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Confidence is the New Black #1
The Curvy Girls Club
Welcome to the club where size doesn't matter...
Meet best friends Pixie, Ellie, Katie and Jane. Fed up with always struggling to lose weight, they ditch the scales and start a social club where size doesn’t matter. At the Curvy Girls Club, confidence is the new black. Soon it’s the most popular place to be – having fun instead of counting carbs – and the women suddenly find their lives changing in ways they never imagined.
But the club can't stop real life from messing things up. Will these best friends manage to stick together through thick and thin?
Meet best friends Pixie, Ellie, Katie and Jane. Fed up with always struggling to lose weight, they ditch the scales and start a social club where size doesn’t matter. At the Curvy Girls Club, confidence is the new black. Soon it’s the most popular place to be – having fun instead of counting carbs – and the women suddenly find their lives changing in ways they never imagined.
But the club can't stop real life from messing things up. Will these best friends manage to stick together through thick and thin?
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 24, 2014
919 people are currently reading
2118 people want to read
About the author
Michele Gorman
33 books368 followersMichele writes books packed with heart and humor, best friends and girl power. She also writes cozy comedies under the pen-name Lilly Bartlett. Lilly’s books are full of warmth, romance, quirky characters and guaranteed happily-ever-afters.
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She is both a USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author, raised in the US and living in London with her husband.
Three-emails-a-year NEWSLETTER here: http://eepurl.com/dr5RGX #prizes #freecontent #giveaways
FACEBOOK here: https://www.facebook.com/MicheleGorma...
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MicheleGormanUK
INSTAGRAM:
https://www.instagram.com/michelegorm...
She is both a USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author, raised in the US and living in London with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 275 reviews
November 9, 2021
This is a great easy holiday read with a high feel good factor. It does have some ups and downs but overall you finish the book feeling great.
Everyone who battles with their weight and goes from one diet to the next should read this.
At time of posting this title is available on Kindle Unlimited.
Everyone who battles with their weight and goes from one diet to the next should read this.
At time of posting this title is available on Kindle Unlimited.
August 21, 2015
5 Words: Friendship, fun, love, betrayal, prejudice.
This was such a fun and flirty and feel-good novel. It's a story that makes you laugh and fume and want to cry - it's a bit of a roller-coaster.
The characters were fantastically written, they were all so real and normal.
I identified a lot with Katie, the main character. I felt so happy, angry, sad, elated, all on her behalf. I just wish the the whole Katie-Rob thing had worked from the start. Her infatuation with the office man-slut annoyed me a little though, especially when everyone else, including the reader, could see that there was a much better man for her, just waiting for her to notice him.
I really disliked Pixie. She was, put simply, a bitch. A complete and utter bitch.
This is feel-good at its best, passionate and well-written.
If you're looking for something to escape into, to make you feel great about yourself, and to have a laugh, pick this up.
This was such a fun and flirty and feel-good novel. It's a story that makes you laugh and fume and want to cry - it's a bit of a roller-coaster.
The characters were fantastically written, they were all so real and normal.
I identified a lot with Katie, the main character. I felt so happy, angry, sad, elated, all on her behalf. I just wish the the whole Katie-Rob thing had worked from the start. Her infatuation with the office man-slut annoyed me a little though, especially when everyone else, including the reader, could see that there was a much better man for her, just waiting for her to notice him.
I really disliked Pixie. She was, put simply, a bitch. A complete and utter bitch.
This is feel-good at its best, passionate and well-written.
If you're looking for something to escape into, to make you feel great about yourself, and to have a laugh, pick this up.
February 5, 2015
I am not a fan of chicklit but read this book for my book club. I expected a light rom com about losing weight and finding love with a couple of Lol moments. How wrong was I? This is a must read book for every girl aged 8 to 88. This book has made me rethink my attitude to diets and weight loss and people's perception to being overweight. I am sure that every female can identify with something in this book and it is a credit to Michele Gorman that this book tackles this weighty issue with such compassion and humour. 4.5 stars from me.
February 21, 2021
(4.5 stars)
I've just recently discovered Michele Gorman and she's becoming one of my favorite authors! I'm looking forward to reading another of her books.
I've just recently discovered Michele Gorman and she's becoming one of my favorite authors! I'm looking forward to reading another of her books.
April 7, 2015
I enjoyed this book - maybe bececause I am a fully paid up member of Slimming World. Some great characters. Read it whilst working out on the cross trainer on my kindle - certainly made the time go faster.
January 2, 2015
The Curvy Girls Club is the first book which I have read by Michele Gorman. As I progressed through the book, one thought kept flashing back at me in my mind. "How the hell haven't I read anything from this woman before?!?" I loved her style, her smooth, easy flow that she had going on, and of course, the constant feeling of being in the midst of a very lovely group of friends. Michele introduces us to Katie, Pixie, Ellie and Jane, four bubbly, cheery women. Their story begins during a Slimming World meeting, and Pixie, the loud one, announces that she no longer wants to attend Slimming World. She explains that she's sick of the calorie-counting and the waistline-watching, and together, the women decide to still get together, but to do something else, something fun. From that, an idea blossoms into The Curvy Girls Club, and before they know it, Katie, Ellie, Jane and Pixie are being joined by curvy girls and men from all over the place.
Michele's characters were sensational, and I took a particular liking to Katie, who just happened to be who's narrative the book sticks to as the story progresses. Each of the women had their own difficulties going on in life, which gave it a busy, exciting atmosphere that I never once grew tried of. There was always something fabulous to look forward to! Katie was such an endearing person. As all of the women were, she was on a mission to lose weight. Being bullied because of her weight when she was younger, Katie mocked herself with the words 'fat Katie' and was constantly aware of the fact that she was a bigger woman. Pixie was, in the nicest way possible, the loud one! She wasn't afraid to say what she thought, and I got the impression that she was most definitely not a pushover! Pixie's own life besides Slimming World was one that wasn't easy to deal with. Issues between herself and her husband began to really take their toll on Pixie as the story moved forward, and I could see it practically weighing her down. At times, Pixie could be sharp and it came across as meanness, but there was all good reason for this. She was stressed and angry, and it was completely understandable. Ellie, another of the lovely ladies, was adorable, if a little suspicious of her perfect boyfriend Thomas. After Thomas begins spending a lot of time with his best friend, who just happens to be a female, Ellie can't contain her suspicion any longer and pulls Katie in on the mission to find out what's going on. And last but by no means least, Jane. Jane is one of those dieters who are always looking for the next diet pill or piece of magic to help lose the pounds. When she finally finds one that seems to be working, her friends become worried and try to decide what the best course of action is, before it's too late.
There was so much going on in this book, it was impossible to put it down and turn away from it. I felt completely and utterly involved in how the four women's lives were going to play out, and worried about each of them equally. It didn't take long for me to regard the women as my own friends, and their well-being became important to me. With all of this going on, and while I was completely hooked, problems arose in the plot that gripped me even further. The Curvy Girls Club was a chaos of real-life issues dealt with in the most ladylike way, involving four of the most lovely, genuine women I've ever met. Weight was a major theme within this book, and it really opened my eyes to how much what we see can deceive us. Appearance isn't everything, and I think the journey that Katie, Ellie, Jane and Pixie are taken on, in the end, proves that to them.
I loved this book. Truly, truly loved it. It was not only funny and charming, but I feel like I've learnt a valuable lesson from it. Life does not revolve around your appearance, it's the person inside who counts. Becca's Books is rating The Curvy Girls Club by Michele Gorman with four gorgeous cupcakes! The perfect girly read to curl up with, with a hot mug of tea in the other hand!
Michele's characters were sensational, and I took a particular liking to Katie, who just happened to be who's narrative the book sticks to as the story progresses. Each of the women had their own difficulties going on in life, which gave it a busy, exciting atmosphere that I never once grew tried of. There was always something fabulous to look forward to! Katie was such an endearing person. As all of the women were, she was on a mission to lose weight. Being bullied because of her weight when she was younger, Katie mocked herself with the words 'fat Katie' and was constantly aware of the fact that she was a bigger woman. Pixie was, in the nicest way possible, the loud one! She wasn't afraid to say what she thought, and I got the impression that she was most definitely not a pushover! Pixie's own life besides Slimming World was one that wasn't easy to deal with. Issues between herself and her husband began to really take their toll on Pixie as the story moved forward, and I could see it practically weighing her down. At times, Pixie could be sharp and it came across as meanness, but there was all good reason for this. She was stressed and angry, and it was completely understandable. Ellie, another of the lovely ladies, was adorable, if a little suspicious of her perfect boyfriend Thomas. After Thomas begins spending a lot of time with his best friend, who just happens to be a female, Ellie can't contain her suspicion any longer and pulls Katie in on the mission to find out what's going on. And last but by no means least, Jane. Jane is one of those dieters who are always looking for the next diet pill or piece of magic to help lose the pounds. When she finally finds one that seems to be working, her friends become worried and try to decide what the best course of action is, before it's too late.
There was so much going on in this book, it was impossible to put it down and turn away from it. I felt completely and utterly involved in how the four women's lives were going to play out, and worried about each of them equally. It didn't take long for me to regard the women as my own friends, and their well-being became important to me. With all of this going on, and while I was completely hooked, problems arose in the plot that gripped me even further. The Curvy Girls Club was a chaos of real-life issues dealt with in the most ladylike way, involving four of the most lovely, genuine women I've ever met. Weight was a major theme within this book, and it really opened my eyes to how much what we see can deceive us. Appearance isn't everything, and I think the journey that Katie, Ellie, Jane and Pixie are taken on, in the end, proves that to them.
I loved this book. Truly, truly loved it. It was not only funny and charming, but I feel like I've learnt a valuable lesson from it. Life does not revolve around your appearance, it's the person inside who counts. Becca's Books is rating The Curvy Girls Club by Michele Gorman with four gorgeous cupcakes! The perfect girly read to curl up with, with a hot mug of tea in the other hand!
March 15, 2016
So here's the thing. I initially read Michele Gorman when she was writing The Ex-Pat diaries. Something about those books spoke to me because I lived overseas and seriously considered for some time just relocating there permanently. This book really didn't jibe with me at all. I was bored reading it and honestly at times couldn't stand the other secondary characters.
Katie has started a social club (The Curvy Girls Club) that caters to women and men who are overweight after she and her friends had enough of this weight watcher's type club they all belonged to. She's tired of not being able to enjoy the same things that other skinnier people do because of size limitations (i.e. theater and movie seats).
I really couldn't get a handle on the character of Katie. She seemed to have some much deeper issues than just her weight. She was obsessed with a man at her job and seemed to be running around judging herself. She was hell-bent on not allowing her club to also include dating which was so odd.
The secondary characters kind of worked my nerves though. Jane was just rude and thoughtless at times. Pixie is stuck in a verbally abusive marriage that you just don't really want to read about after a while because you are just invited to read the latest horrible thing her husband has said. Ellie's character really added nothing to the story and could have been totally cut out. All of sudden it comes out she's a totally stalker when dating a guy and it felt like I should have been laughing at her antics instead of being appalled by them.
And the secondary plots involving the other characters were so transparent that I was just waiting for them to finally happen. I mean with certain books you know how the formula is going to go. This one just felt like a lot of see and now this character is going to meet this character and eventually they will become attracted to one another, however the first character is going to be stuck on guy who isn't about anything until he does something that opens her eyes and she will run back to character number two.
I did feel for the women in this book. The world around them does treat them differently for being overweight. And I did like how the book showed how her friends when she was overweight changed on Katie after she started losing weight. Heck we have people on the internet constantly going after other women about their bodies because apparently all of us have medical degrees and can tell if someone is unhealthy just by looking at them. I think that is an interesting and necessary conversation that I wish had been explored more which is why I gave this book two stars.
The book since it is told from Katie's point of view just meanders a lot (another reason for the two stars). Case in point, she starts reminiscing about a velvet couch her parents gave her, which leads her to thinking about the first time she had sex on it, and then the boy who she had sex with, which led to the house that Jack built (I'm joking, kind of) and these little meanders started working my nerves. We got a lot of info dumps about other character's via Katie which don't flow naturally.
Katie has started a social club (The Curvy Girls Club) that caters to women and men who are overweight after she and her friends had enough of this weight watcher's type club they all belonged to. She's tired of not being able to enjoy the same things that other skinnier people do because of size limitations (i.e. theater and movie seats).
I really couldn't get a handle on the character of Katie. She seemed to have some much deeper issues than just her weight. She was obsessed with a man at her job and seemed to be running around judging herself. She was hell-bent on not allowing her club to also include dating which was so odd.
The secondary characters kind of worked my nerves though. Jane was just rude and thoughtless at times. Pixie is stuck in a verbally abusive marriage that you just don't really want to read about after a while because you are just invited to read the latest horrible thing her husband has said. Ellie's character really added nothing to the story and could have been totally cut out. All of sudden it comes out she's a totally stalker when dating a guy and it felt like I should have been laughing at her antics instead of being appalled by them.
And the secondary plots involving the other characters were so transparent that I was just waiting for them to finally happen. I mean with certain books you know how the formula is going to go. This one just felt like a lot of see and now this character is going to meet this character and eventually they will become attracted to one another, however the first character is going to be stuck on guy who isn't about anything until he does something that opens her eyes and she will run back to character number two.
I did feel for the women in this book. The world around them does treat them differently for being overweight. And I did like how the book showed how her friends when she was overweight changed on Katie after she started losing weight. Heck we have people on the internet constantly going after other women about their bodies because apparently all of us have medical degrees and can tell if someone is unhealthy just by looking at them. I think that is an interesting and necessary conversation that I wish had been explored more which is why I gave this book two stars.
The book since it is told from Katie's point of view just meanders a lot (another reason for the two stars). Case in point, she starts reminiscing about a velvet couch her parents gave her, which leads her to thinking about the first time she had sex on it, and then the boy who she had sex with, which led to the house that Jack built (I'm joking, kind of) and these little meanders started working my nerves. We got a lot of info dumps about other character's via Katie which don't flow naturally.
June 16, 2014
You know, I'm a curvy woman and I just want to be comfortable with that. - Fergie
Readers met Katie Winterbottom in Michele Gorman's novella, WEIGHTLESS (link). Katie was an overweight teenager, forced by her parents to seek counseling from the novella's heroine. Katie is now grown up, working for a nutritional supplement supplier, but still struggling with her body image, or what society thinks she should weigh. She created a circle of friends from other women attended the slimming classes - Ellie, Jane, and Pixie. Pixie declares "enough" and the friends decide to enjoy life rather count calories. In the course of their revolution, Katie suggests a social club for curvy girls ... and open to others fed up with body images. Just as their club grows into a thriving business, Katie begins to loose weight. As all four friends face crossroads in their lives, they question if the Curvy Girls Club can continue with, or without, the founding members.
Gorman delivers a heartfelt novel of that addresses female friendship, body image, and a hint of romance. Gorman employs humor to spotlight how modern women define themselves by a scale's numbers, a lover's attention, and society expectation. I laughed, cheered, and even cried as Katie and the Curvy Girls Club find value in their friendship ... and themselves. I did not want this book to end!
THE CURVY GIRLS CLUB will make my top 14 books of 2014.
Recommended read for fans of chit lit, British culture, and female bonding. I received a digital ARC from the publisher for an honest review.
Readers met Katie Winterbottom in Michele Gorman's novella, WEIGHTLESS (link). Katie was an overweight teenager, forced by her parents to seek counseling from the novella's heroine. Katie is now grown up, working for a nutritional supplement supplier, but still struggling with her body image, or what society thinks she should weigh. She created a circle of friends from other women attended the slimming classes - Ellie, Jane, and Pixie. Pixie declares "enough" and the friends decide to enjoy life rather count calories. In the course of their revolution, Katie suggests a social club for curvy girls ... and open to others fed up with body images. Just as their club grows into a thriving business, Katie begins to loose weight. As all four friends face crossroads in their lives, they question if the Curvy Girls Club can continue with, or without, the founding members.
Gorman delivers a heartfelt novel of that addresses female friendship, body image, and a hint of romance. Gorman employs humor to spotlight how modern women define themselves by a scale's numbers, a lover's attention, and society expectation. I laughed, cheered, and even cried as Katie and the Curvy Girls Club find value in their friendship ... and themselves. I did not want this book to end!
THE CURVY GIRLS CLUB will make my top 14 books of 2014.
Recommended read for fans of chit lit, British culture, and female bonding. I received a digital ARC from the publisher for an honest review.
January 22, 2015
Katie, Pixie, Jane and Ellie are the sort of women that all other women will be able to relate to; they have worries about their looks, but it's more than a book about weight issues, it's a book about relationships (of all kinds), career highs and lows, health scares and all sorts.
I enjoyed the flowing changes in the relationship dynamics between the four women, the issues they all faced brought enough grit to evoke a whole range of emotions, and some of the other characters were just as interesting as the main four.
The Curvy Girls Club was a joy to read. I found I got completely absorbed in the story and characters, and particularly towards the end, I didn't want to put the book down. I found myself wishing there was such a thing as The Curvy Girls Club, and what do you know; there at the back of the book was a link to The Curvy Girls Club on Facebook.
I will be keen to read more books by this author.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed the flowing changes in the relationship dynamics between the four women, the issues they all faced brought enough grit to evoke a whole range of emotions, and some of the other characters were just as interesting as the main four.
The Curvy Girls Club was a joy to read. I found I got completely absorbed in the story and characters, and particularly towards the end, I didn't want to put the book down. I found myself wishing there was such a thing as The Curvy Girls Club, and what do you know; there at the back of the book was a link to The Curvy Girls Club on Facebook.
I will be keen to read more books by this author.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 27, 2014
I was given a chance to read this by the author in exchange for an honest review...
I did enjoy the book. I liked Katie and her friends even if one kind of drove me nuts. I totally understand how if feels trying to lose weight and yo-yo up and down being frustrated that others can do it no problem and then there are those that can eat what ever....it's a constant cycle but with all things friends make you feel normal and happy and not alone. The girls formed a club to do fun things together outside their weight loss group they were in. It took off became popular with lots of people joining in. It was long at times only because I wanted Katie and Rob together and hated the wasted time it took for that...
I did enjoy the book. I liked Katie and her friends even if one kind of drove me nuts. I totally understand how if feels trying to lose weight and yo-yo up and down being frustrated that others can do it no problem and then there are those that can eat what ever....it's a constant cycle but with all things friends make you feel normal and happy and not alone. The girls formed a club to do fun things together outside their weight loss group they were in. It took off became popular with lots of people joining in. It was long at times only because I wanted Katie and Rob together and hated the wasted time it took for that...
February 10, 2015
After a bit of a slow start I fell in love with all the characters and I didn't want to put 'The Curvy Girls Club' down. I'm looking forward to reading more from the author.
November 21, 2019
I liked the premise, but I didn't like how the story panned out -- MC lost a lot of weight because of a medical condition, which she refused to get checked! I guess, inside, she really wanted to be thin...
I choose chick-lits now and I judged this book by the title. I loved the other novels offered by Michele Gorman, though.
I choose chick-lits now and I judged this book by the title. I loved the other novels offered by Michele Gorman, though.
February 11, 2015
Michele Gorman is one of my favourite authors in recent times. Her most recent novel Perfect Girl was amazing and is one of the only novels that literally made me want to punch a main character's family and friends and work colleagues in the face for being selfish so-and-sos. I've never been angrier whilst reading a novel! So I was quite excited to receive an early proof copy of The Curvy Girls Club. It seemed a lot more light-heartened and less anger-inducing than Perfect Girl (or so I hoped) and I was intrigued to see if Michele had written another stellar novel.
If you don't already know this, I am a curvy girl myself. Not for lack of trying. More for lack of will, lack of self-control (which I freely admit). I just can't resist food and it's so frustrating when I'm judged because of it, or when I can't buy decent clothes because shops don't do my size so in that regard The Curvy Girls Club was right up my alley, and I was sorely tempted to make my own club. At the end of the day, the girls are right - at this moment in time being curvy is the "norm", and yet us curvy girls still feel like the people who stick out like sore thumbs. It's so weird, and perhaps it is time perspectives changed.
I loved the girls for putting together a curvy girls club. I loved that they were sick of going to Slimming Zone meetings and having weight loss that flip-flopped from week to week. It was so refreshing to read about girls who weren't necessarily bothered about their weight, but because of perceptions were unable to be happy in their own skin. Surely that's the goal for everyone whether they're fat or skinny - to just feel comfortable as you are. I appreciated that message because that's what we should be striving for.
Sadly, for me, the novel soon dived in to your typical fat vs thin debate, via Katie's miraculous weight loss. That's where the novel lost points for me. I can't stand it when miraculous weight loss occurs (even more so when it's via a medical issue, that Katie then resolutely ignores). The Curvy Girls Club was about being curvy, about striving to feel comfortable as you are (a message that Katie herself said!!!) and it all unrivalled once Katie became "Thin Katie" and started to feel disdain for the people with curves. I thought it was a bad message to send out. I felt shamed, because I've been struggling for ages and ages to lose weight with minimal success and hey presto! One damaged thryoid later and Katie is the best of the bunch. Nuh-uh.
The Curvy Girls Club had a lot going for it, until Katie's unfortunate episode. This could have been a revolutionary novel for the curvy peeps in the world, but it had to come back to weight. It had to become fat vs thin, which I hate. I can't wait for the day an author writes a novel about a curvy person happy in their own body, for the entire period of the novel. Because despite what we're told, I'm sure there are plenty of curvy people happy how they are.
I loved the characters, the girls became like best friends to me, and I especially loved the token male Rob (who was streets ahead of Alex). The idea for the novel was great, and the execution almost spot-on, but I just wish it hadn't come down to a battle between fatties and skinnies.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/curvy-girls-clu...
August 30, 2016
Caution: some spoilers ahead. Read on at your own risk.
Finally, a chick-lit book wherein none of the main characters is a model-thin twenty-something beauty in a high-power job, with designer clothing and a life the rest of us peons couldn't possibly relate to.
The main characters in this funny, poignant, irreverent novel echo the majority of women in England (and the U.S.) in that they are struggling with their weight, their relationships, their jobs and their self-esteem. They are friends who vow to stick together through thick and thin, although that last bit gets put to the test near the end of the book.
I really liked Katie, the point-of-view character, who is a founder and president of the titular Curvy Girls Club. She's smart and charming, capable and loyal, but she has a big problem. And no, that's not a pun about her weight. In fact, Katie's problem is quite the opposite: she begins losing weight unexpectedly, despite an increased appetite, and she starts having heart palpitations and heavy perspiration that disrupt her life. She begins to worry that she has a serious medical problem, but once she learns that her biggest fear is unfounded, she's quite happy with her new size. Forty pounds lost in only a few months has made a big difference in her appearance, and it's not all for the better.
In fact, her smaller size costs her a gig on national TV, a potential boyfriend, her position in the club, and one of her dear friends. Oh, and did I mention that she's been laid off (made redundant), too?
The central theme of the novel is sizeism. It's a nasty "ism" that affects the lives of the majority of us and of our characters, as we and they are judged and found wanting because of a failure to fit society's idea of an acceptable size. And Katie discovers that the prejudice doesn't just run one way.
My only quibble: I had trouble believing Katie wouldn't have expected the loss of the TV job, as she was told (and signed a contract that stipulated) that she wasn't to lose or gain any weight before the taping of the show. As she did, in fact, lose quite a lot of it, she shouldn't have felt blindsided.
Overall, this is a great read. I recommend it highly, and I look forward to the day when a novel can include characters of all sizes without that topic having to be a major focus of the story, when that detail is merely that: a detail, no more (ahem) weighty than eye color or height.
Note: I received an advance copy of this novel for review purposes.
Finally, a chick-lit book wherein none of the main characters is a model-thin twenty-something beauty in a high-power job, with designer clothing and a life the rest of us peons couldn't possibly relate to.
The main characters in this funny, poignant, irreverent novel echo the majority of women in England (and the U.S.) in that they are struggling with their weight, their relationships, their jobs and their self-esteem. They are friends who vow to stick together through thick and thin, although that last bit gets put to the test near the end of the book.
I really liked Katie, the point-of-view character, who is a founder and president of the titular Curvy Girls Club. She's smart and charming, capable and loyal, but she has a big problem. And no, that's not a pun about her weight. In fact, Katie's problem is quite the opposite: she begins losing weight unexpectedly, despite an increased appetite, and she starts having heart palpitations and heavy perspiration that disrupt her life. She begins to worry that she has a serious medical problem, but once she learns that her biggest fear is unfounded, she's quite happy with her new size. Forty pounds lost in only a few months has made a big difference in her appearance, and it's not all for the better.
In fact, her smaller size costs her a gig on national TV, a potential boyfriend, her position in the club, and one of her dear friends. Oh, and did I mention that she's been laid off (made redundant), too?
The central theme of the novel is sizeism. It's a nasty "ism" that affects the lives of the majority of us and of our characters, as we and they are judged and found wanting because of a failure to fit society's idea of an acceptable size. And Katie discovers that the prejudice doesn't just run one way.
My only quibble: I had trouble believing Katie wouldn't have expected the loss of the TV job, as she was told (and signed a contract that stipulated) that she wasn't to lose or gain any weight before the taping of the show. As she did, in fact, lose quite a lot of it, she shouldn't have felt blindsided.
Overall, this is a great read. I recommend it highly, and I look forward to the day when a novel can include characters of all sizes without that topic having to be a major focus of the story, when that detail is merely that: a detail, no more (ahem) weighty than eye color or height.
Note: I received an advance copy of this novel for review purposes.
August 9, 2017
Michele Gorman is a new author to me, so I chose this book based on the synopsis and the cover - thankfully I was not disappointed. As the cover would suggest this is chic lit territory but with a message we can all relate to namely size isn't everything.
The Curvy Girls Club is started by best friends Katie, Ellie, Pixie and Jane when they get fed up of their Slimming Club. They decide to do something more interesting/creative with their free time other than comparing diets and lack of weight loss.
As the Club takes off, it brings about changes and challenges in their lives that they did not envisage when they started the club for fun. It also puts their long held friendships to the test.
It is a fun and easy read but it also touches on many issues that affect both men and women, namely body image and confidence, domestic abuse, careers vs relationships, and the nature of friendship. These themes are cleverly introduced into the plot without feeling contrived. It's only when you've finished reading that you realise that for a fun read, it was also quite deep. Just for good measure there is also a great will they won't they romance to keep you guessing until the end.
I received an ARC copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The Curvy Girls Club is started by best friends Katie, Ellie, Pixie and Jane when they get fed up of their Slimming Club. They decide to do something more interesting/creative with their free time other than comparing diets and lack of weight loss.
As the Club takes off, it brings about changes and challenges in their lives that they did not envisage when they started the club for fun. It also puts their long held friendships to the test.
It is a fun and easy read but it also touches on many issues that affect both men and women, namely body image and confidence, domestic abuse, careers vs relationships, and the nature of friendship. These themes are cleverly introduced into the plot without feeling contrived. It's only when you've finished reading that you realise that for a fun read, it was also quite deep. Just for good measure there is also a great will they won't they romance to keep you guessing until the end.
I received an ARC copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
November 23, 2014
Read for an honest review for NetGallery.
I have to say one thing, I LOVED this book. it was funny, charming and heart warming. The ladies in this book show that although you may be a bigger lady or gent it is possible to love yourself, have great friends around you. Although the all face some struggles in their life they over come them, with the help of their friends.
I also liked how when I was 90% into this book, the story kept going it didn't wind down like most books do, usually I lose steam at the end 10% because books tend to finish and wind up their stories from there on. This didn't.
I loved the writing style and I shall be reading more of Michele Gorman, she is a great writer.
I read 15% of this book in one go and then from then on I kept telling myself I'll read one chapter, oh one more, then I would find myself an hour later still reading! I couldn't put it down.
Must read!
I have to say one thing, I LOVED this book. it was funny, charming and heart warming. The ladies in this book show that although you may be a bigger lady or gent it is possible to love yourself, have great friends around you. Although the all face some struggles in their life they over come them, with the help of their friends.
I also liked how when I was 90% into this book, the story kept going it didn't wind down like most books do, usually I lose steam at the end 10% because books tend to finish and wind up their stories from there on. This didn't.
I loved the writing style and I shall be reading more of Michele Gorman, she is a great writer.
I read 15% of this book in one go and then from then on I kept telling myself I'll read one chapter, oh one more, then I would find myself an hour later still reading! I couldn't put it down.
Must read!
June 21, 2014
With Gorman's wit and storytelling ability she, again, takes you an adventure with a cast of characters that you will laugh with, change with and be inspired by! These are real women that embrace themselves and each other in all that they are and all that they will be. I was so moved by the passion Gorman brings to this story and the fact that the story was written and shared with the world. Gorman writes characters you can relate to, root for and think about long after the story is done. Another hit and I think women of all shares and sizes will enjoy this read. Grab it now, you will not be disappointed! 4.5 stars
August 12, 2014
I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with this story. It seemed to have so much potential, but seemingly missed the mark, in my opinion. This book could have followed through with the premise of being comfortable with YOU, but turned more in to a story of a lady who lost weight rapidly because of a medical condition (which can be very serious) and how her friends alienated her either because of her attitude or because she was no longer curvy. This book had the opportunity to stay true to itself, but it seemed that the characters got away from the author. I read it in hopes of finding some inspiration, but was left with a stale piece of cake instead.
November 19, 2014
I have read all but the most recent of Michele Gorman's books. I've enjoyed them all, but think Curvy Girls Club might be my favorite. I found myself getting emotional at many points during the story - I was angry for Katie in response to the way she was treated for losing weight and I was angry AT Katie in response to the way she acted with a certain undeserving fellow. I thought the characters were all very relatable and realistically portrayed, and I appreciated the way they tended to behave and react based on their own weight and self-esteem issues as it was so realistic. I also chuckled quite often. The novel blended real issues into a fun and enjoyable story.
4.5 stars.
4.5 stars.
February 4, 2015
I received this book via first reads...
I can see the appeal in this kind of book but for me it turned out not to be my cup-of-tea. I found the characters whiny and annoying. The love triangle and all the romance elements shallow and predictable. To be honest I found the whole plot predictable. However it did have a couple of moments that made me chuckle purely because I could relate to the humorous.
I recommend this book to people who like contemporary/chick-lit genres but sad;y this book was not for me despite being a curvy girl myself.
I can see the appeal in this kind of book but for me it turned out not to be my cup-of-tea. I found the characters whiny and annoying. The love triangle and all the romance elements shallow and predictable. To be honest I found the whole plot predictable. However it did have a couple of moments that made me chuckle purely because I could relate to the humorous.
I recommend this book to people who like contemporary/chick-lit genres but sad;y this book was not for me despite being a curvy girl myself.
August 1, 2014
This was an excellent book. I have never seen this subject matter dealt with in fiction before. And it was so beautifully done by Michele Gorman - deep & introspective, yet witty & entertaining. I hope many people take the time to read this book. They will gain a deeper understanding of themselves and our society. (and just for a fun read)
January 9, 2015
I was totally happy to receive Michele Gorman's new title for review, especially as it tickles an issue that is so well known to most of us woman - weight problems. I thought, there is no better way to start new year as with a book that for sure is going to be optimistic and uplifting and is going to show me that I AM WORTH IT. No matter how much I weigh. I was really hoping for a story with a message but written in this fluffy, warm Michele's style.
Meet Katie, Pixie, Jane and Ellie, four women who have something in common: they are namely overweight and they meet each other weekly during Slimming Zone meetings, and this is also where they got to know one another. Because, as it usually is with the diet clubs, they don't help, Pixie decides she doesn't want to attend it anymore. But our four girls have different idea: stop with the calories counting and public weighing clubs, let's do something for fun, like wine - testing, eating in the dark, going to the theatre. And so the idea of Curvy Girls Club is born. But don't be misled by the name, oh no, boys are also warmly welcome to the club!
So I have started reading the book with so much expectations and at the beginning I was really engrossed in the story but slowly, slowly the book has lost its sparkle and started to feel a little too flat and a little too forced. The girls that were supposed to be so fluffy, cheery and bubbly turned into bitter, nasty women: Pixie with her combat and abrasive approach, Ellie with her obsession about Thomas and being jealous in a nasty, ugly way, Jane who was probably the weakest character here (although I can say that Michele tried so hard with her, what with her having all the problems), and no matter how I tried, she was still coming across as a very pale, blurred character. Katie was the most colourful of all of them in my opinion but still, I couldn't connect with her as much as I'd like. She was too naive for my liking, and the thing with her that she was willing to risk her health only to stay slim was not her best idea ever, although, on the other hand, I could also understand her. And although I really understood all those women, I knew where they were coming from, although I myself can share my own weight experiences with them, having tried all the diets in the world (but no drugging myself! No way!), I couldn't warm to them and there came a moment that I couldn't care less what's going to happen with the Club.
I was hoping for a bunch of girls having fun no matter what size they are and showing that there is much more to life than only weight and size 0. I'm a dreamer, right? But unfortunately, it was a story about four "friends" (why quotation mark, am going to explain) not feeling the best in their current bodies and trying to do anything to lose as many pounds as possible. Women actually moaning only about their weight and it was true what one of them said, that if she was loosing as much weight as she was talking about, then she would be the slimmest girl in the world. Same here, same here, I know how you feel, high five.
Why "friends". Well, the girls have admitted themselves they wouldn't probably be friends if they hadn't met at their meetings but that's not the point. The friendship between them seemed not to be honest, and the way they spoke to each other, felt jealous of each other's lost grams, put the friendship aside and favour business above it, well, it just didn't sit with me and didn't make this relationship believable in my eyes.
But Michele brilliantly pictured the nature of plus - sized people. Well, maybe not all of them, but all that I know are in some ways exactly like our main characters, it means that they (we) are going to the meetings, starving themselves a day or two before the meeting so that the scales say they lost a little weight, and when they lose a little weight, what do they do? As a prize, they go to McDonald's or eat three cupcakes instead of one, because they deserve it, and so the vicious cycle continues. Katie, Jane, Pixie and Ellie were moaning about their weight, about being discriminated but they, in fact, did nothing to make themselves feel better. OK, they identified feeling better with losing weight, which maybe is not the way to really feel better but it's an observational fact that being not too obese makes life more comfortable and healthy. So the story has, in fact, didn't resolve any problems our girls were facing. Although I don't know if there is an answer to their problems at all, I must say that.
I thought that being myself not a skinny - minnie I would, with closed eyes, be able to relate to the characters but I am finding that you can't relate to the characters who don't like themselves. I just found them quite harsh at times. And what really didn't sit with me, was when Katie has started to loose her weight and how harsh especially Pixie was. Why? Why so much jealousy? What was this, something like if I can't have this then you can't have this as well?
But a big applause and standing ovation for Michele and the way she has tackled weight issues. She writes with a lot of understanding and sensitivity, and in my opinion she hasn't hurt any feelings. While I couldn't connect with the characters, I could connect with the issues she raises in her story, because it's not only a story about weight, but also friendship, loyalty, work troubles, broken hearts.
I think that no matter what the resolution would be, it wouldn't be good: seeing the characters skinny at the end would be a bad message, but seeing the characters staying as they are and still moaning about it wouldn't be very uplifting too, no?
A big, fat cupcake (yes!) that this novel is about a normal heroines, women in bigger sizes, women not with a flashy jobs, fast cars and sex - gods in their arms, but it is about heroines of all sizes, with many bad - hair days, working in a dull job or not working at all and with different eye colours. Can they still make interesting read? Of course they can.
So as you can see, I have very mixed feelings about this book. I love the idea of the story, this book has an amazing potential. I am not sure what I was expecting from this book but for sure not this kind of story that I read. It just somewhere went wrong for me, it somewhere missed the mark. I don't have a problem with Michele's writing and storytelling, which is fresh, down to earth and flows smoothly. I am also sure that most of the readers is going to be able to relate to a thing or two in this book and find the characters likeable, so I would really encourage you to try this book.
Copy received from publisher in exchange for a review.
Meet Katie, Pixie, Jane and Ellie, four women who have something in common: they are namely overweight and they meet each other weekly during Slimming Zone meetings, and this is also where they got to know one another. Because, as it usually is with the diet clubs, they don't help, Pixie decides she doesn't want to attend it anymore. But our four girls have different idea: stop with the calories counting and public weighing clubs, let's do something for fun, like wine - testing, eating in the dark, going to the theatre. And so the idea of Curvy Girls Club is born. But don't be misled by the name, oh no, boys are also warmly welcome to the club!
So I have started reading the book with so much expectations and at the beginning I was really engrossed in the story but slowly, slowly the book has lost its sparkle and started to feel a little too flat and a little too forced. The girls that were supposed to be so fluffy, cheery and bubbly turned into bitter, nasty women: Pixie with her combat and abrasive approach, Ellie with her obsession about Thomas and being jealous in a nasty, ugly way, Jane who was probably the weakest character here (although I can say that Michele tried so hard with her, what with her having all the problems), and no matter how I tried, she was still coming across as a very pale, blurred character. Katie was the most colourful of all of them in my opinion but still, I couldn't connect with her as much as I'd like. She was too naive for my liking, and the thing with her that she was willing to risk her health only to stay slim was not her best idea ever, although, on the other hand, I could also understand her. And although I really understood all those women, I knew where they were coming from, although I myself can share my own weight experiences with them, having tried all the diets in the world (but no drugging myself! No way!), I couldn't warm to them and there came a moment that I couldn't care less what's going to happen with the Club.
I was hoping for a bunch of girls having fun no matter what size they are and showing that there is much more to life than only weight and size 0. I'm a dreamer, right? But unfortunately, it was a story about four "friends" (why quotation mark, am going to explain) not feeling the best in their current bodies and trying to do anything to lose as many pounds as possible. Women actually moaning only about their weight and it was true what one of them said, that if she was loosing as much weight as she was talking about, then she would be the slimmest girl in the world. Same here, same here, I know how you feel, high five.
Why "friends". Well, the girls have admitted themselves they wouldn't probably be friends if they hadn't met at their meetings but that's not the point. The friendship between them seemed not to be honest, and the way they spoke to each other, felt jealous of each other's lost grams, put the friendship aside and favour business above it, well, it just didn't sit with me and didn't make this relationship believable in my eyes.
But Michele brilliantly pictured the nature of plus - sized people. Well, maybe not all of them, but all that I know are in some ways exactly like our main characters, it means that they (we) are going to the meetings, starving themselves a day or two before the meeting so that the scales say they lost a little weight, and when they lose a little weight, what do they do? As a prize, they go to McDonald's or eat three cupcakes instead of one, because they deserve it, and so the vicious cycle continues. Katie, Jane, Pixie and Ellie were moaning about their weight, about being discriminated but they, in fact, did nothing to make themselves feel better. OK, they identified feeling better with losing weight, which maybe is not the way to really feel better but it's an observational fact that being not too obese makes life more comfortable and healthy. So the story has, in fact, didn't resolve any problems our girls were facing. Although I don't know if there is an answer to their problems at all, I must say that.
I thought that being myself not a skinny - minnie I would, with closed eyes, be able to relate to the characters but I am finding that you can't relate to the characters who don't like themselves. I just found them quite harsh at times. And what really didn't sit with me, was when Katie has started to loose her weight and how harsh especially Pixie was. Why? Why so much jealousy? What was this, something like if I can't have this then you can't have this as well?
But a big applause and standing ovation for Michele and the way she has tackled weight issues. She writes with a lot of understanding and sensitivity, and in my opinion she hasn't hurt any feelings. While I couldn't connect with the characters, I could connect with the issues she raises in her story, because it's not only a story about weight, but also friendship, loyalty, work troubles, broken hearts.
I think that no matter what the resolution would be, it wouldn't be good: seeing the characters skinny at the end would be a bad message, but seeing the characters staying as they are and still moaning about it wouldn't be very uplifting too, no?
A big, fat cupcake (yes!) that this novel is about a normal heroines, women in bigger sizes, women not with a flashy jobs, fast cars and sex - gods in their arms, but it is about heroines of all sizes, with many bad - hair days, working in a dull job or not working at all and with different eye colours. Can they still make interesting read? Of course they can.
So as you can see, I have very mixed feelings about this book. I love the idea of the story, this book has an amazing potential. I am not sure what I was expecting from this book but for sure not this kind of story that I read. It just somewhere went wrong for me, it somewhere missed the mark. I don't have a problem with Michele's writing and storytelling, which is fresh, down to earth and flows smoothly. I am also sure that most of the readers is going to be able to relate to a thing or two in this book and find the characters likeable, so I would really encourage you to try this book.
Copy received from publisher in exchange for a review.
January 9, 2018
As a curvy girl myself I could totally identify with the characters in the book, although I couldn’t warm to Pixie at all, she was too bitter
May 23, 2020
For my thoughts on this book head over to the May 2020 wrap up on books and bargains 😁
December 7, 2024
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book…
It felt like it was trying to raise awareness of fat phobia and the struggles of being a plus size person all whilst having the most ridiculous thin phobic comments sprinkled throughout 😅
Also a pretty stereotypical outlook of a fat person on some accounts.
I think it was trying to portray an uplifting message but it just fell flat for me, I didn’t have a euphoric new sense of enlightenment when I reached the end, I just had a bemused feeling and disgruntled expression on my face
With that being said
There was a LOT of moments in this book that I could relate to, I did enjoy reading about things that have been in my frame of reference as a person who has been overweight her whole life
Couple of things though:
WHY are the women on the cover thin when it’s a book about a group of plus size women starting a group DEDICATED to plus size women
WHY did I want to throw something very hard at Pixie’s head everytime she spoke
And WHY was there so much emphasis on the size of these ladies as an entitlement, the main character loses a total of 50lbs and at a size 16 is told she can no longer represent the plus size community? Something didn’t add up there
Relatable? Yes, uplifting? Nah
It felt like it was trying to raise awareness of fat phobia and the struggles of being a plus size person all whilst having the most ridiculous thin phobic comments sprinkled throughout 😅
Also a pretty stereotypical outlook of a fat person on some accounts.
I think it was trying to portray an uplifting message but it just fell flat for me, I didn’t have a euphoric new sense of enlightenment when I reached the end, I just had a bemused feeling and disgruntled expression on my face
With that being said
There was a LOT of moments in this book that I could relate to, I did enjoy reading about things that have been in my frame of reference as a person who has been overweight her whole life
Couple of things though:
WHY are the women on the cover thin when it’s a book about a group of plus size women starting a group DEDICATED to plus size women
WHY did I want to throw something very hard at Pixie’s head everytime she spoke
And WHY was there so much emphasis on the size of these ladies as an entitlement, the main character loses a total of 50lbs and at a size 16 is told she can no longer represent the plus size community? Something didn’t add up there
Relatable? Yes, uplifting? Nah
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2014
The Curvy Girls Club was just the kind of read I needed. I was looking for a light and happy read, and I found that with this book. It's a book about friendship and accepting who you are...and being happy with it.
Katie and her friends have been in a weight loss program for a while, but it just doesn't seem to be giving them the motivation they need to shed the pounds. When friend Pixie decides to leave the group, they decide that they have more fun spending time together, so The Curvy Girls Club is created. It's a social group for the more curvy side of life. They do activities like, cooking lessons, theater shows, and dance lessons.
Throughout the book, we get glimpses of why the girls gained the weight. All very relatable reasons and all situations I could identify with. Katie's story is changing a bit though. She's losing weight rapidly without trying anything new. She comes to find out that there is a medical reason for her weight loss, so while the weight loss was thrilling in the beginning, it becomes a more serious situation for her. And it's also affected her friendships and her relationship with friend, Rob.
I really enjoyed watching all of these characters grow. The ups and downs of weight loss can be tiresome and frustrating. But, this group turned something challenging into something fun. They each had to learn to accept who they are and find happiness with themselves. And love blossoms for a few along the way.
Speaking of love, this book doesn't heavily focus on romance, but it had just enough to satisfy my love story cravings. I adored Rob for Katie. They started as friends and it became something more. Of course, Katie's weight loss posed some challenges for them, but in the end Rob just simply liked Katie for who she was, not what she looked like. I also liked Thomas for Ellie and Andy for Jane. These guys are all true jems.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It made me laugh a lot. And as I said above, it was relatable. Women deal with this issue chronically. It's nice when you have friends on the journey with you. If you're looking for a light story about friendship and a dab of romance mixed in, check this one out!
Quotes:
~'It's simple really,' he said. 'I like you. I've liked you for years. I know that makes me a pathetically slow mover. After joking about it the other day, the time just seemed right to tell you that.'-Loc 1704
~I woke the next morning with mood swings that made Naomi Campbell look like she just suffered a bit from PMS. One minute I convinced myself that redundancy was an opportunity. The Curvy Girls Club was my future, not nutritional supplements. Now I might have the chance to pursue that. Hurrah, elation! The next minute I saw looming mortgage payments carving great chunks out of my dwindling bank balance. Boo, paralyzing fear and dejection.-Loc 3854
Katie and her friends have been in a weight loss program for a while, but it just doesn't seem to be giving them the motivation they need to shed the pounds. When friend Pixie decides to leave the group, they decide that they have more fun spending time together, so The Curvy Girls Club is created. It's a social group for the more curvy side of life. They do activities like, cooking lessons, theater shows, and dance lessons.
Throughout the book, we get glimpses of why the girls gained the weight. All very relatable reasons and all situations I could identify with. Katie's story is changing a bit though. She's losing weight rapidly without trying anything new. She comes to find out that there is a medical reason for her weight loss, so while the weight loss was thrilling in the beginning, it becomes a more serious situation for her. And it's also affected her friendships and her relationship with friend, Rob.
I really enjoyed watching all of these characters grow. The ups and downs of weight loss can be tiresome and frustrating. But, this group turned something challenging into something fun. They each had to learn to accept who they are and find happiness with themselves. And love blossoms for a few along the way.
Speaking of love, this book doesn't heavily focus on romance, but it had just enough to satisfy my love story cravings. I adored Rob for Katie. They started as friends and it became something more. Of course, Katie's weight loss posed some challenges for them, but in the end Rob just simply liked Katie for who she was, not what she looked like. I also liked Thomas for Ellie and Andy for Jane. These guys are all true jems.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. It made me laugh a lot. And as I said above, it was relatable. Women deal with this issue chronically. It's nice when you have friends on the journey with you. If you're looking for a light story about friendship and a dab of romance mixed in, check this one out!
Quotes:
~'It's simple really,' he said. 'I like you. I've liked you for years. I know that makes me a pathetically slow mover. After joking about it the other day, the time just seemed right to tell you that.'-Loc 1704
~I woke the next morning with mood swings that made Naomi Campbell look like she just suffered a bit from PMS. One minute I convinced myself that redundancy was an opportunity. The Curvy Girls Club was my future, not nutritional supplements. Now I might have the chance to pursue that. Hurrah, elation! The next minute I saw looming mortgage payments carving great chunks out of my dwindling bank balance. Boo, paralyzing fear and dejection.-Loc 3854
January 28, 2015
The Curvy Girl's Club is the first book I have read by Michele Gorman so I really didn't know what to expect. The book had lots of laughs and some moments that made you stop and think about how we feel about ourselves and how we treat other people.
The four girls meet each week at a slimming club and become firm friends but like many dieters they loose weight and gain it again and become stuck the slimming treadmill.
Pixie decides she's had enough of slimming and likes her curves just as they are. The other girls don't want to stop going to the slimming club as they enjoy each others company. They soon realise they can still meet up but without the pressure of having to eat rabbit food and loose a few pounds.
The Curvy Girl's Club is formed and at first it is only the four of them but word soon gets around and everyone wants to join. Katie is busy organising theatre trips and cinema trips as well as trying to hold onto a job that wants to let her go.
When one of the girls suddenly starts loosing weight without trying she finds she may no longer be welcome as a Curvy Girl's member.
Love lives, family lives,weight issues, health issues and friendship problems are all knitted together in this book. A dash of humour, a splash of sentiment and a few tears for good measure and you have a cracking good read.
I felt disappointed in a few of the girls with the lack of support they gave to others who had supported them. I laughed at some of their exploits and I cried when bad things happened to good people.
As the Curvy Girl's Club shows signs of becoming a full time business will the girls stay friends or will making money get in the way?
If you enjoy Chick Lit whether you're curvy or slim I see no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this book.
We can all relate to having those fat days where nothing fits and the,"Don't give a dam days" where we eat half our body weight in snacks and suffer for it later. There is so much pressure in the media to stay slim and healthy but mentally it might be better just to be happy with the curves and enjoy life.
I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know each of the characters. A good book either has to make me laugh or cry or make me want a sequel and this book had all three.
I'm going to have a look at the other books by this author as they seem to be lighthearted and we could all do with that kind of book now and then.
January 8, 2015
Katie, Ellie, Pixie and Jane are all friends who go to a slimming club together. Dis-heartened by the fact they have been attending the same group for years but none of them have lost much weight since they started, they break away from the slimming group and set up the Curvy Girls Club, a club which creates events and nights out for people of a larger size to attend.
While the book was okay and I liked the individual story lines of the main characters - an emotionally abusive relationship, a paranoid girlfriend, and a woman addicted to trying every fad diet and diet pill - there was so much that ticked me off about this book. Firstly, I was quickly annoyed with how much product placement there seemed to be throughout this book! I felt it should have one of the 'P' symbols on the cover of the book like Hollyoaks do at the start and end of each episode! I wondered for a while if maybe Channel 4 or Gok Wan himself had paid the author to write this book! And it didn't just end there, there were several instances throughout the book where I thought I had gone on an advert break! I don't know why but it really distracted me from the story.
There was also the fact that I really didn't like the main character, Katie. I couldn't sympathise with her, even though I am a big girl myself! At first I thought she might be a character I could really relate to but she seemed to turn into a whinging, self obsessed pain in the bum! It was obvious where her crush on her co-worker was going and I couldn't feel sorry for her, instead I just hoped she wouldn't get her happy ever after as I didn't think she deserved it!
I felt bad for Katie's friends throughout the book! I couldn't help but wish that the book had been written from one of the other girls points of view as they seemed much more likeable than Katie.
It wasn't a bad read, and I did enjoy a fair part of it, but felt the things I didn't enjoy overshadowed the parts that I did.
While the book was okay and I liked the individual story lines of the main characters - an emotionally abusive relationship, a paranoid girlfriend, and a woman addicted to trying every fad diet and diet pill - there was so much that ticked me off about this book. Firstly, I was quickly annoyed with how much product placement there seemed to be throughout this book! I felt it should have one of the 'P' symbols on the cover of the book like Hollyoaks do at the start and end of each episode! I wondered for a while if maybe Channel 4 or Gok Wan himself had paid the author to write this book! And it didn't just end there, there were several instances throughout the book where I thought I had gone on an advert break! I don't know why but it really distracted me from the story.
There was also the fact that I really didn't like the main character, Katie. I couldn't sympathise with her, even though I am a big girl myself! At first I thought she might be a character I could really relate to but she seemed to turn into a whinging, self obsessed pain in the bum! It was obvious where her crush on her co-worker was going and I couldn't feel sorry for her, instead I just hoped she wouldn't get her happy ever after as I didn't think she deserved it!
I felt bad for Katie's friends throughout the book! I couldn't help but wish that the book had been written from one of the other girls points of view as they seemed much more likeable than Katie.
It wasn't a bad read, and I did enjoy a fair part of it, but felt the things I didn't enjoy overshadowed the parts that I did.
January 23, 2015
I'm really embarrassed to say this, but I deliberately put this book aside because I didn't like the cover. I kept passing it for the books I found more desirable. I know that's wrong, but I have to hold my hands up here and say I am a book snob.
So, moving on. As you know, from the blurb The Curvy Girls Club follows four best friends who are fed up with their slimming class and more so fed up with feeling like shit about themselves because of it. So, they decide to get together one night a week to do something fun together to help them feel good about themselves. When word gets around other fat people want in, so The Curvy Girls Club is created.
The book is told by thirty year old, Katie. So we get to see her more personally. To be honest I would have liked to have read each character's thoughts individually too. I understand Katie is needed for the plot, but I just didn't like her at all. I didn't like her when she was "Fat Katie", and I didn't like her "Thin Katie" either. She really did think way to much of herself. Because of her I felt the book dragged along and I kept putting it down and picking it up. I also disliked Pixie, but thought Jane and Ellie were sweethearts.
The plot was an interesting one and I liked it. However, I found that by not telling us much about the girls' sizes I couldn't get into their mindset which I need to enjoy a book. We were told Ellie was a clothes size 16 and was classed as fat. But when Katie lost weight and went to a size 16 she was thin. I don't get it? Personally I have an issue with books like this. I'm a large lass, I don't have any issue with my size and I'm confident enough to wear what I want. The book basically says fat people can't buy clothes from shops, can't feel comfortable in themselves, look at themselves in disgust, and are disgusting to the "thin" world. If I did care what people thought of me and my size reading this would have made me feel like utter shite.
2/5
So, moving on. As you know, from the blurb The Curvy Girls Club follows four best friends who are fed up with their slimming class and more so fed up with feeling like shit about themselves because of it. So, they decide to get together one night a week to do something fun together to help them feel good about themselves. When word gets around other fat people want in, so The Curvy Girls Club is created.
The book is told by thirty year old, Katie. So we get to see her more personally. To be honest I would have liked to have read each character's thoughts individually too. I understand Katie is needed for the plot, but I just didn't like her at all. I didn't like her when she was "Fat Katie", and I didn't like her "Thin Katie" either. She really did think way to much of herself. Because of her I felt the book dragged along and I kept putting it down and picking it up. I also disliked Pixie, but thought Jane and Ellie were sweethearts.
The plot was an interesting one and I liked it. However, I found that by not telling us much about the girls' sizes I couldn't get into their mindset which I need to enjoy a book. We were told Ellie was a clothes size 16 and was classed as fat. But when Katie lost weight and went to a size 16 she was thin. I don't get it? Personally I have an issue with books like this. I'm a large lass, I don't have any issue with my size and I'm confident enough to wear what I want. The book basically says fat people can't buy clothes from shops, can't feel comfortable in themselves, look at themselves in disgust, and are disgusting to the "thin" world. If I did care what people thought of me and my size reading this would have made me feel like utter shite.
2/5
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