While You Were Seething (publication day April 14, 2026) by Charlotte Stein is a cute, fat-positive, enemies-to-lovers hetero rom-com. The third book in a trio of standalones with some of the same characters (When Grumpy Met Sunshine, My Big Fat Fake Marriage), Seething features public relations professional Daisy Emmett and mega best-selling author Caleb Miller.
Daisy and Caleb went to college at the same time, in the same program, though he was several years older. He did become an author (she won’t admit to reading his books) but she stopped writing long ago, preferring instead to help shape narratives in a different way. When he gets into trouble by expressing his thought that true love is bunk, alienating his fans, his publisher calls Daisy to help rehabilitate his image through a book tour. They were enemies in college, always arguing about books and zombie movies, but what she remembers is that he cared about the same books she did, like Remains of the Day.
Gruff misanthrope Caleb doesn’t want to do this book tour, but if he does, it has to be on his terms, which means no airplanes, and he will drive. She has hired an actress to be his fake girlfriends for the tour, and he agrees, but can’t do it when the time comes on the first stop . . . because the actress is a thin woman . . . and that’s just not what he’s into! Daisy has dealt with being in the small cab of his truck with him, and now she is mistaken for his girlfriend. It’s not optimal, but better than no girlfriend at all. He drives her absolutely batty, especially when he takes more care with her than her real boyfriends ever did.
Caleb denies himself all pleasures–the best line to illustrate this is “You think waffles are frivolous pancakes.” He replies “Because they are. All that unnecessary fluff and patterning.” But Daisy enjoys eating and is not afraid for others to see that she does.
After lots of forced proximity, including in a small tent he just happened to have stashed in the truck, things turn pretty heated between them. And the world is cheering them on–at one stop they even encounter a fan with their likenesses on a T-shirt.
I thought some of the pacing was a little awkward, but the banter was great! As were the spicy scenes. All in all, it was fat positive with both the male and female main characters being fat–which was good to see. I recommend it if you like contemporary rom-coms and want something fat positive.
Reading While Fat 