Aaliyah is now dating intentionally, and chooses the new bar across the street from her apartment to have her first date with her coworker’s friend. Being stood up began her journey with a dating app.

The bartender, Ahmad, and she fall into conversation where he roasts her and gives her tips about her dating profile. He offers to keep an eye out for her, since one of her fears about dating is her safety.

Their banter had me laughing out loud and cheesing the whole time. I read this book in three days and want to reread it. 

Ahmad was not slick. I was like why is he this invested. The way their relationship develops, the way they slowly get more comfortable opening up, was *chefs kiss.*

This book also discusses fatphobia. It shows how supposedly well meaning sentiments are actually fatphobic talking points. It touches on the fetishization of fat women and “BBWs” and discusses the misconception people have that being fat automatically means undesirable and lesser than in some people’s mind.

The way Aaliyah’s family discusses matters regarding her without her was a lot. Her uncle was on some bullshit pretty much the entire time.

I was worried that at the end of the book, some of the conversations would be irrelevant because of how situations would resolve, but I was happily surprised that it ended how it did without taking away the messages from previous conversations.