Love at Full Tilt by Jenny L. Howe
on July 22, 2025
ISBN: 0593809106
Genres: Realistic Fiction, Romance
Format: Young Adult
Goodreads

Jenny L. Howe, the queen of plus sized rom coms, has done it again with her first YA romance, Love at Full Tilt. In their last hurrah before going to college, Lia invites her best friends, Tess and Issy, to help her compete in a scavenger hunt style competition at the most magical place on earth, Fableland (Disney World). Lia believes that the grand prize ($50,000) is the only thing that can free her from her suffocating parents and the life they have planned out for her, but tensions rise when her friends don’t take the competition seriously and Lia teams up with a handsome local, Mason.

Mason is a balanced match for Lia. She is loud – He is quiet. She is a dreamer – He is a realist. And though this romance takes place in less than a week, there is something about the setting and competitive atmosphere that makes this whirlwind insta-love feel believable. For a romance set at a Disney World-like theme park, Howe expertly crafts a sweet romance without letting it get too saccharine. Themes of abandonment, anxiety, and false assumptions are very present in the plot. Lia is aware that her friends have outgrown the Fableland magic that used to hold them together and struggles with feeling left behind as they get ready to go to college without her. Her mother has extreme anxiety that controls Lia’s entire life and even threatens to end the trip if Lia isn’t in constant contact with her. And instead of confronting the people she loves, Lia often assumes the worst and runs away.

Lia being plus sized (and this being prominently featured on the cover) will be a breath of fresh air for readers who need it most and will hopefully be a window for others to learn about the accessibility issues and harassment that people with bigger bodies too often face. Though there are mentions of having previously lost her virginity and one PG-13 make out session, the story is appropriate for the younger audience this may attract. There is a saturation of romcoms at the moment and many teens may not pick it up because of its setting, but Love at Full Tilt is worth purchasing to increase the body-diversity in your romance collection.

Reviewed by Ivy Burns, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth