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Cheat Day: A Novel
A smart and funny debut novel about the unexpected consequences of one woman’s attempt to exert control over her entire life by adhering to a strict wellness regimen.
“Liv Stratman writes with such clarity, intelligence, and zip the Brooklyn debut novel is reborn in Cheat Day.” —Lorrie Moore
Kit and David were college sweethearts. Now married and twelve years older, they live in Kit’s childhood home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. While David has a successful career, jetting off on work trips to exotic destinations, Kit is stuck in a loop. She keeps quitting her job managing her sister’s bakery to seek a more ambitious profession, but fear of failure always brings her right back to Sweet Cheeks. Kit finds a fraught solace in cycling through fad diets, which David, in his efforts to be supportive, follows along with her. Their latest program is the Radiant Regimen, an intense seventy-five-day cleanse, and Kit is optimistic about embarking on a new chapter of clean eating and self-control.
But hungry in more ways than one, she soon falls into a flirtation with a carpenter named Matt who is building new shelves for the bakery kitchen. Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Kit and Matt fall into a passionate affair. Kit suppresses the guilt of her betrayal by adhering more and more strictly to the Radiant Regimen, pushing the diet, and her infidelity, to greater extremes.
Told in precise, intimate detail, Cheat Day is a sharply comic novel that explores family, loyalty, monogamy versus monotony, deprivation versus indulgence, and the limitations of modern wellness.
“Liv Stratman writes with such clarity, intelligence, and zip the Brooklyn debut novel is reborn in Cheat Day.” —Lorrie Moore
Kit and David were college sweethearts. Now married and twelve years older, they live in Kit’s childhood home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. While David has a successful career, jetting off on work trips to exotic destinations, Kit is stuck in a loop. She keeps quitting her job managing her sister’s bakery to seek a more ambitious profession, but fear of failure always brings her right back to Sweet Cheeks. Kit finds a fraught solace in cycling through fad diets, which David, in his efforts to be supportive, follows along with her. Their latest program is the Radiant Regimen, an intense seventy-five-day cleanse, and Kit is optimistic about embarking on a new chapter of clean eating and self-control.
But hungry in more ways than one, she soon falls into a flirtation with a carpenter named Matt who is building new shelves for the bakery kitchen. Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Kit and Matt fall into a passionate affair. Kit suppresses the guilt of her betrayal by adhering more and more strictly to the Radiant Regimen, pushing the diet, and her infidelity, to greater extremes.
Told in precise, intimate detail, Cheat Day is a sharply comic novel that explores family, loyalty, monogamy versus monotony, deprivation versus indulgence, and the limitations of modern wellness.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published May 25, 2021
About the author
Liv Stratman
1 book145 followersLiv Stratman's debut novel, CHEAT DAY, was published by Scribner in 2021. She writes the Substack A REASON TO LIVE and hosts Book Club² at Book Club Bar in New York City's East Village.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 386 reviews
December 31, 2020
An annoying main character who is obsessed with dieting ("it's not a diet, it's a program!) and who cheats on her husband just because she feels like it. She's super self-absorbed, furiously quitting her job working for her sister's bakery until she goes slinking back in two months later. I just felt bad for every other character that she interacted with. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2021
This is a Women's Fiction Book that covers some hard hitting topics like Cheating and Dieting. I found the storyline ok, and I liked the last parts of this book way more then the beginning. I have to say the characters fall flat to me, and I could not make myself care about any of this characters. We follow Kit through out this book, and I have to say I really did not like her character. I felt the whole book she was looking for something to fix something that was not broken. I do think this book puts light on the saying things on not always greener on the other side. I won a hard cover copy of this book for a Goodreads Giveaway, but this review is my own opinion and feelings about the book.
March 10, 2021
3.5 stars. This was a 4-star read for me most of the way and just got slightly downgraded when I had the full picture. Add this to the Woman Who Is a Full Mess subgenre, but the thing that differentiates Kit from many of the others is that her life is actually pretty great. She has a good husband, a good job, a good life, really, but she is deeply unhappy in the way that many people are when they haven't really sat down to take a good look at themselves and what they want. And when you don't know what you want and something comes along that you find yourself wanting, well, it can get messy.
This is an Affair Book, too. The whole question of the book is whether Kit will use this affair to blow up her life or whether she will back away into the way things were. Or maybe there's some third way that she doesn't see yet. There isn't much more to it than that plot-wise, which is fine with me. I don't need a big plot when every little thing can seem to have so much meaning. To be able to pull off a story like this, you have to be a good observer of small details, and Stratman very much is.
There is also content warnings for disordered eating. Besides being an Affair Book, this book is a lot about Kit's time spent on a months-long diet, the latest of many. Kit has some clear body dysmorphia issues, and can be compulsive about her eating. She also has a history of yo-yo dieting, committing to a regimen and losing weight, then finishing it and gaining it back. Everyone in Kit's life gives her a hard time about this to varying degrees, which only makes Kit more defensive. No one has really looked at it straight on to see just how messed up it is and just how it impacts Kit's emotional health, and what it all means. Wrapping herself up in fad diets gives Kit an outer acceptability, there are books and apps and all kinds of things. The foods she eats are healthy, she can spout all kinds of benefits about cleansing toxins. But as Kit loses weight she never seems to be any happier. Food, and her strict diet, are a constant subject of the book so you may need to take a pass if that's a tough subject for you. Kit is a first person narrator and she does not have a healthy relationship to food.
My slight star downgrade is because at the end of the day, this book stops when I wanted it to keep going. It ends with Kit making a decision, but that's usually when I get even more interested. Because the how of it is just as interesting to me as the crisis that gets you there. But this is a me complaint, it is a pretty normal thing in a novel to end as the crisis is resolved. I know I am a weirdo this way, but I cannot help it.
This is an Affair Book, too. The whole question of the book is whether Kit will use this affair to blow up her life or whether she will back away into the way things were. Or maybe there's some third way that she doesn't see yet. There isn't much more to it than that plot-wise, which is fine with me. I don't need a big plot when every little thing can seem to have so much meaning. To be able to pull off a story like this, you have to be a good observer of small details, and Stratman very much is.
There is also content warnings for disordered eating. Besides being an Affair Book, this book is a lot about Kit's time spent on a months-long diet, the latest of many. Kit has some clear body dysmorphia issues, and can be compulsive about her eating. She also has a history of yo-yo dieting, committing to a regimen and losing weight, then finishing it and gaining it back. Everyone in Kit's life gives her a hard time about this to varying degrees, which only makes Kit more defensive. No one has really looked at it straight on to see just how messed up it is and just how it impacts Kit's emotional health, and what it all means. Wrapping herself up in fad diets gives Kit an outer acceptability, there are books and apps and all kinds of things. The foods she eats are healthy, she can spout all kinds of benefits about cleansing toxins. But as Kit loses weight she never seems to be any happier. Food, and her strict diet, are a constant subject of the book so you may need to take a pass if that's a tough subject for you. Kit is a first person narrator and she does not have a healthy relationship to food.
My slight star downgrade is because at the end of the day, this book stops when I wanted it to keep going. It ends with Kit making a decision, but that's usually when I get even more interested. Because the how of it is just as interesting to me as the crisis that gets you there. But this is a me complaint, it is a pretty normal thing in a novel to end as the crisis is resolved. I know I am a weirdo this way, but I cannot help it.
April 9, 2021
Entitled. Disassociated. And gross.
I did not enjoy this book. The MC is highly unlikeable, takes zero responsibility for her actions, and blatantly hates herself. This book is centered around her need to diet (aka the need to control a sliver of your life because you aren’t happy with it) and her inevitable affair with the guy that builds shelves in her sisters bakery.
Dieting
If you have or had an ED this book is triggering and unhealthy and the Mc never really truly resolves why she diets so often.
The affair
I can’t handle cheating especially when the MC doesn’t even tell her husband about it and let’s him just go off thinking everything is fine. She takes no responsibility in her actions and I believe the MC is only married because she enjoys the idea of having a husband but not her actual husband himself.
I have so many issues with this book. It’s not literary. It’s not romantic. It just is. I don’t know who this book is for but it was definitely not me.
I did not enjoy this book. The MC is highly unlikeable, takes zero responsibility for her actions, and blatantly hates herself. This book is centered around her need to diet (aka the need to control a sliver of your life because you aren’t happy with it) and her inevitable affair with the guy that builds shelves in her sisters bakery.
Dieting
If you have or had an ED this book is triggering and unhealthy and the Mc never really truly resolves why she diets so often.
The affair
I can’t handle cheating especially when the MC doesn’t even tell her husband about it and let’s him just go off thinking everything is fine. She takes no responsibility in her actions and I believe the MC is only married because she enjoys the idea of having a husband but not her actual husband himself.
I have so many issues with this book. It’s not literary. It’s not romantic. It just is. I don’t know who this book is for but it was definitely not me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2021
4.5 stars rounded up!
Cheat Day by Liv Stratman needs to immediately go on your TBR if you love "rocky marriage" books. Kit is in her 30s and isn't satisfied with the majority of her life - whether its her diet, her job or her marriage. She undergoes a lot of different healthy "regimens" in order to find happiness, and spends her days figuring out what she wants her real career to be - because of course its not working in her sister's bakery.
Kit and her husband are more like roommates, and their marriage has definitely become stale. When a hot carpenter starts building new shelves at her sister's bakery, Kit finds herself quickly cheating on (boring) husband. Is this new spice exactly the adrenaline rush she needed in her monotonous life?
If you love characters in their 30s, if you love books like After I Do or The Bromance Book Club, then this book needs to be read by you immediately. This is NOT a rom com. This is emotional, sad, tense, upsetting, quirky, and is not for the faint at heart. If you are going through a rocky time in your own marriage, I'm sure you can relate to this book, and it may hit you right where you didn't realize you needed it. I really enjoy books that get me to feel emotion - that are realistic, that show the nitty gritty of life. It's not all sunshine and rainbows!
Thank you to Scribner for sending me an early copy to review! If you want to know the rest of my full thoughts, watch my reading vlog: https://youtu.be/8I1w8SQaiok
Cheat Day by Liv Stratman needs to immediately go on your TBR if you love "rocky marriage" books. Kit is in her 30s and isn't satisfied with the majority of her life - whether its her diet, her job or her marriage. She undergoes a lot of different healthy "regimens" in order to find happiness, and spends her days figuring out what she wants her real career to be - because of course its not working in her sister's bakery.
Kit and her husband are more like roommates, and their marriage has definitely become stale. When a hot carpenter starts building new shelves at her sister's bakery, Kit finds herself quickly cheating on (boring) husband. Is this new spice exactly the adrenaline rush she needed in her monotonous life?
If you love characters in their 30s, if you love books like After I Do or The Bromance Book Club, then this book needs to be read by you immediately. This is NOT a rom com. This is emotional, sad, tense, upsetting, quirky, and is not for the faint at heart. If you are going through a rocky time in your own marriage, I'm sure you can relate to this book, and it may hit you right where you didn't realize you needed it. I really enjoy books that get me to feel emotion - that are realistic, that show the nitty gritty of life. It's not all sunshine and rainbows!
Thank you to Scribner for sending me an early copy to review! If you want to know the rest of my full thoughts, watch my reading vlog: https://youtu.be/8I1w8SQaiok
March 20, 2021
3.5 stars.
Liv Stratman's upcoming debut novel, Cheat Day , is a thought-provoking, humorous look at the search for satisfaction.
Kit always feels as if her life is in flux. Her marriage to David, her college boyfriend, is stable, but she never feels like she has much control beyond that. She works at her sister’s bakery but as good as she is at her job, she keeps quitting and coming back.
The one way she attempts to take control of her life is through the temporary embrace of different diets. The latest one she has chosen is the 75-day Radiant Regimen, an intense cleanse that Kit is determined to follow to the letter, as she hopes that clean eating will bring clarity to the rest of her life. David participates as well in an effort to support her.
But the hunger she feels translates to more than her eating habits. She finds herself attracted to Matt, a carpenter doing renovations for the bakery. They quickly fall into a passionate affair even though Kit knows it won’t last. To cover her guilt over the affair, she becomes more and more obsessed with the Radiant Regimen, to the detriment of everyone.
What does Kit really want? What will satisfy her in the end, food-wise, relationship-wise, job-wise, and life-wise? Is having a “typical” life settling or is it worth throwing everything away to find better?
Cheat Day is at times humorous and at times serious, but it’s an interesting look at a woman unsure of what she wants. I don’t know that I particularly loved the characters or the way they behaved, but this was definitely entertaining and thought-provoking.
Scribner provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!
Cheat Day publishes 5/25.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2020 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the last decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Liv Stratman's upcoming debut novel, Cheat Day , is a thought-provoking, humorous look at the search for satisfaction.
Kit always feels as if her life is in flux. Her marriage to David, her college boyfriend, is stable, but she never feels like she has much control beyond that. She works at her sister’s bakery but as good as she is at her job, she keeps quitting and coming back.
The one way she attempts to take control of her life is through the temporary embrace of different diets. The latest one she has chosen is the 75-day Radiant Regimen, an intense cleanse that Kit is determined to follow to the letter, as she hopes that clean eating will bring clarity to the rest of her life. David participates as well in an effort to support her.
But the hunger she feels translates to more than her eating habits. She finds herself attracted to Matt, a carpenter doing renovations for the bakery. They quickly fall into a passionate affair even though Kit knows it won’t last. To cover her guilt over the affair, she becomes more and more obsessed with the Radiant Regimen, to the detriment of everyone.
What does Kit really want? What will satisfy her in the end, food-wise, relationship-wise, job-wise, and life-wise? Is having a “typical” life settling or is it worth throwing everything away to find better?
Cheat Day is at times humorous and at times serious, but it’s an interesting look at a woman unsure of what she wants. I don’t know that I particularly loved the characters or the way they behaved, but this was definitely entertaining and thought-provoking.
Scribner provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!
Cheat Day publishes 5/25.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2020 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020.html.
Check out my list of the best books of the last decade at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-favorite-books-of-decade.html.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
February 16, 2021
As someone who has spent my entire life struggling with my weight and disordered eating, I wasn't sure what to expect with Liv Stratman's Cheat Day. Would it portray diet culture accurately? Would it be triggering? I was skeptical, but the complex romantic element convinced me to read anyway. And, lo and behold, I really enjoyed the story and related to it on a number of levels.
First, the restrictive eating affecting Kit's social life and relationships. So accurate, and I haven't seen that portrayed in a novel before.
Second, Kit's boredom with her "safe" husband and desire for more. Unfortunately, I can really relate here. Not sure if there's a correlation between never being sated with food and never being sated with love, but I like the way these plot elements worked together.
Third, this book is so much more than chick lit. Based on the cover, I didn't expect it to be so deep. It really does probe so many issues involving womanhood, and in such a cohesive, un-preachy way. I'd definitely recommend it.
First, the restrictive eating affecting Kit's social life and relationships. So accurate, and I haven't seen that portrayed in a novel before.
Second, Kit's boredom with her "safe" husband and desire for more. Unfortunately, I can really relate here. Not sure if there's a correlation between never being sated with food and never being sated with love, but I like the way these plot elements worked together.
Third, this book is so much more than chick lit. Based on the cover, I didn't expect it to be so deep. It really does probe so many issues involving womanhood, and in such a cohesive, un-preachy way. I'd definitely recommend it.
January 19, 2021
While I appreciate the opportunity to read this book early, I am sad to say it just did not connect with me.
The main character is exceptionally unlikeable, and while I have read other stories with horrible main characters usually the supporting "cast" makes the story worthwhile. Not so in this book. I found her husband, David, to be spineless and boring. Kit was a hot mess.
I grew tired of her diets.--oops! I mean "programs"--and fixation on weight even though she was sure to tell us toward the beginning of the book that she was 30lbs lighter than her sister. Then she has an affair just because she could, basically.
Nah, I'll pass.
The main character is exceptionally unlikeable, and while I have read other stories with horrible main characters usually the supporting "cast" makes the story worthwhile. Not so in this book. I found her husband, David, to be spineless and boring. Kit was a hot mess.
I grew tired of her diets.--oops! I mean "programs"--and fixation on weight even though she was sure to tell us toward the beginning of the book that she was 30lbs lighter than her sister. Then she has an affair just because she could, basically.
Nah, I'll pass.
May 28, 2021
What is this? It’s not interesting, it’s not funny, it’s not literary or original. There’s no lesson learned or climactic ending. What is the point and what publisher thought it was was worth our time and money. Well the Brooklyn Public Library’s money, but I digress.
August 11, 2021
Such a hot mess.
August 25, 2021
Don't be fooled by the girly, pastel cover of this book. It's not a ditzy, "chick lit", fluff read. It was smart, insightful, self-aware, and the narrator has a wonderfully dry sense of humor.
I REALLY enjoyed this book and am surprised to see its low ratings. Yes, the main character is a disaster basket case, but somehow it didn't make me dislike her. I found her to be realistically very flawed. A lot of books feature a woman who is a full on raging alcoholic and/or struggling with literal psychotic mental health problems but somehow functions in her life (eye roll...I've had enough of those books). But this main character deals with disordered eating, job/career ennui, and a marriage that has gotten boring. To me, these things feel realistic and not like the trope of the "mid-30s struggling alcoholic/psychotic break woman" that is constantly thrown in our faces in so many books today.
I actually liked Kit. I thought she was funny and smart, and obviously she is not perfect. She does make some terrible, selfish decisions. But since when do main characters have to be noble and perfect? She does have some mental health stuff going on. But don't we all?
Overall, I feel like this book got stronger as it progressed, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I very rarely give 5 stars, but this one deserves it. I highly recommend this and hope this author writes more books!
I REALLY enjoyed this book and am surprised to see its low ratings. Yes, the main character is a disaster basket case, but somehow it didn't make me dislike her. I found her to be realistically very flawed. A lot of books feature a woman who is a full on raging alcoholic and/or struggling with literal psychotic mental health problems but somehow functions in her life (eye roll...I've had enough of those books). But this main character deals with disordered eating, job/career ennui, and a marriage that has gotten boring. To me, these things feel realistic and not like the trope of the "mid-30s struggling alcoholic/psychotic break woman" that is constantly thrown in our faces in so many books today.
I actually liked Kit. I thought she was funny and smart, and obviously she is not perfect. She does make some terrible, selfish decisions. But since when do main characters have to be noble and perfect? She does have some mental health stuff going on. But don't we all?
Overall, I feel like this book got stronger as it progressed, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I very rarely give 5 stars, but this one deserves it. I highly recommend this and hope this author writes more books!
June 16, 2021
2.5/3 stars. I liked the concept of this book but it kind of dragged on and the ending seemed rushed. Didn’t really get any closure with the characters 🤷🏼♀️
November 23, 2023
i pored možda najgore glavne junakinje koju sam ikad srela u nekoj knjizi, ovaj roman je bio taman ono što mi se čitalo ovih dana
March 20, 2021
I re-read this and this do not like this book. Kit is still a very unlikeable MC and her actions throughout the book make her selfish. She wants to diet but works in her sister's bakery which she quits but not before she hooks up with a handyman and cheats on her husband. SMH.
This book is still a no for me.
This book is still a no for me.
May 13, 2021
I liked this one. The tone was funny and dark but this book is def not for everyone.
July 2, 2021
Emma Straub I trust you, why oh why did you submit a positive blurb for this book!!! I hate when authors I love endorse a trash book. I feel duped 🤬
As you know I love a well written female baddie so I had high hopes for a novel that explored temptation through sex and food. Milk Fed is a recent title that did this so deliciously I’m still thinking about froyo. Stratman’s take on female infidelity is so revolting in its basicness I’m honestly shocked this got published. Grant it, Stratman can construct a decent sentence without comparing clouds to desserts. Sorry I’m still bitter about The Hunting Wives!
In Cheat Day we meet bored wifey Kit, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband David. She’s a compulsive dieter and is on a strict 75 day plan that she forces upon David. She works in her sister’s bakery, Sweet Cheeks where she doesn’t eat one baked good! This novel is highly offensive to my friend @donuts.wont.fix.my.life 😂 While she’s slinging cupcakes, hottie carpenter Matt joins the pastry crew to build some new shelves. They bond afterwork while dustbusting the floors. They very quickly, as the publisher says, “fall into a passionate affair.” The sex is so dry I needed lube to turn the pages.
Dusty sex aside, my biggest issue with the book is the lack of motivation from Kit. David was a great husband, they really had no issues, and Stratman even writes that Kit doesn’t really understand why she is having this affair. Meanwhile she is strict about her diet and never “cheats” on it so we know this character has self-control but she just can’t seem to find it with Matt. Why should I care about Kit???? Then adding insult to injury, she is never held accountable or seems to go through a transformation. The affair just ends with the book. I was hoping there would be some redemption at the end so I kept reading, but nope! This book definitely cheated me out of my time.
As you know I love a well written female baddie so I had high hopes for a novel that explored temptation through sex and food. Milk Fed is a recent title that did this so deliciously I’m still thinking about froyo. Stratman’s take on female infidelity is so revolting in its basicness I’m honestly shocked this got published. Grant it, Stratman can construct a decent sentence without comparing clouds to desserts. Sorry I’m still bitter about The Hunting Wives!
In Cheat Day we meet bored wifey Kit, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband David. She’s a compulsive dieter and is on a strict 75 day plan that she forces upon David. She works in her sister’s bakery, Sweet Cheeks where she doesn’t eat one baked good! This novel is highly offensive to my friend @donuts.wont.fix.my.life 😂 While she’s slinging cupcakes, hottie carpenter Matt joins the pastry crew to build some new shelves. They bond afterwork while dustbusting the floors. They very quickly, as the publisher says, “fall into a passionate affair.” The sex is so dry I needed lube to turn the pages.
Dusty sex aside, my biggest issue with the book is the lack of motivation from Kit. David was a great husband, they really had no issues, and Stratman even writes that Kit doesn’t really understand why she is having this affair. Meanwhile she is strict about her diet and never “cheats” on it so we know this character has self-control but she just can’t seem to find it with Matt. Why should I care about Kit???? Then adding insult to injury, she is never held accountable or seems to go through a transformation. The affair just ends with the book. I was hoping there would be some redemption at the end so I kept reading, but nope! This book definitely cheated me out of my time.
March 12, 2021
What I was hoping for was some fluff, but I found Kit to be absolutely insufferable. Nothing about her was appealing to me, not even in the 'love to hate' kind of way. The pacing was off in this as well. If the last 25% made up 75% of the book, I probably could have enjoyed it more. The blasé portrayal of what was ultimately an eating disorder was disturbing as well.
I'm sure a handful will enjoy this, just not me.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'm sure a handful will enjoy this, just not me.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 7, 2021
CHEAT DAY is a fantastic debut.
This novel features Kit, who's suffering ennui or just general discontent -- despite her life seeming to be, actually, pretty great. She's a serial dieter and at the outset of the book embarks on the 75-day Radiant Regimen, yet another "program" promising to change her life.
Author Stratman's writing here is just so. good. It makes the book engaging from the start and scenes feel dynamic and real. While snappy and smart, the sort of book I love to gobble up, I took my time with this one and continually reread passages just to savor them.
The play on appetites is really interesting, and between that and the writing, CHEAT DAY is much more than an "unhappy elder millennial book" or an "affair book." So much of if it is on point, down to the fleece vest commentary (! my first time encountering that in a book, and maybe it'll only resonate with people who work or commute around Midtown Manhattan, but wow was I entirely here for it).
This book won't be for everyone; Kit's behavior is decidedly... not the best and yet -- this was never a book I wanted to throw across the room. Rather than feel frustrated with the main character, I got why she was doing what she was doing and I couldn't wait to read on. CHEAT DAY was very much a book for me.
(Fans of FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE especially, be sure not to sleep on this one.)
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for a free e-arc of this title for review.
This novel features Kit, who's suffering ennui or just general discontent -- despite her life seeming to be, actually, pretty great. She's a serial dieter and at the outset of the book embarks on the 75-day Radiant Regimen, yet another "program" promising to change her life.
Author Stratman's writing here is just so. good. It makes the book engaging from the start and scenes feel dynamic and real. While snappy and smart, the sort of book I love to gobble up, I took my time with this one and continually reread passages just to savor them.
The play on appetites is really interesting, and between that and the writing, CHEAT DAY is much more than an "unhappy elder millennial book" or an "affair book." So much of if it is on point, down to the fleece vest commentary (! my first time encountering that in a book, and maybe it'll only resonate with people who work or commute around Midtown Manhattan, but wow was I entirely here for it).
This book won't be for everyone; Kit's behavior is decidedly... not the best and yet -- this was never a book I wanted to throw across the room. Rather than feel frustrated with the main character, I got why she was doing what she was doing and I couldn't wait to read on. CHEAT DAY was very much a book for me.
(Fans of FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE especially, be sure not to sleep on this one.)
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for a free e-arc of this title for review.
January 4, 2022
The title of this book, “Cheat Day” has so many meanings everyone will be able to find a piece of themselves within. Cheat Day is a complicated, serious, funny look at one person’s relationship with life, love and food.
Kit and David met and fell in love in college. It was a comfortable love. Not a fireworks kind of love, but that was okay with Kit. David nurtured her sense of security, which was just what Kit needed. Now David is an architect and Kit works at her sister and cousin’s bakery called Sweet Cheeks.
Kit’s life is extremely predictable. She works, she diets, she quits work, she quits the diets she goes back to work. Clearly Kit is not very happy. She hates her job; she hates her body weight and although she knows her husband truly adores her, she sometimes does not know exactly how she feels about him.
This has been her pattern until a carpenter named Matt comes to the bakery to build some shelving and Kit and Matt have an instant attraction. Kit has never felt this way about anyone, not even her husband. Without hesitation, they begin an affair. But not only does Kit hide the affair from her husband, but she also hides her new diet experiment from Matt, which of course she is making her husband do with her. This new life-change will throw Kit’s boring life upside down. Kit is losing control.
Kit now finds this new chapter exciting, invigorating and loathsome. She begins to look at her husband in a different way, a way where everything about him seems to bother her. And of course, she begins to compare the two men. Where Matt and Kit’s sex life is incredible, her lack of sex with her husband is just another reason in her mind to continue the affair. By not telling Matt about her newest diet adventure, he assumes she has some weird food issues, which is not too far from the truth. At the same time, her husband and his family bend over backwards to assist Kit with her latest fad.
The novel delves deeply into the give and flow of a marriage, the yin and yang, the highs and lows. But cheating brings a new set of anxieties to the table. Sometimes when there are dips, it can be easy to look somewhere else, but it’s the love that makes you stay. So, is there any love left? The story is an exploration of other obsessions, such as jealousy and age. When you feel depressed about your life sometimes one’s world can spiral.
As the affair progresses, Kit’s life begins to freefall. Her weight down, her sex-life satisfying, she still feels sad and depressed. Then she must decide if she should tell her husband about the affair and all that will come with the truth. So many lives will be ruined including her husband’s family with whom Kit has always considered her family.
Kit has deprived herself for so long, of love, of food, of self-esteem. How will she be able to justify all she has done and been through? Is loving someone always a forever? Or is it possible to take it just day by day with some good days and perhaps some cheat days. Does anyone really know?
Kit and David met and fell in love in college. It was a comfortable love. Not a fireworks kind of love, but that was okay with Kit. David nurtured her sense of security, which was just what Kit needed. Now David is an architect and Kit works at her sister and cousin’s bakery called Sweet Cheeks.
Kit’s life is extremely predictable. She works, she diets, she quits work, she quits the diets she goes back to work. Clearly Kit is not very happy. She hates her job; she hates her body weight and although she knows her husband truly adores her, she sometimes does not know exactly how she feels about him.
This has been her pattern until a carpenter named Matt comes to the bakery to build some shelving and Kit and Matt have an instant attraction. Kit has never felt this way about anyone, not even her husband. Without hesitation, they begin an affair. But not only does Kit hide the affair from her husband, but she also hides her new diet experiment from Matt, which of course she is making her husband do with her. This new life-change will throw Kit’s boring life upside down. Kit is losing control.
Kit now finds this new chapter exciting, invigorating and loathsome. She begins to look at her husband in a different way, a way where everything about him seems to bother her. And of course, she begins to compare the two men. Where Matt and Kit’s sex life is incredible, her lack of sex with her husband is just another reason in her mind to continue the affair. By not telling Matt about her newest diet adventure, he assumes she has some weird food issues, which is not too far from the truth. At the same time, her husband and his family bend over backwards to assist Kit with her latest fad.
The novel delves deeply into the give and flow of a marriage, the yin and yang, the highs and lows. But cheating brings a new set of anxieties to the table. Sometimes when there are dips, it can be easy to look somewhere else, but it’s the love that makes you stay. So, is there any love left? The story is an exploration of other obsessions, such as jealousy and age. When you feel depressed about your life sometimes one’s world can spiral.
As the affair progresses, Kit’s life begins to freefall. Her weight down, her sex-life satisfying, she still feels sad and depressed. Then she must decide if she should tell her husband about the affair and all that will come with the truth. So many lives will be ruined including her husband’s family with whom Kit has always considered her family.
Kit has deprived herself for so long, of love, of food, of self-esteem. How will she be able to justify all she has done and been through? Is loving someone always a forever? Or is it possible to take it just day by day with some good days and perhaps some cheat days. Does anyone really know?
March 17, 2021
Cheat Day can be mistaken to compliment the plot in which our self absorbed, selfish, cruel MC attempts many diets where she inevitably fails them before she can complete them, until she starts to have an affair, losing her relationship with her husband while nearly accomplishing the one diet that is working for her. However, un-ironically, Cheat Day can refer to how often she has an affair with a carpenter who works at her sister’s bakery.
I gave this three stars for two reasons only: One, the writing style is intriguing, I actually felt compelled to keep reading to see what happened next. Even when I started to despise the main character, I was eager to read more. Two, I thought the eating disorder wasn’t romanticized or handled in a way that is inappropriate or harmful. Other than that, I hated this book for one reason. The main character.
Don’t get me wrong! I root for women who are done being in relationships that are in fact going south. I strongly believed our MC would get her shit together eventually. This character was a PRICK. Not just because she continuously cheats on her husband instead of communicating with him, she then goes on to HUMILIATE, DEMEAN, LIE and verbally abuse him! She treats him like garbage and makes him feel bad, asking for pity and forgiveness, and then running off to be with her side lover to make herself feel better, reminding herself that ( due to her new diet ) she is feeling and looking better.
I can understand her mental health when it comes to the disorder and even when it comes to her anxiety and depression. What I cannot stand about this character is that she gets to pretend like nothing happened, her husband unaware, that she’s still in love with a man she used and then dumped like a piece of garbage like she treated her husband.
I honestly believe cheating is an end deal, in my own opinion, it sets the rest of the relationship on a one way track to vanish-land.
This MC cried and screamed and emotionally dragged everyone around her into a situation she had total control over every single scene. To top it off, in the end she still managed to have control over her husband by making him feel guilty despite trying to communicate with her.
She is often verbally aggressive and cruel to her husband when they fight, often going chapters of ignoring, acting snide and abandoning him.
The kicker? She leaves him when he admits to not going along with the diets... and somehow she thinks her cheating is acceptable because he works too much?
If you’re lonely, communicate. If you cant communicate, try, or get therapy or something. If that doesn’t work out, break up or figure it out. DO NOT CHEAT. At the end there isn’t a single consequence, and don’t tell me “but she lost a love she could have had”, that was the only negative to her cheating at the end. Otherwise, it was romanticized that at least her and her husband still loved each other.
Man, never have I ever before, ever, did I root for the poor husband in a book. Ever. And that says something.
This MC who I wont even mention her name because it makes me nauseous, was absolutely horrible in way too many aspects to forgive whatever mental health issue she had going on. Some things were just glossed over and it didn’t sit well with me. I cant get behind the idea, even if this might work for some older women who dream of just packing up and leaving to do whatever they want despite how it affects anybody else. It wasn’t me.
I gave this three stars for two reasons only: One, the writing style is intriguing, I actually felt compelled to keep reading to see what happened next. Even when I started to despise the main character, I was eager to read more. Two, I thought the eating disorder wasn’t romanticized or handled in a way that is inappropriate or harmful. Other than that, I hated this book for one reason. The main character.
Don’t get me wrong! I root for women who are done being in relationships that are in fact going south. I strongly believed our MC would get her shit together eventually. This character was a PRICK. Not just because she continuously cheats on her husband instead of communicating with him, she then goes on to HUMILIATE, DEMEAN, LIE and verbally abuse him! She treats him like garbage and makes him feel bad, asking for pity and forgiveness, and then running off to be with her side lover to make herself feel better, reminding herself that ( due to her new diet ) she is feeling and looking better.
I can understand her mental health when it comes to the disorder and even when it comes to her anxiety and depression. What I cannot stand about this character is that she gets to pretend like nothing happened, her husband unaware, that she’s still in love with a man she used and then dumped like a piece of garbage like she treated her husband.
I honestly believe cheating is an end deal, in my own opinion, it sets the rest of the relationship on a one way track to vanish-land.
This MC cried and screamed and emotionally dragged everyone around her into a situation she had total control over every single scene. To top it off, in the end she still managed to have control over her husband by making him feel guilty despite trying to communicate with her.
She is often verbally aggressive and cruel to her husband when they fight, often going chapters of ignoring, acting snide and abandoning him.
The kicker? She leaves him when he admits to not going along with the diets... and somehow she thinks her cheating is acceptable because he works too much?
If you’re lonely, communicate. If you cant communicate, try, or get therapy or something. If that doesn’t work out, break up or figure it out. DO NOT CHEAT. At the end there isn’t a single consequence, and don’t tell me “but she lost a love she could have had”, that was the only negative to her cheating at the end. Otherwise, it was romanticized that at least her and her husband still loved each other.
Man, never have I ever before, ever, did I root for the poor husband in a book. Ever. And that says something.
This MC who I wont even mention her name because it makes me nauseous, was absolutely horrible in way too many aspects to forgive whatever mental health issue she had going on. Some things were just glossed over and it didn’t sit well with me. I cant get behind the idea, even if this might work for some older women who dream of just packing up and leaving to do whatever they want despite how it affects anybody else. It wasn’t me.
May 26, 2021
This has a great mixture of the grass is greener and acknowledging your inability to know what you truly want in and out of life. Kit reminds me of myself in a lot of ways with diet struggles, thinking ‘I’ll be better when I weigh this’ or even wondering if I’m truly happy in the life choices I’ve made. At the end of the day nothing in life is set in stone and Stratman did a wonderful job creating a connectable character that traverses some pretty sticky life choices.
There is a dark humor to this novel circling along the lines of affairs and eating disorders. I know, not something you’d typically intertwine humor with, but it works with the MC, Kit. I honestly found myself enjoying her goofy demeanor and chaotic way of life. I connected deeply with the continual dieting and body image struggles. I also realized that I found myself nodding to how David and Kit interacted with each other after being together for so long. There is a truth to the reality that what used to spark in the beginning of relationships can easily dwindle to the mundane and routine without change and appreciation. As a reader it made me contemplate things in my own life that I don’t always think about and also reevaluate some of my own personal mundaneness. The aspects on family and sisterhood added a deeper element to the storyline. There is a specific part towards the end that just made me want to hug the crap out of Kit’s sister and value her outside of being just a side character to the action.
I do think this will speak to readers in different ways. Some may see the harshness in the affair, the problems with the created eating disorders and others may see the reality and rawness that sparks from these characters. I hope many walk away with the depth that I saw. I did struggle with the way it ended. Maybe I just wanted more because it felt to open ended (yes, I get the reasoning for that) but it was also sad in a way too. You’ll have to find out why though, no spoilers here.
Thank you Scribner and Liv Stratman for the ability to win an early copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
There is a dark humor to this novel circling along the lines of affairs and eating disorders. I know, not something you’d typically intertwine humor with, but it works with the MC, Kit. I honestly found myself enjoying her goofy demeanor and chaotic way of life. I connected deeply with the continual dieting and body image struggles. I also realized that I found myself nodding to how David and Kit interacted with each other after being together for so long. There is a truth to the reality that what used to spark in the beginning of relationships can easily dwindle to the mundane and routine without change and appreciation. As a reader it made me contemplate things in my own life that I don’t always think about and also reevaluate some of my own personal mundaneness. The aspects on family and sisterhood added a deeper element to the storyline. There is a specific part towards the end that just made me want to hug the crap out of Kit’s sister and value her outside of being just a side character to the action.
I do think this will speak to readers in different ways. Some may see the harshness in the affair, the problems with the created eating disorders and others may see the reality and rawness that sparks from these characters. I hope many walk away with the depth that I saw. I did struggle with the way it ended. Maybe I just wanted more because it felt to open ended (yes, I get the reasoning for that) but it was also sad in a way too. You’ll have to find out why though, no spoilers here.
Thank you Scribner and Liv Stratman for the ability to win an early copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
June 24, 2021
A complete waste of time. I did not like this book at all. I kept thinking it would get better, but maybe it even got worse. The main character is self-absorbed, hateful, mean, the most self-serving character I've ever read. No redeeming qualities. She doesn't appear to learn anything on her journey, there is no development of her character. There doesn't seem to be a point to this book at all.
I'm utterly baffled that there are readers who enjoyed this. I won't be recommending this to anyone.
I'm utterly baffled that there are readers who enjoyed this. I won't be recommending this to anyone.
July 17, 2021
I thought this book would either be an easy breezy book with a relatable story about a older millennial finding herself OR a deeper story about what a person finds when the grass appears greener when you have a different body/career/partner. This is book is neither of these things, but I don't know what it is. I found it difficult to empathize with Kit. I was hoping to see what she finds beyond her listlessness, whininess, and privilege. But alas she finds nothing! There isn't much resolution at the end of the story either. I definitely don't need my books to be wrapped up with a bow at the end, but there is nothing poignant, inspirational, hopeful, or even thoughtful at the end. Stravman is obviously a gifted writer and does make some thoughtful and well done observations throughout the novel, so if she writes another book I'll give it a chance, but this one fell a little short for me.
March 28, 2021
I finished this book with mixed feelings. The main character, Kit, was difficult to like. She is self absorbed and quite mean to those who love her. She has no ambition and takes for granted what she does have. The ending was no resolution. She stays with her husband but thinks either she or he could find someone else. I liked all the other characters. The only thing I could relate to her about was always thinking about food, but unlike her diets, mine never work. Thanks to Scribner and Edelweiss for the early copy.
March 27, 2021
God this woman is just a terrible human being. (the character, not the author)
June 25, 2021
Hard to read and comprehend the destructive lengths people go through when avidly seeking comfort.
July 12, 2021
All I can say about Kit, the main character: Seek therapy.
March 17, 2024
4/5 ⭐️
I went into this totally blind and really enjoyed it! These reviewers obviously cannot handle a complicated main character who makes mistakes.
This book gets messsssy!!! But it’s also a good exploration of growing up and contemplating the choices you’ve made. A classic “the grass is always greener on the other side.”
I loved our complicated main character and how her very clear eating disorder is a reflection of her insecurity. Which then has consequences in her marriage.
A quick and engaging read!
I went into this totally blind and really enjoyed it! These reviewers obviously cannot handle a complicated main character who makes mistakes.
This book gets messsssy!!! But it’s also a good exploration of growing up and contemplating the choices you’ve made. A classic “the grass is always greener on the other side.”
I loved our complicated main character and how her very clear eating disorder is a reflection of her insecurity. Which then has consequences in her marriage.
A quick and engaging read!
July 8, 2021
I really enjoyed and appreciated this book, in spite of some imperfections in the narrative, and it not being the best, most memorable book I will ever read. Partly I think, is that I love the "genre" (?) of women struggling with the appetites of both food and sex together in a novel, and what that really means in a deeper sense, in our modern, patriarchal, consumer society (I recently read/reviewed Melissa Broder's Milk Fed on this subject, though it was an *entirely** different, heavier and more intense read). I would love to find more good reading in this area!
I'm frankly stunned at reviews from people who don't like the book *because* it was about those subjects. With all the books out there...why did you choose this one?
Anyway, such subjects compel me, so I loved the process of reading through this to see how it all would be handled. And to me, the writing was decent, the plot interesting, and the dilemmas and insights and where they led made for a read I didn't want to put down. Also full of very witty insight from our first person narrator!
The book revolves around the main character/leading lady being what some might just call a modern, "normal" neurotic: insecure, self-doubting, vaguely dissatisfied with her good life of relative financial ease and a nice marriage, and needing ways to feel better about herself (or try to), and to assuage the empty feeling inside. Trying "wellness regimes," which she refuses to call diets, is her big ongoing fix for this. If she can only get thinner, look better and then maybe also look younger, wear hotter clothes...fulfillment will come. I think this is relatable to many!! And the author does a wonderful skewering of Instagram and the "Wellness Brands" out there--perfect!
This emptiness, this hunger and her undefined sense of wanting more in life, wanting some more meaning hangs over her like a cloud. And then along comes Mr. Tall and Handsome, and this life-sized hole seems to get filled by the spice, and by a more physical type of sexual experience he can offer than her nice, but more mental, husband. (It is striking HOW nice the husband is, caring and loving).
As I read it there were places where the resolutions or interactions seemed choppy, incomplete, or a bit obtuse. But only one scene stands out enough for me to remember. It's a scene wherein, after a whole book of our lead lady being neurotic and clingy, her sister mentions that perhaps her husband is also a cheater and our lead shrugs it off as possible with barely a nod.
The other really odd thing to me is why this character does not go into a fulfilling career. Though she does work, and does it well, at the bakery, it always seemed something was off in her psyche in this regard. It's never explored why she does not use her college degree; just brought up several times as something she can't seem to get herself together around.
Clearly the author has worked in a bakery with all the good detail (yes!-- confirmed on the book jacket), so that will be a tickle for others who have. And definitely will be even more fun to read for those who love Brooklyn, with all the references and scenes.
As others have mentioned, not the ultra fun rom-com that the cover and publisher notes imply--and in fact not very sexy at all in any much detail--and there are feelings and dilemmas and deeper questions here. Still for me it was definitely fun compared to many books I read, and worth my time.
I'm frankly stunned at reviews from people who don't like the book *because* it was about those subjects. With all the books out there...why did you choose this one?
Anyway, such subjects compel me, so I loved the process of reading through this to see how it all would be handled. And to me, the writing was decent, the plot interesting, and the dilemmas and insights and where they led made for a read I didn't want to put down. Also full of very witty insight from our first person narrator!
The book revolves around the main character/leading lady being what some might just call a modern, "normal" neurotic: insecure, self-doubting, vaguely dissatisfied with her good life of relative financial ease and a nice marriage, and needing ways to feel better about herself (or try to), and to assuage the empty feeling inside. Trying "wellness regimes," which she refuses to call diets, is her big ongoing fix for this. If she can only get thinner, look better and then maybe also look younger, wear hotter clothes...fulfillment will come. I think this is relatable to many!! And the author does a wonderful skewering of Instagram and the "Wellness Brands" out there--perfect!
This emptiness, this hunger and her undefined sense of wanting more in life, wanting some more meaning hangs over her like a cloud. And then along comes Mr. Tall and Handsome, and this life-sized hole seems to get filled by the spice, and by a more physical type of sexual experience he can offer than her nice, but more mental, husband. (It is striking HOW nice the husband is, caring and loving).
As I read it there were places where the resolutions or interactions seemed choppy, incomplete, or a bit obtuse. But only one scene stands out enough for me to remember. It's a scene wherein, after a whole book of our lead lady being neurotic and clingy, her sister mentions that perhaps her husband is also a cheater and our lead shrugs it off as possible with barely a nod.
The other really odd thing to me is why this character does not go into a fulfilling career. Though she does work, and does it well, at the bakery, it always seemed something was off in her psyche in this regard. It's never explored why she does not use her college degree; just brought up several times as something she can't seem to get herself together around.
Clearly the author has worked in a bakery with all the good detail (yes!-- confirmed on the book jacket), so that will be a tickle for others who have. And definitely will be even more fun to read for those who love Brooklyn, with all the references and scenes.
As others have mentioned, not the ultra fun rom-com that the cover and publisher notes imply--and in fact not very sexy at all in any much detail--and there are feelings and dilemmas and deeper questions here. Still for me it was definitely fun compared to many books I read, and worth my time.
April 6, 2021
Kit and David are a married couple, college sweethearts, who are living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in Kit’s family home. While David is a workaholic, in a demanding job that requires him to travel extensively, Kit always ends right back at her sister Melissa’s bakery, despite constantly quitting and claiming an intention of looking for her own successful career. With a her lackluster focus on work, Kit makes the difference up by focusing on fad diets from Instagram, specifically the Radiant Regime which lasts 75 days. Kit is determined that this will be the diet that changes her life and that she just needs to find the right combination of outside influences will inspire in her the self-confidence and self-acceptance that she’s seeking. When she’s cajoled back into her job in order to supervise the carpenter, Matt Larsson, she begins an affair. You know, I get that this book was looking into a woman’s life who seems to have it all but is still unhappy. I still had a very hard time feeling sorry for her. Take your weird eating issues and go see a therapist. David was literally such a great husband: did he work too much? Yeah but he’s also the reason you can afford to live in *New York City* aka a place I would LOVE to live in. If your options are to cheat on the person you love best in the world, go on an insane diet or actually take steps to fix your life, then you should probably do the latter option. Maybe it’s because I’ve been through a lot of shit but honestly? Kit came across as a spoiled, selfish brat and I wanted to throat-jab her for every complaint she made. Ironically enough, I think my hate for Kat’s character is what cements this as a great book: I was fully invested in what she was doing and what was going to happen.
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