readinggrrl's review
4.0
I got this book free from Noctivity Inc through Eidelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
This book turned out to be more than I expected. I thought it was just your typical beach romance but it really was so much more. Jolie touches on a lot of issues, privilege, fat phobia, and sex workers. In the beginning Gabe was a pretty hard to take character and I wasn't sure I would end up even liking him let alone routing for him. He is self possessed, rich, and oblivious to the working class. Poppy is a hard working plus sized woman from a lower income family. Her mother has been married 5 times and relies on men to support her. Poppy doesn't want to fall into this trap. During the Covid shut down she found Fan's only a site where women post provocative, sometimes nude photos of themselves and get subscribers, in some countries where prostitution is legal they even set up dates. Poppy's site only shows her clothed in negliges and sexy outfits, there are also makeup tutorials etc. While Poppy is not ashamed of what she does she is ashamed of her body. She doesn't like being a bigger girl and doesn't see her own sex appeal.
Overall I really liked this book. I thought the romance was good and I really liked the fact that Poppy wasn't a skinny stick with a perfect body, because those really only exist in books. This is a stand alone book even though its part of a series, and the characters do intersect you don't need to read them in any particular order.
This book turned out to be more than I expected. I thought it was just your typical beach romance but it really was so much more. Jolie touches on a lot of issues, privilege, fat phobia, and sex workers. In the beginning Gabe was a pretty hard to take character and I wasn't sure I would end up even liking him let alone routing for him. He is self possessed, rich, and oblivious to the working class. Poppy is a hard working plus sized woman from a lower income family. Her mother has been married 5 times and relies on men to support her. Poppy doesn't want to fall into this trap. During the Covid shut down she found Fan's only a site where women post provocative, sometimes nude photos of themselves and get subscribers, in some countries where prostitution is legal they even set up dates. Poppy's site only shows her clothed in negliges and sexy outfits, there are also makeup tutorials etc. While Poppy is not ashamed of what she does she is ashamed of her body. She doesn't like being a bigger girl and doesn't see her own sex appeal.
Overall I really liked this book. I thought the romance was good and I really liked the fact that Poppy wasn't a skinny stick with a perfect body, because those really only exist in books. This is a stand alone book even though its part of a series, and the characters do intersect you don't need to read them in any particular order.
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