Y’all, I hate secrets. I hate them in my life, I hate them in my fictional works, and I especially hate them when I’m supposed to believe in a happily ever after. Discretion, I am here for. Not everyone needs to know your business and should not. Privacy is wonderful. Secrecy, in serious relationships, stresses me out. The entire relationship in Alison Bliss’ More to Love is built on a lie/secret which doesn’t get revealed until nearly the finale.
I say all of that up-front, not to spoil, but because I would want to know that before making the decision to read a book. If you, like me, don’t care for secrets in your happily ever afters, then this one will need to be a pass for you. It’s a shame, too, because if the disclosure had come earlier, I would have really liked these people and been really happy for them. There are parts of their relationship - especially concerning their personal views of food - that I would have loved to explore. Instead, I spent the whole book wondering if the heroine would be doing what she was doing if she’d known she was being lied to. So, my grade reflects that.
“So what,” you say. “Doesn’t bother me. Get on with it and tell me what this thing is about!”
Right.
Jessa Gibson has set up a food truck in the town square of Granite, Texas and everyone is thrilled. Everyone, that is, but the new health inspector, Max Hager. He keeps threatening to write her up for silly things - like not using pink plastic gloves. Really?
Max Hager is not, actually, the new health inspector. In fact, he’s trying to help out a friend whose restaurant business has been really hurt by Jessa’s truck. He’s bound and determined to shut her down, until he meets her and his hormones get the better of him. He starts falling for Jessa before he can clear up the confusion/lie, and now things are a little out of control.
The real plot of this book is food and it should have been allowed to shine. Jessa, along with the other heroines in this series, is bbw/plus sized/curvy - whatever you designator of choice. In her PoV, she addresses her love of food and the delicious things she cooks and how that is love to her. She talks about her relationship with her body and how she’s comfortable in it most days - although there are some days where she wishes she was a size six because everything would be easier. Max views food completely differently. He grew up ‘chubby’ (I hate that word) and has worked very hard to never be that way again. Food is not something to be celebrated, but a fellow soldier in the battle against fat.
These views are diametrically opposed, but how Jessa and Max come to understand each other is fascinating. The super-health-nut-hero falling for the not-health-nut-heroine is not anything I’ve seen before and I want to see it more.
Overall, if you’re looking for books with curvy heroines, the A Perfect Fit series is a great one to check out. I liked the two previous books and was happy to see those couples back in this one for some quick check-ins; but I’d give this a pass unless my caveat really doesn’t bother you.
Buy it at: A/BN/iB/K
Sensuality: Warm
Publication Date: 01/2018
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