A really enjoyable read. I wasn’t sure at first, but the characters, the reality premise and the romance swept me along, and I just kept turning pages.

Could not get behind the character of Bea when she fell all over herself for a man who is obviously using her and has no interest in her. Just could not get past the 'my mind was saying something but my body was doing the opposite' - like she never had a choice... Just cannot believe this and thus get behind this characterization

One to Watch was a book I was a little hesitant to read because several people warned me about the amount of fatphobia in it. Then I talked to someone else who said she really loved this book and felt very seen by it, and I felt so reassured, I basically dove in straight away. And I too, felt really seen by it and I'm so glad I made the choice to read it!

The thing is, fatphobia is a thing that is unfortunately rampant in our society. So it's something you deal with a lot if you're fat. And I felt so seen by this book because it really showed so many ways in which fatphobia tries to control fat people, especially people who were assigned female at birth (I'm personally an AFAB non-binary person so I've had many of the same experiences that the main character had, since I've always been perceived as a girl/woman). I personally think this was handled very well in the book, and I found it comfortingly realistic to read about Bea's experiences; it made me feel like "yes, these are things that really happen, someone actually sees this!" Which was just really comforting to me. 

What I especially loved is how diet culture did not influence Bea in the slightest. Sure, she had her insecurities, but they all had external causes. She never felt like she should change and she was such an empowering character to see in a book!

The book itself is just so incredibly fun and entertaining. It's quick, snappy and to the point, and where I first was really unsure if I was gonna love Bea's suitors, I ended up really loving some of them. Lucky for me, she ended up with my favourite one!

This story was enjoyable, albeit a little predictable. Not the first book I’ve read set as a dating show, so I suppose the novelty of that aspect wasn’t quite as strong for me. 

I enjoyed the atypical formatting to begin with but then it was a bit like marmite for me, and I found it increasingly difficult to follow the story.

3.5 ‘Lights, Camera, Action' Stars!.

Calling all fans of The Bachelor franchise, Reality Dating Shows or soap opera dramatics. One to Watch is a guaranteed fun, flirty, fairy tale good time. 

In her quest to find true love, plus-size Beauty & Style Blogger Bea Schumacher. is offered the opportunity to star in the 14th season of ‘Main Squeeze’ – a reality series where Bea is presented with 25 male suitors. Using a process of dates and weekly eliminations, she must narrow the field until she is left with 'the one’ she deems husband material.

One to Watch was an epic rollercoaster of heart-warming and heart-break, as we experience every facet of Bea's life – loves, triumphs and defeats – up close and personal. It was harrowing to realise just how under the microscope Bea's every move was. As you would expect public opinion ranged from respectful, encouraging, and supportive to fat shaming, insults, and trolling.

The inclusion of blog posts, text messages, email, podcasts, articles and other media coverage increased my buzz and excitement for the reality show. I loved all the behind-the-scenes action and insight into the production of a dating show, and was completely engrossed in the on-screen drama, spiciness, intrigue, and rotten contestants, who thankfully got their just desserts. One to Watch also had its fair share of wonderful and sweet characters, and I absolutely adored Bea's amazing family. 

Bea got on my nerves a lot though, hence my lowered rating. She often came across as an ungrateful whiny brat, who judged others unfairly, but excused her own bad behaviour, so I found it hard to root for a happy ending for her. She did grow and improve but by then I was fed up with her. My other gripe was that One to Watch was a straight up copy of The Bachelorette – it would’ve been nice for the show to have some originality.

Overall, a gratifying, pleasurable read, but nothing about it ‘wowed’ me.

I’d like to thank Netgalley, John Murray Press, and Kate Stayman-London for the e-ARC.

Bea Schumacher has everything she could want: a fashion blog, amazing friends, the most supportive family, and a ton of Instagram followers. The only thing missing is love, as the one man she loves abandons her and leaves her heartbroken. So, she does what all heartbroken single people do: watches a show of other people falling in love. After watching yet another season of super skinny perfect people “find love”, Bea writes a wine-indused and scathing blog post regarding the lack of diversity on the show. What she didn’t expect was the main producer of the show reaching out and telling her she is the next Main Squeeze contestant. Thus begins a whirlwind of trips, dates, and men that leave Bea wondering is the show going to help her career or does this process actually work and “her husband is in this room”?
⁣
Being a big Bachelor/Bachelorette fan since the Trista Sutter days, I loved the behind the scenes and the major parallels between this book and the show. Although I could predict what could happen and may have skimmed some parts (🤦🏻‍♀️), overall the story was incredibly entertaining and it had me hooked to the end to see how it would unfold.
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*TW: body image, fat shaming, minor sexual assault
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🍷to sum it up: very entertaining, romantic comedy, love the Bachelor comparisons, creative writing, one perspective, super juicy

Date reviewed/posted: November 8, 2020

When life for the entire universe and planet turns on its end and like everyone else you "have nothing to do" while your place of work is once again closed and you are continuing to be in #COVID19 #socialisolation as the #secondwave is upon us,  superspeed readers like me can read 300+ pages/hour, so yes, I have read the book … and many more today.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.  

From the publisher, as I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as they do it better than I do 😸.

25 DATES. 8 MEN. A NATION WATCHING.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL SHE FALL IN LOVE.

#OMBEA! Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger with amazing friends, thousands of Insta followers - and a massively broken heart. Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show "Main Squeeze". The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Ben! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Although Bea has sworn off men altogether when Main Squeeze asks her to be its next star, she agrees on one condition: under no circumstances will she actually fall in love.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea finds herself in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Twitter wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale. Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men - and herself - for a chance at her own happily ever after.

How REFRESHING TO NOT HAVE A 'PLUS SIZE' WOMAN NOT BE A SIZE 12. (And I refer to Danielle Steel's "Big Girl" who was maybe a size 10, but compared to that anorexic hack...well, you know.....) As a woman of PLUS size, I appreciated this as people are currently calling Claire Crawley (the quickest-proposed-to-Bachelorette-USA-gal) "fat" and she is like a size four. 

The story is well written and I loved every word of it - it was nice to have an inclusive story with a sweet twist to it and a real woman at its heart.  I only wish that this show could exist in real life but people are waaaaay too nasty on social media! (Even skinny women will love this book and book clubs would enjoy it because it could lead to a discussion about social media!)

p.s. - do not tell a woman that you 'LIKE A GAL WITH SOME MEAT ON HER BONES" ... WE ARE NOT LAMB CHOPS!

As always, I try to find a reason to not rate with stars as I simply adore emojis (outside of their incessant use by "🙏-ed Social Influencer Millennials/#BachelorNation survivors/Tik-Tok and YouTube  Millionaires/snowflakes etc. " on Instagram and Twitter... Get a real job, people!) so let's give it 🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁

Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion. 

I enjoyed reading this book and the premise of the story, a plus sized main character of a tv show where she gets to pick her own future husband! Brilliant. 
I liked how we didn’t just hear from Bea herself but also from blog articles, twitter feeds and press articles. It made the whole book seem real and relatable as though we were watching it. 

Yes some characters frustrated me and yes some bits were predictable but I enjoyed it overall as a book and would recommend it to those whom go enjoy a bit of a twisty romance tale!

“The way you dress, the way you hang your head? I think perhaps you are hiding,” she said quietly. “But in this cape?” Bea looked up to meet her eye. “In this cape, what?” Jeanne’s lips curled at the corners, the barest hint of a grin. “You will be someone who everyone must see.” 



I’ve told myself for so many years that I’m afraid of men rejecting me for the way I look, of them refusing to look past my size. But I was wrong—I don’t need a man to look past my size. I need someone who’ll see me and love me exactly as I am. 


This book was a good read with elements of BODY POSITIVITY, SELF ACCEPTANCE/ SELF LOVE and the guilty pleasures of trashy reality television that we all secretly love. 


I was enjoying reading it, but it’s not a five star book for me. The news articles and fan reactions felt a bit too much. Pacing was just all over the place. This book turned out to be mechanical and rushed at times. Nonetheless, its a GOOD #ONETOWATCH out for!

#OneToWatch #NetGalley

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher, in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 5*
Writing skill : 5*
Plot: 4*
Characters: 5*
Predictability:4*

I really really loved this. If were being technical I would have given it 4.5* (I predicted a twist or two) but I was no way rounding it down so here we are. As main characters go Bea is way up there. Shes a plus-sized fashion blogger who we see go on a journey of ups and downs in way of a bachelorette style TV show to find her one true love *swoons*,and it was a good journey!!! No spoilers here but that ending was the cherry on an already fabulous big-fat cake!! READ THIS!

Aaahhhh, I loved it, a great uplifting read during lockdown days. I thought that the author dealt with the topics beautifully - would recommend

This book was so addictive! I was suspicious of everyone constantly. I thought the way the book was written was really smart, adding twitter messages, emails, magazine articles, blog post, or even podcast’s transcript. It really did add to the overall theme and showed the way plus size women are seen in the public eye, especially on the internet. The emotional journey of the main character felt authentic, although her last decision was pretty predictable, it was the one I preferred anyway. 
It was a fun read and I didn’t want to stop, I needed to know all the male character’s true motivation. But in the end the men were a little dull for me. Beyond the fact that they were attractive and thus Bea distrust them from the beginning felt too shallow and superficial. I would have loved to get to know them more, but I was left slightly unsatisfied. The romantic male lead needs to hook me for me to root for the two characters, but I didn’t find this here. 
(SPOLER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER)
I didn’t understand why the actual romantic male lead was the lead. What made him different from the others, or why she connected to him more than others. Don’t get him wrong I liked him, but I didn’t see anything that put him apart from the others emotionally speaking. I guess this is why some people argue this is not really a romance book but women fiction with a romance arc. I still needed more, and less whining from the main character. She too often fell into a dark spiral that was (only sometimes) unnecessary. 
Overall a good read, definitely worth checking out. If you love reality tv, this is for you. If you’re looking for a fresh, diverse romance, this is also definitely for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I had seen someone do a review of this book and knew that it was one I had to read for myself. It's a rom com with lots of twists and turns. You can see that this book has been written to target fans of reality TV as it focuses around a lot of the drama you find in those types of shows. The depth of this story grows as the story develops and you get to experience the protagonist's own journey to self -love. It also reflects out culture and how we view plus sized women, it was refreshing to read and it was a book I could actually relate to (as a plus sized girl myself). This is an easy feel-good book and would recommend if people enjoy reality shows and just want a slight alternative rom com.

A very powerful story about love, beauty and the things that come with body positivity. 

One to Watch was a very interesting read and brought up  strong subjects such as body size, shame, asexuality and confidence. 

If you are looking for your next read, this is it!

Was intrigued by the description for this about a plus-size woman going on a reality TV show where she gets to chose between 25 men in a series of elimination dates. The beginning of the book was not the most positive as Bea detailed her struggles with how she feels about her weight and pines after the non descript Ray. She is persuaded to go on the show and is initially scared and doesn't believe that a slimmer, fit man would chose her, which isn't helped by the producer's tactic of getting one man to walk away as soon as he sees her. I nearly stopped reading at that point. I kept going as I was curious about how the story would unfold and I cared about Bea. My efforts were rewarded a lovely journey follows not always straightforward but all the more believable for that. I am still not sure why anyone would put themselves through such an ordeal but I loved the way they brought a happy ending for Bea. 

With thanks to Net galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had really high hopes for this book and really enjoyed many of the characters however I found it left me a little flat. It was fairly obvious who Bea was meant to be with from the outset and who she was going to end up with so I felt the ending fell a little short.

Some of the characters were really lovely - I really liked Sam and Wyatt - and others were utterly horrific. I think this was a good commentary on plus size people in the media/public eye but I would have loved to see something a little more from it unfortunately.

This was SUCH a joy to read. In a time where the world feels chaotic, hardhearted and hateful, Bea's joyous story was like a beacon in the dark. Romcom lovers, The Bachelor viewers (lovers and hate watchers both), hopeless romantics, or any person looking for a happy and fluffy story would largely enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't gel with this book, I tried reading it pre-publication and then a second time more recently but I just couldn't for the life of me get invested into this story enough to continue. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to read this book, but it just wasn't for me and so I did not finish this book.

This just wasn't for me.  I read romance books mostly for the humour and the silliness but this book didn't have any. For me, the tone is everything in romance, and the tone here was way too serious for my taste. It didn't have that light-hearted tone that I usually look for in romance books. Nothing wrong with the book though, it just wasn't my cup of tea. If you don't want you romance novels with a good chunk of humour then maybe this will work for you.

Such a bad representation of plus size women. This couldve been soooo sooo much better. I understand that this is just one plus size womans opinion but i had to dnf this book