Whitfield’s second novel (after Beeperless Remote, 1996), a romantic comedy set in the social swarm of contemporary weight-loss culture, is just about as thin as the characters wish their stomachs were. Sonny Walker, thirtysomething, has been gaining weight. In fact, so much weight that beautiful Marsha dumps him just as he’s reaching for another piece of cheesecake. After the breakup, he goes on to gain some more, but then when he’s asked to model as a tent at work (a sporting-goods store), Sonny decides some serious weight loss is in order. Signing up with FutraSystem, he quickly gets acquainted there with a shady counselor who realizes that “A hefty guy like you ain’t gonna make it on that little bit of food they give you.” For a little extra cash, therefore, Sonny can get as much Futra food as he can pack away. But, more important, at that first meeting he encounters Kayla (smart, sassy, and independent). There’s only one problem: she’s too fat. Nevertheless, they strike up a friendship—the kind that’s supposed to offer support if they ever feel the urge to, uh, cheat on their diets. (They cheat, anyway.) Though Sonny feels guilty about his failures to meet the challenge, Kayla is comfy with her own body: she’s always been overweight, deriving her self-image from who she is, as opposed to what she looks like. The two build a tender relationship (despite their aversion to dating anybody on the obese side) as Sonny sticks anew to the goals of his diet and exercise regime and Kayla remains happily the way she’s always been. For her second outing, Whitfield has built a compelling portrait of young African-Americans in D.C., with humor that’s sometimes laugh-out-loud (does an extra-big man really need extra-big condoms?), but there’s no emotional resonance also built in, anything that might make a reader cheer on Sonny and Kayla’s battle against the bulge—and their thick-thighed romance. Amusing, but little else.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-48935-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable...
An unlucky woman finally gets lucky in love on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
From getting her hand stuck in a claw machine at age 6 to losing her job, Olive Torres has never felt that luck was on her side. But her fortune changes when she scores a free vacation after her identical twin sister and new brother-in-law get food poisoning at their wedding buffet and are too sick to go on their honeymoon. The only catch is that she’ll have to share the honeymoon suite with her least favorite person—Ethan Thomas, the brother of the groom. To make matters worse, Olive’s new boss and Ethan’s ex-girlfriend show up in Hawaii, forcing them both to pretend to be newlyweds so they don’t blow their cover, as their all-inclusive vacation package is nontransferable and in her sister’s name. Plus, Ethan really wants to save face in front of his ex. The story is told almost exclusively from Olive’s point of view, filtering all communication through her cynical lens until Ethan can win her over (and finally have his say in the epilogue). To get to the happily-ever-after, Ethan doesn’t have to prove to Olive that he can be a better man, only that he was never the jerk she thought he was—for instance, when she thought he was judging her for eating cheese curds, maybe he was actually thinking of asking her out. Blending witty banter with healthy adult communication, the fake newlyweds have real chemistry as they talk it out over snorkeling trips, couples massages, and a few too many tropical drinks to get to the truth—that they’re crazy about each other.
Heartfelt and funny, this enemies-to-lovers romance shows that the best things in life are all-inclusive and nontransferable as well as free.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2803-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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