Book Review: The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: ARC via Publisher/Author
Publication Date:September 12, 2016
Publisher:BlueHeart Press
Point of View: First Person ( Henry)
Genres & Themes: MM Romance, LGBTQ+, Contemporary, Romance

BLURB:

After being dumped by his long-term boyfriend for being overweight, Henry Beckett decides to make some drastic changes. In a vain attempt at getting his boyfriend back, Henry does the most absurdly frightening thing he can think of.

He joins a gym.

Reed Henske is a personal trainer who isn’t sure he’ll ever be ready to date again. He’s sick of guys who are only interested in the perfect body image, never seeing him for who he really is.

As Reed tortures Henry with things like diet and exercise, Henry enamours Reed with recipes and laughter. As the friendship lines start to blur, Henry is convinced there’s no way Thor-like Reed could ever be interested in a guy like him.

Reed just has to convince Henry that life isn’t about reaching your ideal bodyweight. It’s about finding your perfect counterweight.

REVIEW:

Hilariously good, hilariously charming, hilariously yummy—in more ways than the obvious.

Honestly I love every type of books; the type of story that would only happen in a book, the fantasy and impossible story; the type of story that you can relate you; the type of story that portrays flawed and real characters; and so on.

The Weight of It All gave me a bit of a pause, the type that I was a bit apprehensive of reading and reviewing. I absolutely support and love plus sized, or fat, character novels, but the huge problems with this novels is the statement that there is something wrong with them and they’re happily ever after is only achieved by losing weight. Which isn’t to say that every plus size/fat novel represents or reinforced that plot line, but when it hasn’t it also portrays very unhealthy statements. *cough cough* see my review for On the Plus Size.

And so I didn’t want to read about the character who loses weight for revenge comeback to the ex and his or her life is now all the better for it.

Fear not. Just read my favorite line from the novel:

“Let me be clear about something. My contentment did not come from weight loss. It came from accepting myself, and that was something Reed had taught me to differentiate. It came from setting goals and accomplishing them, even when I thought I couldn’t. It came from being able to look in a mirror and being happy with who I saw smiling back at me.”

Henry is charming and funny. I loved his humor and his unfiltered self, and I loved how flawed and multifaceted he was. Sometimes with novels like I hate reading reviews because the top reviews are always the one that hate on the character: Oh MC is way to whiny, oh MC still had the fat mentality after losing weight and all I want to do is just shake m head and ask why don’t you check your privileged self?

Tell me that’s not you?

Henry complained but in the way must of us do. Like I complain, endlessly about how nasty and foul people are at my job. The way they trash a retail store and treat employees as their personal slaves and all I could imagine is this reviewers telling my to suck it up and stop complaining. And honestly that’s how I saw Henry’s complaining—as normal every day, little things complaining. Take when he “complains” about running a marathon of sorts and exclaims every so often how he is going to die and honestly I would complain every freaking pounding of my feet how I would just die.

“Unless you actually like that kind of thing, in which case I can start calling you Fish Sticks.”

“I’m going now.”

“Would you use tartare sauce as lube?”

“Bye.”

Moving on to cuter and less angry things—Reed and Henry. REED, holy shit. HOLY SHIT. HOLY LOKI AND THOR. Yes, take that for what you will. I love him with Henry, I love how he just about lighted up and laughed and just plain understood Henry from the word, HELLO. Seeing them two together was the best part ever. Seeing them do little dates and text exchanges, and recipe exchanges and just basically INTERACT and I was all GO FOR IT! KISS.

“He was my Thor in public, my Loki in the bedroom.

He was the perfect balance for me.

He was my true counterweight.

Like I said. Perfect.”

You’ll laugh, a lot. Like tons. And I support the message. Coming from someone who lost weight, not in the way of losing weight to gain body positivity but because it was about setting myself for something and STICKING with it, and accomplishing a goal, I agree and I am happy.