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?
The Make-Up Test
Jenny L. Howe
ONE TO WATCH meets BEACH READ in this smart, swoony, romantic comedy, in which two college exes find themselves battling against each other—and their unresolved feelings—for a spot in a prestigious literature Ph.D. program.
Allison Avery loves to win. After acing every academic challenge she’s come up against, she’s finally been accepted into her dream Ph.D. program at Claymore University, studying medieval literature under a professor she’s admired for years. Sure, grad school isn’t easy—the classes are intense, her best friend is drifting away, and her students would rather pull all-nighters than discuss The Knight's Tale—but she’s got this. Until she discovers her ex-boyfriend has also been accepted. Colin Benjamin might be the only person who loves winning more than Allison does, and when they're both assigned to TA for the same professor, the game is on.
What starts as a personal battle of wits (and lit) turns into all-out war when their professor announces a career-changing research trip opportunity—with one spot to fill. Competing with Colin is as natural as breathing, and after he shattered her heart two years ago, Allison refuses to let him come out on top. But when a family emergency and a late night road trip—plus a very sexy game of Scrabble—throw them together for a weekend, she starts to wonder if they could be stronger on the same team. And if they fall for each other all over again, Allison will have to choose between a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and what could be a twice-in-a-lifetime love.
Charmingly bookish and unequivocally fat positive, The Make-Up Test embraces the truth that people can sometimes change and grow, even when you least expect it.
How to Get a Life in Ten Dates
Jenny L. Howe
Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. Sure, she's only twenty-five, but she's been doing it for a decade, and she's beginning to think it's time for a sabbatical. It doesn't help that she's been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years--but one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they'll never be more than friends.
With her sister's engagement party fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme. Haleigh agrees to let her friends and family set her up with ten men or women--and she's sure that, once none of them prove to be good matches, her loved ones will finally let her fade into romantic retirement in peace.
To her surprise, some of Haleigh’s dates go better than expected, and for the first time in forever, she's actually having fun. Until Jack starts breaking all the rules they’d made to mend their friendship in college. He produces a laundry list of flaws for everyone she likes, crashes some of her nights out, and finally shocks her by throwing himself into the mix. Dating Jack has always been the dream, but Haleigh is afraid of the reality. Is it worth risking her best friend for something that may have never been meant to be?