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lmrivas54 's review for:
Weightless
by Kandi Steiner
I love YA stories and I love angsty stories. This is both, so I loved it! Rhodes, twenty-two year old personal trainer in Poxton Beach Country Club gym is a broken man, with past juvie records, product of abusive foster homes. Eighteen year old and recent high school graduate Natalie Poxton is recently heart-broken by her ex-boyfriend Mason and is having an identity crisis. She’s overweight and it is suddenly brought to her attention by her parents, friends and her ex’s new girlfriend who humiliates her with her brutal scorn. Her mother convinces her to try a personal trainer to get more healthy and maybe get her boyfriend back.
When Natalie arrives at the gym, she finds Rhodes, who was a senior in high school her freshman year. She was intimidated by him then and feels the same now. He has the body of a god but a scary scowl. Trainings are brutal, her new food regime leaves her hungry all the time, but it’s giving results. More than that, as she and Rhodes develop a friendship, he shores her up and she starts to love her exercises. Her motivation starts to be about her, not to win Mason back. She’s intrigued by Rhodes and subjects him to twenty questions all the time. Sometimes he rebuffs her, other times he answers. They are a unlikely pair, he’s a past juvie and she’s the step-daughter of the town’s richest man, descendent of the town’s funding family.
Their chemistry explodes and they get intimate. She gives Rhodes the recognition he needed and he gave Natalie the self-image she needed. You could say they were what each other needed. Natalie’s identity crisis is resolved as the days pass and her self image improves. Then life intrudes and they have to face the town, Nat’s parents and the people around them. There’s a huge plot twist towards the end that left me slack-jawed and it ties all the plot elements together. It was riveting, intriguing and compelling. There’s redemption, self-improvement and fulfillment in this book. I loved Rhode’s broodiness, he had a reason for it. His twin sister disappeared in mysterious circumstances three years back and he hasn’t been able to move on. Natalie has a big heart and a low self-esteem. She loves photography but didn’t have the gumption to face her parents about her academic goals. She cared about other’s opinions and now only cares about Rhodes. They helped each other a lot and were stronger because of their union. I rooted a lot for this couple!
When Natalie arrives at the gym, she finds Rhodes, who was a senior in high school her freshman year. She was intimidated by him then and feels the same now. He has the body of a god but a scary scowl. Trainings are brutal, her new food regime leaves her hungry all the time, but it’s giving results. More than that, as she and Rhodes develop a friendship, he shores her up and she starts to love her exercises. Her motivation starts to be about her, not to win Mason back. She’s intrigued by Rhodes and subjects him to twenty questions all the time. Sometimes he rebuffs her, other times he answers. They are a unlikely pair, he’s a past juvie and she’s the step-daughter of the town’s richest man, descendent of the town’s funding family.
Their chemistry explodes and they get intimate. She gives Rhodes the recognition he needed and he gave Natalie the self-image she needed. You could say they were what each other needed. Natalie’s identity crisis is resolved as the days pass and her self image improves. Then life intrudes and they have to face the town, Nat’s parents and the people around them. There’s a huge plot twist towards the end that left me slack-jawed and it ties all the plot elements together. It was riveting, intriguing and compelling. There’s redemption, self-improvement and fulfillment in this book. I loved Rhode’s broodiness, he had a reason for it. His twin sister disappeared in mysterious circumstances three years back and he hasn’t been able to move on. Natalie has a big heart and a low self-esteem. She loves photography but didn’t have the gumption to face her parents about her academic goals. She cared about other’s opinions and now only cares about Rhodes. They helped each other a lot and were stronger because of their union. I rooted a lot for this couple!