Muffin Top by Avery Flynn

Author: Avery Flynn
Title: Muffin Top
Series: The Hartigans #2
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: Entangled: Amara

Links: Adlibris / Book Depository / Goodreads

Okay, so I truly thought I would like this book. I read both good and not so good reviews and I went in with that in mind. And... I was disappointed. It wasn't a bad book, really, it just wasn't the kind of book I wanted to read. A lot of little things that became big things that annoyed me kept coming up. The plot was okay, I guess, and the story went along fine. The characters started out promising, but turned out to be the most disappointing, really.

What went wrong, then? Listen, a story about a plus-size (aka fat) woman who's totally badass and confident and the love-interest is a big, muscly firefighter who loves his women, but not enough to stick, going away and spending a lot of time together, fake-dating - it sounds all kinds of great, right? The woman, Lucy, needs to go on a reunion and dreads it. The man, Frankie, is on sex-hiatus and thinks that Lucy is the perfect woman to spend time with, because he feels no attraction to her. Not because she's fat, no no, but because she's a fierce ballbuster with too much confidence (what?), because he's totally attracted to her physically, because she's got great boobs (um?). And not only do we get this somewhat illogical explanation, that I could have overlooked, but we get this told to us multiple times "It's so lucky I'm not attracted to her, because she would eat me alive"-kind of talk. What more, when we're in Lucy's point of view, we first meet a confident, awesome woman enjoying a burger and fries with extra hot hot sauce and I instantly like her. I feel like this is the book I've been dying to read. But no... I can take the self-deprecation and the bad jokes about her size - okay, I understand how it's easier to hide behind humor instead of throwing yourself out there. What I cannot, and will not, take, is the authors need to remind us how fat Lucy wherever we turn. And I also don't need to be told everything in detail multiple times. Let us readers figure it out, please. That's probably one of my biggest pet peeves - books that don't let the reader read between the lines, figure out some stuff along the way.

Was there anything good? Okay, I'll be honest. I didn't read the entire book (only about 3/4). I just couldn't finish it - maybe I will at some point when I'm not a mess and can distance myself from my irritation. But, okay, the kind of good things. Lucy is not portrayed as someone who's not capable. She can and does do everything she sets her mind to, she wears what she wants and eats what she likes - yeay for that. Also, Frankie seems to honestly give zero thoughts to her ample body if it's not in a sexual, horny, attracted sort of way and he, as well, doesn't see any reason to limit her. This should obviously be as natural as breathing, but unfortunately the world is not always awesome, so it was nice to read it. Also, the friends were nice.

Should I read this then? Yes, if you're looking for a plus-size romance with hot bods and steamy sex somewhere down the line, but also is not afraid of reading about a great woman reject herself multiple times. I hear a lot of readers relate to Lucy and her thoughts, so I am very possibly wrong in all my words. Read it for yourselves, yes.

No real rating, since I didn't really finish it. I really like the cover, though.

/ Denise