Review--Skinny Me by Charlene Carr

Skinny Me by Charlene Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jennifer is overweight and miserable.  She has recently lost her mother and even more recently, her job.  After a party at her cousins house, she is feeling even more miserable about her life.  She decides to make a chand and finally lose some weight.  She joins a gym and when she finds out her trainer is her cousin, Autumn's hot boyfriend, it's all the motivation she needs.  If she loses the weight she knows she will be so much happier.  She just has to reach that goal weight.  But with so many other issues plaguing her life is this really what is going to make her happy?  Will lusting after someone she knows is taken make her happy?

I could relate to Jennifer in some ways.  There are days when I look in the mirror and am completely unhappy with my reflection.  Then there are other days when it is no big deal.  There are so many women with body image issues all over the world regardless if they are overweight or not.  It's good to see Charlene Carr tackling an issue such as this one.  Jennifer's issues were more than just the number on the scale and until she was ready to face those issues and deal with them head on.  Along the way she ends and mends relationships and finds the person her family always knew existed, but hadn't seen behind all of the anger.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley*


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Review--Jemima J by Jane Green

Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans by Jane Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jemima Jones is overweight.  She is aware of this fact and she's okay with it.  She loves models and magazines and frequently cuts out their pictures and tapes them to her wall.  Currently she writes the Top Tips for the Kilburn Herald in London.  She would like to right features, like her friend Geraldine, but right now, she enjoys "proofing" the copy.  She has a crush on another colleague, Ben Williams and occasionally, the three hang out.  Ben is crushing on Geraldine, while Jemima is crushing on him.   After an internet seminar given by the newspaper, the trio decides to check it out what all the internet hype is about for themselves.  When they find a chat room called Cafe LA, Jemima becomes JJ and her world is flipped upside down.

JJ meets Brad in the chatroom and after talking for a while, they exchange photos.  Brad is a hunk and JJ is smoking hot, but Jemima is not and before she agrees to meet Brad in person, she has to lose about 100 pounds.  With this goal Jemima sets out to join a gym and get a personal trainer and the weight falls off. Armed with a new body and a new attitude, JJ is off to LA to meet Brad.  Is he going to be the man in the pictures?  Will they fall madly in love and will she finally get the man of her dreams?

Many women can relate to Jemima J.  She is self conscious about herself and how the world perceives her.  I could see myself in her shoes.  I was afraid for her when she went to meet a man on the other side of the world that she had met on the internet.  I wanted Ben to see her as more than a friend.  I wanted her roommates to not be such idiots.  Jemima is a character that you can understand and root for.



Second Title in Take Control of Your TBR 2015.


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