed in one gorgeous outfit after another as she dates the single men, some are heroes, some are villains but all are great reading material.

This was funny, and heartbreaking, and life-affirming all at once. Perfect beach reading, or garden reading, or lockdown in your apartment reading.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This was lovely! A body positive, diverse take on The Bachelor, this features all kinds of LGBT+ rep, including asexuality. It's also very heartwarming despite the difficult topics of cyberbulling and sexism. I really loved Bea and her motley crew of suitors, and the epistolary storytelling, with tweets, slack chats, news articles and emails was such a lot of fun in a romance novel - so funny!

One To Watch is the story of Bea, a plus size fashion blogger who is sworn off men. That is until Main Squeeze asks her to be its next star (think cross between The Batchelor and Love Island) She finds herself wondering if there could be a happily ever after for her after all.

One To Watch had a lot of promise from the synopsis but, for me, it fell short - I think maybe I am too old an audience?
It is classified as romance but I think it should be more aimed as teen/young adult. The majority of the book is written in emails, texts, script and blog and I think for me that is why I struggled to get in to it. Had I not been gifted an ARC I am not sure I would have finished it.

As a plus size girl myself I did like the message it sends, promoting sexuality, race and all love in all shapes and sizes. It’s very much a body positive book and that’s another reason why I think it would be better aimed at teenagers, had I read a book like this when I was younger I know it would have made me feel more confident growing up.

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley for this advance review copy. (For reference I read this during Covid lockdown)

The formatting of this book, that it’s made up of emails, scripts, blogs, interviews and prose means that it’s probably best read in physical form. Mentioning that I really enjoyed the book.

I liked how it clearly stayed on the side of being a body positive book and all the backlash that people can experience if they’re happy being fat. Whilst also showing how hard that can be emotionally to go against the opinion of the majority.

‘One to Watch’ was a hell of a ride. We follow Bea, a plus-size fashion blogger with a love for France and her friend Ray who’s engaged. When she’s approached to star on Main Squeeze, essentially The Bachelor, and date 25 guys before getting engaged she’s wary but agrees. We follow the show as she tries to be a positive role model for plus-size women and find true love.
I loved this book! Being a plus-size girl who studied abroad in France I connected to Bea as a character so much! I appreciated her struggle to feel confident all the time and her doubts about what people really thought about her, it was a realistic representation. I wish I’d had the chance to read this when I was younger, I would have found Bea’s journey very reassuring as it documents the highs and lows of accepting yourself.
I was gripped by the dating show aspect of this, I would have loved to watch this on television, so much drama! In terms of the romance, I do think it’s predictable but I don’t say that in a bad way! In my opinion, that was the only relationship that I thought had the potential to go further and so I was more than satisfied. After finishing this book I was so annoyed Bea wasn’t real as I wanted to go straight to her blog and hear more from her. All in all, a really touching story that promotes diversity in all shapes, races and sexualities.

When I saw that Goodreads had chosen this as one of their summer romance reads of 2020 to read, I knew I had to read it! The story really does suck you in and I raced through this book. I found the character of Bea to be a refreshing heroine and loved the mix of social media and reality TV! Will be recommending it to anyone that loves 'Love Island' lol! Great read!

One To Watch is a fast paced very relatable romance that is hard not to read in one sitting. Laugh out loud in parts in a relevant and enjoyable romance.