Tags
big girl panties, contemporary romance, fat, fitness, overweight, romance, Stephanie Evanovich, weight, weight loss, women
Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I’m not a huge fan of weight loss stories and novels that focus on characters with weight issues. Especially in romance novels, it seems to be a touchy subject for everyone involved. Personally, I didn’t feel bad for the female protagonist, Holly. I understand her back story and the origins for her overeating, becoming overweight and reaching the beginning point in this story where she takes up the male protagonist’s (Logan) offer to train her and help her lose the excess weight. Treating her like a pet project (calling her his Ugly Little Duckling) was probably not the best way to go about it, and then add in the “fat-shaming” issue when he finds he’s attracted to her after she sheds some of the pounds and gets to know her – now you have the love story in the works.
The story has a natural progression as Logan and Holly’s friendship develops but there was a lot of hesitance and denial on Logan’s part in discovering his attraction for Holly. On the other hand, Holly easily falls for Logan, of course being sexy and full of rippling muscles adds to the attraction, but she’s a sweet character. Deceptively innocent, I often saw her as one of those loyal puppies that follow their master. She was a relatable character such that she has self-esteem issues, and like so many other women, struggle to lose weight and feel better about themselves.
I don’t have any sympathy for people who don’t try to lose weight, if they ARE overweight. If you’re overweight and you can do something about it, then do it. Don’t complain to me that you’re fat. Did I think Logan’s inability to accept Holly as a plus-size woman, as an asshole way to deal with things? Yes, absolutely. Did I think Holly tried her best to become physically fit and healthy for her body-type? Yes. I don’t really understand the fascination with being stick-skinny. I also think its grossly unfair to ALWAYS portray men as Abercrombie model types. The washboard abs, defined hard pecs and biceps… it’s so unfair, even if it does make a delicious picture (I’m human too!)…
Overall, the writing wasn’t as clear as I’d hoped. The switch between Holly and Logan’s POVs was too confusing at times, not that I couldn’t follow, but there was a lot of bouncing back and forth. It was annoying to hear Holly constantly worry about what Logan thought of her, and then hear Logan’s thoughts of Holly and how she’s slowly transforming but he still denies his love for her. It was frustrating and tiring and most of the time, I found myself exasperated with both characters.
Overall, the novel has an interesting concept. It also has a happy ending so I gave it 2/5 stars.