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casseyt's review
4.0
Fun, light and something most of us can recognise as something we do to ourselves too.
nissahh's review
5.0
Like every great story, it all began on Facebook.
Lexie Greene, an overweight college sophomore who works in an Irish pub needs to lose weight. Not only does she have to lose it for her sister wedding that is in six months, but she wants to lose weight for Bradley. Bradley, a guy that she met two months prior before the book begins, who Lexie is in love with; he will be her date for he sister wedding.
I love everything about this book. From the characters to the plot to the writing. Everything was magical. I relate to Lexie so much that it's scary. Everything she was thinking was how I was thinking. Especially want to lose weight because of some guy and not for myself (which didn't end well, the weight thing not the guy).
The relationships, I love them. I love how the author had Lexie try and start to repair the relationship between her mother and sister. Lexie making new friends at the gym, getting along with Betsy. The main course that is Bradley. OMG was they so cute together. If you could here the scream that emitted from my throat. I was so happy for Lexie and excited in general that I had to put the book down for a minute because I was fangirling so hard and needed to calm down before continuing.
I highly recommend this book, especially you want to some motivation if you're trying to lose weight. Well it worked for me and made me rethink the choices that I was making and it made me feel better. Because even though I know I'm not the only one thinking this way, it was nice to read about it in a book and see Lexie evolve and still feel a little insecure and growing confident each page.
So thank you Katie Cross for motivating me even more on my journey to weightloss. You don't know how much this means to me.
Lexie Greene, an overweight college sophomore who works in an Irish pub needs to lose weight. Not only does she have to lose it for her sister wedding that is in six months, but she wants to lose weight for Bradley. Bradley, a guy that she met two months prior before the book begins, who Lexie is in love with; he will be her date for he sister wedding.
I love everything about this book. From the characters to the plot to the writing. Everything was magical. I relate to Lexie so much that it's scary. Everything she was thinking was how I was thinking. Especially want to lose weight because of some guy and not for myself (which didn't end well, the weight thing not the guy).
The relationships, I love them. I love how the author had Lexie try and start to repair the relationship between her mother and sister. Lexie making new friends at the gym, getting along with Betsy. The main course that is Bradley. OMG was they so cute together. If you could here the scream that emitted from my throat. I was so happy for Lexie and excited in general that I had to put the book down for a minute because I was fangirling so hard and needed to calm down before continuing.
I highly recommend this book, especially you want to some motivation if you're trying to lose weight. Well it worked for me and made me rethink the choices that I was making and it made me feel better. Because even though I know I'm not the only one thinking this way, it was nice to read about it in a book and see Lexie evolve and still feel a little insecure and growing confident each page.
So thank you Katie Cross for motivating me even more on my journey to weightloss. You don't know how much this means to me.
wildflowerz76's review
4.0
I enjoyed this one. I think I got it free or cheap on the Kindle, so it started out as Gym Reading. But we were just at Disney and I finished my other book. I was into this one at the gym, so I finished it. It really read, especially in the end, as a textbook self-esteem story. You just knew what was going to happen. But I enjoyed reading it anyway.
mclaudia's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is a great book. Very unusual and emotional. Love the plot that gave me lots of subjects to think about. Struggling with compulsive eating and the tips are great.
matildai's review
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I don't remember when or how I came across this ebook (kobo), but I can finally cross off another kobo unread book from my list.
This book loses stars because I found the ending flat, and the bonus chapters pointless.
What I did love about this book was Lexie's transformation from ugly duckling to swan.
Yes, this is a story about a girl who loses weight, but it's not about losing weight or becoming a smaller size.
This is a story about a girl who finds herself again and learns her self-worth.
This book loses stars because I found the ending flat, and the bonus chapters pointless.
What I did love about this book was Lexie's transformation from ugly duckling to swan.
Yes, this is a story about a girl who loses weight, but it's not about losing weight or becoming a smaller size.
This is a story about a girl who finds herself again and learns her self-worth.
allandanybooks's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mamabookwyrm's review against another edition
4.0
Bon Bons to Yoga Pants is about learning to love yourself. Lexie is overweight and she knows it. Her mom and her sister are breathing down her neck for her to lose weight for her sister’s upcoming wedding. All this seems to do is make her want to eat more. She’s content as she is until she inadvertently asks her online crush, Bradley, to be her date. Now it seems imperative to lose weight before the wedding. She has just six months. The reader goes with her on her weight loss journey.
While this story is about an overweight woman trying to lose weight, I think it can be relatable to most women. Whether it’s not feeling good enough, having a tense relationship with family, grief or losing weight; there’s something in this novel for everyone. I loved watching Lexie’s journey. There is some great character development in the story. You not only have Lexie’s journey, but there is a cast of side characters that are engaging as well. I laughed, I smiled, I teared up. It definitely helped motivate me in the life changes I’ve been making.
Despite the somewhat deep subject the book touches on, it is fun and easy to read. And it definitely can be inspiring for the right person. I want more.
While this story is about an overweight woman trying to lose weight, I think it can be relatable to most women. Whether it’s not feeling good enough, having a tense relationship with family, grief or losing weight; there’s something in this novel for everyone. I loved watching Lexie’s journey. There is some great character development in the story. You not only have Lexie’s journey, but there is a cast of side characters that are engaging as well. I laughed, I smiled, I teared up. It definitely helped motivate me in the life changes I’ve been making.
Despite the somewhat deep subject the book touches on, it is fun and easy to read. And it definitely can be inspiring for the right person. I want more.
beesandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
While I enjoyed the overall message that Lexie embraces--loving herself, learning that she's good enough regardless of her appearance, and embracing a healthy lifestyle for herself only--the journey there was...not great. Knowing that this started as a Wattpad serial both makes it better and worse, because on the one hand it explains some of the disconnect between where Lexie starts and where she ends (which isn't totally covered by the various epiphanies she has about her weight loss journey) but it also doesn't excuse the unhealthy way weight and health are treated by all the characters, even the most health-positive ones.
As a short novel, it's understandable that a lot of the side characters don't have much development but some of them have...none. This might be resolved later in the series, I'm not sure (and I'm not sure I want to keep reading to find out) but especially Lexie's mother, sister, and Mira don't have much development. There's no cathartic moment where Lexie explains to her mother how her criticisms and beauty-centric health concerns continue to trigger her desire to binge eat, something that still happens in the last of only two real moments of interaction between Lexie and her mother described. Additionally, despite being the underlying focus for the novel's plot, Kenzie is given no personality traits outside of being skinny and obsessed with her wedding. "Sisterly bonding" is referred to several times by Lexie, but never seen after their first Zumba class.
Mira, though apparently planning all along to help Lexie discover her own happiness, does still focus heavily on the not-so-motivating parts of weight loss. She also has no character development whatsoever.
Rachelle and Bradley are the only side characters with any personality to speak of, revealing their vulnerable sides and supporting Lexie so long as what she does makes her happy. Even then, Lexie's descriptions of Rachelle are downright cruel and ultimately self-centric, as Lexie criticizes the weight she hates so much about herself and is convinced that Rachelle will somehow intervene in her diet and exercise program because Lexie takes anyone else's motivation to be healthy as a personal affront to her for much of the story.
The way Lexie describes herself when she's overweight, the way she rejoices in the particular features of weight loss, and the way she unhealthily goes about getting "healthy" are all...uncomfortable. First of all, the way she constantly describes her own body doesn't seem genuine but instead a poor attempt at understanding how an eating disorder (which is what Lexie has in the beginning and arguably the rest of the novel) affects one's mind. When she begins cutting calories, though there are smatterings of real health advice about buying the right kind of food and consuming the right calories, she engages in a lot of unhealthy behaviors that come dangerously close to encouraging disordered eating. I remember particularly a comment made by Mira that they should avoid eating before working out in the morning in order to double their losses, despite the fact that in general it's accepted that a protein filled snack or meal is good for providing the energy needed for exercise first thing in the morning. What's more, whenever Lexie does specify what she ate (outside of her meals with Bradley or Megan) it's always in small, unhealthy portions. A single yogurt cup, a banana, an orange... While these would be healthy snacks, Lexie repeatedly eats these as meals in order to keep her caloric intake dangerously low. Between that and her early binge eating, almost every description of food in the novel describes disordered eating.
Of course, the story of Lexie Green is her struggle with her bad relationship with food, but her "triumph" at the end isn't so much a triumph as a pendulum swing in the other direction, which was almost certainly not the intention of the author. If a little more care had been taken in emphasizing that Lexie IS consuming a healthy amount of calories, just altering what calories she's eating (which is heavily implied by references to "clean eating" and learning how to shop healthy) then I think the uncomfortable feeling I and other readers have gotten from this novel would be at least somewhat alleviated.
As a short novel, it's understandable that a lot of the side characters don't have much development but some of them have...none. This might be resolved later in the series, I'm not sure (and I'm not sure I want to keep reading to find out) but especially Lexie's mother, sister, and Mira don't have much development. There's no cathartic moment where Lexie explains to her mother how her criticisms and beauty-centric health concerns continue to trigger her desire to binge eat, something that still happens in the last of only two real moments of interaction between Lexie and her mother described. Additionally, despite being the underlying focus for the novel's plot, Kenzie is given no personality traits outside of being skinny and obsessed with her wedding. "Sisterly bonding" is referred to several times by Lexie, but never seen after their first Zumba class.
Mira, though apparently planning all along to help Lexie discover her own happiness, does still focus heavily on the not-so-motivating parts of weight loss. She also has no character development whatsoever.
Rachelle and Bradley are the only side characters with any personality to speak of, revealing their vulnerable sides and supporting Lexie so long as what she does makes her happy. Even then, Lexie's descriptions of Rachelle are downright cruel and ultimately self-centric, as Lexie criticizes the weight she hates so much about herself and is convinced that Rachelle will somehow intervene in her diet and exercise program because Lexie takes anyone else's motivation to be healthy as a personal affront to her for much of the story.
The way Lexie describes herself when she's overweight, the way she rejoices in the particular features of weight loss, and the way she unhealthily goes about getting "healthy" are all...uncomfortable. First of all, the way she constantly describes her own body doesn't seem genuine but instead a poor attempt at understanding how an eating disorder (which is what Lexie has in the beginning and arguably the rest of the novel) affects one's mind. When she begins cutting calories, though there are smatterings of real health advice about buying the right kind of food and consuming the right calories, she engages in a lot of unhealthy behaviors that come dangerously close to encouraging disordered eating. I remember particularly a comment made by Mira that they should avoid eating before working out in the morning in order to double their losses, despite the fact that in general it's accepted that a protein filled snack or meal is good for providing the energy needed for exercise first thing in the morning. What's more, whenever Lexie does specify what she ate (outside of her meals with Bradley or Megan) it's always in small, unhealthy portions. A single yogurt cup, a banana, an orange... While these would be healthy snacks, Lexie repeatedly eats these as meals in order to keep her caloric intake dangerously low. Between that and her early binge eating, almost every description of food in the novel describes disordered eating.
Of course, the story of Lexie Green is her struggle with her bad relationship with food, but her "triumph" at the end isn't so much a triumph as a pendulum swing in the other direction, which was almost certainly not the intention of the author. If a little more care had been taken in emphasizing that Lexie IS consuming a healthy amount of calories, just altering what calories she's eating (which is heavily implied by references to "clean eating" and learning how to shop healthy) then I think the uncomfortable feeling I and other readers have gotten from this novel would be at least somewhat alleviated.
reading_obsessively's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Net Galley for this book in exchange for an honest review.
Bon Bons to yoga pants was funny, engaging and most of all relatable.
Meet Lexie, an overweight girl in her 20's who has always turned to food instead of dealing with her emotions. Her dad died recently, her younger sister is getting married, and there's Bradley, her online crush who hasn't seen anything but her face...yet. Until he invites himself as her date for her sister's wedding. Lexie doesn't have a choice, along with her aunt, she signs up for weekly meeting with a health group. She needs to lose weight, she has 6 months.
Thanks to her aunt, her new friend Me and the Health and Happiness Society, she will learn so much more than how to count calories and her journey.
We either all have been a Lexie, or we know a Lexie. Either way, during her journey we feel the emotions with her. Desperation, embarrassment, motivation, determination and pride. Definitely a book I would recommend to anyone, but especially those who struggles with losing weight and emotional eating!
Bon Bons to yoga pants was funny, engaging and most of all relatable.
Meet Lexie, an overweight girl in her 20's who has always turned to food instead of dealing with her emotions. Her dad died recently, her younger sister is getting married, and there's Bradley, her online crush who hasn't seen anything but her face...yet. Until he invites himself as her date for her sister's wedding. Lexie doesn't have a choice, along with her aunt, she signs up for weekly meeting with a health group. She needs to lose weight, she has 6 months.
Thanks to her aunt, her new friend Me and the Health and Happiness Society, she will learn so much more than how to count calories and her journey.
We either all have been a Lexie, or we know a Lexie. Either way, during her journey we feel the emotions with her. Desperation, embarrassment, motivation, determination and pride. Definitely a book I would recommend to anyone, but especially those who struggles with losing weight and emotional eating!
renee_conoulty's review against another edition
5.0
What better way to celebrate my birthday than to sit down and finish reading this delightful book. Okay, so maybe not sit down, I listened to the audiobook so I may have roamed around the house and done the dishes.
The narrator was a great match to the main character and brought the story to life. I enjoyed spending time in this world and I'd like to get to know some of the other characters more. Luckily, this is the first book in the series, so I can.
I loved going along Lexie's weight loss journey with her and seeing her develop a deeper understanding of herself. I'm looking forward to reading/listening to more stories in this series.
The narrator was a great match to the main character and brought the story to life. I enjoyed spending time in this world and I'd like to get to know some of the other characters more. Luckily, this is the first book in the series, so I can.
I loved going along Lexie's weight loss journey with her and seeing her develop a deeper understanding of herself. I'm looking forward to reading/listening to more stories in this series.