e-Audio, 12:28:31
Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan
Release Date: June 11, 2024
Published by: Bramble
Read from: May 29-30, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this e-audio from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity (not from the main characters), Body Shaming, Alcohol, Death, Car Accident Death (Recounted on page), Heart Health Death (Recounted on page), Medical Speak, Car Accident
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Body Diversity (Fat leads), Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Realistic Fiction, AdultBridget Jones’s Diary meets Survival of the Thickest in Danielle Allen’s CURVY GIRL SUMMER, a smoking-hot, hilarious novel about the perils of online dating.
Aaliyah is determined to celebrate her thirtieth birthday with a boyfriend. And after a failed blind date, the local bartender, Ahmad, suggests she joins a dating app.
Filled with lies, catfish, and fetishizing, the wild world of online dating makes Aaliyah think she’s in over her head.
And she is. But with her two best friends and a protective bartender by her side, what could go wrong?
Everything.
Everything could go wrong.
And that’s the problem.
Because as Aaliyah is set on finding exactly what she’s looking for, she ends up finding something she never expects.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Ok so boom… I felt like I had to open this review like that because one of the best parts of this book was the friendship! I loved her friends and I need yall to buy these up so we can get books from the friends POV too ok!
With that being said, her friends were hilarious. And I loved that they were all so different from each other so that we got to see all different sides of each of Aaliyah’s dates. She knew all the different crazy ways they could possibly go just from talking to them before hand. AND they weren’t afraid to tell her that what she was doing didn’t make sense or that they didn’t agree with her. And let me just say, those are your real friends. The ones that will tell you like it is and keep you from looking crazy in the end. (Soooooo I’mma just put it out there in the universe. I just KNOW we’re about to get a book about friend in a small town meeting their person while they’re with their aunt? Right? Right Mrs. Allen?!)
As for Aaliyah, I liked her, but she was the most oblivious child lol I was yelling “COME HERE” at her ass the whole book. She was making me so mad being stubborn for no reason. It was NO REASON she kept acting like she didn’t have feelings for him. I still don’t understand what that was all about. Have I just read too many romances and I just know not to make decisions on behalf of anyone else? Or is that just common sense? I didn’t know if I should have been mad at her or not. But I do know that she was mad petty for continuing to act like she didn’t understand what was going on between them. And I think I was annoyed because girl you didn’t even hear him out when he told you what was going on. It felt like you were more embarrassed for acting like that and then just wanted to push him away because of it.
There’s not a lot that I agree with a man on, but when I do, I get annoyed lol No really, I was so mad at Aaliyah for making me side with Ahmad that she was stubborn. lmao I was like girl see what you made me do?! But Ahmad held a special place in my heart so I was ok being on his side for a while. He reminded me so much of my husband lol My husband is the type to joke and play around all the time. He is always the life of the party and will make me laugh by playing all the time. We been together 14 years and till this day we still rag on each other randomly. So basically, safe to say I loved Ahmad. I was so like screaming at her to stop and scoop him before someone else does lol *SPOILER* I will say the ending threw me for a little bit. I just knew he was going to be the last one to show up on one of her dates. And in a way he was, but she just did it in a different way…. And that made me more mad at her. You see what this man did for you and you out here acting like you don’t care? *END SPOILER*
The rep in this tho? FANTASTIC!! I hated having to sit through the fat shaming and the fetisizing and name calling, but it was so real. And the bit from the family side pissed me off because Lordt knows I’ve lived through it. I felt very much like I could have been Aaliyah in so many of those scenes. I did enjoy seeing her loved properly in the ending though without having to change herself. And I especially liked how she put her foot down and said, “ENOUGH” to everyone that was being weird to her. She wasn’t letting anyone take her joy and I admired that so much. And I LOVED that Allen kept her fat and fabulous. She didn’t have to change and there was no magic man that made her skinny. She deserved her happiness in the body she was already in. (Also I gotta know……… Why are consistently showing how hard they worked to get together but not showing their happiness when it finally happens, except for a few pages or a couple chapters? I WANT TO SEE MORE OF THEM TOGETHER AND HOW THEIR RELATIONSHIP GOES. Especially if it was a struggle to get there in the beginning like with these two!)
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention her dates tho. I LOVE social media themed books because with social media you just never know what you’re going to get. And this book proves that theory. Every last date she went on was extra and weird af lol I laughed a good amount at Ahmad, but damn it every man that didn’t have my lip curling in disgust had me howling in laughter. (One of them had me doing both tho I gotta admit.)
This book was a fun time and I absolutely hope that there is more to come after Ahmad and Aaliyah. Not only do I want to see the other friends, but I also want to see her friends get theirs too. We need all of em!
Overall, I give this
