This has done nothing but strengthen my opinion that tv reality shows of this ilk are incredibly vapid and manipulative. They are not even on my radar as a guilty pleasure (well, I'll admit to being interested in the first season of The Bachelor), but I definitely understand the appeal. All that being said, this was a completely readable look into this author's take on what goes on behind-the-scenes. I personally could have done without the relationship twist thrown our way as it didn't seem all that genuine or organic to me, but tomato-tomatoh. If you think you would enjoy a look behind the curtain of reality shows such as The Bachelor, you will most certainly enjoy this.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy of this book!

On the same day she's fired from her job, Emily is aproached to go on reality dating show The One. While I was expecting this to be a romance read, it was more of a contemporary fiction read with a side of romance.

This was a lot like taking a behind-the-scenes look at The Bachelor, both from a contestant and woman producer's point of view. During the show, Emily goes on a journey for all the wrong reasons, but ends up learning a lot about herself, reflecting on her Catholic upbringing, role of women, and her sexuality. She's honestly pretty uninteresting until about 60% through the book. I flew through this read because I wanted to see what would happen, but felt the ending was a little lackluster and could've used more of a resolution.

Read if you:
- are interested in the behind-the-scenes of The Bachelor
- have ever felt like you're putting on a front
- like Sally Rooney books

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really liked this book the entire time and found myself unable to put it down waiting to see how it would all end and found myself to be disappointed.

Nevertheless, it is a good, quick entertaining read. I love a good reality tv show and to be able to feel like I was watching The One with knowing everything going on behind the scenes was amazing!

I wonder about the shows I tune into on streaming and what really goes on so this definitely was fascinating and Emily is truly a character! I hope somewhere in the bookverse she is living happily and authentically.

*Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great debut!!! 📘🤩

This story follows Emily who is fired on the same day from her job in Boston that she is approached and offered an answer to her dilemma (that seems too good to be true!)

With no job and nothing better to do.. she says yes.

She auditions a day later, and is chosen to be a contestant on the hit dating show, The One 🎬.

Four days later she’s on a flight to LA. Pretty miraculous right. It’s there that she meets Dylan, a fourth grade teacher 🧑🏻‍🏫.. who is chosen as the lead on The One, and Emily instantly notices his tousled hair and toned muscles, and is that possibly makeup he’s wearing?

She has made supportive friendships with a few of the women, but it’s still a competition 🎯, so of course there are snarky remarks 🤬 from other contestants mainly over all the attention she is getting from Dylan.. more specifically.. over her brazen kiss with him on the beach. But her attention begins to focus much less on him.. leading up to one heck of a surprising twist! Where this goes you’ll just have to read it to find out! If you enjoyed The Bachelor this book will be right up your alley. 4 stars — Pub 4/18/23

Much thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I muddled through this story just to say I got to the end. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and felt no curiosity one way or the other as to how it would end.

This book was AWESOME!!! I used to watch The Bachelor and loved the behind the scenes stories and what happens in this storyline was an unexpected plot twist I never saw coming. Highly recommend this book!

This book was absolutely WOW! I was so very sucked in. I wish that the ending hadn’t been so abrupt, but I couldn’t put this one down! The twists were magnificent and just kept coming. I grew so fond of the characters, especially Sam and Emily. I felt like my coming out was a more low-key version of this story. It took a long time to realize and accept, so it made it seem so real to me. I’m definitely looking forward for more from this author!

This was darker than I expected and I absolutely loved it. The One is set against the backdrop of a reality tv show that is similar to The Bachelor. However The One shows you what is on the other side of the glamour and the “insta-love” that you end up seeing on TV every week. I really enjoyed the inner commentary of Emily, our main character/front running contestant and I especially loved when she went for what (who) her heart truly desired. If you love reality tv but you want to see what’s behind the veil then The One is for you.

I’ve been having a hard time figuring out how I feel about this book. I don’t enjoy slice of life narratives, and that’s a personal preference so I don’t want to judge based solely on that. But I was mostly underwhelmed by the content of the story. You can guess from the description and the first couple of chapters what relationship is actually likely to flourish for Emily, and it’s not as unique as I think the publisher wants to make it seem.
The inclusion of Miranda’s motivations and tiny contextual snippets feel unnecessary and manage to be both more substantial and less interesting than the first season of the show Unreal.
I haven’t watched any of the shows in the Bachelor franchise but I’m aware enough of their place in the culture to have found better takes on this phenomenon in other books.
There’s also the inclusion of a traumatic event that feels like it’s supposed to be an important juxtaposition against the world of the reality show contestants, but I hard a time with the takeaway of the sort of inevitability of the role of women in the patriarchal American society.
Emily is a beige person living a beige life and is happy to do so until she discovers something that she actually wants and then the book is over

I have such a soft spot for a "reality tv" romance trope. As a fan of reality dating shows, I love to read about them. I think it can be so fun to read and jump into that world. A while this was a great romance, it also touched upon some really great topics. It was though provoking and enjoyable!

The One is a Bachelor-like reality show, and main character Emily is a contestant. She was recruited at a moment when her life seemed adrift, but Emily has always been a little bit adrift. She has spent her life practicing compliance to win her religious parents' approval, but in her mid-twenties she has no substantial career, interests, or relationships.

... Which makes her the perfect contestant! For the first half of the novel, Emily is a passive observer of the other women's competition and the producers' machinations, and this part of the story is entertaining if a bit slow-moving. As the women are eliminated and the show's cast dwindles, the relationships among them complicate, and although the ultimate prize is drifting within Emily's reach, she begins to question whether there might be something she wants more. Ultimately, she has to choose between fulfilling everyone's expectations and finding her own voice, even if she has to let a producer write her lines.

This was a thought-provoking and unusual novel, well-written and propulsive. I would have appreciated having a bit more specific insight on Emily as a character. Although her cipher-like nature contributes, in the beginning, to the surreal and isolated atmosphere of the reality show experience, I would have found the story more affecting if I felt like I knew the main character better. But despite that, I still thoroughly enjoyed this story and will not forget it soon. 4.5 stars.

Julia Argy’s “The One” is the book that gives real background depth (not the silly, staged moments) to “Bachelor” like reality shows. The novel has two POVs: a first person narrative from Emily, who has never seen the show and was recruited off the street right after she was fired for being too docile, sweet, and non-controversial, by a casting associate looking for a sweet, docile, non-controversial, plus generically pretty. Emily admits that “Though I don’t want to be engaged to Dylan, there is still a part of me that wants Dylan to want to be engaged to me.”

The second POV is a third person telling by Miranda, a show producer assigned to Emily, who has done this job for a long time and might not be “fresh” enough for the ageist bosses anymore.

Other major characters include “The One” — Dylan, a generically handsome loser from the female dominated last season and Sam, more of a free spirit, who has watched and studied every past episode. Emily vies for Dylan’s attention as Miranda is professionally using her; and Sam is keeping Emily’s expectations in check. We “journey” (preferred producer word) through each week with girls being bitchy, Dylan being mysterious, girls being sent home in tears until the inevitable finale (of course, we all knew Emily would “journey” to the final few).

I’m not a big reality show fan; I’d probably watch them more with a weekly buddy (and we could bitchily text each other during the program). I did enjoy the background motivations of the women characters (Dylan was mostly a prop) and you do see them grow personally. But, the middle dragged for me plot-wise. I did find it well-written. I don’t know what genre to classify this book in — it’s not romance or feminist fiction (which most novels in the “women’s fiction” category are). Yet, I have friends who would adore this book. 4 stars since I can easily recommend it. As

Thank you to Penguin Group/ GP Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO I thought for sure more than one of the eager bachelorettes (most of them blonde) would have green eyes, but wisely there are only blue and brown eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO None noted. There’s a turnip salad with edible violets, and Emily recognizes the houseplant succulents gone native in the desert, like jade plants and firestick/ pencil cactus.

Emily didn’t join the cast of The One for fame or for a relationship. She simply didn’t have anything better to do. But the moment Emily arrives, it becomes clear she’s been tapped to win it all, and be anointed The Wife.. The Bachelor-style reality show is tailor-made for a young woman looking for romance, especially one who really doesn't. know who she herself is, or could be.

This is a pitch perfect sendup of reality tv, and today's view of love and relationships. Recommended. #TheOne #NetGalley #SaltMarshAuthors

After being let go from her long time job, Emily is stopped on the street by a producer for a reality TV show. She has the perfect "look" they say. With nothing else pressing in her life, she quickly signs up. She's cast as a contestant The One, a fictional version of The Bachelor. Because she's pretty, smart, and easily manipulated, she quickly rises to the end of the show and is predicted to be "The One" for this seasons contestant Dylan. The only problem is, the closer Emily gets to everything she's always wanted, she starts to realize maybe it's not exactly what she wants at all.

This book was wow. Just wow. As someone who's never really watched The Bachelor, this was a fascinating look into what the women go through while being a contestant and exactly how the show works. Emily's story was equally eye opening and heartbreaking. In a good way. Her story is so similar to I'm sure more women than anyone is truly aware of. We're told to be pretty. Be pliant. Do this list of things and Prince Charming will come and life will be perfect. What if that isn't exactly the ending you want? We see Emily learn more of who she is and what she needs in order to be happy, eventually not accepting any compromises to get there. I was so damn proud of her by the end! This is such a well written and researched novel that has something for everyone. Five easy stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Argy, and Penguin Group Putnam for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This lovely read has a current publish date of April 18, 2023.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Disclaimer: I am a fan of reality TV, including the Bachelor and Bachelorette. (I know it's silly but it's pure escapism).

I liked the parts of this book that focused on a behind-the-scenes look at a reality TV show. While I realize a lot of it is fake when I'm watching one of these shows, this book showed me numerous way the contestants are manipulated and edited.

However, I did not enjoy the story of the main character. I didn't feel connected to her and thought her character needed more development. Additionally, the ending seemed a bit abrupt.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan, this book was a quick read and was well written.

While I don't watch anymore, I had quite a few years logged into The Bachelor universe and was excited to read this take on the whole system. While it started out somewhat promising it kind of went off the rails in storytelling about midway through. I wish there was more showing vs. telling and I felt like Miranda's side of the story was vastly underused.

While it may be a good read for those who really are into The Bachelor I think many will be let down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the G.P. Putnam's Sons for an eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I wish to thank NetGalley and PenguinGroup, G P Putnam’s Sons for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I requested this book because it sounded delightful and I was not disappointed. If you are a fan of the Bachelor TV shows then you will love this as it takes you on a behind the scene journey on the production of such shows. Emily has lost her job and is suddenly recruited to fill a last minute spot to be on the show. She is not looking for love and marriage, just a job. The novel is fast paced with lots of great characters from the production side as well as the contestants. This novel explores everyone’s feelings and action both behind the camera and in front of it. The friendships that are formed with the other contestants are amazing and almost unbelievable. I would think the experience would be highly competitive one. Everyone feels that Emily is a shoe-in to win but, is she really? You will have to read it to find out. You will be glad you did

As a former obsessed Bachelor watcher, this book was written just for me! It was like peaking behind the curtain to see all the juicy drama and production that it takes to create the journey (see what I did there 😉) of all these dating shows.

Even thought I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun, easy read, it was predictable and all the tropes that make the Bachelor feel formulaic made it into the book. There is a “twist” that makes you wonder if it’s ever really happened behind the scenes of the show.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Argy, and Putnam Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Calling all fans of The Bachelor and other reality dating shows! Julia Argy's The One takes place within the filming of a dating reality show similar in vein to those we know and love (or loath!). The books switches perspectives each chapter between Emily, a recruited contestant, who has never seen the show before, and Miranda, a cunning and competitive producer. The Miranda chapters are just short insights into what is going on behind the scenes, as Emily is the main protagonist. Background knowledge of these types of shows isn't needed but definitely makes the reading experience more fun and juicy in my opinion.

This book is such a TV show I kept thinking I needed to get home to put it on!!!
So brilliantly entertaining, funny as well as heartfelt!
I truly loved Emily and was rooting for her!!!
A nice, loving read perfect for Valentines Day!