One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London was everything I wanted it to be and more. I was looking for a bingeable rom com, and sometimes those can be a bit mindless. One to Watch was a fantastic story that stopped me in my tracks. It made me write down all of my thoughts in a way no other rom com has before. This article said it made the writer download Bumble again. I cannot say that was my experience, but it did make me truly think long and hard about my past experiences.
The book focuses on Bea, a plus-size influencer with a pretty strong career. She gets drunk with her best friend watching Main Squeeze, basically The Bachelor, and writes a scathing review about the lack of diversity on the show. The post briefly goes viral and when a new producer takes over the show, she asks Bea to be the next season’s Main Squeeze. Twenty-five men will be vying for Bea’s love.
Bea is hesitant to join, but the producer convinces Bea that it will be great for Bea’s career and that the show can fake the love. All Bea has to do is not break up with whatever guy until six weeks after they finish filming. When Bea finally agrees, she makes it abundantly clear that her men must be diverse. The show begins filming and hijinks ensue. I will note that there were multiple men I was rooting for throughout the book, but most of all I was rooting for Bea. I won’t go into the hijinks (other than Luc, am I right?), because honestly those would be total spoilers. However, I will leave you with my thoughts on why this book hit me the way it did, and why I think everyone should read it.
One to Watch was so fantastic, but it was for me hard to read. Hard in a good way if that makes any sense. It was hard to see the feelings, experiences and internal monologues that I, myself, have had. When Bea talks about not going to prom, acting like she didn’t want to when in her heart all she wanted was someone to ask her. I remembered my high school experience.
When Bea tells her “prom” date that sometimes she feels so young because of her lack of experience with men. It’s something I have felt so many times. I’m 31 years old. I’m a strong, independent woman who has a pretty strong handle on herself, her career and so many other things. At the same time, when it comes to relationships I feel like a young teenage girl who doesn’t know what to do or how to do it.
I have experienced the horrible dates and men that we see on the show. The comments, the insinuation that I should feel grateful someone is interested in spending time with me or sometimes worse the fetishizing of my body. It is all awful. Sometimes I start to question if it’s just me? Am I losing my mind? Am I overreacting? This book helped to validate all of those feelings. It made me feel less alone in my experiences and reminded me to stop questioning my sense of self.
Reading Bea’s story was like putting up mirror to my own experiences. When a contestant makes her question every other contestant’s alleged feelings I completely understood why she felt that way. The contestant vocalized every single negative thought that Bea had about herself. It felt like confirmation of the inevitability that these men couldn’t possibly be attracted to her. I felt with her so deeply through her frustration, her embarrassment, and her feelings of the inevitability that the persons she cared about didn’t think of her romantically.
You need to read One to Watch. Fat, skinny, somewhere in between, this book fantastically explains the feelings so many women have. It addresses the impression that if you are fat you must have health problems. The book talks about using your clothes and your makeup as armor against the world. It touches on so many important discussions surrounding health and body image while also delivering a fantastic happy ending.
