This didn't work for me.  I don't have a Twitter account, nor do I plan on getting one.  I don't understand the popularity of Twitter.  I really don't "get it."  Having said that, that's one of the reasons this book didn't work (for me).  About 70% is tweets back and forth between Abby and Mark.  A shit load of pop culture references abound.  (How many books reference Veronica Mars to Lost to The Adams Family!!)  That is one of the things I did like; however, it will date this book.   It would be interesting reading a review 50 years from now; how many of the references will stand "the test of time?"  The spoiler is behind this page break.

I saw this wonderful image yesterday from a forgotten body positive book writiten by Dr. Seuss (Therodore Geisel) himself. 

 

 

 

I just love all the splendid types of female bodies on happy display from the  wonderful rear view.  

 

It made me think of a Romance List I started a while ago on Goodreads that features heriones with junk in the trunk and the heros that love that gluteus maximus.  The heros of these love stories take the time to praise what they adore making the heroines feel just how sexy they are.  Kristin Ashley can be counted on to promote the bootilicious (look up here on urban dictionary for fun) heroine and the hero that tells her like it is. 

 

Geisel says of his commercial flop of a book for the adult marke featuring all these curves and dips that can make up a woman's body, "I attempted to draw the sexiest babes I could, but they came out looking absurd." 

 

The book is absurd but his feeling that these are some sexy babes isn't. Rock on, Dr. Seuss!   

 

Check out the great Brain Pickings Article on The Seven Lady Godivas. There are some super fun drawings. 

 

Add your recommendations of heroines with apple bottoms and the heros that love them to the Goodreads List: Baby Got Back. 

 

My favorites in from the list are noted above and all my recommendations are 3 stars or higher. 

 

 

 

I could easily come up with lots of intelligent criticisms of this book, but I'm just not going to bother. It was sweet and very funny and kept me reading despite the fact that it was (horrors!) a print book. At the moment, that's good enough for me.

Ok, so I guess Spoilers: the main character in this book has cancer, is being treated for cancer, and pretends - for a good portion of the book - that he is instead traveling the world. As a result of the character's deception, I got so angry that I could not finish the book, even though I really liked the format.Up til then, I was on-board with the whole "140 characters or less love story": I thought both characters were cute (but not cutesy), honest, and open (without veering into 'DANGER: DON'T GIVE AWAY PERSONAL INFO ON THE INTERNET' territory). As I began to suspect Mark's dishonesty and then see his entire tweet-history as basically Catfishing this lady, I just was ... done. I mean, I have chronic illness. I would LOVE to pretend that I do not have this constant terrifying overwhelming thing in my life - but do I think it's fair to start a relationship based on that pretending? No; not in any way. I also don't think it's cool, as a person with chronic illness, and disabilities, that disabled characters are still being portrayed this way - as charlatans & fakes. (This is my own personal bias, certainly, but this is also the 2nd (recently published) book I've read this summer where a character had a disability and lied about it. Why is that necessary?) So the more I write in this review, the less stars I give the book - I didn't finish it, although I see from other, more positive reviews that he goes into remission (even though one of his reasons for lying was supposedly that the seriousness of his situation - and small chances of recovery - were part of the things he was sparing the heroine from having to deal with), and they live happily ever after. woo hoo. Not a fan.

This was a really quick read and also very sweet. I really liked Abby and Mark. Their twitter banter was playful and fun and I completely understood their connection. I have met many great people online and I totally get the bonds that you can form with people you've never even spoken to. And since I'm a recovering Twitter addict, I really found it amusing when Abby was composing tweets in her head throughout the day. The one thing that kept this book from being five stars was the ending. I needed more. I'm sure for some people the way it ended was perfect, but I'm so NOT that person. I wanted an epilogue so much it was almost painful. ETA: I recently found a copy of the mass market release of this book in the library book sale and picked it up since it has a new, shiny epilogue. I can now bump this book up to five stars! I was so happy that the author decided to add it to the book and it really gave me the closure I was looking for. I was initially dismayed that the epilogue wasn't available online for people that had already bought the trade size version, but I have recently discovered that it will be available in October on her website.