I may be coming a little late to the party here. This is not a new book (the copyright is for 2004 so…I’m just a few years behind) but it is a new-to-me book and a new-to-me author.
I really loved this book is so many ways. It is well written, the characters are well-developed and achingly real and the romance between the heroine and the hero is a slow, believable burn.
The book opens in a theme bar—much to Min’s disgust—with her boyfriend dumping her, ostensibly because she won’t sleep with him. TBH, I wouldn’t have slept with him either, he was a bit of a douche. Min’s a curvy girl and a little body-shy so I can totally understand why she doesn’t want to get naked with David (the ex) who is a little too focussed on the appearance of things and a whole lot self-absorbed.
Min’s girlfriends—Liza and Bonnie–encourage her to get back on the horse and point out a particularly hot guy across the bar, daring her to go and talk to him. Meanwhile the douchebag-ex has seemingly already picked up a woman for the night and is talking to said hot-guy.
Min tells herself she just wants to hear what they are talking about and makes her way across the bar to within eavesdropping distance only to hear about a bet made between hot-guy and douchebag-ex—a $10 bet to get her into bed within the month.
Of course she is outraged, but then there’s her sister’s wedding in three weeks and the fact she will have to deal with her mother if she turns up dateless. She figures she can string the guy along for three weeks and get back at her ex at the same time so…win/win.
When hot-guy approaches her at the bar, she makes him work hard for it, but eventually agrees to have dinner with him. I love that Min doesn’t go easy on this guy. He deserves to be put through hell for the bet and I was thoroughly entertained by there banter.
Cal—aka hot-guy—is a delicious hero. He did agree to a bet, but not the one Min thinks. The only bet he agreed to was a $10 bet to leave with her. The actual bet for getting her into bed was $10k and he never agreed to it even though everyone around him thinks he did. When Cal eventually gets Min to go to dinner with him he is intrigued by her but also flummoxed because none of his usual charm works on her.
At the end of the night they agree to go their separate ways, although Fate has a different idea.
This is not a ‘forced proximity’ romance although they do end up spending time together because of random, outside influences. I love how they fight the blossoming attraction and I absolutely adore the way Cal continues to feed Min.
The following is a bit spoiler-y so if you don’t want to read it…look away now!
Read the Back of the Book Blurb…(click here)
Min is a big girl, much to her mother’s disgust, and is trying to lose weight to fit into a bridesmaid dress that was never the right size to begin with. The constant disparaging comments by Min’s mother about her weight are uncomfortable to read. But there is a particular passage where Min snaps back and I applauded her for it…
” Min took a deep breath and popped the button on her skirt. “Look, Mother, I am never going to be thin. I’m Norwegian. If you wanted a thin daughter, you should not have married a man whose female ancestors carried cows home from the pasture.”
“You’re half Norwegian,” Nanette said, “which is no excuse at all because there are plenty of slim Nordic beauties. You’re just eating to rebel against me.”
“Mother, sometimes it’s not about you,” Min snapped as she held her skirt together. “Sometimes it’s genetics.””
As a recovering fat-girl (and not recovering as in lost-weight but recovering as in learning-to-love-my-body regardless of its size and shape) I know how hard it can be when your family—who are supposed to love you—constantly undermine your confidence. I really didn’t like Min’s mother, Nanette, and cringed every time she was on the page. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by Min’s sister, Diana. She was their mother’s obvious favourite. Her slim figure was just like Nanette’s but she had none of Nanette’s ugliness. Diana loved Min and stood up to their mother on Min’s behalf (not often enough, but I could forgive her for that when she was dealing with her own issues.)
Min eventually cracks and lets her mother have it and I like that Min makes a point that it is Nanette’s own body issues that are the root cause.
“Min grabbed the glass out of her hand. “Here,” she said, handing it to Di. “We’re drinking about twelve bottles of this tonight, so get started.”
“Do you know how many calories—” Nanette began.
“Listen, you,” Min said to her. “You’re going home and throwing out every damn fashion magazine in the house. You’re going cold turkey, it’s the only thing that’s going to save you.”
Nanette straightened. “Just because you won’t lose the weight, doesn’t mean Diana has to be fat.”
“I’m not fat, Mother,” Min said. “But while we’re on the subject, I don’t see where not eating for fifty-five years has made you particularly happy. Go home and eat something, for Christ’s sake.” She looked around. “Where are those goddamn cake boxes?””
As a perfect juxtaposition to Nanette, Cal is the one who helps Min fight the demons in her head. He is constantly feeding her—which I love about him. Where Nanette has tried to starve Min of not just food but affection, Cal is the complete opposite. He can’t help himself. Even as he tries to stay away from her, he is drawn to her.
Some of the things he says to her are truly swoon-worthy:
“”That’s because you’re not paying attention,” Cal said in her ear. “Look at yourself.”
“I am,” she said, and he said, “Not the way I look at you.””
For a guy, he has some surprisingly insightful moments and I loved him all the more for them.
““Yeah,” Min said dismissively. “So what am I supposed to do about my weight?”
Cal put his fork down. “All right. Here’s the truth. You’re never going to be thin. You’re a round woman. You have wide hips and a round stomach and full breasts. You’re . . .”
“Healthy,” Min said bitterly.
“Lush,” Cal said, watching the gentle rise and fall of her breasts under her sweatshirt.
“Generous,” Min snarled.
“Opulent,” Cal said, remembering the soft curve of her under his hand.
“Zaftig,” Min said.
“Soft and round and hot, and I’m turning myself on,” Cal said, starting to feel dizzy. “Do you have anything on under that sweatshirt?”
“Of course,” Min said, taken aback.
“Oh,” Cal said, ditching that fantasy. “Good. We should be eating. What were we talking about?”
“My weight?” Min said.
“Right,” Cal said, picking up his fork again. “The reason you can’t lose weight is that you’re not supposed to lose weight, you’re not built that way, and if you did manage through some stupid diet to take the weight off, you’d be like that chicken mess you just made. Some things are supposed to be made with butter. You’re one of them.””
And this:
“”Because you dress like you hate your body,” Cal said. “Sexy is in your head and you don’t feel sexy so you don’t look it.””
The part that made me fall in love with Cal was when he stood up for her against her mother and father. This forever cemented Cal as one of my all-time favourite romance heroes:
““Look, I don’t mind you grilling me about what I do for a living,” Cal said. “Your daughter’s brought me home and that has some significance. And I don’t mind your wife asking about my personal life for the same reason. But Min is an amazing woman, and so far during this meal, you’ve either ignored her or hassled her about some dumb dress. For the record, she is not too big for the dress. The dress is too small for her. She’s perfect.” Cal buttered a roll and passed it over to Min. “Eat.””
I love the body-positive theme of this book. I love that Crusie doesn’t force her characters to conform to some ridiculous body ideal.
Min’s acceptance of her body doesn’t suddenly appear after her and Cal sleep together. That inner critic isn’t so easily displaced as that and it is a credit to Crusie that she doesn’t just wave a magic wand and have Min suddenly never worrying about her body shape again or even losing all her weight because suddenly she has a man who loves her.
“She slid out from under his arm, and picked up his shirt from the floor. When she put it on, it failed to meet in the middle over her chest. That always works in the movies, she thought, disgusted, and dropped it on the floor.”
As someone who married a guy who wears smaller clothes than herself, I identified with this feeling. I have always wanted to be able to wear my husbands shirts and do the whole sexy-thing like in the movies…it’s never happened. I love that Crusie called this out.
The supporting cast of characters are just as wonderfully complex as Cal and Min. Min’s girlfriends are thoughtful and insightful and the kind of people I’d like to be friends with.
“”Stop it,” Bonnie said. “God, you can’t even dream without qualifiers. Tell me your fairy tale.””
I love Bonnie’s belief in the fairy tale and I love the way she doesn’t let the circumstances rob her of her belief.
“It did not work,” Min said, slamming her hand down on the table. “He went into a snit and left. Just my luck, I get a snitty prince. Which is why he wasn’t a prince. Which is why I don’t believe that garbage. I do not believe in the fairy tale, okay?”
“I don’t think it matters,” Bonnie said, mild as ever. “The fairy tale believes in you.””
Although I loved Liza too, she did disappoint me with her willingness to believe everything Cal’s ex said. I know she was using it as ammunition against Cal, but still…someone like Liza should have spotted Cynthie’s craziness a mile away and taken what she said with a grain of salt.
Cal’s friends—Roger and Tony—at first glance are a little one dimensional until you get to know them. Crusie artfully reveals the inner strength of these men and I thank her for it. It would have been easy to not fully flesh out these characters and that would have been disappointing.
Cal’s kick-in-the-pants comes from an unexpected place—Tony—which gives it even more weight.
““I’m a coward?” Cal had said to Tony when Min had gone, pleased to be fighting with somebody he could hit.
“I can’t believe you’re running away from this one,” Tony said. “Hell, Cal, you’re thirty-five, aren’t you tired of that shit by now?”
“You’re thirty-five, too,” Cal said grimly.
“And I have never in my life looked at a woman the way you look at Min,” Tony said. “I’d be pissed at her, that all-men-are-pigs bit is a pain in the ass, but I’d tell her that, I wouldn’t walk away from her. What’s wrong with you?”
“This is not about me,” Cal said.
“Jesus,” Tony said and turned back to the ballroom.
“Where are you going?” Cal said.
Tony shook his head. “Back to where there’s real trouble. We’re all in there. Why aren’t you?””
The final thing I loved about this book was the last chapter. We get to see a glimpse of the future for these characters and it was a nice, satisfying end to the book. I always like to get closure and the final chapter gave me that.
I will say that there was one comment that let me down. Min and Cal–independently–don’t want to have children, and I applaud that. I am of the firm belief that if you don’t want kids then no one should guilt you into having them. But the part that let me down was at the end when Nanette tells Min that she and Cal will make beautiful babies.
“Well, you’ll have beautiful children,” Nanette said, cheering up.
“We’re not having kids,” Min said, and when her mother’s eyes narrowed, she added, “because you know I’d never lose the weight afterward.”
“That’s true,” Nanette said, and then George came back and dragged her out the door.
Min shouldn’t have to placate her mother over her decision not to procreate and she definitely shouldn’t use Nanette’s own flawed reasoning to do it.
All in all, this book was one big, cuddly, comfort read. The bits with Nanette fat-shaming Min were hard to read and maybe a little too much, but it was balanced with Cal’s obvious attraction to and genuine affection for her. There is a maturity and thoughtfulness in this book that I’ve found sadly lacking in more recent romances. I’m so glad I read this book and I can confidently recommend it to anyone who loves a good, heart-warming love story.
Buy it now…
