The Gist: A bachelorette-style romance that delves into the pervasive fatphobia in the US while serving a dramatic yet sweet romance that falters a bit with its distant narrative and rushed ending.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: July 7, 2020
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.
• Lesbian supporting character
• Fat supporting characters
• Asian-American Jewish supporting character
• Black supporting character
• Gender expansive side character
• Asexual and romantic supporting character
• Threat of r@pe (comments on social media posts)
• Death threats (comments on social media posts)
– Heroine sleeps with her best friend and long-time unrequited crush while he’s engaged
– While there was no discussion about monogamy, the Heroine assumed each of the men she was dating on the show was monogamous. One of the men, however, had been sleeping with people throughout the show.
• No OW drama
• Does have OM drama (she is dating 25 men at once (to start), so jealous does arise.
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Kindle
Rating: 4-stars
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