The Adultery Diet

by Eva Cassady

Cheat on your husband, not on your diet!

Eva Cassady is stuck in a marriage that's completely lost its luster. She's even envious of her twenty-year-old daughter, living la vie Parisienne (complete with les condoms) in France for a year. Somewhere inside, Eva knows she's still a woman with dreams and desires -- but her whole dull, status-quo existence can be summed up by the tyrannical numbers on her bathroom scale. At 176 pounds, is she just one more invisible, middle-aged woman who will never inspire lust in a man again?

Then fickle fortune -- via her job -- puts Eva back in touch with Michael Foresman, her passionate lover one unforgettable college spring break. Michael seems trés interested in meeting up and rekindling some old sparks, but she can't possibly let him see her the way she looks now. With reborn fantasies burning through her blood, Eva starts dieting and exercising like a woman possessed...by passion.

With the pounds dropping away, Eva feels as if twenty years have rolled back as well. She feels young, sexy, desirable...and when Michael arrives, he obviously agrees. So now Eva has to make a choice. When a diet promises to change your life, just how big a change do you really want to make?

To every woman who has ever craved a spoonful of ice cream or agonized over the minefields of romance, this book is for you. It's witty, it's wonderful, it's smart and perceptive. The Adultery Diet is a light-hearted but emotionally honest look at life, love, letting go...and, of course, losing weight.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Womens Fiction, Adult Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2007

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me want to work out! Great read for self-motivation. Entertaining & not easy to put down.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eva Cassady (the character, not the author...I think) is a 44 year old married career woman who has to contact an old boyfriend as part of a project at the magazine for which she writes. This contact blossoms into first an on-line, then a physical affair with this old flame. She won't meet him at first because she's gained so much weight since they last met, but the possibility of being with him again provides the incentive for her to change her life - exercising and eating the bare minimum - until she's lost the excess weight...thus, the adultery diet.
I'm not sure if this is autobiographical or if the author simply didn't have enough imagination to choose a different character name. Eva loses weight at a rapid, unhealthy (almost impossible for a 44 year old woman) rate and her life spins out of control. I gave it two stars because it had some LOL moments and the ending wasn't bad, but it was somewhat torturous to read the whole thing - a bit predictable and egotistical. I wouldn't recommend it unless you had nothing else to read on your list.

[Mojca · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are plenty of better chick-lit out there (and this from someone who isn't exactly a fan of the genre).

A cliched, cringe-worthy tale of a forty-something career woman cum wife becoming disillusioned with her life, and using a prospective (old) lover as an excuse to diet and change her life around.

Which could've worked if it wasn't for the cheating part. I truly hoped she wouldn't go through with it, and when she did, it just ruined more an already rather bad book. Sure, she had a log for a husband, but there are plenty of such women out there. Women who decide to diet for themselves, to make them feel better, to make them give a new energy to embark on the quest of making their husbands notice them once more. And many of those women do no cheat on their logs of a husband. And those who do, their logs don't just take them back.

[Martha Wewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Not my favorite but it was a quick, easy and entertaining read. It did make me want to work out and that, in itself, is a miracle.

[Alexandra]

Funny airplane read. I learned that in order to lose weight you need to desire this above the food you crave.

[Victoria Stöger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lo leí porque me lo regalaron... Nunca mas voy a leer por compasión

[Teolinda Stark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Att läsa denna på engelska var verkligen enkelt och inspirerar till att läsa fler böcker som kanske inte utgetts på svenska än.
Denna läste jag dock som e-bok och den versionen jag fick tag på var kanske inte den allra bästa.
Vid hela två tillfällen gick den tillbaka säkert 50 sidor och eftersom jag emellanåt slutat läsa och tagit upp boken ett par dagar senare tog det båda gångerna en liten stund innan jag fattade att Eva väger 5 kg mer nu.
Detta har ju egentligen inget med handlingen att göra men det tröttade liksom ut mig.

Annars gillade jag själva konceptet och till en början tyckte jag att den var riktigt rolig och lägg till lättläst på detta.
Trodde ett tag att den skulle kunna bli en fullpoängare men så blev det lite tragiskt när drömmar blev till verklighet.
Ibland är det bättre att låta fantasierna leva kvar i sin värld, det blir väldigt sällan så bra som man redan har det.

Betyg: 4 tappade kilon av 5

[Shani Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have been better had it been 100 pages shorter. I felt like it wasn’t edited.

[Georgine · Rating 3 out of 5]

different but good

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I didn't know what to expect but it looks at how stagnate a marriage can get and how a change in perspective can change you.

[Daniela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watch out: If you're in your 40's, unhappy with the way you look and decide to lose some weight, you will become the wet daydream of all men, develop anorexic tendencies, and end up having an affair with an old flame.

At least according to this book. And the author manages to write about it all in an entertaining way, that towards the end turns a bit into sadness.

An entertaining read though!

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eva is very unhappy with her life, her daughter Chloe has just moved to Paris, her husband David doesn't really set her world alight, she is in her 40s, her job has become humdrum,she is overweight and she is fed up.
Until that is, the day where an old ex boyfriend from her youth, Michael Foresman a now successful architect is a prospective interviewee for her home decorating magazine job.
All of a sudden she is in a flurry of excitement as she exchanges emails and in her preparation to look her best for this upcoming interview and to show him she still looks good she embarks on a new way of life, a health kick, gym membership and a strict diet.
Her husband is confused but goes along with it as Eva's behaviour gets wildly out of control.
Things are now at the point where she is seriously considering an affair with her ex lover.
Will she go through with it? Has she hit the point of no return and is blind to the disastrous consequences for her family life and marriage?
Or does she still have time to pull back and stop this "adultery" diet?
A great chick lit and rom com full of witty one liners and an engaging storyline that is a fresh and light read so is perfect fare for summer reading.

[K.A. Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the record, this is not my typical genre that I like to read. I was trying something new. And truly, I feel like I was misled by the chocolates on the cover. They made me hungry. But I didn't love the book. In fact, I can't even say I liked it. The final scenes were good, but the rest was just, blah. I appreciated that at the end, when her marriage implodes, she writes a funny diet book that teasingly alludes to how cheating can make you skinny. But it's not really the cheating on your spouse, it's more about letting yourself be selfish for a while, to prioritize your health, your need for exercise and good, tasty, food that gives you the nutrition you need. Because women are trained to put themselves last as mothers and wives. Something Eva learned and then wanted to help other women learn as well. Definitely too far into the realm of women's fiction for me. But you never know, you just might like it.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were having a dinner party, as dinner conversation Eva Cassidy would be able to explain her theory on how fantasying and setting fantasy goals can help an individual lose weight. Although, I don't think she would be inclined to eat anything that I would serve that night!

This book was a cute and light-hearted read offering an interesting take on her diet method. Although I think I will stick to my running and eating healthy, I can see what she considers motivation and how that might help. This would be a good summer beach read.

[Lauran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, light-hearted and very enjoyable. The author is very accurate in her views on why women do what they do. It's a quick and easy book to read, but one who a good base that will stick with me for a while. Remember ladies, cheat on your husbands, not on your diets. =] Of course throughout the entire book I was REALLY hoping she wouldn't actually go through with cheating on her husband, but then what kind of story would that leave us with?

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this book. I picked it up from the library, expecting it to be another so-so chick lit book. Eva Cassady is a good writer. The book had several quotes in it that I loved, like "Flirtation is the married woman's cocaine." How great is that? The protagonist is a married 44-year-old woman, so I could relate. The characters were real, the situations more real than your typical romance, and there was plenty of humor. I will be looking for more of hers.

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very original topic. Instead of chapters she separates the parts with her weight. Even tough I've never really care about my weight I could relate a lot to the need of feeling liked again, the need for excitment, etc. But it is also a good reminder that past loves need to stay at that, in the past.

[Tasneem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, funny and inspiring book. Eva takes control of her life, her body and her weight, but loses who she really is in the process. But by being true to herself, by wanting a future, not just a past, she reclaims her life. I found the idea of wanting to look good for an old boy-friend very real. We've all been there, wanting to impress someone we've not seen in years.

[DayZee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit confused as to how I feel about this book. On one hand, it motivated me to want to work out and lose weight but on the other hand her reasons for losing the weight made me dislike the character. And the ending felt a bit rushed as if the author just wanted to be done with the book. All in all, I did enjoy reading this though I don't think I will dwell on it much now that I'm done with it.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a article once about how some writers were getting their first published work by writing pseudonymously for a YA publisher, and I'm wondering if something similar happened here, since Eva Cassady is the name of both the author and the narrator, and events occur in the story that seem pretty meta.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. But I also thought the author made some insightful statements about how women tend to lose themselves in their roles as wives and mothers. The main character revives some of her old dreams and changes her life.

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first treats the subject of adultery with grace and humor (if that's possible!); every over-40 woman could probably identify with some aspects of Eva, the main character. The book then turns more serious.

[Daphne Atkeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book will sell. Despite the demise of chick-lit, this 40-something version was a delightful read. Cleverly written, fresh, great characters that jumped off the page. Really a remarkable debut book. A lovely piece of light reading that finesses the cliche of a woman's mid-life crisis.

[Katie Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this while on vacation and it was the perfect beach read. Original story idea about a very popular topic, dieting. It was easy to relate to the main character, and I enjoyed reading about her journey.

[Ellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A typical chick-lit read - with an interesting concept (she loses weight after she starts an affair with a former flame)! Written with humor, the feelings of the main character are easy to relate to and kept me entertained.

[LapeerDistLib · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who hasn’t wondered about past loves and what would happen if we were to meet up with them again? When Eva’s lost love wanted to meet with her, she decided something needed to change first… her weight. A fun read! ~ LDL Librarian

[Kerry Crisley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent plane/beach read for fans of the "makeover" genre. If you enjoyed Jemima J in your 20s you may like The Adultery Diet in your 40s. Eva is not the most endearing heroine, but that probably makes her a more realistic one.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a woman name Eva in her 40's she is married to a nice men who loves to workout, feeling old and over weight with a daughter off to college. Eva needs a change and when she finds out she will be interviewing an ex- lover things start to change. This book is a quick read!!!!

[Jess]

For a chick lit book, it surprised me with the infusions of higher-level writing enveloped in the premise of a lonely middle-aged woman looking to recapture her youth.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

fluff