On the Plus Side
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
What Not to Wear and Queer Eye meet All the Feels in this sparkling romantic comedy by Jenny L. Howe, in which the new guest on a popular plus-size makeover show has her style—and her love life—transformed.
Everly Winters is perfectly happy to navigate life like a good neutral paint color: 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 favorite 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?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Howe (The Make-Up Test) dazzles with this pitch-perfect rom-com about learning to love oneself at any size. Plus-size Everly Winters shoved her artistic ambitions to the side after her beloved grandmother's death, taking a receptionist position at an advertising agency (and lending uncredited help to graphic artists less skilled but higher paid than she is). Her guilty pleasure? The reality series On the Plus Side, a fat-affirming makeover show that celebrates big, beautiful women. When Everly is nominated by an unknown party to be featured for a season, the hosts show up at her office—with a broodingly gorgeous cameraman named Logan in tow. As the show's effervescent hosts, Jazzy and Stanton, help Everly celebrate her body and reclaim her dreams, Logan and Everly grow unexpectedly closer. When showrunner Sady Sanders notices their budding romance, she hopes to use it to drive up ratings. Her scheming—and willingness to violate professional and ethical boundaries—may imperil both the fledgling couple and Everly's newfound confidence. Howe's characters leap of the page; Everly's struggles are achingly realistic and it's easy to understand why Logan's so smitten with her. Readers will similarly have no trouble falling for Logan, whose gruffness belies a genuinely good heart. Timely, humorous, and heartfelt, this exceptional tale of self-acceptance deserves a place on every romance lover's shelf.
