#Blogtour: Diary of an Adorable Fat Girl | @Bernice1Bloom @rararesources #review #giveaway

I’m delighted today to be joining the blog tour for Diary of an Adorable Fat Girl: The Complete, Full-length Novel by Bernice Bloom. I will admit that when Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources first approached me to be part of this tour, my first reaction was that this book maybe wasn’t one for me – but I downloaded a kindle preview and really liked the writing, so I was interested enough to try more. And I’m so glad I did…

Mary Brown is funny, gorgeous and bonkers. She’s also about six stone overweight. When she realises she can’t cross her legs, has trouble bending over to tie her shoelaces without wheezing like an elderly chain-smoker, and discovers that even her hands and feet look fat, it’s time to take action. But what action? She’s tried every diet under the sun.

This is the hysterical story of what happens when Mary joins ‘Fat Club’ where she meets a cast of funny characters and one particular man who catches her eye.
The story is laugh-out-loud funny and will resonate with anyone who has dieted, tried to keep up with any sort of exercise programme or spent 10 minutes in a changing room trying to extricate herself from a way too-small garment that she ambitiously tried on and is now completely stuck in.

Bernice Bloom is the big, new name in comedy writing…this is the first full-length novel after her series of laugh-out-loud mini books.

When you’re a reader in your sixties, it’s difficult to get excited about a heroine that’s described as “funny, gorgeous and bonkers” – but as a Fat Club veteran I suspected we might just have some common ground. And I was young once – honestly. Yes, this book is laugh-out-loud funny at times – Mary’s antics often made me cringe – but it’s also a wonderfully accurate portrayal of anyone carrying more weight than is good for them and trying (and failing) to keep it under control. And there is a really serious edge to this book, when despair and self-loathing has potentially serious consequences.

I really liked the way friendships are portrayed in this book – supportive and rather lovely – and almost cheered when Mary realised that there were options other than bestubbled and muscled bonehead Dave. Mary’s an absolute sweetheart, totally out of control in so many ways – but if I tell you I saw so much in her that I recognised from my younger self, you won’t judge me, will you? The writing is excellent, with particularly real dialogue, and – other than the serious edges, which are really well done – this book is simple fun from beginning to end, uplifting, and a story told with great warmth and wit.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much I went straight on to read Cruise with an Adorable Fat Girl, and liked it even more – I’ll be reviewing that one on 21st March.

Giveaway

With thanks to Bernice and Rachel, there’s a rather lovely giveaway – a Daisy Bracelet and Earring set created by Bernice Bloom (open internationally).

Here’s the rafflecopter for entry, followed by the terms and conditions:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions – The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winner’s information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

About the author

Hello, my name is Bernice Bloom and I am a writer (I write light-hearted rom-com style novels and also work as a magazine journalist and advertising copywriter) and jewellery designer. My recent series of novels is called ‘Adorable Fat Girl’ and it features a heavily overweight woman called Mary Brown. She is bright, funny, friendly and bonkers. She’s also fat. The books blend the comedy of her efforts to lose weight with a more serious backstory about what happened to her in the past that had led to the issues that make her prone to over-eating.

I’m fascinated that there are so few overweight heroines in literature. Women can be manipulative, evil, even murderers in fiction, but not fat! Certainly not fat and beautiful with loads of friends! Then along came Mary and she’s developed quite a fan base of people who love the fact that the heroine is large. She gets lots of letters and I have ended up taking her on lots of adventures!

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram