Madeline
Big Summer starts with a song and dance about loving yourself and living life as you are and then, seemingly out of nowhere, there is a big fat murderous crime scene. This book has a bit of it all: love, murder, and an Instagram following. This book came across my desk through the same way a lot of my Chick Lit does, from The Skimm’s Friday book club series and one thing I have learned, is don’t discount The Skimm’s Friday book club.
The Premise of Big Summer
Big Summer is basically split into two parts, pre murder and post murder. The premurder part describes the life of Daphne, a plus size part time Instagram influencer, full time nanny and her relationship with her high school best friend, Drue, a wealthy bitch. Daphne is cruel to everyone including her closest friends. When their falling out was caught on video camera, Daphne made a part time career of it, encouraging women to love themselves as they are.
Post the murder of Drue a day before her wedding day, we learn about all the people who greatly disliked her. We learn about her father’s affairs and her family sweeping all their drama under the rug to appear to be a sane and sival family. But is Daphne as cruel as everyone expects. As Daphne is one of the main suspects, she is determined to find Drue’s killer and turn them into the police before the murderer comes after her.
Living Life As You Are
The days leading up to starting this book, I had realized I had gained 10 lbs in less than a year and was not happy with the direction my body was heading. For the record, I’m not a big girl, in fact I have a better body than most people my size. That being said, I’m not a small girl either. I had decided I was going to lay off the drinking for awhile, pick up a low carb high fat diet, run a few more miles a week than I already was, then I picked up Big Summer.
Big Summer, on the other hand is a book themed with loving yourself just the way you are. No need for dieting or excessive workouts. The problem is not with the body but with the mind and being able to accept it. Now I’m at a crossroads and this book is making me do some heavy thinking. Do I accept myself or deprive myself?
Takeaways and Living Your Life As You Are
As this book moved me in ways that I didn’t think it would or could, I started asking myself how I will take me. I believe that the answer to “do I accept myself or deprive myself?” is neither. Self improvement is a huge thing for me and if that means walking that extra mile or saying “no” to that piece of cake, so be it. That being said, I will continue living life as I am and accepting that I will never be a size zero, and I’m greatly okay with that.
Final Thoughts
Big Summer brought somethings up that I didn’t think a fictional book could do, but when it shifted gears and talking about something a little more serious, like murder, I was a bit appreciative to get off the subject of body weight. I will read about body weight when I’m ready, not when my Chick Lit decides so. That being said, it was a pleasant book and I don’t have hard feeling about shoving body image and living life as you are in my face.
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