I loved this book! A smart and funny satire that explored hunger in various forms--physical, emotional, caloric :). Overall, a supremely well-written debut novel!

A story about a woman, her husband, her affair, and her unhealthy obsession with eating “healthy.” TW: eating disorder

Okay, let me just get this out of the way. Yes, this book is basically about a rich white woman and her first-world problems BUT it was entertaining as hell, and I flew through it!
A big part of this book deals with Kit coming to a sort of standstill in her life that leads her to go back to a job she’s not sure she wants and cheat on her workaholic husband with the carpenter that’s working at her sister's bakery. All meanwhile, we see how her obsession with eating “healthy” puts a strain on all her relationships.

CHEAT DAY comes out May 25th. Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC.

This book was not what I was expecting. I was looking for some light hearted diet fiction and got a mid life crisis affair with very subtle hints of longing for a child.
That is not to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I think I did. But for a character so obsessed with diets, she didn’t talk about her diet or body very often. Also this may only be me, but for me to relate to this type of book I need a baseline concept of the dieter’s size or weight.

I really wanted to love this book because of the cover and thought this would be fluffy about food and enemies to lover type plot. It was in a sense, but the main character Kit is intensely dislikable and insecure. Yes, she is in a work slump and finds work in her sister's bakery but her personal life is great. She ruins it in the worst way and tries to cover her tracks.

Disappointed and not what I expected. Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Liv Stratman and Scribner for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available" 5/25/21

It’s hard to read a book that makes
yon hungry? And this one does? Maybe that’s because the main characters poor decisions seem directly tied to her problematic relationship with food - which ultimately makes the reader a bit peckish! Books about affairs are nothing new, but this authors tie to dieting and esteem issues are certainly a different approach to a tried and true genre. Thank you for the advance copy - always appreciated, especially when we
are all so home bound!

Kit is stuck in a loop of wanting more, or maybe feeling like she should want more, yet not doing anything about it. Instead, she cycles through diets, bring her reluctant, yet supportive husband, David, along for the journey. This time it's The Radiant Regime. At the same time she starts the diet, she starts an affair with Matt, a carpenter hired to install shelves at her sister's bakery.

I think this might be the first time I've seen diet culture portrayed in fiction in a realistic way. If Kit follows the program perfectly, she is promised that she will fill energized and full of life. I was nodding my head at the terminology: "It's not a diet it's a program!" The more dedicated she is to the diet, the more isolated she becomes. She can't enjoy drinks out or family dinners. Instead of the promised superhero-blood, she is hangry. Instead of blaming the program, she blames herself.

Some may critisize Kit for being self-absorbed. However, that's the thing about depression and grief. It doesn't care if you have everything in life you need. Kit, although in unhealthy ways, is searching for ways to feel anything but numb.

However, I only gave this 3 stars because of how the solutions her Kit's issues are presented. Kit realizes she has a depression and a possible eating disorder. However, her decision to deal with it by just chosing to get over it feels hollow. It would have been nice to see her get some kind of therapy or do something to help her grow as a person.

Thank you to the Scribner and NetGalley for this advanced copy.
Unfortunately, the extremely unlikeable main character mixed with the unhealthy diet obsession did not work for me. Some parts of the book I felt could be very triggering for people with issues around food or diets.
This was a DNF for me.

What I was hoping for was some fluff, but I found Kit to be absolutely insufferable. Nothing about her was appealing to me, not even in the 'love to hate' kind of way. The pacing was off in this as well. If the last 25% made up 75% of the book, I probably could have enjoyed it more. The blasé portrayal of what was ultimately an eating disorder was disturbing as well.

I'm sure a handful will enjoy this, just not me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was not a fan of this book. I was not interested in the characters and basically I just flipped through it.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.
I think some can relate to the story. It was an interesting read.

I found this story lacking in character development and the writing was bland. The premise is the story of a supposedly happily married woman who co-manages a popular bakery in Brooklyn with her sister. She is obsessed with dieting, and embarking on it with her husband., She also becomes obsessed with a workman who is hired temporarily to install shelves in the bakery.

What results is an affair with the workman and her more rigid adherence to the diet she and her husband are embarking on. There is pithy dialogue and I found I didn't care for any of the characters. They all seemed trivial and self-involved and no introspection seemed to result from either the disordered eating or the infidelity.

Kit and David are college sweethearts who have been married for twelve years. David has a successful career and travels a lot, leaving Kit home in a rut. She sometimes works at her sister's bakery, but often quits and then goes back again, while looking for a more ambitious job in the interim. Kit soon starts to fall for Matt, a carpenter who has been installing new shelves in the bakery. She starts to cheat on her diet and her husband. Filled with secrets and lies, Cheat Day is a fun debut.

Not a fan of this book. The book seemed overly complex about nothing. I should have DNF early but wanted to see it through.

Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating i gave it.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Scribner for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this book. I really didn’t like the main character at all. I found her to be pretty selfish and self absorbed. I think I was expecting more of a RomCom and didn’t get that at all from this book.

Kits “diet” became obsessive to the point of obnoxious. I do need to give her kudos for sticking with it but it seemed the longer she was in this “program” the worst she became.

I was so turned off by Kits cheating that I was soured towards the book.

While this topic of cheating is not really my favorite to read about, and the protagonist made bad choice after bad choice with little to no actual consequences, it was such an engaging little story that I flew threw it wanting to know how it ended up. I wish that the sister had more of a fleshed out character as she was pretty important but we didn’t really get to know her very well.

Not what I expected but still an enjoyable read that chronicles a woman’s struggle with both food and fidelity.

Cheat Day by Liv Stratman was a fascinating exploration of a young woman’s journey navigating her marriage and what she wants for herself. I found the book very engaging as I wanted to see how she evolved. And the scenes in the bakery made my mouth water!

The only area I found disappointing were the political references. While there were only a few, they added nothing to the story. The only thing they would accomplish is to alienate half of the readers.

As someone who has spent my entire life struggling with my weight and disordered eating, I wasn't sure what to expect with Liv Stratman's Cheat Day. Would it portray diet culture accurately? Would it be triggering? I was skeptical, but the complex romantic element convinced me to read anyway. And, lo and behold, I really enjoyed the story and related to it on a number of levels.
First, the restrictive eating affecting Kit's social life and relationships. So accurate, and I haven't seen that portrayed in a novel before.
Second, Kit's boredom with her "safe" husband and desire for more. Unfortunately, I can really relate here. Not sure if there's a correlation between never being sated with food and never being sated with love, but I like the way these plot elements worked together.
Third, this book is so much more than chick lit. Based on the cover, I didn't expect it to be so deep. It really does probe so many issues involving womanhood, and in such a cohesive, un-preachy way. I'd definitely recommend it.

I tried really hard to get into this book but found myself having a hard time connecting with the characters, super bummed

This book was really enjoyable. The main character feels stuck and she is reaching out to different ways to shake up her life -- often to problematic effects for her and the people in her life. I found this story engaging and a great read. Recommended!