This was a slow read for me. Not that the writing was bad, but because it was the paperback version and the font was small. But it wasn't so small that I couldn't take it in small doses.

Going deeper, the information that gave reminders that all of us need; that we are okay as we are. Fat shaming has never helped a bountiful woman or man to lose weight. That those who are of bountiful size have had enough with dieting that doesn't work. That trying to hide so as to avoid the critical voices, hides us from those who might be our friends or more.

Did I learn anything new here? No. Just some affirmations I had forgotten. Moreover, I wish the book had started with the ending stories. The beginning seemed a dream for those of us who have fixed incomes. The suggestions we go to health spas or invest in counseling that can also be exorbitant. Instead offering ideas to find those positive beings to come into our lives that create the kind of support we all need.

So, sorry, it's just okay but worth the read. Find the bits, as I did, and pass it on.

Received in a bag of books from Darsbooks. Will add to my TBR

I think this positive book written for "bountiful" women can be an asset to anyone's library. Many of the issues discussed in this book can be experienced by people who are not necessarily bountiful, but who feel they are because our society is aimed to present thin women as the norm, "too short" (a category I tend to fall in), or, ironically, "too thin", (I can tell you stories from my teen and early adult years), and/or any other difference from what we keep being told is the ideal.

What makes this book stand out from so many of the books of this genre is that it is not written by people who have never experienced the inconveniences and the sometimes, harsh realities faced by women who are larger than the ideal. The author and the many people that had contributed to this book are all people who have fully experienced being bountiful women. They discuss the inconveniences, the negativity, the hurt, and how they learned to live full and enriching lives.

Read Sept. 2016

Added to the Book Exchange rack