Big Date Energy

LoveReading Says

The heroine of Big Date Energy, Fran Baker, is going to be your favourite companion through the art of fucking around. I loved Fran. I wanted to date Fran. I also wanted to date (almost) everyone Fran dated. What can I say, greedy bisexuals have good taste. 

At its heart, Big Date Energy contains a perfect romcom story of Fran going on a dating TV show where she is surprised by being matched with her childhood ex, Ivy. 

But along the way, this romcom is unusual and incredibly refreshing for a number of reasons.

Fundamentally, there’s the way it happily and radically spins the romcom assumption that ‘dates are always awful’. The reader gets to go on these exciting, varied, truthful dates with a great variety of human beings. And yes, we get to enjoy the sexy bits too (which are truly sexy! Thank God!) It made me feel less depressed about my own single era. 

Fran loves her hot fat body – as do the many sexy people she dates – and it’s a joy to be in her glamorous, unapologetic shoes. Rutter does a lovely job of having brief moments where the toxic comments of losers are acknowledged, but Fran never stops it from feeling herself, nor from revelling in moments of pure connection with other beautiful plus-sized babes, making this book feel like a gorgeous body-positive utopia. 

Like all great protagonists, Fran is lovably flawed (oh, to be TOO much of a main character!), but something I really appreciated was the way Rutter is able to write Fran as a character who generally has complete confidence in herself, and in her ability to make the decisions that are best for her, even if they’re seen as unconventional by friends or family. 

But the thing I enjoyed the MOST about this book was the voice. It’s so rare to read a novel that feels truly like a beloved friend telling you about their silly lil antics, but this truly captures the exuberant and loving ways in which best people talk with each other. I giggled away throughout. 

Fans of Bethany Rutter will be obsessed with this. I hope everyone buys it literally now! 

Billy Lindon

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