Thought I would try something different and I did.
Not my favorite book. Jess, tge main character did not bring me joy or sadness. Had a little trouble staying with it.
Wish I had loved it but , no not this time.
Thanks netgalley for the chance to try this. The opinion is solely mine

Jesobel Jones (Jess) is Curvy and proud of it. She loves food and makes no excuses about it. After a wardrobe malfunction and a run in with some mean girls Jess tries to stay positive. After falling for a boy and her mom buying her a dress a size to small Jess decides to lose weight, I am a little disappointed they the author had Jess start to lose weight for a boy. I understand that's she's a teenager and that is how teenage girls tend to think.

The characters were well written but I feel like there were to many characters that I was supposed to be invested in. The book was good and I recommend giving it a read!

French review bellow:
You probably know it by now, but, lately I've been more than sick with the characters, always the same, of the books I read. So when I saw this book, I was really glod: a fat girl that loves her body? Perfect. Absolutely the kinf of reads I wanted to have. Well, maybe the gorgeous cover had a role to play in my choice! Except some things, I really enjoyed this book!

Jesobel was such a fierce character! Some of her reactions annoyed me at the begining but then I realised something: it's all because of the society in which we live. Let me explain my words: Jesobel was always fine with her body. Until the day she start noticing the way people thought of her. Especially bcause of Her ex-model mom and thin sister.

But as I said: she is fierce and she had the best friends in the world who love her this way and just for her.
I love all the topics we discover in this book: baking, friendship, relationship, positivity, diet and so much more! That's the reason why, even if some parts anoyed me, I totally recomand this one for all the messages conveyed there!

Here is my french review:
Vous le savez probablement, mais depuis quelques temps, je recherche vraiment des livres avec des personnages différents de ceux que j'ai l'habitude de rencontrer lors de mes lectures. Alors lorsque j'ai vu ce titre, avec une héroïne obèse et qui s'assume, j'avais vraiment hâte! Bon ok, j'ai peut-être été aussi très attirée par la couverture!
Malgré quelques longueurs, j'ai apprécié ma lecture.

Jesobel est une héroïne telle que j'aimerais en voir plus souvent en littérature YA! Même si certaines de ses réactions m'ont énervée, j'ai réalisé qu'elles reflétaient malheureusement bien la société dans laquelle on vit: une société majoritairement grossophobe.

"In a mirror, adit girl stands, her eyes stretch the fabric, her stomac looks enormus and material hines over her bum. The zip is stuck halfway.

I know what Mum would say. If you'd just put a bit of effot in, in a few weeks, you'd look a million dollars".



J'ai beaucoup aimé suivre le quotidien de Jesobel, la voir confrontée à ses doutes mais également la suivre durant son évolution. Car le chemin menant vers l'acceptation inconditionnelle de soi n'est pas aussi évident que ça. Jesobel va s'en rendre compte principalement à cause des remarques de son entourage plus ou moins proche.

En effet, Jesobel ne se sent pas particulièrement dérangée par son corps au départ. Elle aime son corps, est une bonne vivante et surtout: elle adore la pâtisserie.
Cependant, lorsque tout le monde fait des remarques plus ou moins implicites concernant son physique, en comparaison avec celui de sa mère ou de sa soeur, Jesobel commence à se poser des questions et la relative confiance qu'elle avait en elle s'effondre.
Heureusement, dans son malheur, elle va réussir à trouver un soutien indéfectible: celui de ses amis. Qu'est-ce que j'ai pu aimer leur relation!

Outre le volet acceptation de soi, Rebel with a cupcake aborde de nombreuses thématiques telles que les relations amoureuses, les régimes, ou encore la cuisine! D'ailleurs, la romance est vraiment très belle car elle démontre bien que parfois, il faut savoir voir avec le coeur. Je n'en dis pas plus de peur de vous spoiler, mais la romance m'a beaucoup touchée.

"My name is Jesobel Jones but you can call me Rebel with a Cupcake. Yes, I'm fat. And that's okay with me".
En conclusion, j'ai beaucoup aimé Rebel with a cupcake, qui est une véritable bouffée de positivité! En revanche, j'ai moins aimé certains passages que je trouvais assez longs, ce qui m'empêchait de rester concentrée car je m'ennuyais.
Les messages forts véhiculés dans ce roman m'ont totalement séduite et rien que pour ça, je recommande!

Sadly I admit I struggled to finish reading this book. When I first started I thought Jesobel was a breath of fresh air and I still like her snarky, spunky attitude and she is best reason to read this book. But the story never really worked for me. It failed to hold my attention and I kept putting it down in favor of reading other books. I am not sure I agreed with the tone of how the topics of weight, food and eating disorders were always handled but in the end there is a good message here about body image.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book follows a high school girl with great self-esteem, yet it shows how fragile that can be for someone struggling with being true to herself and yet feeling the need to change for someone/something. Anna Mainwaring writes funny dialogue, and I felt a connection with the main character, the characters were believable, whether you live in the UK or the US, teens go through the same angst, some more than others. Jesobel is a strong teen, true to herself, and under pressure (not so much peer, but familial) questions things and starts to make changes, but realizes in the common teenage way, who her true friends are, that being true to yourself is very important and she's perfect, just as she is.

It’s a quick read but not very deep or emotional, simply put its about Jesobel figuring out that she’s her own worst enemy and her own biggest fan and it’s not until she gets out of her own way that she’ll be happy.

Oh, and cupcakes.

Firstly thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This story is not one to read for the boundless action or intriguing plot line but for the character development and dynamics between the different characters in this novel. Oh, and Jess’ never-ending sassy remarks towards all those around her.

This story of self-awareness, growth, self-love and body image started out with Jess loving the body she was in and feeling just as worthy as all the other thin girls around her. It’s only when a video of her in split leggings goes viral that her confidence begins to waver and insecurities kick in.

It was difficult to read her negative self-talk and attempts to lose weight at times because I have been Jess throughout my childhood and adolescence (even down to us sharing the same nick name!). The bullying and hurtful comments made me feel like the girl I used to be and I really felt for poor Jess in these moments. Although I have to say that she was so strong throughout, even when she was doubting herself and dieting, she knew her worth.

I loved the rollercoaster ride Jess goes through from being confident and self-assured, to trying to change herself and be more the ‘norm’, to realising she just wants to be happy and confident once again. I feel like I rode these bumps with her.

Jess also wasn’t the typical ‘big’ girl who tends to be stereotyped as quiet, shy and doesn’t stand up for herself. No, Jess was confident, rebellious at stages and oozed sass and sarcastic comments. Her comments about her quirky family also added to this humour.

I didn’t find the romance particularly intriguing and her friendships with her two best friends was a little one-dimensional for me, but okay overall.

Whilst I didn’t love this book and it’s not one of my all-time favourites, it was a fun and interesting read, and one that I would love more teenage girls to experience. 3 stars!

Di questo libro, ammetto, mi ha colpito più la cover che la trama, infatti non è nulla di originale ma sa tutto di già sentito...però, c’è un però che salva dall’anonimato il romanzo, ed è Jesobel, la protagonista.
Nome strano a parte, infatti la chiamerò con il suo soprannome Jess, è divertente, arguta, spavalda, ama cucinare e mangiare e già solo per questo motivo l’adoro; ma è pur sempre un’adolescente che commette errori, si ritrova in drammi che ingigantisce e la sua insicurezza prende il sopravvento.
La storia è semplice: Jess si prende una cotta per un suo compagno di classe, pensa di non essere ricambiata o forse lo è, ma esce il suo lato insicuro, che non solo gli adolescenti hanno e dunque fa la cosa più sbagliata: cerca di cambiare se stessa per piacergli di più.
Lo facciamo tutti, noi adulti compresi, quello di dubitare di noi stessi in una relazione, figuriamoci un adolescente alle prese con una bella cotta, ma il messaggio del libro è ovviamente positivo, ovvero di accettarsi, stare bene con se stessi e solo così le cose piano piano inizieranno ad andare nel verso giusto.
Un libro divertente e spiritoso, con una protagonista non perfetta ma che è il vero punto di forza del romanzo, una storia che definirei “reale” perché rispecchia ciò che succede agli adolescenti e i messaggi di accettarsi per chi si è, del sentirsi a proprio agio con se stessi, con il proprio corpo, del non cambiare solo per piacere di più e del non farsi condizionare dagli altri sono importanti, soprattutto verso il pubblico a cui il romanzo è rivolto, ovvero gli adolescenti.
Degni di nota i personaggi secondari, soprattutto gli amici di Jess: Hannah e Izzy, ma anche Alex, Dom e Fred.
Ma perché non dò un voto più alto? A parte la trama non originale ciò che non è riuscita a conquistarmi sono stati i drammi adolescenziali, forse troppi e troppo esasperati e sono riuscita a sentirmi in contatto con quello che leggevo.
Concludo ribadendo che è stata una lettura carina, piena di messaggi positivi ed adatta ad un pubblico adolescente.

Jesobel Jones, Jess for short, has always known she's fat. Despite having a mom who used to be a model and an older sister who barely eats, Jess likes who she is. She likes cooking and she likes eating. Jess is totally okay with her sense of self until she confronts her biggest bully, Zara, and catches the attention of her secret crush, Matt. Suddenly, Jess wants to look different. Be smaller. As Jess tries to reconcile who she wants to be with her appearance, she comes to understand that people aren't always who they seem to be, and happiness isn't guaranteed by looking "perfect."

Rebel with a Cupcake had a great sassy tone and will appeal to readers of Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. Not all students will relate to the British slang. Not quite solid enough for a "coming of age" label, but a cute story about self-acceptance.

Jesobel Jones is a teenage girl living in Great Britain with her anything-but-conventional family; an old-school former rock star father, a once-upon-a-time super model mother, an ultra-feminist grandma, a border-line anorexic older sister and a some-what disturbingly imaginative younger sister. Jes attends a posh all-girls prep school, bursting at the seems with cookie-cutter perfect replicas. However Jes herself is a dynamo of sorts, brashly defying societies expectations of her, when it comes to conventional beauty. One such act of defiance lands Jes smack in the middle of everyone's notice, including the guy Jes has been secretly pining for from afar. This newly acquired attention has Jesobel questioning her once unflinching certainty and tests her resolve to be true to herself.

I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good insight to how teenage girls (and women at all ages, really) view themselves from time to time. Some days we're warrior women, daring society to have the audacity to categorize us and dictate our value; other days, we're unkind to ourselves tearing our perceived differences and imperfections apart, and doing the same to other females in turn. I like Jesobel because she's pretty laid back about not fitting into the super-thin crowd. Because of her outspoken nature and refusal to be cowed into feeling ashamed of herself, she was more endearing to her peers and able to create more meaningful friendships. She struggles a bit with this self-love, but that makes her even more appealing; struggle is imperative to creating an interesting character. And this wouldn't be a proper YA book without a love interest or two. I enjoyed how that turned out for Jes, and think teenage readers will as well. I would definitely include this in my classroom library for my students. 4 stars.

I enjoyed the book. It think this book is a good read for girls and guys of all ages. It's east to say to be yourself but it's hard when the worlds norms are that you have to be perfect. I really liked Jess. I liked her attitude in the beginning and I understand the peer pressure of family and school to be perfect. Jess was strong and refreshing.

As a fat girl I personally related a lot to Jesobel’s struggles. This book was super hilarious and heartwarming all at the same time.

Jesobel struggled a bit in the middle when she tries to lose weight but later on as she learns from her mistakes she became more comfortable just being herself and I just loved the book so much more for that.

My favorite characters were definitely Jesobel and her Grandma, they had such a weird relationship yet you could see that they cared about each other a lot.

Jesobel’s and Cat’s relationship was a little weird too, Cat’s more popular, skinnier, and quieter. I didn’t like her very much in the beginning but as she started to warm up in the middle I started to like her better.

This book honestly had so many funny parts I would just burst out laughing all of a sudden. From Jesobel’s dialogue to her struggles with exercising and her Dad’s sad faces when she made healthy food. They were all just so perfect and hilarious. I really enjoyed and loved this book so if you haven’t read it I highly recommend picking it up!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Recommendation: For all my fellow Fat girls and Fat boys ages 15 and up!

FTC DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

This book brought me lots of giggles! It's quite fun and witty at times. This book is a strong characters book. The storyline/plot is soft while it's mostly characters driven. What I do enjoy is that the character talks about real topics of teenagers/young women's lives. About how they are not perfect, mistakes are made, and things are hard and lessons to be learned.


Overall, this is a teenage life story about teenage girls becoming a young woman in the hard world of school-life and the body world where leaning you are you and that's enough. It's a good read!

Jess Jones is bold, single and overweight, and she doesn't apologize for any of it. She is who she is, and is fine with the way things are. She begins to think differently, however, when Own Clothes Day happens at school. She is used to wearing a uniform every day, and now she feels pressured into wearing the perfect thing to school. To make things worse, she splits her leggings and someone calls her fat, which has never bothered her before that moment. It is then that she realizes that she may have been too comfortable with herself, and now she has to figure out what to do about it.

The book will appeal to a certain audience. I didn't dislike it, but there were things I felt could have been better written for the young adult age group. I hope the book finds an audience. It just wasn't entirely for me.

Jesobel Jones is a foodie who loves to cook, loves her friends, and has a major crush on a boy. When he starts to give her attention and after some drama at her school, she begins to lose herself as she struggles with these difficulties.

One thing about this novel that was a bit off putting was some of the inner monologue of the main character. There was some jokes that included things like "OMG!" that made the content see more aimed for a younger audience though the rest of the story wasn't like that. Comments like those seemed to be a little out of place. However, the character development for Jesobel was a strong one that added to the coming of age experience she was going through. She starts the story being fine with herself as a person and in her body but that changes opinion until she begins to realize her self worth again at the end. The romance in the story also suited the characters and the age range of them really well.There is also the theme of loving yourself/accepting your body while still having two of the prominent characters developing an eating disorder, it seemed contradicting.

There is a point I feel the need to bring up to future readers. There is themes of eating disorders throughout the novel with multiple characters going through it.

It is a book which doesn't have a proper story it revolves around the different event of Jesobel's life. It all starts with a weird day in school when Jess got bullied by some girls in school for her body shape and end up becoming a star of a viral video on youtube.

Her family is bunch of weirdos, dad who is in a band, mother who was ex-model now fitness freak, Gran who herself imprisoned in attic of house and living on gin instead of food(sounds weird right?), Cat her elder sister who is opposite of Jess and type of girl everyone wants, and a younger sister who lives in imaginary world.

Her longtime crush is now talking to her after the video, She is falling for him and like every second YA, he is not the one for her, the one he is for her, she is ignoring him all of her life, This is the story of every other YA, and especially the cute guy who is always lead of the band girl have crush on and after most of the book break her heart and the sweet and kind guy who is overshadowed by the cute guy comes to rescue her.

This book didn't focus on single things, First school tantrum, 2nd All this matt story where Jess tried to lose her weight for him, 3rd after matt phase where she is improving relation with her family.

Jess personality is sassy and witty, she knows what to do most of the times but she is also a teenager and make mistakes.

Alex is a typical perfect YA guy who is always there to cover her girl's mistake and save her.

If you are reading this book for relations and just for a quick fun, this is a good choice.

This was a super cute book with an engaging and easily relatable narrator whose fresh and funny voice will keep you engaged. I would definitely recommend to all YA contemporary fans!

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Let me start off by saying that the main character of this book, Jess, is awesome. She’s hilarious and witty and so well written. And she is what got me through this! The story, on the other hand, was....actually there wasn’t much of a story. There were some plot POINTS (failed crush, momentary internet fame, mean girl at school, attempted weight loss, sister bonding) but it never actually seemed to settle down into a fully realized PLOT. It had all the makings of the real thing, but didnt quite make it there. That being said, it was a light and fun read that would have made great book-hangover-recovery material, mostly because it didn’t make you feel the type of feels that would make a book hangover worse. I’d probably give this author a 2nd try, if only to see if she grows into her characters.

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. While I'll admit I enjoyed reading it, and do recommend it, I spent much of the story either rolling my eyes or shaking my head at Jesobel's choices. Why? Because much of the events in the story were easy to guess, and yet she would walk blindly into situations that could have been avoided. Yes, I know this is a YA book about a teen girl, and they don't always make the best choices, adults don't either for that matter. But the part I loved about Jesobel's character was the very thing she spends most of the book trying to change. No, not her looks, but her sense of self-worth and take charge attitude. When she starts listening to everyone else, I feel that for a while, she looses an important part of herself, trying to change for someone other than herself. Plus, changing yourself to gain someone else's approval is not likely to get you the result and happiness you crave. Be true to yourself, and attract the people who will accept you for you!

That said, there were things I enjoyed about this book. For one I loved Jesobel's personality when she isn't trying to change herself. She is comfortable in her own skin, and is okay with being different if it means she gets to be herself. She has supportive friends who like her for her! Hannah and Izzy of course, but also Alex, Fred, and Dom. While the guys might not be her best friends, they accept her, and that's a big part of this story. So many voices telling her to change who she is, and yet here is the group of people who don't care that she enjoys eating and doesn't have as slim a figure as the more popular girls.

The hardest part about reading this book, is that it seemed to stigmatize eating and being fat. I know people who hardly eat, and are over weight, while others eat all the time, and are still super thin. No one should feel that they need to starve, or work out until they pass out, just to stay thin and popular. It's not natural to eat only things that are good for you, but that lack all flavor. Yes, healthy is good, but food is meant to be enjoyed, even in small portions. To think that flavor equals fat, is an unhealthy way of thinking, and just because someone starves doesn't mean they are happy by the results.