But the club doesn’t stop real life from getting in the way and together the girls have to address some much bigger issues than just their weight…
Will Pixie ever be brave enough to leave her abusive husband Trevor? Can Jane ever regain her confidence and go back to work as a TV presenter? Will Katie always carry a torch for the office lothario? And what if Ellie lets her all-consuming jealousy destroy her relationship with ‘The One’?"
Rating: 4/5
You can buy The Curvy Girls Club as a paperback or an eBook now.
I was really looking forward to reading Michele Gorman's first novel with new publishers Avon, as I had enjoy her festive eBook short story The Reluctant Elf a lot just a few weeks ago. This is quite an apt time for a book centred around a weight loss club - after all, I'm sure lots of people (myself included!), have made New Year's Resolution to get trimmer and fitter. This book centres around a group of women, Pixie, Ellie, Katie and Jane who have been to Slimming Zone for a while. However, they're bored of the routine and fed up of the meetings, so decide to go it alone and form their own club, where they can have fun together and just be happy with how they are. As well as their weight, the women have a lot more to contend with too... husbands, children, boyfriends and careers...will they all be able to find their happy ending?
I had this book sent to me for review on my Kindle, and I was excited to start it. Straight away, I got into the story and had no problem with becoming hooked on the story. The book quickly introduces us to our four main characters, with Katie being the main character who narrates throughout the book. I really liked the fact that the women broke away from their weekly Slimming Zone meetings when they realised it wasn't working for them, however, they didn't seem to go into anything else regarding losing weight, especially Jane who goes the opposite way. I felt incredibly sorry for her actually, and I am sure a lot of readers will relate to her strategy of trying pretty much every diet aid on the shelves to lose those pesky pounds.
Pixie was the character who I found it hard to like. She was suffering in her home life, with her awful husband Trevor dragging her down, and I was hopeful that she would eventually find the strength to leave him and find a new home for herself and her children. However, in the final parts of the book I felt that she showed herself to be quite a ruthless person, I didn't like how she treated her friends and it left a bit of a sour taste for me, it was a bit of a shame. Ellie was Katie's best friend, and a good one at that. She's got her own demons, with her jealousy at her boyfriend's friends threatening to ruin their relationship, but I really liked her overall. The women are believable and realistic, each dealing with things we could well be dealing with ourselves, and I enjoyed reading about them and their lives.
The book tackles a couple more serious issues as well, including Katie's weight loss and the reason for it. I didn't expect to find this within the book, and felt it was really well done by Michele Gorman, she has clearly put her research into this for the character. I disagreed quite heavily with how Katie dealt with the whole thing, not at all how I would have dealt with it, but it certainly added a bit of tension into the book, and shows how people can be viewed differently because of their weight, even by those closest to them. This was a really interesting story to read, and I was surprised by the twists and turns of the plot as I read on. It was certainly a lot more than just these women wanting to lose weights - their lives were interesting and I found myself wanting to keep reading even late at night! Michele Gorman's writing is very easy to read, and it makes me look forward to reading more from Michele! A fantastic novel.
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