sc104906's review against another edition
2.0
I received this as an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
BB, short for Blue Belle or Big Bones, is forced to track her weight, after a scary asthma episode. BB is willing to follow the doctor's orders and keep a food diary, if her mother lets her drop out of school. BB's parents are pretty unplugged, since they are wrapped up in their own romantic drama about whether they want to be together or not. BB and her little sister, who is an avid parkour aficionado, rely on each other. BB is trying to get an internship at her work in a local coffee shop, but her crappy manager is making it almost impossible. When a tragedy occurs in her family, BB is forced to take a harder look at her direction in life and decisions.
BB is a caricature of a fat person. She could be so much more than what she was on the page. BB has a great talent with cooking and I was disappointed that this never turned into anything more than a vehicle to get more high calorie food into her mouth. I was far more interested in the little sister's storyline than BBs. The romance never really achieved anything beyond the surface.
BB, short for Blue Belle or Big Bones, is forced to track her weight, after a scary asthma episode. BB is willing to follow the doctor's orders and keep a food diary, if her mother lets her drop out of school. BB's parents are pretty unplugged, since they are wrapped up in their own romantic drama about whether they want to be together or not. BB and her little sister, who is an avid parkour aficionado, rely on each other. BB is trying to get an internship at her work in a local coffee shop, but her crappy manager is making it almost impossible. When a tragedy occurs in her family, BB is forced to take a harder look at her direction in life and decisions.
BB is a caricature of a fat person. She could be so much more than what she was on the page. BB has a great talent with cooking and I was disappointed that this never turned into anything more than a vehicle to get more high calorie food into her mouth. I was far more interested in the little sister's storyline than BBs. The romance never really achieved anything beyond the surface.
casssmith2022's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I need a part 2
aurorabulgaris's review against another edition
2.0
I love how positive the main character is about her obesity and how accepting she is towards her own body. But my good impressions of her end there. She's insufferably self-centered and entitled, making every situation about her, when it isn't. It was incredibly annoying at times. Overall the book would've been much more enjoyable if Bluebelle was a nicer person. And the gym hype she got right from the get go was a bit of a letdown. As a fat girl who wasn't lucky enough to fall in love with exercise from day one, it's just another disappointment from a book I hoped would be about a fat girl being happy irrelevant of her plus-sizeness.
melindagallagher's review against another edition
3.0
I was a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to reading this book. It was so much about food that it was almost gross. BB was loveable, but while she maintained that she didn't care about being fat and that she really liked herself, she really didn't. There is a lot of potential here, but I don't think it completely fulfilled it.
greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Vomit, Animal death, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship
managedbybooks's review against another edition
1.0
I went in to this with high hopes, but just within the first 30 pages there were a few racist and homophobic comments and it all turned extremely ableist when a secondary character ends up in a wheelchair.
savannawaddle's review against another edition
1.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a complimentary arc of My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant by Laura Dockrill in exchange for my honest review.*
tw / a flashback of BB forcing herself to throw up (even using a hanger to complete it) and fatphobic comments. /
This book seems to be mostly meant to be fun, in the beginning it definitely does reference the fat politics when it comes to home doctor’s and the medical field treat fat people. They assume that they’re only sick because they’re fat and don’t look at anything else, or actually treat them like a client.
The character’s arc transitions at the end, after something tragic happens, she begins to lose her appetite and it eventually resolves, but as a thin person I don’t believe I have the right to comment on how that could effect/not effect some within the fat community, so I wanted to make any readers aware.
There is basically no plot (until like half way in) and very character driven, which is usually find but I couldn’t connect with almost any of the characters. However, I did love the sweet relationship between BB and Max and I also enjoyed Dove’s character.
Fat rep is SO IMPORTANT, but this particular book wasn’t for me, and I can’t say if the fat rep was done well or not. It didn’t really keep my attention and bounced back and forth so confusingly. There was a tone shift halfway through the course, and it didn’t work for me. There were some parts that were fun, and BB was overall proud to be who she is and her love of food and life.
tw / a flashback of BB forcing herself to throw up (even using a hanger to complete it) and fatphobic comments. /
This book seems to be mostly meant to be fun, in the beginning it definitely does reference the fat politics when it comes to home doctor’s and the medical field treat fat people. They assume that they’re only sick because they’re fat and don’t look at anything else, or actually treat them like a client.
The character’s arc transitions at the end, after something tragic happens, she begins to lose her appetite and it eventually resolves, but as a thin person I don’t believe I have the right to comment on how that could effect/not effect some within the fat community, so I wanted to make any readers aware.
There is basically no plot (until like half way in) and very character driven, which is usually find but I couldn’t connect with almost any of the characters. However, I did love the sweet relationship between BB and Max and I also enjoyed Dove’s character.
Fat rep is SO IMPORTANT, but this particular book wasn’t for me, and I can’t say if the fat rep was done well or not. It didn’t really keep my attention and bounced back and forth so confusingly. There was a tone shift halfway through the course, and it didn’t work for me. There were some parts that were fun, and BB was overall proud to be who she is and her love of food and life.
smwayne's review against another edition
1.0
DNF at 10%. The writing style was not for me. It was super choppy and I did not see the appeal of this book. I will admit, I am not the targeted audience but I feel like this would be extremely triggering to the targeted audience. The characters, especially the adults seemed so much more immature than the actual teenagers and I don't think I could have enjoyed this story.
ankonyx's review against another edition
1.0
It wasn’t good folks. It’s more of a two star book (plot wise) but so many things ticked me off (especially that one excessive scene with the poop ewwwww). It has some good ish messages towards the end, but it’s enveloped in a wrapper of “people in wheelchairs’s life is so sad”. Yayyy :/
Edit 2021: Not ever going to reread this, but I think past me had a lot of issues regarding this that I no longer agree with so I tweaked my review. I might pick up the another book this author has written at some point.
Edit 2021: Not ever going to reread this, but I think past me had a lot of issues regarding this that I no longer agree with so I tweaked my review. I might pick up the another book this author has written at some point.
scherer5127's review against another edition
3.0
I had a love/hate feeling about this book. I loved the voice of Blue Bell (BB), the 16-year-old main character. The book is actually the food diary she is "forced" to write after a visit to the doctor. She is very overweight but sees no need to go on a diet or to try to lose weight. The food diary is a compromise. I liked that. I liked that her mom and her doctor were willing to work with her and not force her. I liked the extreme contrast between BB and her sister Dove. Dove is younger and she spends her days doing parkour all over town. She loves to be on the move while BB loves to enjoy food.
I didn't like how BB reacted to an accident that Dove had. I won't go into details so I don't ruin anything. It isn't a total surprise that Dove gets hurt given that she spends her days jumping off of things. But BB internalizes it and makes it her problem. Maybe that is real for a 16-year-old? The bigger issue for me is the representation that Dove's life was over even though it was a temporary injury.
The moment in the book that I loved the most was when BB was in a spin class and realized that when she exercised, she got an endorphin rush and that her body was able to do so much more than she ever tried. I liked that she never focused on what the scale said, but she did learn to balance her love of food with some more healthy choices.
The book could easily be followed up with a recipe book of all the good food she makes. This book will make you want a snack and a good cup of coffe/latte/chocolate milk!
I didn't like how BB reacted to an accident that Dove had. I won't go into details so I don't ruin anything. It isn't a total surprise that Dove gets hurt given that she spends her days jumping off of things. But BB internalizes it and makes it her problem. Maybe that is real for a 16-year-old? The bigger issue for me is the representation that Dove's life was over even though it was a temporary injury.
The moment in the book that I loved the most was when BB was in a spin class and realized that when she exercised, she got an endorphin rush and that her body was able to do so much more than she ever tried. I liked that she never focused on what the scale said, but she did learn to balance her love of food with some more healthy choices.
The book could easily be followed up with a recipe book of all the good food she makes. This book will make you want a snack and a good cup of coffe/latte/chocolate milk!