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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Sunny Side Up introduces a plus-sized, high-powered PR executive navigating life, love, and self-worth in the aftermath of a divorce. The novel aims to be empowering and body-positive, but much of Sunny’s journey feels emotionally shallow and often frustrating to witness.
Sunny seeks validation through external approval—especially from romantic and sexual attention—which at times seems to undercut the deeper message the book may be striving for. Her attraction patterns and dating behavior raise questions about authenticity, transparency, and how people from different socioeconomic backgrounds are portrayed and treated in relationships.
At its core, this is a story about a woman who struggles to know herself and what she truly wants. While some readers may see this as raw and relatable, others may find her choices self-sabotaging and difficult to sympathize with. The emotional growth is there, but it’s slow and, for some, might come too late to feel satisfying.
One of the standout elements of this experience was the audiobook narrator, Yael Rizowy, who delivers an engaging performance. Her dynamic use of accents—especially a distinctive New York voice for one of the central characters—adds depth and authenticity to the cast. Her narration elevated the overall experience and kept me engaged even when I was frustrated with the main character.
While Sunny Side Up brings up important issues around self-image, relationships, and empowerment, it sometimes muddles its message in surface-level choices and romantic entanglements that feel more reactive than reflective. That said, the fact that it stirs such strong emotions speaks to the power of the writing—even if my ultimate reaction was mixed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC. This is my honest review.
Sunny seeks validation through external approval—especially from romantic and sexual attention—which at times seems to undercut the deeper message the book may be striving for. Her attraction patterns and dating behavior raise questions about authenticity, transparency, and how people from different socioeconomic backgrounds are portrayed and treated in relationships.
At its core, this is a story about a woman who struggles to know herself and what she truly wants. While some readers may see this as raw and relatable, others may find her choices self-sabotaging and difficult to sympathize with. The emotional growth is there, but it’s slow and, for some, might come too late to feel satisfying.
One of the standout elements of this experience was the audiobook narrator, Yael Rizowy, who delivers an engaging performance. Her dynamic use of accents—especially a distinctive New York voice for one of the central characters—adds depth and authenticity to the cast. Her narration elevated the overall experience and kept me engaged even when I was frustrated with the main character.
While Sunny Side Up brings up important issues around self-image, relationships, and empowerment, it sometimes muddles its message in surface-level choices and romantic entanglements that feel more reactive than reflective. That said, the fact that it stirs such strong emotions speaks to the power of the writing—even if my ultimate reaction was mixed.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC. This is my honest review.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
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
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Oof.
For a book about women’s empowerment, this shit sure was male centered and shallow. Sunny is perfect in every way, with every part of life immediately being absurdly easy and awesome and perfectly enviable! She hires a new assistant and she’s immediately perfectly competent, and obsessed with sunny as a boss, and so awesome they go into business together for a start up Sunny makes up on a whim! That is immediately a huge success and gets funding from the very first investor they pitch after just a couple weeks of prep and planning! While running her other full time super successful biz that she totally loves and is awesome at too but this new start up is even more fun and fulfilling! And her friendships are perfect and her dogs are perfect and her apartment is perfect! And man after man she encounters in random scenarios is instantly besotted with her and falls all over themselves in love with her!
For a book about women’s empowerment, this shit sure was male centered and shallow. Sunny is perfect in every way, with every part of life immediately being absurdly easy and awesome and perfectly enviable! She hires a new assistant and she’s immediately perfectly competent, and obsessed with sunny as a boss, and so awesome they go into business together for a start up Sunny makes up on a whim! That is immediately a huge success and gets funding from the very first investor they pitch after just a couple weeks of prep and planning! While running her other full time super successful biz that she totally loves and is awesome at too but this new start up is even more fun and fulfilling! And her friendships are perfect and her dogs are perfect and her apartment is perfect! And man after man she encounters in random scenarios is instantly besotted with her and falls all over themselves in love with her!
But! There is conflict! What if some men don’t find her body type attractive?!! Gasp, horror oh no!!
While it occasionally drifts near a deeper thought about body acceptance and the energy women burn worrying about societal expectations for their body, this book overall is written in such a cheesy, clunky way that it reads more like bad Katie Sturino fan fiction than an actual novel. Hilariously you could quite literally affiliate link this damn book with all the brand names dropped every other sentence.
And hooooo boy don’t even get me started about this “plus size representation “ about a woman who has zero plus size friends, zero attraction toward plus size men, and constantly objectifies every man she crosses paths with… yikes. Plus size women are just potential customers/subscribers to her, but never real people in her story beyond her own experiences.
She’s so casually cruel to Dennis and careless with his feelings after being vulnerable with her, and selfishly excuses her behavior/choices that she’d never accept in return. And her hopeless lack of basic character judgment regarding her ex isn’t cute or relatable — it’s alarming.
Also her consistent self centered nature grated on me - being late to meet friends, not listening to and retaining details Dennis shared about his friends even after noting how much she appreciated him remembering her friends’ names — but one glaring example near the end when she ran into her Ex:
It was obvious his “new” gf Jess had no idea Zach had been dating> engaged> married to Katie during their relationship. She was not the “other woman” willingly participating in cheating — she was another victim getting two timed by narcissist Zach. Sunny clocks this, even calls Jess “the new me” — and then DOESNT WARN HER SHES BEEN PLAYED. Shes given a perfect and reasonable opportunity — when Jess says her and Zach have been together 2 years, sunny could easily say “wow that’s crazy because we were married up until 6 months ago!” But she says nothing. It’s an insane lack of empathy or solidarity toward this woman EVEN after acknowledging that she’s another victim of Zach’s. WTF?? This is the girls girl we’re rooting for??
Also her consistent self centered nature grated on me - being late to meet friends, not listening to and retaining details Dennis shared about his friends even after noting how much she appreciated him remembering her friends’ names — but one glaring example near the end when she ran into her Ex:
Maybe all that controversy over the writing credit is actually because the ghostwriter didn’t WANT credit for this one and just laughed their way to the bank 😆 (though I’m pretty sure it’s Amelia Diamond again, who also cowrote Body Talk and is thanked in the acknowledgements as “sharing a brain” instead of explicitly given credit for writing the book. )
P.S. the hilariously ridiculous speed and ease of her swimsuit line launch was just… oh I have no words 😆 full scale mass production (based in Astoria?!) with major retailer partnerships by Memorial Day… for an idea that started as initial sketches in February. They didn’t even try to make this a genuine entrepreneurship story — just more “Sunny is absolutely perfect at everything (despite being fat!)”
(Psst! You’re allowed to exist as a fat person even without multiple magical business success unicorns flying out of your ass! It can just be a thing you are that you don’t have to compensate for by being perfect perfect perfect in every other way!)
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes