Oh, hey, it's a YA book about a reality show competition, and it's featuring a bi, fat, Asian protagonist, with a celebrity love interest? Sign me up!
What a refreshing read. Skye was just the right balance of body-positive and feeling shame for her weight: just enough to have conflict thanks to comments made by her mom and some of her peers, but overall with a "I like my body as it is; diets didn't work and weren't worth the negative things they did to me; I do work hard, am fit, and eat when it's appropriate to eat, thank you very much!" attitude. While a lot of the major conflict did come out of her being fat (her mom's toxic attitude towards it, and a judge's prejudice against her because of it, along with some minor interactions that involved fatphobia), I loved the equal amount of positivity that came out of the book. Skye's attitude, her being a role model for girls who saw themselves in her, Henry never once making a comment that would make her ashamed of her body (or commenting on anything about her body except how good she looked from time to time). Too many would-be body-positive teen stories have LIs who say they love the MC "despite" their size or have MCs who are constantly wondering what the LI could see in them because of their weight. It was lovely to have a book where that wasn't included.
The plot mostly alternates between the competition and getting to know the LI, Henry Cho. Skye starts out assuming he's stuck up (while admiring his abs), but catches clues early on that he's a much more caring person than she first thought. There's not too much drama around the relationship, saving it for the competition and her dynamic with her mother.
When it comes to Skye's relationship with her mother, I kept looking for a hint that there was some big tricky reason behind it, where what Skye thought her mother was protecting her from wasn't exactly it, even as I acknowledge that the last book I read with a fat protagonist, she ended up cutting the toxic family member out of her life when she realized they would never change. This was a sort of in between. Yes, Mom has history and personal reasons why she feels the way she does, but it doesn't change that she's legitimately being toxic about it, and the book finds a way to deal with this as much as one can without cutting the person out.
Back to positivity. Another thing that was refreshing in this book was the lack of mean girls in the competition. There are some minor characters who say some ignorant things to Skye (intentionally or not), but you don't have sabotage (outside of the antagonistic judge) and the girls mostly support each other. Skye has friend support both at home and in the competition, and even when characters are introduced who look like they'll be the stereotypical mean girls, they end up being great to each other. Even the love rival isn't that bad.
So that leaves the competition. You know I love me a reality show competition plot, and this one is organized in a way I like. What worked well for me was that there were two aspects of the show--singing and dancing--so Skye could have the consequence of being cut from one while staying in the competition through the climax because of the other. When she decided to be tricky during her final performance, I was worried we were going into a Dumplin' plot, where she would be awesome but get disqualified. Well, clearly she read Dumplin' too, because the girl read the rules of the competition before doing anything. And I found everything that happened very satisfying.
The book was still generally fluffy, as many of my contemporary reads are. Skye had a very likable voice for me, which made it a smooth read. When I finished, I was sorry I didn't have more to read.
Recommended for fans of: YA contemporary; LGBTQIA+ MCs, LIs, and secondary characters; fat MCs; books about reality show competitions; K-pop; easy romantic arcs; celebrity/royal LIs; family conflict; women supporting women; singing; dancing; abs; huskies; patbingsu
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Reviews with images
Couldn't put it down, finished in less than 24 hours
One of the best books I have read in years!!! I bought this for myself for my birthday and just fell in love with the main character! She is the young woman that you wish you were when you were 16 and struggling with issues. I have had PCOS since I was 9, I get being plus size, but instead of dance, I played soccer and got "the looks".But, once I started to read, I just couldn't put it down... And I just passed it onto my 14 year old daughter to read... And my 11 year old is begging to read because she loves Kpop and k-dramas...Please tell me there is a book 2 in the works...Ans, this is a must have for all school and public libraries...
Top reviews from other countries
Lisa
a fun, uplifting, inspiring and though-provoking book
Reviewed in the Netherlands on September 14, 2021
Anamelia Regan (EldritchFae)
Fun but also with a brilliant message about body positivity and staying true to yourself
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2020