REVIEW: One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Here's my review of a debut novel by American Kate Stayman-London. Much like reality TV itself this quickly sucked me in with its superficial drama, love/hate characters and intrigue about who Bea would pick as her 'Main Squeeze'.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher John Murray Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.

Expected: 7 July 2020

The blurb

Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers--and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, 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 Chad! 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? 

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition--under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture 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. In this joyful, razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men--and herself--for a chance to live happily ever after. 

The review
Obviously based around reality show The Batchelor, this was a captivating plot as much like reality TV itself it quickly sucked you in with its superficial drama, love/hate characters and intrigue about who'd eventually be crowned the winner aka 'Main Squeeze'. I was hooked trying to work out, like Bea, if any of the guy's were genuine or not, vibing Sam, hating Jefferson and trying not to be charmed by bad boy Luc. Annoyingly though it was also quite repetitive with the constant reminders that Bea is a plus size girl - granted a key part of the story but I'm not sure we needed reminding quite that much.

Kate Stayman-London is an American author and normally that's not something I'd even really notice (perhaps other than the setting) but which was very evident here. Perhaps because it's a very contemporary storyline and narrative but there were lots of modern cultural references that I just didn't understand. Likewise words that I had to look up such as "confucius" and "canonically" - not that it really mattered but I'm just saying. 

It was also written in a very contemporary style with lots of tweet, blog, email and media interview excerpts. I'm not entirely sure how I felt about it. On the one hand it worked with story and made it really believable as it genuinely did feel like something real I was reading about online. But, it was also slightly jarring at times. 

I think this book is probably a bit Marmite - fans of reality TV will love it but if not then you probably won't. I do and so this was a welcome and much-needed entertaining, trashy, escapism.
 
The author
Kate Stayman-London is a novelist, screenwriter, and political strategist. She served as lead digital writer for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has written for notable figures ranging from President Obama and Malala Yousafzai to Anna Wintour and Cher. Follow @_ksl on Twitter or visit www.katestaymanlondon.com to find out more.