Fat and Beautiful

When Saranna said she planned to write this book, I couldn't contain my excitement. I'm a big girl and I want to believe that I'm confident. I want to believe that others don't judge me by the size of my butt and instead take the time to notice my brains, my smile, all the love I have to share. But I live in the real world and mirrors are cruel and no matter how mean anyone else has ever been about my size, it's nothing compared to what the little voice in my head says.

Because it's a universal truth that we women are far harder on ourselves than we'd ever allow anyone else to be. 

Which means that when someone is cruel to us, when someone chooses to poke fun or try to belittle us for whatever reason, we believe them. You can tell me all day long how lovely I look, but just once crack a fat joke?

Yeah, I'll remember the fat joke. Because it's what I see in the mirror.

I think that was why I fell in love with Claire. 

She's like me. She has the same insecurities and even when she's offered everything she ever wanted on a silver platter, she's unable to really believe in it. Because eventually everyone sees the flaws we work so hard to cover. I loved this story. I identified with this story. I've LIVED most of these moments in some way or another.

So if you asked me who I would recommend this book to? Well, of course I'd say the big girls should read it because she's a character like us--plus size and beautiful and struggling to believe that she can be both. I'd also say the 'skinny' girls because they are just as harsh to themselves as the 'big' girls. I'd say any girl who ever felt the sting of any label...who ever looked in the mirror and knew she looked really, really good...and yet also saw the flaws and figured they were more noticeable than the good bits.

I recommend this book to women. I recommend it to men. I think everyone should read it because it's honest, beautiful...strong. Just like the author who dared tackle such a complicated topic.

So far, it's an ARe Bestseller and Staff Pick. It is doing really well in other places as well, but if you haven't read it?

I think you might like it. I really, really did.

Fat

Saranna DeWylde

Buy Links

Amazon | ARe | B&N

“You’re pretty, for a fat girl.”

That’s nothing Claire Howard hasn’t heard before, and there’s part of her that doesn’t care, that thinks it’s okay to love herself just the way she is. Then there’s that other voice in her head, the one that plays on a constant loop that gets louder whenever people scrutinize her dinner order, snicker when she needs a belt extender on a plane, and outright laugh when they see her with her the kind of man they don’t think fat girls deserve. It reminds her that existing while fat is the worst thing in the world. It’s worse than being ignorant, bigoted or cruel—at least according to society’s standards. Even when she has the attentions of two men who are the embodiment of fantasy.

But it’s not their love that matters, it’s her own. Fat is a brand that’s been seared into every aspect of her life—even her heart. Can Claire love herself enough to reach past the labels for her own happiness?