This book was so triggering it was not even funny. This is a toxic relationship made to look cute and I am not here for it. Valerie, a highly sought after plus-size woman, running after a man like Logan for ears makes no sense. Especially since they never seemed to have had a close relationship as children.

Logan is not a good love interest. He makes assumptions about people, especially Valarie, and accepts it as fact. She was assaulted and because he has this picture in his head about her being promiscuous, he assumes she wanted it and got mad at her, like bitch what?????

Valerie is not that much better off, getting her bartender licence did not seem that difficult as she made it out to be and if she had just done it, the shit show would not have happened in the end. And the way she reacted sent red flags since she tried to minimize the damage that was done. At the end of the book, I did not care for either of them.

The writing style of the book however did keep me engaged throughout my rage reading of this book, so it gets a two-star for that.

I DNF-ed this book as I felt the characters were too unlikeable and I did not like how misogynist the male characters were..

A other excellent book from Alison! I love everything that she’s put out and I love her Facebook posts! A little romance, a little humor… what more could you need?

Love that Alison creates realistic characters. Feel good story about Val and Logan. Having history Valarie and Logans relationship was due to a mutual friend, Vals brother and Logans best friend. Though there being tension between them for years Logans attempt to keep it under lock and key diminished as Val conned her way into a job at his bar. Logan does really well until a sex bucket list get out. Overall book was great, have re-read multiple times as well as followed up with continue stories from series.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

Gosh, it was refreshing to have a story with a “normal” gal in it (and portrayed on the cover too!). Thank you Ms. Bliss for writing a fun, sexy, realistic book! This was the first of Alison Bliss’ work I’ve read, but I definitely plan to grab the others in this series!

I am enjoying the series that focuses not on the fact that big girls can find love too, but on the fact that anyone can find love and big girls are just like everyone else. Valerie has lusted after her brother's best friend forever and when she finds herself in his new bar on opening night she never imagined the way her life would change. Logan has rushed the opening of his new bar in the hometown he never thought he’d return to, in order to help his mother dig herself out of a financial disaster his deadbeat father put her in. When Logan is forced to accept Valerie’s offer for help after a series of screw-ups on opening night, he knows his life is going to go downhill quickly, because he has been trying to resist the sexy allure of his best friend's little sister for years. I enjoyed this story very much, even as there were some tears and some moments I wanted to punch Valerie for keeping secrets that could destroy not only their tenuous new relationship but also everything Logan had accomplished. Logan was a really good guy, obviously devoted to the women in his life and determined to do all he could for his family and Valerie. I enjoyed seeing how sweet and sexy he was as he worked to fulfill all the fantasies he thought Valerie had and of course worked to make her his once he accepted that she was meant to be his. Valerie has a personality that I wish I could takes parts of for myself, her confidence, sassiness and spunk made her a great friend and, while it sometimes got her in trouble, her heart was always in the right place. They had a lot of problems to deal with through this story, but Valerie and Logan were obviously meant to be together and when they finally got their HEA after so many years of denying their feelings I was thrilled for them. I can’t wait for the next story in this series and I find I am enjoying each story more and more as I get to know the characters and come to appreciate the authors writing style. Being a big girl, maybe not as big as I once was but still considered plus sized, I feel a kinship with these women and this series gives me hope that someday my prince will come, even if he’s a badass bar owner or construction worker!

I am sorry to say that I did not finish this story, I just could not get into it.
I absolutely loved this authors Tangled in Texas Series so surprised that On the Plus Side did not work for me.

Interesting and unusual. I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel, due to the premise. However, I found the romance to be entertaining - if not at all convincing. The "hero" was also kind of a jerk, and I found the constant references to the heroine's weight to be demoralizing and exhausting.

On the Plus Side is the second novel in Alison Bliss’s A Perfect Fit series and this time features the previously introduced character Valarie and the man she has secretly wanted for years.

Valarie Carmichael has always had feelings for her older brother Brett’s best friend. As a teenager, her crush seemed unreciprocated and unattainable, especially when the man in question left town without a word and has only just returned after eight years. Logan was the only man Valarie’s sexy curves and vibrant personality wasn’t able to win, but the years apart haven’t changed the way he makes her feel. Logan Mathis has returned to his hometown of Granite, Texas in the hopes of saving his mother’s home that is about to be foreclosed on. The plan is simple; open a bar and make enough money to get her out of trouble. He certainly wasn’t expecting Valarie to ignite a different kind of trouble in his life…..Logan has always forced himself to avoid acting on the raging attraction he feels for his best friends little sister, but Valarie isn’t a little girl anymore. Beautiful, mouthy and determined, Valarie makes him burn hotter than ever before. Getting involved with her may be a bad idea but as the two find themselves working together at Logan’s bar, they’re about to discover that neither can deny what simmers between them….

On the Plus Side is another fun and flirty contemporary romance from Alison Bliss. As with the first novel, On the Plus Side features likable characters, funny dialogue and plenty of sensual and saucy moments between the love interests that bring the romance to life. Unfolding in the varying POV’s of main characters Valarie and Logan, On the Plus Side offers readers a well-rounded story with plenty of entertaining moments.

Valarie was a confidant and capable young woman. I appreciated that Alison Bliss wrote her comfortable in her own skin and didn’t focus too much around what she weighted, unlike previous main character Leah who had a lot of insecurities where her weight was concerned. Logan too was a solid male lead and I thought he and Valarie were sexy and thrilling together.

A solid read from beginning to end, On the Plus Side was another enjoyable contemporary romance. I’m hoping we have a chance to see Valarie’s brother Brett feature in a story down the track and am looking forward to seeing Max star in the next instalment!

Before starting this one, I decided to read book 1, which my library had. I DNFed book 1 after two chapters because I had so many issues with the hero, the fatphobia, and the slut shaming going on, among other things. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I cannot see myself attempting to read On the Plus Side after all.

Reviewed by Robin

Review: This is the second book that I have read by Ms. Bliss. I simply love this author she is inspirational not only in her personal life but through her stories. She shows us that size doesn’t matter. Love finds you no matter what size you are.

From the beginning of Valerie’s story I learned a hard lesson. One I have struggled with, that we have to be happy with our own self. I loved that Valerie loved who she was. I loved her sassy spirit. She showed us that curvy is beautiful. This is an author every teen girl should read.

Val and Logan…know each other because Logan is Val’s brother’s best friend. He has moved back to town to help his mother out. They have a bar and need help. Bartending…and this is where Val comes in.

Just let me say that Logan soon falls for Val. His feelings are real– he loves her for her, curves and all. Logan along with her brother is a little overprotective of Val because of her size. I get it, they don’t want her to get hurt but they don’t realize that this beats her confidence level. But this shreds her confidence.

The whole story shows that by embracing who we are anything can happen.

Once again I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the fact that Ms. Bliss didn’t dwell on the fact that Valerie was a plus size. Instead she showed how to embrace who we are. We are shown how to become proud of us as women imperfections and all. Grab onto life and enjoy it. We are beautiful curves and all. If we only show our confidence we can accomplish anything.

I loved that Ms. Bliss writes about normal women. She writes about women that tend to be easy to relate to. Even when it becomes hard to stay positive don’t become negative. Valerie is a strong woman for the most part. Showing her strength shown through and good things happened.

I realize I didn’t write much about Logan but he was there and he fell in love with Valerie. It was a sweet slow romance which I did enjoy. But to me I was drawn to the story about Valerie.

I do feel as I mentioned this is a must read author that writes from the heart. I found this book to be inspirational and something every young girl (an older ones also) will find something that they can relate to in their life. The cover was beautiful showed someone with curves a real woman. As this book is part of a series it doesn’t have to be read in order or together. This book stands alone although I think you will enjoy Ms. Bliss’ other books as well.

On the Plus Side is the second book in the A Perfect Fit series, but it's the first one I've read and also the first time I've read this author, and she definitely writes well, but I had a number of issues with this novel, and could only give it 3 stars.

First, when I read the blurb and saw the title of this novel, I expected a BBW romance, but the heroine is merely described as curvy and well-endowed chest-wise, she's extremely confident about her appearance, and her sex appeal, and seems to have no issues with her weight or size whatsoever, and no trouble at all attracting men, so, in my opinion, her weight and size had absolutely nothing to do with this story, and just because a character isn't reed thin doesn't qualify this as a BBW novel. Since I fit the BBW category, and know a number of women who also qualify, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that most of us have weight issues, especially when every ad, TV show and movie we see features models and actresses who look as though they've eaten nothing my lettuce for decades.

Second, the characters. First there's Valerie, the heroine, she's 26 years old and has an older brother, Brett, age 30, whose overprotective behavior and maturity level make it seem like he's still in grade school. Any time a man even looks as Valerie he scares them away or beats them to a pulp. Valerie is no innocent virgin, so how she managed to ever have sex with Brett lurking around every corner seemed hard, if not impossible, to believe. Why she puts up with him and his childish, overbearing behavior is utterly beyond my comprehension.

Next, there's Logan, Brett's best friend, and Valerie has been crushing on him for years, and, as it turns out, he's been secretly crushing on her too, but she's his best friends' little sister, and therefore off limits. Again, I could understand this when the characters were younger, but adults talk to each other, and if I liked my best friends' older brother, I doubt I'd be afraid to mention it for fear of getting beaten or losing that friendship.

When Valerie lies her way into working as a bartender at Logan's newly opened bar because he's shorthanded, familiarity and proximity win, and the author can certainly write one hot sex scene, but these are two consenting adults who live alone, why risk exposure at work? Again, more childish behavior to add to the controlling, overbearing, and overprotective men in this novel. It seemed that every time Valerie did so much as speak to another man, it started a fist fight. If it wasn't for the explicit sex in this book, I'd have assumed I was reading a young adult novel.

The backstory about how Logan is trying to help his mother retain ownership of her home after her deceased gambler husband gambled away their savings at least redeemed him somewhat, but when his bar gets trashed in a fistfight he started after a nasty customer and former thieving employee was harassing Valerie, and when Valerie has to finally admit to lying about her certification as a bartender, he again flies off the handle, just as Brett does when he walks in on them in what should have been a private moment. Eventually this all works out and there's an HEA ending, but considering the maturity levels here, it made me doubtful that the HEA would last.

All in all, I have to give the author credit for her writing skills. I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel, and surprisingly, never found so much as a single typo or a single grammatical error anywhere. As for the content, it didn't live up to my expectations as a BBW romance, and I didn't find it fit the romantic comedy category either, and although I had serious issues with the maturity levels of all of the main characters, this was a relatively easy and somewhat entertaining read when I wasn't rolling my eyes. If none of the issues I mentioned bother you, you might enjoy this On the Plus Side more than I did.

Alison Bliss's latest book On the Plus Side is absolutely amazing! The chemistry between Valerie and Logan is hot enough to burn down Logan's bar.

I really loved Size Matters, the first book in the Size Matters series (see my review), because I found the heroine to be the most relatable heroine ever. I picked up these books because they feature plus-sized heroines, but aren’t labeled as BBW (I don’t want my own genre!) We met Valerie, the heroine for On the Plus Side in the first book, and I knew she was confident, and was actually hoping maybe there would be a little lesson in feeling confident in your skin.

Sadly, aside from maybe two lines in the book and the cover and title, you would never know she was plus-sized. Based on the title, I would have liked for her size to play into the story a little more, but it didn’t at all. Valerie had every single man she ever wanted drooling all over her. Except one. Her older brother’s best friend, Logan Mathis.

“There was only one guy who she wanted to remove her clothes for, yet he didn’t seem to have any interest in seeing her naked. The idiot. Maybe she was narcissistic, but there was no way in hell she would admit that the only guy she’d ever wanted was the one guy she couldn’t have.”

Logan has come back to town, opened a bar, and is having trouble. He really needs help, and Valerie, determined to flirt with Logan till he gives in, tells a little white lie, and says she is a registered bartender to get the job. She LOVES being the center of attention, and she has mad skills behind the bar, so it’s perfect for her, she gets to put on a Cocktail-type show every night and flirt with her crush at the same time.

Logan knows she is off-limits and it kind of makes him a grumpy asshole. He is kind of a dick to her until he finds her “list”. What is actually a list of things she won’t do in bed, he mistakes for her bucket list, and he’s not letting her do that shit without him! At this point, I was literally cracking up.

“…if she thought for one second that he would allow her to go to a glory hole, then she had another think coming.”

Once he gave in and stopped being a dick, I liked him more, but still, I found that he never gave her a chance to speak, and always just cut her off. And her brother! Don’t even get me started on that fuckhead, Who the hell is he to tell these adults what to do? Valerie is supposed to be this confident woman, but she let these men walk all over her and treat her like a child, and I began to lose respect for her.

The sex was hot. Even though I like the cover, like the first, it seems way more wholesome than the story!

“A smile lifted his cheeks, and his hand made a couple of slow circles over the round curve of her cheek, as if winding up for the pitch. Then he smacked her on the ass even harder this time, leaving behind a subtle sting in his palm from the effort. A sharp gasp flew from her lips, and a red hand print appeared almost instantly.”

The one line that addressed her size, was the one I related to the most:

“If only I could be more like you. You’re always so confident and carefree when it comes to your size. You own it rather than letting it own you. Unfortunately, we’re just not all that way.”

Likes:

•I laughed out loud several times.
•An actual plus model on the cover.
•Visiting with characters from the first (though this TOTALLY stands alone).
•I enjoyed her confidence.
•Very hot sex.

Dislikes:

•If you are going to title a book with “plus” make he size have a little more to do with the story.
•I absolutely HATED her brother.
•Valerie never stood up for herself and let the guys walk all over her.

The Down & Dirty:

I started this series because I wanted to read about plus sized heroines, being one myself. But this story refers to her as curvaceous, but other than that, her size has absolutely no baring on the story, and was barely a blip. I loved the first, but this one, for me, didn’t come close. I did laugh out loud, and I like her writing, but I really hated that this confident, adult woman was treated like a child and took it, and then proved she deserved it at one point. I want to read the next in the series, but I am hoping that we address the “plus size” title of “More to Love”.

Rating: 3.25 Stars, 4 Heat

I really enjoyed book two in this series. I really loved how it kept you up to date on the characters of the previous book without them overshadowing the characters in this one and yet still maintained the flow of a good series. And while I didn't connect with Valerie the same way I did with Leah, I did see one of my dear friends in her. These books are relatable, honest and funny as hell!! Two thumbs up for author Alison Bliss and the sophomore in this series!

On the Plus Side by Alison Bliss
Book #2: A Perfect Fit Series
Source: Purchase and Netgalley
My Rating: 3/5 stars
My Review:

**REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

Valerie Carmichael has never, ever had a problem attracting a man’s attention. She’s curvy and confident, intelligent and outgoing, and she’s never been afraid to go after what she wants!! Very little has been able to withstand a full-blown Valerie Carmichael assault. The one man who frustratingly always has, Logan Mathis. After years of being away from his hometown, he’s back, opened a bar, needs some serious help, and has no idea he’s about to be assaulted by a very determined Valerie Carmichael.

Logan’s bar is more than just a labor of love, it’s an absolute necessity if he is to save his mother’s home. Unbeknownst to Logan, his mother’s home is in foreclosure and if a pile of cash isn’t earned quickly, she’s going to lose the only real thing she has left in the wake of her husband’s leaving. Logan’s bar isn’t staffed quite as he would have liked, but his mother needs him and so, the bar is opening! With one super slow bartender and one truly slimy bartender, Logan needs help and he’ll be damned if that help is going to come in the form of curvaceous Valerie Carmichael.

Not to be deterred, Valerie decides to show Logan what she can do rather than try to verbally convince him. When his back is turned, Valerie hops the bar and begins to work some Cocktail (the movie!) worthy magic. In an instant, Logan’s patrons are not only entertained, but well-served and he must admit, albeit reluctantly that Valerie may just be the answer to his prayers. Now if he can just stop thinking about all those curves . . . . . Some things are far easier said than done!

Starting a relationship of any kind with Valerie is exactly what Logan has wanted for years, but there are complications and obstacles that make such an arrangement difficult, at best. Her brother is over the top protective and Logan, because of his past behavior and present financial situation, is certain he’s no good for Valerie. Though he tries to convince her of the validity of his position, she is headstrong and determined and Logan is weak where she is concerned. Against his better judgement, Logan gives in and discovers a whole new world of wonderful with Valerie. Just as everything appears to be moving in the right direction, the bottom falls out from under Logan and everything he has been working for is gone in an instant including his bar, Valerie, and his mother’s home. The culprit? Valerie!

The Bottom Line: Right up to the last few chapters of this book, I was prepared to assign this read a five-star rating! And then those last few chapters happened and it all went to hell in a handbasket. While I certainly don’t mind a feisty, confident, determined woman, I do mind a woman (or man!) who is so hell-bent on having her (his) own way that the concerns of others are ignored. Valerie wants what she wants and she lies to get her way. In turn, Valerie’s lie costs Logan his liquor license, his insurance, his bar, and very nearly his mother’s home. In the end, Logan is left with nothing except the clothes on his back and a whole heap of betrayal. While this was certainly enough to make me cranky, what really pushed me over the edge is how the whole situation is made right and Valerie and Logan just skip off to an HEA. There’s just too much betrayal and loss in this read for me to buy not only the super-quick forgiveness, but also the HEA. I found much of the last part of this read to be a stretch, at best which was thoroughly disappointing given how much I enjoyed the rest of the read. I’m not done with this series, but I sure hope the next installment has a far more believable ending.

This is another well written book by this Author!!!!

I know it’s early in the series, but this is my favorite book in the series… So far! Valerie is smart, sassy, curvy, and sexy. She’s confident and she wants Logan. Logan is sexy, inspires loyalty… and the best friend of Val’s brother. They were attracted to each for a long time and the results are off the chart chemistry!

This story gave us steamy and sensuous romance and I wanted more! Those live scenes were great. Val being comfortable in her own skin was awesome and I loved that. What drove me bonkers was Val’s over-protective older brother. As someone who has a protective older brother, I completely understand her plight! She handles him well and she earned her golden ticket to heaven!

This series is awesome and I can’t wait to read more! I hope this series NEVER ends!

On the Plus Side features one of my favorite tropes: romance with a friend's younger sister. Valerie has had a thing for Logan for a long time. A. Long. Time. Despite his leaving their hometown, that thing has not diminished. Now Logan is back and in need of help with his bar, so Valerie immediately steps in.

As with the first book in the series, Size Matters, this book contains several Big Misunderstandings and outright lies between Valerie and Logan. Some of their arguments seemed really contrived. While they had great chemistry, their non-sexual interactions needed work, and I was really surprised by the rushed ending. It didn't feel necessary or ring true.