Feeling Tarty!

First of all, we were going to do another Friday Book Chat. We even started chatting on Friday about books. And it just...didn't work. The conversation was going nowhere and it really was pretty boring. So, we are going to try again next weekend I think, probably on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, when Jenny is not thinking about having to go to work that night. We are still getting used to the whole "chat for people to read" thing, so stick with us.

In other news, it seems to have been the week of ChickLit on our blog. We both posted about it, and now I am going to again! Though this is actually a book review (kinda).

I have been on a mystery kick lately and a tv kick. I am trying to figure out a way to write about all my favorite tv shows in a book blog. It hasn't happened yet, so my posting has been rather sparse. But anyway, mysteries and tv, even though I was writing about and thinking about chick lit. So then today, it was gorgeous outside! 80 and sunny! Perfect weather for laying outside reading. But that weather just didn't seem conducive to solving a murder. Last time I was at the library, I grabbed a Jennifer Crusie book, Bet Me. At some point a few years ago, someone told me I should read Jennifer Crusie. As I rarely follow what anyone tells me, I did not do so. But when I saw her books at the library, I decided on a whim to grab one. Today when I was deciding what to read outside, chick lit seemed necessary, so Jennifer Crusie it was.

And oh my gosh! I loved loved loved it. Bet on me is about Min, short for Minvera, who is a thirty something fat woman who dresses very conservatively and very frumpy and is getting dumped by her boyfriend because she won't have sex with him. Cal, short for Calvin, is a thirthy something tall, dark, and handsome man who broke up with his girlfriend a few months earlier because she wanted to get married and he didn't. Min's ex-boyfriend bets Cal ten thousand dollars that he can't get Min to sleep with him (Cal) within a month. Cal does not take the bet, even though he does love bets and always wins, but instead takes a ten dollar bet that he can get Min to go to dinner with him that night. Min, under the encouragement of her friends, has gone over to talk to Cal, overhears the ten thousand dollar bet part and decides to play along in order to 1) mess with both guys and 2) have a date to her sister's wedding. Already, you can tell that hijinks will ensue.

I'm not going to go into the whole plot here because you should just read it yourself, but I do want to talk about Min and her appearance. Min is fat. And not Hollywood size 8 fat, but really just fat. I see her as about my size, as she is never given any real dimensions, just that she will never fit a size 8. And she dresses like she hates her body. Her confidence issues probably stem from her mother's constant badgering to not eat carbs, sugar, butter, etc...aka anything that tastes awesome. She is also supposed to be dieting down to be slimmer for her sister's wedding. Min's ex-boyfriend made a comment to a waiter on a date that they wouldn't be having dessert because they were on a diet. Hence why Min won't sleep with him. On Min and Cal's first date, he takes her to an Italian restaurant, where she won't eat the bread or pasta because of her diet. Cal points out that one piece of bread won't hurt and makes her eat the bread. It becomes a bit of a crusade for him to get her to eat flour, sugar, butter, etc. He is particularly fond of Krispy Kreme donuts, which, uh yeah. Yum!

Anyway, so Cal thinks Min's dieting is stupid...he really likes her the way she is and thinks that she should eat what she likes. He point blank tells her that she shouldn't diet. She then directly asks him what he thinks of her weight and he says: "You're going going to be thin. You're a round woman. You have wide hips and a round stomach and full breasts. You're..." This is where I fell in love with Cal. As Min interrupts to describe herself as "healthy" (in a bitter voice) and generous and other annoying euphemisms, Cal uses Lush and Opulent and "soft and round and hot". He doesn't want her to diet and try to lose weight. He likes everything about her, including the fact that she is fat. Um, yes, hello. Can I order one of those? KThanksBye! I mean, dude...lush! That is a totally hot way of putting it.

As a result of Cal loving her, even when she is frumpy, she starts to feel better about her body. She eats what she wants, tells her mother to back off and buys clothes that actually fit her. Now, I am not a big fan of girls who only feel good about themselves because I guy thinks they are hot, but Min starts to think of herself as hot even when Cal isn't around to tell her she is. Sexy is in your head. I really appreciate the change in Min and dig that she really does start embracing her figure and flaunts it and starts to learn to accept that she is fat and hot.

There were a ton of things I liked about Bet Me besides just the fact that the main character is fat and by the end, unapologetically fat. First, the use of donuts by Jennifer Crusie...who knew that donuts could be a super hot and sexy food. I sure didn't. I'll never think of chocolate frosted Krispy Kremes the same again. Another thing I loved...the shoes! I want Min's shoe collection. That is one of the first things that Cal notices and starts to really dig about Min. Even in her frumpy outfits, her shoes are totally awesome! He even buys her high-heeled peak toes bunny slippers. I want! I also really loved both groups of friends. The secondary characters were super entertaining and I would love to hang out with them all.

So, I really dug this book. I read it all in one sitting. Well, I took a half hour break to cook dinner because I got hungry and they kept describing awesome food. I would highly suggest you read Bet Me. I plan on finding more Jennifer Crusie books to read. Hopefully all are equally as fun and hot. As a quick warning for the more delicate of sorts, it is a chick lit book and is pretty tame throughout, until the end. There is a really hot sex scene that is vaguely kinky. If you are offended by romance novel like descriptions, you may want to skip over that chapter. Just fyi.