Fitness Junkie

June 1, 2017
Unofficial rule of the New York fashion industry: if you must buy the bruffin, you absolutely cannot be seen eating said bruffin.Janey Sweet, co-founder of a wedding-dress company called B, doesn't realize she's committing a crime until B designer and her best friend, Beau, shoves a tabloid with a picture of her eating a bruffin ("the love child of a brioche and a muffin") in her face and ends their breakfast conversation by calling her the "f" word--fat--which is unacceptable according to their business arrangement formed decades ago. Since B wedding dresses are notorious for not going above a size 4, Janey is out until she drops her bruffin habit and 30 pounds along with it. No joke. It doesn't matter that she's lost both of her parents within a year or that she's going through a divorce. To Beau, being skinny is the only thing that matters. With the same delicious brand of satire that Sykes and Piazza became known for in The Knockoff (2015), Janey falls down the rabbit hole of fitness trends, skinny mommy blogs, and juice cleanses in search of a weight-loss savior. If you think naked yoga isn't real, Google it. If you don't think you can laugh at scenarios involving psychedelic cactus and an exclusive healing ceremony in Brooklyn, then you won't appreciate this book's particular flavor of excess. The journey to skinny is livened up by a memorable supporting cast: there's CJ, Janey's college friend who is levelheaded about everything besides her weight (in that respect, she's a maniac); Jacob, a superattractive, dumpster-diving single dad; and Ivy, Janey's younger cousin, a former ballerina-turned-SoarBarre instructor with the mouth of a sailor. The journey culminates with Janey becoming a follower of "The Workout," the latest craze promising to have you 15 pounds lighter, as long as you're able to pay the exorbitant price associated with a retreat to St. Lucia. Though it's hard to sympathize with someone who can afford to have healthy meals catered on a daily basis, this novel is about indulging in the ridiculous. You'll have to overlook details like sporadic point-of-view changes and the fact that St. Lucia is not actually a Spanish-speaking country on the path to finding your inner "warrior queen." You'll breeze through this one like you would a Saturday spin class with the most fabulous playlist and the promise of brunch cocktails after.

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February 15, 2017

When friend and business partner Beau tells Janey Sweet, CEO of a couture wedding dress company, that she must drop 30 pounds or get pink-slipped (and we're not talking pretty lingerie), Janey immerses herself in the new fitness movement, from spinning to topless yoga to a boot camp run by Sri Lankan militants. From the authors of the zingy debut The Knockoff.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017

The duo who brought us The Knockoff now tackle the fitness world. Threatened with losing her job if she doesn't shed 30 pounds, couture wedding dress company CEO Janey Sweet embarks on a hilarious weight-loss quest that involves Free the Nipple yoga, dumpster diving on a first date, and other shenanigans.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2017

Janey Sweet, the brains behind a couture wedding gown company, is spotted eating a "bruffin" at a fashion show, and her photograph is splashed all over the newspapers. The company's cofounder, and Janey's childhood best friend Beau, issues an ultimatum: lose 30 pounds or lose your job. Janey accepts the challenge, immersing herself (and her best friend CJ) in the fitness revolution, involving Sri Lankan-led boot camps, ayahuasca ceremonies, and a $15,000, eight-day workout "retreat." Janey and CJ mingle with the rich and famous, taking on a regimen of health and wellness that would put Jillian Michaels to shame. Coauthors Sykes and Piazza (The Knockoff) are back with another hit! From fad diets to required monochromatic exercise uniforms, a fitness instructor who gets paid to yell obscenities at her clients, and a workout routine that ends in the fetal position, the duo will have readers laughing out loud as Janey does whatever it takes to lose weight, wondering along the way if it's really worth it. VERDICT Hilarious with a dash of heart, this novel will make readers laugh so hard their abs will be sore. Now that's a good workout! [See Prepub Alert, 1/18/17.]--Erin Holt, Williamson Cty. P.L., Franklin, TN

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.