I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Plus One is my first book by Kelsey Rodkey, although I’ve heard of her work before. However, I did enjoy this book and plan to read more. I love seeing more plus-size rep that isn’t so fixated on weight, and this book absolutely fits the bill, and while there is some fatphobia, it’s not a major part of the book, and it’s by and large pretty body-positive.
I really liked Lahey and her journey, and it was fun to see someone known for matchmaking others have to find a match for herself. The reason as to why is intriguing, with her trying to prove herself to her cousin, who she has a complicated relationship with, and I really enjoyed seeing her growth in her relationships not only with her, but other family members as well.
While Lahey’s arc is more prominent, the romance also plays a major role, with Adler being a pretty present love interest. It was fun to see him kind of lingering in the background while she contemplated, and then slowly eliminated, her other prospects, helping her out as she got into various messes along the way.
The short timeframe of the book (one week) means the book is fast-paced and sucks you into all the chaotic action. I do wish the structure had allowed for more time for Lahey and Adler to be together officially, but I feel like the book accomplished what it promised otherwise.
This is a fun read, perfect for summer, and one I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys YA contemporaries.

An absolute delight from start to finish! I loved Lahey's journey of self-discovery and was so moved by her relationship with Summer and her sisters.

What a cute romance with a great main character.
I loved that Lahey was a middle of the rode teenager, she was comfortable in her body witch isn't normal for a teen let alone a plus sized one. She was also dealing with the normal teen love life. Normally it feels like you get the seemingly perfect teen who you find out has problems later or the problem teen to over comes.
I also enjoyed Adler as a love interest, staying in the background in a way till Lahey needed him and finally showing her he liked her. Also liking her for who she truly was when teens can be so rough makes me hope teens can be better 🤣.
I also love the family dynamic in this book, it reminded me of my own family.

I loved the plus size rep in this book, the character development is so good but they are a few things I didn't like, I could relate to Lahey so well, it kinda hit home. The chemistry was so well done. My favorite thing about ya romance is all the stupid and kinda cringey stuff they do is like so funny to read about.

This book was a cute teen romcom about a girl who loves love, but can’t seem to find it for herself. Think Jane Austen’s Emma, but with way more dates for Emma. 🤣

Things I loved about this book:

💕 -Lahey’s growth. She’s sort of an unlikeable know it all at the beginning, but is forced to grow and change when the people around her call her out.
💕 -Adler. He is sweet and kind and waaaaay too patient. 🤣
💕 -Poppy, Lahey’s best friend and closest confidant
💕 -all of the meet cutes
💕 -all of the date hijinks

Overall this book was pretty entertaining. Lahey gets herself into lots of scrapes because she’s a goofy teenager, but in the end it’s a story about a fall from grace and lots of growth.

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read. It was a fun summer read. Lahey tells her cousin that she will be bringing a date to her birthday party and the book follows Lahey on dates and her relationships with her family.

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of this book!

This book was fun, flirty, and engaging...but, it managed to be forgettable at the same time? It's kind of a weird balance this book struck. While I liked it and enjoyed it while I was reading, I also wasn't that enthralled with it once the story had time to marinate.

I'll still give this author's work another try because I liked the writing style; I think maybe this particular book wasn't for me!

Rating: 3⭐️

I loved this story, and I know several teens who will buy it on day one. Such a great summer book! This book had a ton of representation from a fluffy main character as well as an LGBT+ character. It was near perfect as a beach read.

I don't read a lot of YA, this one attracted my attention by the cover and the synopsis. In many ways this was a sweet romance. I really liked Adler's character. I had a harder time liking Lahey., she was a little immature and selfish-which I know is representative of the age, but a little over the top for me. She had some funny moments but there wasn't enough development to help me be invested in her character. I was rooting for Adler even though Lahey was the MC. A nice quick read.

A very cute romcom for the ya crowd. This is one of those books where you start reading and you've finished before know it and it's been hours since you sat down. This book had a ton of representation from a fluffy main character as well as an LGBT+ side character. It was a blast to read!

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
While the premise was okay, this book fell short for me.
Lahey told her cousin Summer she would bring a date to her birthday party. Even though Lahey is a matchmaker she has never had a date herself. So begins he quest to find a date in less than a week to show up her cousin.
The problem with this book is that Lahey sucks. I'm sorry but there is no other way to put it. She sucks, there is nothing likable about her. Every match she has made has been founded out lies, she lies to all of her potential dates, she is a lousy friend and sister. Even the ending feels undeserved.
The guy at the end is predictable from the start and honestly he deserves better.
Lahey just wasn't a main character whose journey I could care about when she just sucked.

Probably the BEST YA Romance I've read in a long long time!

Kelsey Rodkey really nailed this one and I'm not even holding the Gritty talk against her any more...but Iceburgh is still superior. I laughed and cried and cheered for everyone in this book.

Lahey is 17, plus sized, the middle child and a matchmaker. She's never matched herself though. Her cousin Summer is her #1 nemesis and even though she set that aside to match-make Summer with her now boyfriend the rivalry is strong as ever. In Lahey's latest quest to best Summer she launches on a week-long journey to finally find a date. Proving Summer wrong and having a date to Summer's b'day party is the ultimate EFF U in Lahey's life right now. Enter Alder, Lahey's older sister's best friend and secret crusher of Lahey for who knows how long. Alder gets to spend the whole week rescuing Lahey from all the problems she creates for herself.

This is a story of growth and understanding. I really hope there is more because I'm dying to see what happens with Liberty and Sophia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Children's books for the opportunity to read and review this story.

#PlusOne #KelseyRodkey #YARomance
#YABooks #YARomanceBooks #PlusSizedMFC
#ARCReview #NetGalley #HarperCollinsChildrensBooks
#YAContemporary #YAContemporaryRomance
#BestYAInALongTime

TW// brief mention of racism, brief sexism, fatphobia, mentions of divorce, minor car accident

Plus One is a super cute and enjoyable YA rom com. It follows a hectic week in Lahey’s life as she tries to find a date to her cousin’s birthday party. On her disastrous meet ups with potential dates, Lahey keeps bumping into Adler, her older sister’s best friend, and Adler doesn’t seem to want to leave Lahey alone.

I loved the pacing and writing style in this story. Kelsey Rodkey has a way with words that made me lose track of time while I was reading Plus One. I was sucked in from the first page and I couldn’t stop reading to find out what would happen next.

The representation in this book was wonderful. There’s a plus sized main character in Plus One and lots of the conversations surrounding Lahey’s weight were done really well. We need more young adult books with plus sized leads where teens can see themselves reprsented in the pages of the books that they’re reading. There were numerous LGBTQ+ side characters as well. The LGBTQ+ side characters were wonderful additions to the story and I loved how much time Lahey spent trying to make the LGBTQ+ relationships work out for her friends and family.

Lahey was my only problem with this book. I found her annoying at first and I couldn’t place my finger on why, but then it hit me: Lahey cares only about herself for the majority of the book and everyone in her life suffers because of it. I wish Lahey had more redeemable qualities throughout the book. With all the disasters she caused throughout the story, I wouldn’t have been suprised if no one forgave her for her actions. Luckily it’s the minor characters who carry the book. Adler is the highlight of this story. He’s a kindhearted yet funny guy who has really entertaining banter with Lahey. Poppy and Liberty were both fantastic, too, but I wish the story would’ve highlighted them more because I feel like whole books could be written about their love lives.

I really enjoyed this book despite my issues with Lahey. Plus One has the potential to be the next popular YA hit like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before or The Kissing Booth. I can’t wait to read more of Kelsey Rodkey’s books. Hopefully her other two are just as great as this one.

Desperate to one-up her cousin, Lahey spends the week going on bad dates to prove she can get a guy to take her to her cousin's birthday party.

Lahey has a one-track mind and ends up messing up with her sisters, her best friend, and her next-door neighbor Adler.

Thank goodness for the apology tour and the growth Lahey showed. I was worried that there were parts of her character that weren't going to be redeemable. She often came across as selfish and petty. It wasn't a good look for her.

I wish there was more romance in the book. There were little clues throughout the book that were leading up to the end, but I felt like Lahey's feelings came out of nowhere. Almost as if she liked him simply because he said he liked her first.

When the book ended, I feel like we were left hanging a bit. Overall it was a cute story, but it didn't give me the feels like I wanted.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Teen for allowing me to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Plus One is a very quick read. I was able to blast through the story in about a day and a half. While the pacing was good and kept my attention, overall, Plus One is an okay Young Adult read.

Lahey is matchmaker who has never been in a relationship herself. When she has a bit of a blow out with her cousin Summer, Summer thinks Lahey will go to a party without a date and Lahey is going to try setting herself up with one.

There is good plus-size rep. I'm a fluffy woman myself so it's always nice to read about a main character with self-confidence with her body type. Sadly, I wasn't a fan of Lahey. I had trouble connecting with her and the other characters. I did like the romance, it is cute and sweet. As much as I wanted to like Plus One, as a whole, I think this one wasn't a match for me. I do still plan on checking out Kelsey Rodkey's previous books. Maybe I'll have a better experience with those instead.

3 stars

Quick Premise:
Lahey is *the* matchmaker for her friends and classmates -- the classic "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" but for 17-year-olds haha. When her snobby cousin Summer tells Lahey that she didn't give Lahey a "plus one" for her sweet sixteen the next weekend, Lahey is determined to find a date to prove her cousin wrong. Lahey has dates with six potential dates but her sister's bestie Adler constantly shows up on her dates, seemingly having fun with this front-row seat. Lahey also grapples with both internalized and societal fatphobia, which contributes to her own mini coming-of-age journey.

Thoughts:
Maybe I'm a romance expert by now but without revisiting the premise, I knew immediately who Lahey would end up with! Anyway, each of the six dates were actually quite entertaining! It reminded me a bit of the movie Hitch with Will Smith and how he coaches his clients to become whatever their love interest wants. Lahey does the same for her friends and herself -- in Taylor Swift terms, she is a "mastermind" and basically plays to the things she knows about her dates. However, I appreciated her journey towards shedding all of that and just being confident enough in herself and finding someone who wants her authentic self too!

Again, the romance between Lahey and ______ was pretty obvious to me from the start but maybe it won't be for others? It didn't necessarily spoil or ruin the book for me but it made me much less invested in any of the other interactions haha.

This was an easy and enjoyable enough read, and I really appreciated the covertly and overtly fatphobic comments or behavior, because I really don't think many people recognize their own bias as much as we'd like to think so! I hope this illuminates that bias for young adult readers, and if anything, it's a good primer for what NOT to say about others' bodies. Let's stop commenting on each others' bodies, yeah?

PLUS ONE follows Lahey, who is challenged by her cousin to bring a date to Summer's Sweet 16 but ends up having a difficult time finding someone to go with her. This was not my favorite Kelsey Rodkey book, unfortunately. I loved her debut, but this and her last one weren't quite up to par with LAST CHANCE BOOKS. Lahey was a hard character to feel bad for because she was selfish and extremely competitive through the whole book; there was very little character development, so it seemed like she had no redeeming qualities to make her likable. Throughout the book, there is mention of how she was a sweet, giving person before she started the dating drama, but we don't see any of that firsthand in the book. She constantly takes advantage of her friends and family and considers them to be in the wrong or against her if they don't do something she wants, or if she does something wrong and doesn't admit fault. I did appreciate that Lahey was an older teenager and hasn't had a relationship/been in love; we don't see that too often so I liked that that was part of her character. This was an okay book, but it was frustrating that our main character was so unlikable for so much of the book.

Lahey was a bit of a mess and slightly frustrating but I truly enjoyed watching her grow. This relationship was very cute and I am very glad that I was able to receive this book. Thank you NetGalley!

Lahey Johnson needs a date to her cousin's birthday party, and desperately.
Adler, is Lahey's older sister's BFF and their next door neighbor.

It's a cute YA rom com. Lahey is a hot mess and Adler is there for her throughout it.

This was a fun, quick read! I loved Lahey’s dedication to her friends and family, always wanting them to be happy. I also love stories where the MC is dedicated to finding others love but feel they aren’t worth their own then go on a journey to self-love and acceptance to see their own work in love. I love Lahey and Adlers dynamic from the start. An annoyance turned love in life always makes the best romances!!! (isn’t that a trope?? lol) I loved seeing how Adler and Lahey are the best versions of themselves with one another, and are able to find happiness and fulfillment with each other (not necessarily IN each other). I loved the shenanigans, the character growth, the sweetness, and the fun.
Thank you for the ARC!!!