Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.
Content Warning: Mentions of food in detail and one scene that describes induced vomiting.
This was awesome! I was worried when I saw it had a plus-size main character, would it be focused on dieting and wanting to lose weight? How wrong I was to worry!
Bluebelle or BB to her friends in the fat positive (screw this thin person only 'body positive' bullshit) heroine that teen girls need! Even her thin younger sister Dove doesn't fit conventional feminine stereotypes of boys and make-up either. Instead she is a badass free-runner.
The side characters were an interesting bunch as well, Alicia was a nightmare, exactly the sort of person you don't want as a friend or boss. Max was a sweetheart. Dad seemed kind of useless but at least he was there for his daughters.
I loved that the book focused on the joys of food, both preparing and eating it. I thought the fact that it wasn't in traditional food diary format was a good thing. I feel like for a book about weight acceptance that the traditional format (e.g. breakfast - cereal etc) might be triggering for some people. I guess the mentions of food in general might be but at least it was pretty much all positive. There were maybe one or two foods that Bluebelle mentioned she didn't like but that was it. Oh the walkthrough on how to make yourself vomit in a childhood flashback was highly problematic in its detail.
Otherwise I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of numbers talk in general and Bluebelle's eventual gym attendance is for strength not, I repeat NOT weight loss. In fact on a return visit to the nurse at the end of the book Bluebelle is told she has lost weight and she replies that she doesn't care or that it doesn't matter, a scene that I absolutely love!
Laura's writing is fabulous though, it flows well, is beautifully descriptive - even foods I don't like/haven't tried I wanted to - and so so funny! Be careful reading the post Shepherd's Pie scene in a public places, you'll probably laugh out loud, it certainly had me grinning like a Cheshire cat.
5/5 stars.
Stef Out x
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