On the Plus Side by Jenny L. Howe was cute and funny, and an easy, feel good read. I couldn't put it down and stayed up well past my bedtime to finish it. 

 

I thought the main characters, Everyly and Logan,  were both people to root for, and I was cheering for their love on the sidelines. I am not into reality TV, or makeover shows, or any of that stuff, but this was a fun imagining of what that might look like in a fat-affirming environment. 

 

I found the instances and descriptions of fatphobia in this, appropriate and not-gratuitous. The main character wasn't 100% body positivity rah rah in the beginning, but she also didn't hate herself, which I think can sometimes be a fine balance in stories centering fat experiences in fiction, but something that I think the authour did really well. I thought some of the situations in the story were also very relatable more broadly. 

 

I loved the character growth from start to finish - it also felt like the natural outcome of what was happening in the story. 

 

The grumpy cinnamon roll is a romance trope I am fond of, so that hit the spot for me. There are a few spicy bits in this novel, I didn't find them particularly explicit, but they were also not fade to black. 

 

Some serious themes in here that were touched on, and offered as a heads up in the beginning of the story, and most of these circumstances didn't just feel plonked in there for arbitrary reasons, but meshed well with who the characters became, their motivations, and some of the ways they responded to the world. 

 

Over all, I thought this was very enjoyable and well done. There were a few points in the story that gave me pause, but not enough to be hugely negative. If you know too much about the tattoo industry, you might need to suspend some disbelief, but I didn't think that was a biggie. There are a certain amount of fantasy outcomes here, as in any romance, and I think books like that are very comforting and just a worthwhile respite from reality. 

 

Thanks to Netgalley, and the publisher for an early copy of this book. It's coming out December 26, 2023.