Everly Winters is perfectly happy to navigate life like a good neutral paint colour: appreciated but unnoticed. That’s why she’s still a receptionist instead of exploring a career in art, why she lurks but never posts on the forums for her favourite makeover show, On the Plus Side, and why she’s crushing so hard on her forever-unattainable co-worker. When no one notices you, they can’t reject you or insist you’re too much.
This plan is working perfectly until someone secretly nominates Everly for the next season of On the Plus Side. Overwhelmed by the show’s extremely extroverted hosts and how much time she’ll have to spend on screen, she finds comfort in a surprising friendship with the grumpy but kind cameraman, Logan. Soon Everly realizes that he’s someone she doesn’t mind being noticed by. In fact, she might even like it.
But when their growing connection is caught on camera, it sends the show’s ratings into a frenzy. Learning to embrace all of herself on national TV is hard enough; can Everly risk heartbreak with the whole world watching?
I loved this book. The author created a character that made me laugh and cry at the same time. The author wrote a very thoughtful author's note explaining the character's relationship with her mother and apologized if it was triggering. The situations that Everly found herself in on the show horrified and amused me. And the ending was perfect!!
Lots Of Grand Ideas. No Technical Errors. Plenty Readers May Not Like. This is one of those books that is filled with GRANDIOSE IDEAS it wants to communicate and build an interesting story around. And it does that. There are no glaring technical errors with anything about this book. The plot works within world, the characters are serviceable enough for the genre generally, and the GRANDIOSE IDEAS are all given at least some "screen time".
All of this noted, there are *several* issues here that individual readers may have problems with, depending on their own experiences.
The book opens with an author's note about why she doesn't have a problem with "fat" in the context of this tale + trigger warnings. Ok, there is a lot of discussion on trigger warnings at the front of books in Booklandia, with different people coming down on different sides there. Clearly, Howe has staked her position. Fair enough, but again, some readers may not like this.
Then we get into the various GRANDIOSE IDEAS as we go throughout the actual tale.
Self Acceptance. Noble idea, some may not like the execution of how it is explored.
Family Drama. While a certain family member is written almost as an antagonist... this is going to be one of those "antagonists" that at least some readers are likely going to agree with more than the main character.
"Reality" TV (and the lack of actual reality therein). This is a main driver of the plot, and for the most part works well enough. But there is a lot of social commentary here that I suspect won't hit as hard for many as perhaps Howe had hoped.
Others get more into spoiler territory, so I'll not discuss them here. But you get the idea. For at least some readers, this will absolutely be OHMYGODAMAZEBALLSAWESOMESAUCETHANKYOUFORWRITINGTHISMOSTIMPORTANTBOOKEVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! level. I suspect that for most readers, this book will more likely fall into the "ok" - "good, but a few problems" range. And I do think that its 4.06 average across just over 500 reviews just days before publication (yes, I too read this as an ARC) is both evidence that I am right and, to my mind, roughly where its rating average is likely to pan out over time.
Recommended.
