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Nothing To Lose
Praise for Nothing To "Pert, pithy and very New York; full of the admirable offhand observations of an unfooled eye." Times Literary Supplement "Nothing to Lose is a book for every person who has ever wanted something that's persisted in staying just out of reach. This is a funny book - both in its unorthodox heroine and in its treatment of a sensitive subject." Newsday"You will melt over April Taylor, delight in her marvelous friends and fall in love with her prince." Susan Isaacs, author of Compromising Positions, Shining ThroughBook novel of insight and great humor, this is a Cinderella story about the triumphant makeover of the body and spirit of April Taylor, a fat girl from Queens with the right mind but the wrong body. April - 60 lbs. overweight, reeling from a broken marriage wangles a job as a softgoods copywriter in a suburban department store. There she meets Don, the black design manager who is determined to help her. "You're not really breathing," he tells her. "You're holding your breath for the next insult . . . such a waste, such a pretty face." April capitulates and the program the wogging, the jogging, the hip walking and near starvation that will melt her prison of fat.Nothing to Lose is also about April's fantasy lover, Luis O'Neill. Luis is a half Irish, half Puerto Rican boy from the projects who makes it to Princeton and utilizes his dazzling good looks to become the youngest president in Burdie's history. Set against the backdrop of the outrageous world of advertising and marketingthis is a jubilant and satisfying story of risk-taking and love between two worthy survivors.
266 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
60 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
Consuelo Saah Baehr
22 books131 followersTraveled with my mother by bus through Texas to join and be left with my father and his four brothers in Washington DC. My father and his brother, Charles owned a prestigious small department store, Jean Matou, la Maison de treussou, on the corner of Connecticut and M Street. The men soon placed me in a convent boarding school where I spent most of my growing up trying to figure out a plan. Writing was my only way.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 14, 2011
Nothing to Lose by Consuelo Saah Baehr is a story about breaking free from the stereo types, beating the odds, and taking the unexpected path in life. Good things don’t come to those who wait. They’re snatched up by those who seize the moment and make it their own and that’s exactly what April Taylor and Luis O’Neil were going to do!
April had always been a heavy-set girl but hadn’t really seen that as a hindrance. It merely was what it was. She had her mother’s large hazel eyes and her father’s thick chestnut hair, making it obvious to others that she’d be a total knock-out if she could just lose the extra pounds. Thankfully Sylvie, April’s best friend, had found a great job for April that would not only take her out of her comfort zone, but would help get April going in the right direction with her life. She soon left Queens and jumped straight into a Manhattan lifestyle! She had lost weight and gained the self-confidence she needed in order to get ahead and go after what she wanted…love. She set her sights on Harald, falling hard and fast. Everything was picture perfect, just as it should be. Unfortunately, her fairytale ending didn’t last long and April found herself alone and diving deeper into her bad habits and self-destructive ways. That is, until she went to work for Mr. Luis O’Neil.
Luis O’Neil was the son of an Irish father and Puerto Rican mother. He was a handsome and academically gifted child, straying from the expected street life he grew up with. Instead, he focused on achievement, being the best at what he did, and living the American dream! After studying at Princeton he landed himself a job with a major retail corporation, starting off small as a buyer and quickly becoming one of the company’s presidents! He had worked hard and it had paid off, giving him all he had ever wanted. Everything but love. Real, secure, unquestionable love. Then he met April.
Miss Baehr tells a tale of life, love and what happens when fate interjects. A concept I have always been a fan of, but it didn’t quite have the spark and connection to the reader that was needed. April seems to fall in love with any man who so much as smiles at her and her struggles with being overweight are too drawn out and redundant. Instead of identifying with and feeling for April, I found myself slightly annoyed by her. I had the same problem with Luis’s character, as he didn’t really have any depth to him, having gone through life with almost no resistance or road blocks. I also found myself distracted by typos throughout the entire book. I do feel this story had incredible potential, but that it needed more excitement to provoke and engage the reader.
~Hazel O'Shea
Written for the Juniper Grove Blog
April had always been a heavy-set girl but hadn’t really seen that as a hindrance. It merely was what it was. She had her mother’s large hazel eyes and her father’s thick chestnut hair, making it obvious to others that she’d be a total knock-out if she could just lose the extra pounds. Thankfully Sylvie, April’s best friend, had found a great job for April that would not only take her out of her comfort zone, but would help get April going in the right direction with her life. She soon left Queens and jumped straight into a Manhattan lifestyle! She had lost weight and gained the self-confidence she needed in order to get ahead and go after what she wanted…love. She set her sights on Harald, falling hard and fast. Everything was picture perfect, just as it should be. Unfortunately, her fairytale ending didn’t last long and April found herself alone and diving deeper into her bad habits and self-destructive ways. That is, until she went to work for Mr. Luis O’Neil.
Luis O’Neil was the son of an Irish father and Puerto Rican mother. He was a handsome and academically gifted child, straying from the expected street life he grew up with. Instead, he focused on achievement, being the best at what he did, and living the American dream! After studying at Princeton he landed himself a job with a major retail corporation, starting off small as a buyer and quickly becoming one of the company’s presidents! He had worked hard and it had paid off, giving him all he had ever wanted. Everything but love. Real, secure, unquestionable love. Then he met April.
Miss Baehr tells a tale of life, love and what happens when fate interjects. A concept I have always been a fan of, but it didn’t quite have the spark and connection to the reader that was needed. April seems to fall in love with any man who so much as smiles at her and her struggles with being overweight are too drawn out and redundant. Instead of identifying with and feeling for April, I found myself slightly annoyed by her. I had the same problem with Luis’s character, as he didn’t really have any depth to him, having gone through life with almost no resistance or road blocks. I also found myself distracted by typos throughout the entire book. I do feel this story had incredible potential, but that it needed more excitement to provoke and engage the reader.
~Hazel O'Shea
Written for the Juniper Grove Blog
December 9, 2010
April Taylor tries to eat her way out of depression for months after the failure of her marriage. Luis O'Neill is emotionally unavailable to women and overcompensates in his job to make up for his upbringing in the projects. Eventually April and Luis meet.
Yes, this is a romance story about a woman and a man who find each other. But it isn't your typical romance. Author Consuelo Saah Baehr doesn't analyze her characters or let them analyze themselves. Instead, she takes readers deep into these people's lives, shows what has shaped them, what is happening to them now, makes us care about them, and then lets readers do their own analysis. In the poignant scene where Luis asks April about her divorce, and she thinks she reads on his face that Luis will decide she's not desirable because another man dumped her, I found myself thinking, "Don't hurt her. She was so beat up emotionally by the failure of her marriage. Please, Luis, be nice." It was then that I saw how truly clever this author was in getting me to understand these characters and root for them without beating me over the head with an info dump.
The characters are completely fleshed out and, flaws and all, I loved them. The setting--New York and Newark world of advertising--was interesting and the details rang true. Ms. Baehr's dry wit added an extra dimension of humor to the writing, which was superb.
I thought the ending was too quick, but otherwise I really loved this book and will read more from this author. Highly recommended.
Yes, this is a romance story about a woman and a man who find each other. But it isn't your typical romance. Author Consuelo Saah Baehr doesn't analyze her characters or let them analyze themselves. Instead, she takes readers deep into these people's lives, shows what has shaped them, what is happening to them now, makes us care about them, and then lets readers do their own analysis. In the poignant scene where Luis asks April about her divorce, and she thinks she reads on his face that Luis will decide she's not desirable because another man dumped her, I found myself thinking, "Don't hurt her. She was so beat up emotionally by the failure of her marriage. Please, Luis, be nice." It was then that I saw how truly clever this author was in getting me to understand these characters and root for them without beating me over the head with an info dump.
The characters are completely fleshed out and, flaws and all, I loved them. The setting--New York and Newark world of advertising--was interesting and the details rang true. Ms. Baehr's dry wit added an extra dimension of humor to the writing, which was superb.
I thought the ending was too quick, but otherwise I really loved this book and will read more from this author. Highly recommended.
December 30, 2017
Very enjoyable read. Characters are relatable and likable. Would have given the book five stars, but there were numerous minor editing issues (though they did not detract from the story). The biggest issue I had with the book though was that it ended rather abruptly. I felt sort of cheated with the abruptness of it.
December 21, 2012
This is the 2nd book of Baehr's that I've read, and it was just as impressive as the first. I love Baehr's voice and writing style and her ability weave such great stories out of such seemingly ordinary people and events. The protagonist of this book struggles with body image, weight, and overeating, and the high point of this book for me was the way Baehr truly captured the shame that comes with having an addiction like this one. Very, very compelling stuff.
The characters were engaging and felt very real to me, and some of the main character's thoughts left me snickering under my breath like I was there. And it's so well written it's really hard not to love it.
I bumped it down a star because the Kindle edition I read was missing some opening and closing quotation marks that really threw me for a loop as I was reading. Also, there was a fair amount of real estate descriptions, which was too much of a repeat from the first book I read of Baehr's, "One Hundred Open Houses".
Kelly Hitchcock
Author of The Redheaded Stepchild
The characters were engaging and felt very real to me, and some of the main character's thoughts left me snickering under my breath like I was there. And it's so well written it's really hard not to love it.
I bumped it down a star because the Kindle edition I read was missing some opening and closing quotation marks that really threw me for a loop as I was reading. Also, there was a fair amount of real estate descriptions, which was too much of a repeat from the first book I read of Baehr's, "One Hundred Open Houses".
Kelly Hitchcock
Author of The Redheaded Stepchild
October 25, 2011
The description of this book is WAY better than the actual book. I could only read about 100 pages before I gave up. It wasn't well written and was a very dull read. If a book cannot capture your interest and attention in the first chapter or two you are headed for a long, tedious read and that's what this book was turning out to be. I figure life is too short to waste time reading books that bore me so I decided to give it up. I am so disappointed too because I really wanted to like this book based on the description of it! It's right up my alley but the description seems to be all the best part of the book highlighted so it turned out to be a quick and short read! Oh well, you win some you lose some and this one goes in my lose some catagory.
February 12, 2012
This book is light hearted and fun, I enjoyed reading it. The characters were developed, so much so that I wanted to know more about, and I'm being deliberately vague, what happened with/ too the ex husband (considering the circumstantial build up)? and what hapened to the girlfriend (for the same reasons)? The characters were too well developed to just disappear from the storyline and this did leave me a little disappointed. The plot at the end also seemed rushed with more of a dramatic stop than a winding up for the conclusion. Overall this was a lighthearted and fun book and i would read more from the author with the belief that once their skills are honed and developed their work will be even more enjoyable to read.
December 10, 2013
Nothing To Lose a fat girl romantic comedy was a great read. Let's just say I did not put it down and finished it in 3 days. The books takes place in New York and the main character is April. Nothing To Lose is about a Weight and Love. What woman has not dealt with these issues. I thing that is why I could not put it down. The main character find herself working in New York taking college classes and finding love and marriage. Only to find herself alone and divorced. You are taken on a journey with April as hit hits rock bottom to finding friendship and a transformation to finding a new career, and in the end finding love. I received this book for free from bookbub.com. I can only say this book is a must read pick it up.
July 16, 2013
This book was a funny, slightly "trashy" read for me on the long flight from L.A. to NY. The book is set in NY so that was cool that I was on my way there. I liked the development of the main character, but the whole weight issue and how she deals with it so she can get a man became a little annoying as the book progressed. I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone but there are some good parts that I enjoyed.
October 5, 2019
Not mushy
It was refreshing not to read a lovemaking scene right in the middle of the book. The book was about actually falling in love. The book also gave me a few hints for my weight-loss activities. It did take me a while to connect the transition between April and the introduction of Louis. I would read more books by this author.
It was refreshing not to read a lovemaking scene right in the middle of the book. The book was about actually falling in love. The book also gave me a few hints for my weight-loss activities. It did take me a while to connect the transition between April and the introduction of Louis. I would read more books by this author.
April 26, 2012
downloaded as a free kindle book one day. thought I would read it as an in between book and so far I have really liked it. the story of these two seperate people who, have seperate paths and problems, and how they meet and affect each other makes a great read
March 9, 2014
This is one of those self published free books so there are the requisite typos and bad edits. Otherwise the story was riveting to me. A career girl starting her career in advertising about the same time I did and she has interesting weight and love life issues. Couldn't put it down!
July 21, 2012
Great! Really enjoyed it.
October 13, 2012
ok book. very heavy stuff and not really what I thought it was
November 9, 2015
Great
awesome book. Good read, interesting and easy going. Curl up sand relax with this great find. I would recommend it
awesome book. Good read, interesting and easy going. Curl up sand relax with this great find. I would recommend it
August 5, 2017
Excellent book.
Touching story . Really held my interest from start to finish. If you've ever been seriously overweight, you will appreciate this sweet little romance.
Touching story . Really held my interest from start to finish. If you've ever been seriously overweight, you will appreciate this sweet little romance.
July 18, 2019
Nothing to lose
Weight and body image I are powerful obstacles to happiness. I had a tough time liking this story because I identified with her struggle.
Weight and body image I are powerful obstacles to happiness. I had a tough time liking this story because I identified with her struggle.
October 11, 2019
Loved it!
March 12, 2024
omg I've been looking for this and trying to remember the title for such a long time. I'm not saying it's the greatest romance novel ever: but it's fun and it's idiosyncratic and it's certainly memorable, considering how long I've been looking out for it.
Something different, something real, not the usual characterless slobberingly hyped-up dross.
Something different, something real, not the usual characterless slobberingly hyped-up dross.
October 18, 2012
This review was originally posted on Big Al's Books and Pals review blog on Thursday, August 23, 2012
I think this book had a lot of potential, but due to an overuse of narrative, it missed the mark for me. There is some good dialogue throughout the story, but the author spends most of her time telling us what the characters think and feel, instead of showing us. When an author tells the story this way the characters end up flat, and I have a hard time connecting with them. It's like reading a text book for me.
Don, the black design manager who is determined to help April lose weight, is the most honest character in the story and shows the most emotion.
April was certain she could control her future by simply losing weight. While it is true that losing weight will increase your self-confidence and you will feel better, it won't make all your dreams come true., although this is the way it worked out for April. After she loses sixty pounds, all of a sudden Luis starts paying attention to her, even though he never even acknowledges that she has lost weight. Thank goodness she didn't pin all of her self worth on emotionally aloof Luis.
I suspect this relationship with Luis will end up the same as her failed marriage because none of the underlying issues of destructive behavior were dealt with. An open and honest conversation between April and Luis is truly needed for both their sakes, unfortunately we never got to see that.
FYI:
There are a few F bombs dropped along with other adult language. Sexual situations were mainly behind closed doors.
There are several editing issues in this book: missing letters, wrong words, missing quotation marks, names such as Sarah is sometimes Sara, and Harald is spelled Herald one time. There are also what could be several small OCR scanning issues as in spaces (space s) in some wording (word ing) that doesn't belong. The editing issues surprise me because I was under the impression this was a traditionally published book at one time.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
I think this book had a lot of potential, but due to an overuse of narrative, it missed the mark for me. There is some good dialogue throughout the story, but the author spends most of her time telling us what the characters think and feel, instead of showing us. When an author tells the story this way the characters end up flat, and I have a hard time connecting with them. It's like reading a text book for me.
Don, the black design manager who is determined to help April lose weight, is the most honest character in the story and shows the most emotion.
April was certain she could control her future by simply losing weight. While it is true that losing weight will increase your self-confidence and you will feel better, it won't make all your dreams come true., although this is the way it worked out for April. After she loses sixty pounds, all of a sudden Luis starts paying attention to her, even though he never even acknowledges that she has lost weight. Thank goodness she didn't pin all of her self worth on emotionally aloof Luis.
I suspect this relationship with Luis will end up the same as her failed marriage because none of the underlying issues of destructive behavior were dealt with. An open and honest conversation between April and Luis is truly needed for both their sakes, unfortunately we never got to see that.
FYI:
There are a few F bombs dropped along with other adult language. Sexual situations were mainly behind closed doors.
There are several editing issues in this book: missing letters, wrong words, missing quotation marks, names such as Sarah is sometimes Sara, and Harald is spelled Herald one time. There are also what could be several small OCR scanning issues as in spaces (space s) in some wording (word ing) that doesn't belong. The editing issues surprise me because I was under the impression this was a traditionally published book at one time.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
March 25, 2012
This started off really promising. The beginning read like literary fiction, then it slowly devolved into some kind of awful beach read. Oh, well. This is one of those things I could have judged better by cover.
February 5, 2012
The writing is boring, the characters unengaging and predictable.
April 2, 2012
I couldn't get into this book.
August 31, 2013
All I can say is BORING!
October 22, 2013
I am so disappointed this book. I tried to persevere with it but I honestly can say I was so lost in the book not in a good way. I could not make any sense if it.
February 28, 2014
I had a hard time following the characters but was able to relate with April on some of her self image issues.
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March 31, 2016Too much sex talk. Didn't match the summary.
Too much sex talk. Didn't match the summary. Not one of my top 1000 books. Couldn't read past 30 percent.
Too much sex talk. Didn't match the summary. Not one of my top 1000 books. Couldn't read past 30 percent.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews