I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ⁣
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#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE was absolutely extraordinary. I already loved Nicole Byer but then she went out and wrote a book about wearing bikinis. There’s only a few chapters of text and the rest is filled with gorgeous pictures and funny quips about all the bad things that can happen in the world because a fat woman chose to expose some skin. My favorite- “A cute picture of me pretending to let a shark eat me, let’s get f***ing real: if I met a shark in the ocean, I would beat it to death first with my t** and then eat it raw while I floated on my back. #veryfat #verybrave” ⁣
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After I recommend this to everyone I know, this lady might just get #brave and buy a bikini.

If you're expecting an essay collection or memoir that will teach you more about Nicole Byer, adjust your expectations! This isn't that. It's primarily a photo collection of Byer wearing tons of different bikinis and posing in strange places around L.A., plus some jokes about how annoying it is to constantly be told you're brave for existing in your body. Once I realized this wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, I did enjoy the ride. I love Nicole Byer, and this was definitely an entertaining read, even though a lot of the text felt like she was just trying to find something to fill the text space around the photos. I hope we can get a real memoir later down the road!

I love Nicole Byer on "Nailed It!" So I couldn't wait to read this book. I was thinking this book was going to be a little more like an autobiography and would go into more of her life. However, this book is literally her in many different bikinis and explaining to everyone on how they should be #brave and own it. I have to say, she looks great in her bikinis because she is totally confident and comfortable in her own skin. She does mention at the beginning of the book that she doesn't condone this unhealthy lifestyle, but you have to work with what you got.

This book will definitely help anyone with body image issues and since summer is coming soon, I'm hoping this will help me get ready for swimsuit weather.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for my eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Special thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

If you're a fan of Nicole Byer, you will enjoy this book. Now, what I mean to say is if you know Nicole from things OTHER than Nailed It! Nicole is open, honest, authentic & truly - Nicole. There are lots of photos of her modeling bikinis and plenty of advice to tell haters to gently go F themselves.

This title is also a better look into Nicole's life, her philosophies & what motivates her. I love her podcast, her shows & I'm a true fan.

Also, I think they should turn this book and her quotes into a calendar.

If you know Nicole Byer at all you will immediately know that this book is by her from the first page. I love how her voice is able to come off the page in such an easy and funny way. I enjoyed this book and found myself laughing out loud multiple times.

I wish there was more to this book however. It is a relatively short book and most of it is made of pictures with hilarious captions. While it is enjoyable I just wish that there was a bit more writing and substance to the book, though the pictures are gorgeous and I think could really inspire a lot of people out there to not be afraid to wear a bikini in public.

A solid 3.5
I remember binge watching Girl Code years ago and Nailed It on Netflix is my not so guilty pleasure. Nicole is loud, funny, #veryfat and #verybrave .
I've never been supper comfortable in a bikini, but dammit, Nicole, now I want to buy a new bikini. Or 2.
#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl's Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini is not a memoir. This is a book about learning to love your body and be ok about the jiggle, the extra skin, the imperfections. Nicole is not glorifying being unhealthy and she is all for staying healthy and active. She gives advice on how to choose the perfect bikini, how to deal with hate and list all the cool things you can do while wearing a bikini.
My only critique is that there's very little text and a lot of pictures.

Publisher Synopsis:

The actress, comedian, and podcaster extraordinaire’s guide to being a #brave, bikini-wearing badass.

If you’ve ever seen a fat person post a bikini shot on social media, you already know that they are #verybrave, because apparently existing in a fat body in public is #brave. I, Nicole Byer, wrote this book to 1. share my impressive bikini collection and my hot body with the world and 2. help other people feel #brave by embracing their body as it is. In this book, I share my journey to becoming #brave, give you my hot tips and tricks—on how to find the perfect bikini, how to find your own #bravery, and how to handle haters—and serve you over 100 bikini looks.

Review:

Disclaimer: I use the word fat in this review as Nicole does in her book. It is not a bad word and is not intended to be replaced with words such as curvy or plus-size because Nicole admits she is fat. I am also fat, but I am also plus size and curvy, and use those terms interchangably and whenever each is suitable. But I am still fat.

It’s a shame a book has to be published about fat women being positive in their own bodies, AND with the disclaimer that the author isn’t encouraging readers to live an unhealthy life. It’s 2020, How haven’t we reached a point where everybody is thinking like Nicole Byer already?

What I love about this book (apart from EVERYTHING) is that on top of hilarious and outragous tangents of life stories is a message that every fat person who wants to wear bikinis (I originally wrote “woman” but then decided if a fat man wants to wear a bikini who the hell am I to judge him?) needs to know. And that message is that we are beautiful. YOU are beautiful! YES, YOU READING THIS! You are beautiful! Every body is a bikini body. I’ve said this before and i’ll say it until the day I die.

Nicole had me laughing my big fat belly off with every story she told and every tangent that she took me on. It’s written in a way that comes across exactly as she sounds, so it’s great to put a voice to the words. I have to reiterate that Nicole’s idiosyncrasies are present throughout each story and anecdote and I can not get enough of them. I had no idea that upon the completion of reading this book would I be much the wiser about what the appropriate tip amount is at strip clubs or drag shows.

I’m completed okay to admit that my review is biased on the reasons that I’m fat and a huge Nicole Byer fan (is being fat a bias for this review? probably not, but the skinny folk probably think so) but at the end of the day this book is using personal stories and real life experiences (even from behind the scenes) to send a message that should already be instilled in the brain of all of us.

So for that, 5 stars.

My sincerest thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.

This book had me cackling! Nicole is every bit as funny in print as she is one the TV (and presumably on her podcasts, I will admit to my shame that I have never listened to one).

This book is every bit as empowering as you would expect it to be and it has the perfect balance of realism and tongue-in-cheek humour. Whilst largely targeted at femme-presenting people, this book does use inclusive language and is appropriate for all genders.

A great book and everyone should own a copy even just for the stunning pages and pages and pages of photos of the bombshell that is Nicole Byer... it's could job that it's a Wednesday because I think that I have found my new #womancrushwednesday

An interesting read about an up and coming comedian.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Gallery Books, and was not required to give a positive review.

A very funny and body positivity inspiring book that made me laugh and think.
It's a fast read as the book is full of pictures but an inspiring and entertaining one.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A very funny coffee table book that can be opened to any page to achieve the laughters. You should know that it is 80-90% photos.

Big fan of the positivity and boldness of this book but sadly for me it’s just not the right style and I found it hard to finish. Personal presence only though and a very good book

She is a real character! She is very vivid and funny in her descriptions of her life and situations she gets into.

Thank you Net Galley and Andrews McMell Publishing for an advanced copy of this book. Greatly appreciated!!

The cover of this book immediately caught my eye. I love Nicole Byer (host of Nailed It! and numerous entertaining podcasts), and I had no idea she wrote a book! What can’t she do!? Looking at the cover there was a straight up goddess staring back at me. I’ve been between a size 12 and 22 over the last few years and I have never shied away from wearing a two-piece bathing suit, but I understood why people do. The title cracked me up because I have been on the receiving end of quite a few good-for-yous, the almost equivalent of calling a fat girl “brave” with that unnecessary extra bounce of “I support you! See?” It made me feel like we’re sharing a private joke about how ridiculous people sound when they’re…trying to praise your fat body? I don’t know, but it felt special to me.

In this book Byer shares her struggles with self-love, body positivity, and “chub rub.” She encourages you to find an exercise that you love, that brings you joy and helps to make you understand and appreciate your body more. Wearing a bikini and exercising are for your enjoyment, no one else’s.

Byer provides a comprehensive and hilarious list of Activities You Can Do In a Bikini ranging from the mundane (golf, text your aunt) to the absurd (Get a commercial driver’s license) and includes a reference to one of the most underrated comedies of the past twenty five years, Eddie, starring Whoopi Goldberg as a limo driver who wins a contest to become head coach of the New York Knicks. Byer’s point is that you can do anything while wearing a bikini, her goal is to normalize it.

One of the biggest takeaways for me is Byer wants you to describe her as fat. Not chubby, plus size, or heavy. FAT. She wants people to acknowledge her right to exist in this world as she is while encouraging others to realize that about themselves. Fat people have just as much right to take up space as anyone else. So, why wait until you lose five or fifty pounds to wear that bathing suit that caught your eye?

If Byer’s prose doesn’t sway you, then the photos should. Byer shows off a significant number of her colorful, patterned 100+ bikinis each accompanied by a tongue in cheek caption to draw attention to the absurdity of criticizing a fat woman in a bikini. For example, she’s dressed as Lil’ Kim in the cover photo and refers to herself as BIG KIM in the caption. She uses some form of #brave in every caption and calls out tropes and slapstick scenarios that have been used to describe fat people in the past.

I loved this book. Byer spends more time coaching the reader into self-love than she does sharing her story. Her photos do not come off as self-indulgent, rather they provide the reader with a show and tell about appreciating their bodies, and themselves, where they are at in the moment.

This book was a little different than what I was expecting, but Nicole Byer is hilarious, so it was well-worth the read anyway. So, people looking for a book in the humor genre will be pleased, but this is definitely not a memoir like I was anticipating. Instead, the book is a collection of photos of Byer in a huge variety of bikinis in many different settings around Los Angeles. The message is simple: women are called brave if they're anything but super skinny and decide to appear in public in swimwear. Byer takes that notion and decided to put out a book filled with self-confidence and honesty. The photos are humorous and the captions are even better (mostly poking fun at all of the assumptions and stereotypes about fat people). I would have loved more context about her life and how she reached a point of being happy with her size, but this was still a fun read anyway.

If you like Nicole Byer's comedy or her hosting on Nailed It, then you'll probably enjoy this book. She's unapologetic about her body and her love of pole dancing, and the sarcastic captions on her bikini photos are great. A perfect read during stressful times.

I have to preface this review with the fact that Nicole Byer is easily one of my favorite comedians. She is just the right amount of self-deprecating without being offensive and layers everything with a really positive vibe. So I was not disappointed with the tone of this guide to self-love and #bravery.

As someone who has struggled with accepting all the better parts of me (particularly the extra lbs. I tend to carry in my thighs and waist), it was refreshing to get this book of body positivity without any shame or guides on how to find flattering clothing that hide your rolls and cellulite. Reading this reminded me that I can wear whatever I want without being ashamed of my body and showing it off. I also really enjoyed Byers' honesty in learning to be this #brave beauty that she is today. The process is not always a smooth ride, especially when it seems all the world wishes you didn't love the way you look, but Nicole Byer is here to remind us that every body is amazing and should be celebrated.

Another refreshing aspect is that she doesn't need to put down those who aren't fat in order to uplift those who are. She encourages everyone to celebrate body diversity and to shame those who choose to judge others for the way they choose to celebrate this diversity.

This has inspired me to be more #brave in my everyday life. Hopefully this quarantine ends soon so I can flaunt my #bravery poolside in my favorite bikini!

Nicole Byer is the main reason I watch Netflix’s Nailed It! and I love her sense of humor, so of course I jumped on the opportunity to review this book. #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE is funny, honest, and #brave all rolled together with over one hundred photos of Ms. Byer rockin’ different bikinis.

Any fat person knows that showing even a little bit of skin on the internet makes you either #brave or subject to relentless trolling (or both). Ms. Byer gives the middle finger to haters in this book and shares her journey to being #brave and embracing her love of bikinis. I loved Ms. Byer’s snark, sass, and refreshing honesty when it comes to finding the courage to love yourself, live your life how you want to, and deal with the haters who feel the need to comment on your body. I may not be ready to be #brave like Ms. Byer, but I definitely finished this book with a better mindset.

Most of the book consists of photos and they are gorgeously done. Ms. Byer doesn’t just look great in the photos; Kim Newmoney captures her spirit as well. All in all, #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE is a funny and emotionally honest book that encourages people to be #brave and screw the haters.

I received this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

I am of two minds about #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE by Nicole Byer.   I love the photograph portion of the book, she looks great, is having fun and has some very cute swimsuits.    

The writing portion, however, fell short for me.  While Nicole is very funny, has a few good one-liners/stories, offers good advice about loving yourself and what to do if people are being bullied, the rest felt like filler.  Which sadly, was most of it.  At one point Nicole mentions that she has to hit a word count and as a reader, you can tell. (i.e. a list of 199 things you can do while in a swimsuit.)  I think the writing portion was strongest when she was opening up herself.  I was disappointed not to find more of that.  Even when she was using humor to tell her stories, for me it was more relatable than all the lists.   

So, while I did enjoy the majority of the book, the beginning left me wanting more…or less in terms of the lists. Ultimately, I think if you are a fan of hers you will enjoy it, but it left me feeling indifferent.

Nicole Byers is the BOMB!! This book is amazing. I am so glad that Ms. Byers has allowed us into her life. Every picture was a work of art and what a lovely model. Photogenic to the omg degree. When I look upon Nicole Byers, I do see brave. What i do not see is fat. She is beautiful, gregarious, vivacious, and fearless, or should I say she has less fear. And those stealy comebacks are priceless. What a breath of fresh air from a lovely and humorous lady. Thank you!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Nicole Byers for this ARC in return for an honest review