Set on You by Amy Lea is a contemporary romance novel told from the point-of-view of Crystal Chen, a 27-year-old curvy fitness influence known as @CurvyFitnessCrystal on Instagram. Crystal develops a gym rival in the from of hot firefighter Scott, but there’s attraction beyond their playful pranks and banter. When they find out their grandparents are engaged, these two enemies become friends, and finally lovers.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you click on and/or purchase from some links, I make a portion of the sale. This helps keep Bitch Bookshelf running.
Find out more about how I review books here.
The summary, from Amazon:
One of SheReads’ Best Romance Books Coming in 2022!
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, they 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.
Buy Set on You here.
Crystal is a fitness influencer who describes herself as curvy or full-figured. She has 250,000 Instagram followers and her full time job is being an influencer and a trainer. She loves this job and has been embracing and spreading the messages of body positivity and self love for years. One day at the gym, she meets Scott, a hot firefighter who quickly becomes her gym rival when he “steals” her favorite squat rack. The two share a passionate make out after a heated argument, and then find out that their grandparents have become engaged. While there’s obvious chemistry between them, Crystal is still reeling from a recent break-up. Her ex used her as a rebound and then immediately got back together with his ex-girlfriend. Scott has also just gotten out of a relationship. Crystal can’t bring herself to fully trust Scott, so they decide to wait until the wedding, three months from his break-up date, to give things a shot.
Until then, the two form a close friendship, spending nearly every day together for a month. It quickly becomes evident that waiting for the three month window to pass will be impossible, and the two make their relationship official, even making their way through a major disagreement and worrisome situation within the first day. But when Crystal finally tells her followers about their relationship and posts a photo of her with Scott to her Instagram account, the two must deal with the results.
While the friendship and romance between Scott and Crystal was wonderful, the heart of this story is Crystal’s journey from pushing body positivity and self love for years to embracing new terms that she feels describe the message she wants to send in the healthiest, best way: body respect and self acceptance. One quote that really struck me was, “Confidence and love for yourself are ever-changing. I’m allowed to feel good sometimes, and not good at other times.” While self love is a beautiful concept, it’s true that we all have moments of struggle, and the current messages of body positivity and self love, though well intentioned and good at face value, can become toxic. We can’t always feel positive 100% of the time, and even if we love ourselves, we will experience moments of doubt and negativity. I also loved the message that when you have a partner, you don’t have to go through struggles like the one Crystal faces alone. When you are in a committed relationship, you are allowed to take that journey together and are still strong.
This was a really lovely read, and I’m so happy the publisher reached out to me to send me a copy in exchange for my honest review. Set on You will be released on May 10, and I highly recommend you preorder it here! I rate it 4 stars.
Find out more about how I rate books here.
Set on You by Amy Lea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I adored this contemporary romance novel, told entirely from Crystal’s POV, about two gym rivals who go from enemies to friends to lovers. The friendship and chemistry between Scott and Crystal was lovely, but ultimately Crystal’s journey as a fitness influencer from pushing a message of self love and body positivity to using new language that embraces more of a message of acceptance was the real stand-out.
Book Club Questions
- How do you feel about terms like “body positivity” and “self love”?
- Why does Crystal choose to embrace the terms “body respect” and “self acceptance” instead of the phrases she previously uses? Do you think these are better/healthier concepts? Why or why not?
- Describe the relationship dynamic between Crystal and Scott.
- Would you describe this as an enemies to lovers romance? What about friends to lovers? Both? Why?
- Have you ever dealt with online haters or bullies? How do or would you handle a situation similar to Crystal’s? Do you think the way she initially deals with it is best, or how she does at the end of the novel?
@daily.manifestationx romance readers unite! this one is available for preorder, or check out netgalley if you have an account #booktok #romancebooks #elfitup ♬ original sound – Marissa
