Set on You by Amy Lea || Book Review

A gym nemesis pushes a fitness influencer to the max in Amy Lea’s steamy debut romantic comedy.

Curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and mostly ignoring the trolls. After her recent breakup, she has little stamina left for men, instead finding solace in the gym – her place of power and positivity.

Enter firefighter Scott Ritchie, the smug new gym patron who routinely steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as these ultra-competitive foes battle for gym domination. But after a series of escalating jabs, the last thing they expect is to run into each other at their grandparents’ engagement party.

In the lead up to their grandparents’ wedding, Crystal discovers there’s a soft heart under Scott’s muscled exterior. Bonding over family, fitness, and cheesy pick-up lines, she just might have found her swolemate. But when a photo of them goes viral, savage internet trolls put their budding relationship to the ultimate test of strength.

Goodreads

“Four sets of squats and I’ll be high on endorphins for at least a day, fantasizing about the strength of my thighs crushing the souls of a thousand men.”

Amy Lea’s debut novel was a wonderful reading experience. This romcom provides exactly what I expected, an adorable enemies-to-lovers romance that focuses greatly on the body positivity movement and familial cultural differences. Having a curvy, fit female lead was a wonderful change in the romcom novel world, especially one who’s so witty and charismatic.

I haven’t really read many books where the lead is an influencer, so that was a really interesting plotline. Lea’s analysis of the ups and downs of social media platforms, particularly when it comes to fitness and different body representations, felt extremely authentic and relatable, especially when we live in a world that focuses greatly on social media to share information and connect with others.

I found the first interactions between Crystal and her romantic interest, Scott, were a little awkward; I couldn’t see where this heat was coming from, so I had no real investment (I was more interested in Crystal anyways). But as they grew closer and we learned more about them, the connection made more sense and felt more genuine. The story was also a little slow at parts, dragging in places I wish it didn’t and speeding through parts I wanted more of. But I still felt the plot worked overall.

Set On You is an incredible story, one that I think many people will find comfort in. Her body positive movement really drove home for me, and I think will provide a lot of insight and encouragement to other readers who relate to Crystal. The passionate relationship between Crystal and Scott was thrilling, the side characters are riveting, and the plots growth make this a wonderful read.

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