Now in her late 20’s “B.” has tried everything she can think of to lose weight, from working out to hypnotism to every fad diet that has come around. She doesn’t eat too much, goes to a gym regularly and doesn’t eat carbs after seven p.m. It doesn’t matter; she is still “fat.” She just may come right out and say it, B. reasons; forget those “plump” “full figured” nice ways of saying fat. If she’s fat, she might as well embrace it.

To top it all off, her Cuban parents blessed her with what she believes is a rather unfortunate name: “Beauty.” B. cannot stand the irony so she introduces herself to everyone as “B.” As in…boy. And living in New York City doesn’t help things much as there are so many beautiful, thin woman and models running around. The men, even those of average or below average looks, can take their pick…and they are not picking her.
B. is totally miserable in her own skin. As hard as she tries at work, her ultra skinny supervisor will not promote her to the title of Creative Director of Advertising even though she has been doing the actual job for three years. She wonders how she will ever find love, get married and have babies.
One April 14th (nothing like procrastinating) B. gets her taxes done for free funded by the city. The woman who does her taxes compliments her on how beautiful she is and B. nearly hits the floor. Why not wear contacts instead of glasses?, the woman asks. Your makeup is all wrong and so are your clothes, she tells her. “Madame” Natasha reveals to her that she runs a business of providing “comfort” to men and she thinks B. would be perfect for it. There is no sex involved; the woman assures her. You simply provide certain “services” to men and you can make a lot more money than what you are currently busting your butt doing.
B. is so curious about the job and is so tempted by the amazing money it offers that she accepts the position.
What happens after that is, as B. puts it, “Is when the story gets good. Real good.”
I won’t reveal what happens to B. “on the job,” but through her assignments and under the mentoring of Madame, B. goes through a complete attitude change and realizes that you do not have to be thin to be beautiful and sexy.
This book was a lot of fun. B., telling the story from first person, is very funny and so are the situations she winds up in.
The thing I found most interesting about this book was that it was written by a man! He really seemed to be able to speak from a female point of view. I will be chatting with him through the Twittermoms Book Club and I plan on asking him how he did that! From a person with chronic illness or disability’s point of view, this is a great book as so many of us feel we are hampered by our disabilities and the side effects they may cause, making us feel unattractive to the opposite sex. We don’t even want to step “out there.” This book shows that only by learning to love and accept who you are can you then be loved and accepted by others.
I would classify this book in the genre of (better) “Chick Literature.” If you do not enjoy a little Chick Lit. every now and again, you may not like this book. There are also some situations that do contain funny, yet sexual situations, so if you find something like that offensive you might want to skip it. I think most will find it a great, quick and funny read and I would most definitely recommend it. It’s a great beach (or sitting in the shade!) book.
Would you like to win this book? Please leave a comment here and tell me why you think this book may appeal to you or why you would want to read it. The best comment will get my “gently read” copy!
** Contest ends June 5th. **

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Emily Cullen is a pen-name. She is an active contributor on the message boards of But You Don’t Look Sick? and is a member of The Silicon Valley Moms Group. She Twitters under the name mamasick.