Miss Me with That: Hot Takes, Helpful Tidbits, and a Few Hard Truths

In this revealing debut, erstwhile Bachelorette Lindsay offers a blistering critique of the Bachelor franchise while reflecting on her racial identity, turbulent relationships, and life as a reality-TV personality. After becoming a fan-favorite contestant on season 21 of The Bachelor, Lindsay became the show’s first Black Bachelorette in 2017. In frank and fiery essays, she divulges previously undisclosed details about her experiences with the popular franchise (“where a white man openly expressing interest in a Black woman is a novelty”); recounts breaking out of her “privileged, parochial Christian bubble” and reckoning with racial injustice after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin (“I... took to the streets by myself”); and explores the hesitancy among African Americans to seek help for mental health while reflecting on how she reconciled her faith with the “taboo” decision to see a therapist (“I truly believe that God approves—but we have so much farther to go”). Regarding her season of The Bachelorette, Lindsay takes the franchise to task for its lack of diversity, catering to “the racist strain in its viewership,” and casting several men who didn’t date women of color, while also noting that her union with Bryan (a Latinx man) garnered less screen time than her breakup with the runner-up, Peter. Lindsay’s many fans will devour this entertaining exposé. Agents: Anthony Mattero and Alex Rice, Creative Artists. (Jan.)