Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Chinese-American curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen has built her career shattering gym stereotypes and promoting body positivity to her thousands of followers. The gym is her sanctuary, until the hunky new patron, firefighter Scott Ritchie, commits the ultimate faux pas: he steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as their feud reaches new heights, and when they discover that their grandparents are engaged, they unexpectedly start to bond over fitness (duh), family, and being homebodies. But when a picture of them on Crystal’s instagram goes viral, strangers suddenly have all sorts of opinions, good, bad, and ugly, about their relationship, putting it to the ultimate test.

This book is so very special to me because Amy was one of the first people that I followed on bookstagram *before* she announced her book deal, and gosh, now I get to gush about her 👏 debut 👏 novel 👏 This little corner of the internet is truly special 😍 I loved everything about this contemporary rom-com: the heart-pounding slow-burn tension, the swoonworthy enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance, and the depiction of diverse characters that don’t conform to mainstream beauty standards. I loved that Amy wrote a book that celebrates body acceptance and self-love, while also acknowledging that “self-love” isn’t the end-all be-all. She depicted a beautiful heroine that loves and respects herself, but also sometimes struggles with these very things. She reminds her us that we are all imperfectly perfect and are all deserving of love, from ourselves and others.

Have you ever struggled with your weight?

Have you ever felt intimidated by the gym?

Have you ever been dissatisfied with how you look and feel about yourself?

Have you ever felt judged by your appearance?

Have you struggled with the concept of body positivity in a society that worships size zeroes?

Get. This. Book.

Crystal Chen is a curvy fitness influencer with a large following on Instagram. She believes strongly in her message of body positivity and does her best to focus on her loyal followers and not be bothered by the rude
comments of Internet trolls.

When she meets Scott Ritchie at the gym, it's definitely not love at first sight. He's a smolderingly hot firefighter with an entitled attitude. They spar with each other over gym equipment, proper machine etiquette, and everything else.

However, when they realize that Crystal's grandmother is engaged to Scott's grandfather, they are thrown together in social situations and their "enemies to
lovers" trope becomes a real romance.

When Crystal posts a beach photo of her and Scott to introduce her relationship to her followers, she's jolted by the negativity that comes her way and Scott's.

Strangers call Scott a "chubby chaser" and assure Crystal that there is no way a hot guy like Scott could truly be into her.

Paralyzed by self-doubt and low self-esteem, Crystal must decide how to navigate this viral moment and if she and Scott have the stamina to withstand this very real test of their relationship.

Lea tackles these important themes with insight and heart, never shying away from these challenging issues of weight and worth.

Crystal and Scott's romance unfolds into a beautiful and reflective love story, definitely deserving a spot on your TBR!

I really wanted to love this book! An AAPI author, the main character is half-Chinese, plus size, and a fitness influencer. I enjoyed this but just didn't love it. This may very well be a not the right book at the right time. I also just don't love influencers as main characters and may be burned out from this type of character. I can't pinpoint it but also felt the enemies part was so forced and disingenuous. There is also a LOT of Lululemon mentioned in this book. The main lead character was very quick to believe the worst of him and her dismissal of him was off putting as well.

Not going to lie I'm conflicted on this book. I really, really wanted to like it. I mean a plus size fitness influencer?!? Yes please! And she's half Chinese, so there's even more reason to love this book. There's so many layered elements to this novel that it's phenomenal.

However, I just couldn't get into it at all. I think this is more because it was not the right book at the right time situation. I'll be completely honest. I do want to try it again, but I think in a few months when perhaps I'll be in a better headspace for this kind of novel.

I think where I had issues with it is that it's in first person POV of just Crystal and honestly I couldn't get into the flow of Lea's writing. I so badly wanted to. And I'm not saying that it's bad writing at all, I just think it wasn't right for me right now. I hope to come back and rewrite this review because it deserves a better one. Plus the whole setting up of the enemies part felt weird? Like who does that and it took time to like Scott. I don't know.

And I am so looking forward to Lea's future novels as well. While right now wasn't the time for me, I think that her writing and these stories are phenomenal to have and I cannot wait for that moment when I can enjoy them.

Imagine being in the gym and trying to focus on getting that exercise routine right, and this gorgeous man steals the gym equipment you intended to use? The funniest and loveliest enemies to lovers trope!

Crystal is a gymstagrammer who buries herself with fitness work after a terrible heartbreak. Scott is your typical grumpy, sexy firefighter and also the grandson of Crystal's grandmother's fiance! This revelation turns up the heat between the two, creating a bond they never expected.

sᴇᴛ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʏ ᴀᴍʏ ʟᴇᴀ is a steamy and forced proximity, enemies to lovers you'll definitely want to read.

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an arc copy of this book.

Crystal is a fitstagrammer (I have been holding back on going down the #fitstagrammer rabbit hole😂- I'm sure I would love it! Health and fitness feeds sound like fun- but books will always be number one for me!). It's an alternative job, she's good at it, and she really enjoys it. She's also what I would call regular sized, with curves and strong muscles. She often films segments at her local gym. That's where Scott enters the story. They develop a competitive rivalry at the gym that is has very fun enemies to lovers vibes (think Hating Game or You Deserve Each Other).

And then they run into each other outside the gym- at their grandparents engagement party. Can you imagine? The enemies turn into friends and it becomes more of an enemies to friends to lovers book. I loved their rivalry at the beginning- it was fun. The rest of the book seemed to be more about Crystal's own journey- with a continued focus on really getting comfortable in your own skin and owning who you are. I enjoyed the writing style, especially the snark. There were some great family side characters that I'd love to see agin.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you, Berkeley Romance, for gifting me a review copy of Set on You by Amy Lea.

Set on You is exactly what my heart and mind needed. I’m so grateful for Crystal Chen as a body-positive curvy main character. The enemies-to-lovers is my favorite romance trope, so I was investing from the beginning. Scott and Crystal are my favorites with their humor and playful banter. I laughed out loud many times while reading this book. The audiobook was delightful. I would defiantly recommend this book.

I was really looking forward to Set on You, as I am always here for a curvy female lead, and had only heard great things.

I really enjoyed the meet cute, and the interactions between Crystal and Scott were really fun. Scott's very level headed demeanor with a bit of mischief, reminded me a lot of my husband, and endeared him to me quickly.

However, I do feel this book highlights a lot of flaws within the Body Positive movement, and why many have moved to body neutrality. Yes, Crystal, like any of us, is open to trolls by being an influencer. But her method of stay positive an ignore it is inherently flawed. Also, as an influencer, she should've seen the 3rd conflict from miles away!

There are some spoilers from her on so proceed with caution!

The shift in her thoughts after the 3rd act conflict is very on par with people truly understanding what body neutrality means, versus the fake it til you make it attitude of body positivity. But, Amy has a really great Author's Note at the beginning, emphasizing she is one person, and she cannot know or cover everyone's individual experiences in these different minorities.

However, the element I will not give a pass on is how much Lululemon is in this book. If you're going to heavily reference a brand, make sure it's worth your endorsement. Lululemon was founded by an openly fatphobic guy. Then, when their leggings were sheer, they told women to bend over and prove it, to get a refund. Yes, I know it was a long time ago, but you can't excuse that level of bullshit.

Also, I gotta ding it for a HP reference, with a dog named Albus Doodledore. I got 23 hits for Albus on a quick search. 😑

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

OMG. Set On You was such an amazing read.

I'm ALL for plus-size representation in fiction. Books like that make me feel so seen, as a fellow curvy girl myself. I loved the fitness aspect to this book, the steamy romance, the sexual tension, the characters and the dialogue.

As someone who works in social media, I loved that aspect to this book as well. The story felt realistic and gave me all the feels.

I enjoyed many aspects of this book - Crystal’s being biracial, her struggles with mental health, and her relationship with her family. The ending & her revelation with what she wanted to do with her fitness account was extremely well-done, too.

The romance between her and Scott was cute, but ultimately a little cheesy for my personal taste!

Loved this debut novel from Amy Lea!!

‣ gym nemesis to friends to lovers? sign me up! I love how Scott and Crystal’s relationship developed! There’s banter and a few tender moments shared 🥰

‣ themes of self-acceptance and respecting our bodies! A lot of the things discussed were very eye-opening to me. I know “self-love” is a notion that is always pushed on people but this book reinforces that some of us won’t necessarily love our bodies *all the time* and that’s okay.

‣ “We all have days where we doubt ourselves. And that’s when we need to focus on acceptance and respect for ourselves, not hate or love. I can love my body, and still have moments of doubt without feeling guilty about it.”

‣ Growing up Asian and outside the “conventional norms of beauty” (aka Western standards) pushed on us, I often saw stories about people having to go through a makeover or losing weight just to be noticed or liked by others. In this book, there is none of that. The growth is *internal* and not through means of physical appearance. Crystal is a character who is going through her journey of self-acceptance but she already loves and respects herself and her body.

A perfect romance novel! This book is filled with so much heart and steam that it sizzles off the page.

I am all about the push for romances to have more diverse representation including more body-acceptance fat representation. I related to Crystal in the fact that I know what it's like to enjoy working out and getting fit, and not needing to lose weight in order to enjoy it or to be strong. In Set on You, we get banter, the positive and negative side of fitstagram, romance, steam, mental health awareness, and a HEA. While I wasn't a huge fan of the third act conflict itself, I understand why it had to happen - I just struggled to relate with how the characters handled it. But overall I loved this novel and can't wait to read more by Amy Lea. This novel is for fans of rom-coms and fans of other similar novels such as The Fastest Way to Fall. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

“I think about you all the time. Every day, all day. All I ever want to do is be with you. Even if we aren’t doing anything at all.”

I loved this story, and wish I had stories like this growing up! To have a diverse cast, with great mental health representation, was everything. And the unique romance plot! So funny, hilarious, sweet. Steamy! Cute! And just so much fun with Scott & Crystal.

Thank you for your debut novel Amy Lea! I cannot wait to read more from you.

I was hoping to love this because I always want more fat rep, and especially in romance. And I did generally like that in the book, although I did have some minor issues with it (like why did she mention wearing Spanx twice?? If you believe your body is good as it is, why are you wearing Spanx?). Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of this though, for two reasons. First, I didn't actually like the characters. They annoyed me, which really doesn't happen a lot when I'm reading. I just didn't like them. Second, the writing style really didn't work for me and it made me cringe a lot. These problems are definitely related, because the way the characters were written also made me cringe.

I loved this realistic view on a plus size woman's relationship with her body and herself. It also shows how that can be reflected in your relationships with other people.
The characters were great and I stayed invested in the story. I'm so thankful plus size woman are getting good representation in romance novels now. We have so much farther to go, but this book does an excellent job helping to get us there.

Title: Set On You
Author: Any Lea
Publication: 5/10/22
Genre: Romcom
My Rating: Loved it!

I loved this book so much and saw so much of myself in Crystal. Highly recommend!

Synopsis: 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.

I can’t wait to sell this one to my customers!! The storyline is great. I’m not usually a big fan of gym romances, but Lea makes it work. Her female protagonist is curvy and knows what she wants - or doesn’t. Scott, the male protagonist, is smug….but he’s really got a soft heart. Can I go read it again?

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

"Set on You" highlights the enemies-to-lover story of Crystal, famous for her body positive, gym-based social media account, and Ritchie, a firefighter and (seemingly) all around grump. The two face off over gym equipment, how to use the space, and threats of phone-stealing. In a passionate moment in the gym's locker room, the two realize there may be chemistry from more than one place but once they realize their lives inter-connect in more than one way, they're faced with the decision of being friends in order to not rock the boat or do they follow their heart and go all in?

"Set On You" was a fine enough book, where if social media and gym culture intrigue you, you could look over some of the issues with the characters. I don't particularly love either of those specific niches, though, which made it difficult to stayed interested. I found the male protagonist to be uneven in his portrayal, with his swings of "grumpiness to dismissiveness" to be a lot. Crystal was too quick to believe the worst of him, and her dismissal of him halfway through the book seemed flaky of her. This, too, is a matter of taste but the heat in the story wasn't high enough either. What initially promised to be a little sexier actually paused into a slow-burn.

Two things, the worst part about working out, is not putting on your sports bra, it’s washing your sports bra. ( WHY the inserts? I don’t understand! They come out and get lost in the wash every time! And yes of course you need to have your work out Lulu and your fancy Lulu, here I wear my fancy Lululemon!

Crystal is a fitsagrammer and the gym is her domain until someone starts stealing her dumbbells, workout spots and interrupting her instagram video shots! Enter Scott aka Squat Rack Thief, who becomes her gym nemesis, an arrogant sexy as hell fireman with a crazy 6 pack. But it all gets even better when their grandparents become engaged.

I really enjoyed this one! Crystal and Scotts banter is hilarious and the situations they get into are every funnier! I absolutely loved Crystal's confidence! Amy Lea not only did a great job with the characters but she also did a fantastic job at making this book so relatable!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing, Penguin Audio House and Netgalley for providing me an eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.