Author Archives: bbwesquire

Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert (2020) by Olivia Dade is the fat-positive heterosexual romance I never knew that I needed to read! Marcus is an actor on the most popular show in the U.S., Gods of the Gates, clearly inspired by Game of Thrones. He plays Aeneas, and takes his acting seriously. learning swordwork and horseback riding likeContinue reading “Spoiler Alert”

Joan Is Okay

Joan Is Okay (pub. January 18, 2022) by Weike Wang, follows NYC resident, attending intensive care doctor Joan through the aftermath of the death of her father in China, and the weekend she took away from work to attend his funeral. It follows her through a forced bereavement leave, through the start of the coronavirusContinue reading “Joan Is Okay”

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

I am very late to reading the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award-winner The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison, despite it being highly recommended by a friend and having her copy sitting on my bookshelf for 18 months. I suspect that the timing wasn’t right–I was given the copy on New Years EveContinue reading “The Book of the Unnamed Midwife”

Find Layla

Find Layla (2020) is Meg Elison’s first published contemporary YA novel. Elison has won and been nominated for multiple science fiction awards for her Road to Nowhere series, specifically The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (review coming soon), The Book of Etta, and The Book of Flora. Her novelette The Pill won the 2021 LocusContinue reading “Find Layla”

The Maid

In The Maid (coming 4 January 2022), Nita Prose has created a quirky, socially awkward character, Molly, a hotel maid who finds a murdered guest, who is reminiscent of another quirky character–Eleanor in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Molly works at a boutique hotel and has been all alone since her GranContinue reading “The Maid”

Starfish

Starfish (2021) by Lisa Fipps, surprised me with beauty, heartbreak, and fat positivity in this middle grade novel written in free verse. Ellie, 12, is the youngest of three kids of a mixed-faith psychiatrist-father and editor-mother, and is nicknamed Splash at her 5th birthday party when she does a perfect cannonball. The kids at schoolContinue reading “Starfish”

That Summer

In That Summer (2021), Jennifer Weiner illuminates both the individual cruelty of an entitled teenage boy and the everyday misogyny of a privileged male lawyer. Both take advantage of women named Diana. Daisy Shoemaker is Hal’s wife. They have a house in the suburbs and a 15-year old daughter Beatrice, who is giving them someContinue reading “That Summer”

All the Feels

Olivia Dade has done it again with All the Feels (pub. November 16, 2021)–she has written a delightful, funny, fat-positive romance featuring a fat female lead! Lauren Clegg is between jobs, having burned out from being an emergency room mental health clinician for several years, when she is asked by her terrible cousin (who runsContinue reading “All the Feels”