Lucy Sykes

Jo Piazza

"When Janey Sweet, CEO of a couture wedding dress company, is photographed in the front row of a fashion show eating a bruffin--the delicious lovechild of a brioche and a muffin--her best friend and business partner, Beau, gives her an ultimatum: Lose thirty pounds or lose your job. Sure, Janey has gained some weight since her divorce, and no, her beautifully cut trousers don't fit like they used to, so Janey throws herself headlong into the world of the fitness revolution, signing up for a shockingly expensive workout pass, baring it all for Free the Nipple yoga, sweating through boot camp classes run by Sri Lankan militants and spinning to the screams of a Lycra-clad instructor with rage issues. At a juice shop she meets Jacob, a cute young guy who takes her dumpster-diving outside Whole Foods on their first date. At a shaman's tea ceremony she meets Hugh, a silver fox who holds her hand through an ayahuasca hallucination And at a secret exercise studio Janey meets Sara Strong, the wildly popular workout guru whose special dance routine has starlets and wealthy women flocking to her for results that seem too good to be true. As Janey eschews delicious carbs, pays thousands of dollars to charlatans, and is harassed by her very own fitness bracelet, she can't help but wonder: Did she really need to lose weight in the first place?"--Amazon.com.

Fitness Junkie

linda

This book exemplified the #unbearablewhitnessofbeing. SoulBarre, a cheap ripoff of SoulCycle, topless yoga, and the fad diets described in this book are simply not relevant or relatable unless you’re a middle aged white woman on the Upper East Side. Although I was impressed by the authors’ knowledge of current health trends, The humor was endearing at best (“The turkey was raised on a rooftop farm in Brooklyn, the Gowanus neighborhood, fifth floor with a view of the Statue of Liberty.”) and cringeworthy at worst. 

Janey, the protagonist of the novel, never resonated with me. Described as the heiress to a chocolate empire and business extraordinaire, Janey never seemed human. Her miraculous weight loss or 3 month journey of “self discovery” are not realistic. 

I knew that this book was meant to be a light read, but I had hoped that reading this book would allow me to feel myself from our weight-obsessed culture, but many parts of the book still glorified thinness and made it an unattainable standard reserved for the wealthy.

Cindy

Review:


There is nothing I like to read about more than fashion and  fitness, so when I saw this title by these two awesome authors it was not a question of should I read this book but how soon can I get my hands on it! I laughed more during this story than any other book so far this year, what a fun book but the message about women's bodies is a good one. I just do not know where to begin with this book , there is so much that I liked. The main character Janey Sweet and note the last name Sweet, Janey is heir to a chocolate fortune, how perfect that her last name is Sweet! Janey is so smart and savvy but with a blind spot in regard to her best friend and business partner Beau, who I detested right away. I do think that Janey at the beginning of the book anyway is a bit of a people pleaser.  Janey is blindside by Beau, when he tells her over coffee, to take a leave of absence from their business because she is not thin enough to be associated with their B brand of couture wedding dresses. Beau actually sends Janey the latest in fitness bands, the nerve of this guy! From this point on the hilarious journey into the world of fitness begins. One of my favorite side characters is Ivy, Janey's  angry ex ballerina turned sought after spin instructor. Ivy, due to injury cannot continue as a ballerina and boy is she pissed!! The things that Ivy said in this book had me laughing. CJ , Janey's best friend from college, is ultra obsessed with fitness and  weight loss, joins Janey on this venture into the over the top fitness fads and diets such as drinking clay, you heard it clay!! Then their is Free The Nipple Yoga! This really is a tongue in cheek satire of the uber wealthy NYC socialites and the lengths that they will go to to stay fit and thin. The more Ivy screamed and yelled profanity to her clients during her famous spin class Ivy became the most sought after spin instructor. Janey finally develops some backbone where Beau is concerned and the conclusion to the book is hilarious.

Final Thoughts:

Is the book over the top and a bit unrealistic ? Sure, but is it a fun  and hilarious satire of the fitness industry and the socialite women of NYC that will do anything and follow ridiculous fitness trends and take abuse from fitness trainers and instructors to stay thin? You bet it is! I definitely had a great time reading this book and I hope that you will too.This review was originally posted on Cindy's Book Binge

A Good Morning America Summer Must-Read! From the bestselling authors of The Knockoff, an outrageously funny novel about one woman's attempt—through clay diets, naked yoga, green juice, and cultish workout classes—to win back her career, save her best friend, and lose thirty pounds. When Janey Sweet, CEO of a couture wedding dress company, is photographed in the front row of a fashion show eating a bruffin—the delicious lovechild of a brioche and a muffin—her best friend and business partner, Beau, gives her an ultimatum: Lose thirty pounds or lose your job. Sure, Janey has gained some weight since her divorce, and no, her beautifully cut trousers don't fit like they used to, so Janey throws herself headlong into the world of the fitness revolution, signing up for a shockingly expensive workout pass, baring it all for Free the Nipple yoga, sweating through boot camp classes run by Sri Lankan militants and spinning to the screams of a Lycra-clad instructor with rage issues. At a juice shop she meets Jacob, a cute young guy who takes her dumpster-diving outside Whole Foods on their first date. At a shaman's tea ceremony she meets Hugh, a silver fox who holds her hand through an ayahuasca hallucination And at a secret exercise studio Janey meets Sara Strong, the wildly popular workout guru whose special dance routine has starlets and wealthy women flocking to her for results that seem too good to be true. As Janey eschews delicious carbs, pays thousands of dollars to charlatans, and is harassed by her very own fitness bracelet, she can't help but wonder: Did she really need to lose weight in the first place? A hilarious send-up of the health and wellness industry, Fitness Junkie is a glorious romp through the absurd landscape of our weight-obsessed culture.

A Novel

Lauren Attaway

One of the things I really hate is men telling women to lose weight to meet society's standards.

It's one thing to be discussing weight loss for health.

But weight loss for vanity's sake truly pisses me off. As a result, I picked up this book with a serious side-eye.  

The heroine, Janey Sweet, is forced into a weight-loss work hiatus by her best friend Beau, the co-owner of the bridal fashion line they started together. After Janey is photographed eating a fashion show, Beau very unhelpfully points out she's aging and gaining weight, and he believes she needs to take several months off of work to get her weight back on track. The novel uses Janey's hurt feelings regarding Beau's fat-shaming to push Janey to get "healthy" and take back her company.  This is a very tricky topic for any novel, because how we view ourselves and the impact of the healthy living craze are constantly evolving. Still, in my mind, this book could have been written yesterday.  Every woman I know, or maybe just the very honest, has admitted to some pursuit of healthy living, be it a diet or crazy workout phase.  The diets and workouts in Fitness Junkie were just on the right side of realistic/ridiculous.  The book flies through Janey's evolution, which I won't spoil here, but I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would.  The authors were able to take on a tricky subject with enough humor and lightness, but not ignore the awful ways we all seek  to love ourselves. 

Thanks to NetGalley for ARC!

Sarah Herring

A witty satire but not the laugh out loud read I was expecting.

Chelsea White

Cute, funny story that takes a critical look (in a round-about way) at modern fitness culture. I would definitely recommend it!

Fitness Junkie

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