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thefatpaperback's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
I would give this books a 3.5 ⭐️ 0 🌶
Tropes: single parent, forced proximity (neighbors), fake dating, slow burn romance
CW: alcohol, fatphobia, fat shaming, toxic relationships, emotional abuse by a parent/ controlling parent, diet culture, medical event
I’m this book Perci has always been the non adventurous, overweight people pleaser with a very controlling mom. We see her trying to figure out herself and what she wants out of life. We get to see her confidence improve and some self love. Her neighbor is a single dad and he trying to navigate raising his daughter and is afraid to open up. I did enjoy the build to their relationship and the dynamics with the little girl.
<<<<<< spoiler>>>>>>>
Where I struggled with this book was with how easy the mom had it with being forgiven. She controlled so much of her daughters life from what she wore, where she worked, who she was dating, and about what she ate that honestly I don’t think Perci was hard enough on her and the make up made it seem like she tried her hardest and loved them so much and because she cared and loved them so much she controlled them. That didn’t sit well with me, Perci immediately felt awful for how she handled communicating and the fight but her mom just ghosted her and probably would have forced Perci to come to her if it had not been the meddling Mimi to intervene.
I also struggled with the fat representation. It was trying to be ambiguous in the beginning by calling her curvy which as a fat person is code for good fat or acceptable fat. So honestly, I’m unsure if she is fat or if she just had more curves and would be medium sized representation. A lot of the fat community really does not want it to be ambiguous. We want to know if they are or are not because we have been erased for years.
So I have some mixed feelings on this book as a whole. It has some funny moments and cuteness in it but also just a lot of toxicity with the relationship with the mom so please be mindful of that.
I would give this books a 3.5 ⭐️ 0 🌶
Tropes: single parent, forced proximity (neighbors), fake dating, slow burn romance
CW: alcohol, fatphobia, fat shaming, toxic relationships, emotional abuse by a parent/ controlling parent, diet culture, medical event
I’m this book Perci has always been the non adventurous, overweight people pleaser with a very controlling mom. We see her trying to figure out herself and what she wants out of life. We get to see her confidence improve and some self love. Her neighbor is a single dad and he trying to navigate raising his daughter and is afraid to open up. I did enjoy the build to their relationship and the dynamics with the little girl.
<<<<<< spoiler>>>>>>>
Where I struggled with this book was with how easy the mom had it with being forgiven. She controlled so much of her daughters life from what she wore, where she worked, who she was dating, and about what she ate that honestly I don’t think Perci was hard enough on her and the make up made it seem like she tried her hardest and loved them so much and because she cared and loved them so much she controlled them. That didn’t sit well with me, Perci immediately felt awful for how she handled communicating and the fight but her mom just ghosted her and probably would have forced Perci to come to her if it had not been the meddling Mimi to intervene.
I also struggled with the fat representation. It was trying to be ambiguous in the beginning by calling her curvy which as a fat person is code for good fat or acceptable fat. So honestly, I’m unsure if she is fat or if she just had more curves and would be medium sized representation. A lot of the fat community really does not want it to be ambiguous. We want to know if they are or are not because we have been erased for years.
So I have some mixed feelings on this book as a whole. It has some funny moments and cuteness in it but also just a lot of toxicity with the relationship with the mom so please be mindful of that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Fatphobia
Minor: Death
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