On the Plus Side

I just finished On the Plus Side by Jenny L Howe and here are my thoughts.


Everly Winters blends into the backdrop. She's an artist who works as a receptionist, she wears neutral colors and lives above her brother's garage. It's all perfectly mediocre. That is until someone nominates her to go on her favorite makeover show, On the Plus side. She spends more time in the fandom message boards, than doing anything else.

This could just be the kick Everly needs to get her life into the fast lane. The problem is, the producer wants to portray this love triangle and Everly is not comfortable with it, especially since the cameraman seems to look at her and really see her. She doesn't want to hide who she is when he's around. Can she figure herself out without the idea of love getting in her way?

I loved this book. Everly is my kind of MC. She's smart and quick witted. I love that she learns to fall back in love with herself. It was magical to watch. I really enjoyed the concept of the show too. Makeovers for people with a fuller figure to love themselves as they are. They don't just get you a new haircut and some clothes, they help you expand into whatever areas in your life that need a little nudge. For Everly, it was her career. It was so cute, watching the build up with Logan, the grumpy cameraman. I love that he is an animal lover and has his own body issues.

I wasn't a fan of when she found out who nominated her and why. It didn't feel natural to me and a little far-fetched. That was literally my only gripe with the book. Everything else was amazing. I loved the banter between Everly and everyone she came into contact with. She is a class act in my opinion.

I loved the ending. It wrapped up perfectly for me and I could definitely be up for a sequel one day. Would love to see how their lives turn out. This one was definitely on my top 10 of 2023!

5 stars. Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my gifted copy

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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.