One to Watch was such a fun but emotional roller coaster for me. One to Watch is about a plus-size woman who is a fashion blogger who publicly criticizes a show called Main Squeeze (basically the bachelor) for not having diverse participants and then participates in it herself. I do want to mention that I have never watched the bachelor myself.
I genuinely liked all the characters except Ray but I won’t say anything else about him. This book kept me guessing which person she would end up with to the very end and I felt every emotion along with her.
The best part of this book was the representation of size and all the conversations that were brought up. Firstly, I loved that the MC was not hourglass. Many times, even plus size models have to be hourglass shaped and most people just don’t look like that. As I said, she is a fashion blogger and she called out the fashion industry for being fat-phobic when the average woman does not look like a model. It was so important to bring up the conversation that healthy is not equal to skinny. A person can be bigger and healthy or skinny and unhealthy.
I really appreciated the men that were chosen on the show were not all plus size themselves. There is this trope in media where a plus size woman must be with a plus size man. HOWEVER, a plus size man can have a smaller woman. Many shows on TV about married couples have a smaller woman and a plus size man, but it never happens the other way around. Some examples of the plus size man and smaller woman include; King of Queens, Family Guy, Fresh Prince of Bell Air, The Sopranos, The Simpsons, etc. Shows with plus size woman like Roseanne or Mike and Molly feature plus size husbands.
The beginning and throughout the story, there was this narrative about hate comments. Hate comments are a huge problem in any society you are a part of. So many people on this earth lack basic empathy. They lack the ability to just allow other people to be different from them and it shows.
Overall, I loved this book. I read it in one sitting. I felt every single mean thing that was said to her and I rooted for her when she was feeling insecure.
If you have read One to Watch and would like to see my spoilery thoughts, I will link my Goodreads below where I discuss those aspects. Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!
One to Watch spoilers: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3536772087