Bon Bons to Yoga Pants by Katie Cross
Occasionally I dip into the world of Young Adult Fiction. This book came up in a list of recommended by the teen librarian and the title was interesting…
It is the story of Lexie, an overweight college student who lives at home with her soon to be married thin beautiful sister and widowed mom. She misses her father dearly who was also her eating buddy. She also has an overweight best friend who embraces the Big is Beautiful movement and doesn’t let her weight stop her from - pardon the pun - living large. Lexie is involved in an online relationship with another college student, Bradley, she has not met in person as they communicate primarily via text and email.
Her life crises come to head Bradley invites himself as her plus one to her sister’s wedding six months away and realizes she needs to lose weight so she does not scare him away and also looks good in her Pepto Bismo pink maid of honor dress.
Lexie’s aunt, who is also overweight, invites her to join her at meetings of the Health and Happiness Society, a weight loss support group. During the six months she explores her unhealthy relationship with food and learns to embrace healthy eating and exercise. She faces her grief over the loss of father, and how she uses food to avoid dealing with problems. In the end, as she learns to accept herself for who she is, she successfully loses weight and discovers she has had Bradley’s heart for some time as he fell in love with her inner self all along.
There is really a lot of good stuff in this book. It’s a fun read. As a reader who has been battling with her weight for nearly 40 years and suffers from poor body image even longer, I don’t mean to minimize her self-discovery and successes. The plot just seems so formulatic. However, the characters are well-written and engaging.
This is the first in a series and I look forward to the sequels to spend more time with Lexie and Bradley and her circle of family and friends.
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