Book boyfriend - check, cute funny moments - check, love story you wish would happen to you - check. Romantic comedy perfection - check check! Where is my Angus?... and my lottery win...?

This was an utter delight! I didn't know what to expect, but I dove right in and was not disappointed.

The book starts with Alice, having just won a ridiculous amount of money on a gifted lottery ticket shaking off her old life and starting on an adventure! She finds herself snowed in in a small town in North Carolina and as she started to meet new people, including the grumpy, bearded Angus who helps her when she first arrives. Alice starts to go by her middle name, Rose, decides she likes the new town, and starts to settle in and try to make a new life for herself. Including a romance with the gruff and complicated Angus.

What I absolutely love is with a reinvention story, you often have to work through several chapters of people being jerks before you get to watch the line get drawn, and this one skips all that and skips straight to the good bit! Meanwhile she makes friends, finds a home and we slowly start to watch her heal..... Obliviously not saying anything about the money, especially as things heat up with Angus points to problems, but the pacing works and Rosie and her development of her self and relationships just really worked for me.

I actually found myself slowing down to savor this one. I love an internally motivated self reinvention story and this hit alot of major notes for me. I feel like I should mention her size, because that is referenced in the title and a significant part of how people treated her before, her money and after.... but it was just another part about her, and that was also beautiful to see.

I am happy. That is all.

Woah. Curves for Days is a beautiful love story. The characters and town are so well-built and loveable. I love how much attention was clearly paid to creating detailed histories for the characters. Sebina and July, who become Rose's closest friends in her new town, were incredible and I loved the perspective they provided for her. It felt like they had a purpose in the story and town besides just furthering Rose's plot. I'm so so excited about July's book and will definitely be seeking it out.

Similarly, it was so interesting seeing the town become more fleshed out. As someone who lives in North Carolina, albeit in a town that is almost nothing like Galway, I loved the little references to NC and even the mention of a local college. All the loveable side characters and mentions of the library and Rose's house made me love Galway too, making me even more immersed and invested.

In my opinion, the dual-pov writing worked exceptionally well and wasn't repetitive. This was so effective as Rose and Agnus fell in love and even during the classic "third act breakup," which I normally hate. Though I would have liked to see this resolved a little differently, seeing the issue from both perspectives helped the situation be a little more understandable.

The book also touched on many other important topics, like fatphobia, veteran services, assault, and even birth control. Through some interesting side characters (cough... Pearl) and discussions of her past, Rose confronts so many forms of hurtful judgment of her body and weight. This is so beautifully contrasted with Angus' description of her and how he loves her body. I would have liked to see Angus confront his internalized sexist views, though minor, a little more. However, this didn't seem to show through in his actions and words toward Rose, as he always appreciated her and communicated his love.

If you're looking for incredible characters, a good laugh, a truly loveable love story, and more, I'd certainly recommend picking up this book when it comes out in August!

This was a cute, fun read. I loved that it was told in dual POV's. The plus size representation was well done. I had several laugh out loud moments. Overall an enjoyable read.

Book Releases August 22, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the E-ARC

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Grumpy sunshine romance novel set in a small town. Loved the plus size representation. Loved the small town feel. Would recommend to those who like small town romance.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
This book was to be fun - a cute cover....but it fell short because of the heavy topics. It was too much. I somewhat liked the main character - but I find sometimes the plus sized characters are always characterized as loud - cussing and in your face. And that kind of ruined it for me. I did love the small town setting. Hopefully some aspects can be 'fixed' for her next book.

<i>I received this title as an ARC on Net-galley in exchange for a honest review. Thank you publisher for the copy!</i>

<b>The Good</b>
I like small town romances where everyone knows everyone. They all have a special charm to them that allow side characters to shine. Rose is awesome. I really liked her journey and her new found drive (or well money) to do what she's always wanted. Rose and Angus grew on me. Once Angus got over his prejudices against her they developed a sweet relationship the bloomed from friendship and understanding. Their domestic era was great to read.

<b>The Bad</b>
Angus is meh. His "grumpy" was very much leaning asshole which made it hard to believe in his chemistry with Rose at first as my brain fixated on his stubborn attitude. I also had mixed feelings about how he felt about the big revel. I understood being upset about being lied to but it also felt like he felt emasculated because she was no longer the poor girl who he could build with anymore. It dropped with sexism and made me dislike him again after I started to like him. The way the conflict was handled didn't satisfy me either.

<b>Format:</b>
Ebook — Netgalley

<b>The Rating</b>
I give this book a <b>2/5🌟 rating.</b> I debated between 2 and 3 stars a lot for this book but settled on a 2. This book had good moments but it left me really unsatisfied.

Check out my socials <a href="https://beacons.ai/buffyreads"> here</a> for more reviews!

From the shelves of dark romance lover – OMG!!! You have to pick up this cute, quirky, and laugh-out-loud – not dark romance – read! I love a good curvy girl story, and this one did not disappoint.

Such a cute premise – a gal in a real bind wins the lotto by cashing in the ticket of a dead guy – yep you read that correctly. She not just wins the lotto, but she wins BIG! (Pun intended.) Well, this curves for days gal meets a grumpy gorgeous man with his own struggles. I mean, who doesn’t love a grumpy man love story? Wait…that’s me! I don’t like these stories – we’ll at least not unusually.

I love the dark, dangerous, burn the world down kind of book boyfriend, but Angus snatched my heart anyway.
And Rose – wow! What a believably written character. From the happiness of purchasing new undies to the struggle with buying and wearing a bathing suit to the loss of privacy after striking it rich! Not to mention all the trigger worthy baggage she brings to the table. Well done, Moher! Well, done!

This is a total must read! A light, easy read with a touch of angst, body-positive vibes, and tons of book club worthy themes. I’ll be recommending this one to all my romance reading buds.

Thanks Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for putting this awesome book in the READ NOW section – and my honest review is…GET THIS BOOK! Available now for pre-order and releases on August 22, 2023!

A big thank you to Laura Moher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchnage for my honest opinion. Curves for Days comes out August 22, 2023.

Curves for Days was an incredibly cute read about love, trust and forgiveness, with a heavy emphasis in learning to love yourself. After winning the lottery Rose needs to leave the town where she grew up and look for a place that feels like home. Angus is a grumpy construction worker and counselor hired to fix up Rose's new home. During this time the two started to develop feelings for each other, and both of them need to learn about trust and self-worth to make a future for themselves. I loved both main characters, I thought that both went through great emotional and personal growth. Their relationship developed so gently and beautifully. I loved the sense of found family that was in the book. I recommend people to read this book is they are looking for a cute book filled with humor and heart.

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

Laura Moher, this book was exactly what I needed to read and it is full of heart!

I absolutely love the plus size representation as well as not shying away from difficult topics (but done so in such a genuine, heartfelt and honest manner). It also made me snort laugh on several occasions. The humor is on point.

Curves for Days is a must read for all rom-com lovers when it releases this summer.

Does money buy everything? Our female protagonist learns when good fortune is thrown her way, it is the noble cause that reaps the greatest return, along with the most loyal of friends - and love. A fine debut novel.

Review: Curves for Days
Author: Laura Moher

Rating: ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Rose is officially my new book best friend. As a plus size women myself, I loved this romance so much. Rose is so relatable, real, funny and lovable. I always find it so difficult to root for a story when I don’t fall for the MCs. This was not the case in this book AT ALL.

I loved Angus and Rose’s dynamic.
I love home complicated each of the characters were so multifaceted and so interesting.

Can’t wait to recommend this book to all my friends!

Really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more from this author! Rose and Angus are both relatable characters (except for the millions, haha) and I was rooting for them! This would be a cute Hallmark movie, too.

Thanks to NetGalley and #SourcebooksCasablanca for the arc of #CurvesForDays. I really enjoyed this book! It was a fun, small town romance but it felt like a "fresh" story with the overarching storyline. The characters were fun to read about and had a good amount of backstory included that I felt like I really knew them. You could really tell how each of their backgrounds impacted them. I thought it was very well written but there was an excessive use of apostrophes and I hope they get edited out, it was almost distracting how it was written in some parts. There was a lot of adding 'd to the ends of words when it would have flowed better to just say "July caught me" rather than "July'd caught me". I will say I feel like the apostrophes happened a lot in the beginning of the book and tapered off towards the end.

Overall, the story and characters were enjoyable! I loved the setting and if this turned into a series and featured more people from the town I would definitely read it. There were really good side stories to the book with enough depth that it wasn't distracting and added to the overall story. For me, this was a 5 star read!

I really enjoyed this light but emotional romance with a grumpy/sunshine trope. And I especially loved the fat rep and body positivity!

4.9 Stars

Rosie + Angus

Rose didn't have the best life up until now. Her mom always had to work super hard to put food on the table.
Rose has always been plus size and school was hell. In more ways than one.
Once she was done with that she started working as a waitress in Indianapolis. Which she did for the last 14 years.
Now things have changed. Her only friend - her old diner guest Mr. Braun - died and left her his winning lottery ticket.
80 Million dollars richer, she is still not happy. She never had dreams big enough for so much money. And also suddenly everybody wants to be besties with her - or even date her. People are stalking her and showing up in front of her house. Nope. She has to get out of the city.
After a bit of time on the beach - her first time ever! She finally lands in Galway. A small mountain town in North Carolina. And suddenly she has friends and they don't only like her because of her money - they all kinda think she might be poor.
And she also finally has a beautiful fixer upper house of her own. Which comes with the town's only fixer upper guy: Angus. With whom she might have had a not-so-cute meet cute in her first few minutes in town. LOL.

Let the fun times begin....

════════════════


That was so adorable!
I just loved Rose and Angus and the whole town! Can't wait to get more stories about all the people!

I adored everything. From the beautiful cover to the last word - this was such a sweet and funny and HGTY-y and adorable and slightly heartbreaking love and life story!

I so want to see the Netflix show or movie!

The only tiny thing that could've made it more amazing would've been a little puppy for Rose! No idea why I think that, but I while I was reading I had the feeling that a dog would be so good for everybody!

CURVES FOR DAYS was such a sweet and adorable and funny and heartbreaking and heartwarming and just lovely love and life story - run to your next book dealer for your own Rosie + Angus - they will be sold out in no time!

I’ve never related less to a character in my life.

Alice turned Rose is a plus size (woot woot) recent lottery winner who is skipping town. Angus is a veteran who is a therapist for other vets… but who also randomly works on houses (alone???) like Rose’s newly purchased Victorian home.

I know that plots can be thin sometimes but this man thinks this woman is “a chaotic disaster” because she her car got stuck in a snowdrift and she thanked him by chucking a snickers at him.

These characters are ridiculous. She has a cuss jar and has never had any friends at the age of 32. He gets weird and prickly if she tries to do anything nice for him and thinks her mild comments are indicative of “the smartest mouth on the planet.” This is just too small town for me. If he’s ex military then his mouth would be just as bad as hers! And part of this plot is how stressed that she has won the lottery?! Stop. That’s right- the main conflict in this book is that this woman has TOO MUCH MONEY. You’ve gotta be shitting on my dick.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
POV: Dual 1st

loved this romance in the small town. loved how she made friends and overall started doing good for herself and the community and helping others. I loved that she found someone to trust and such good friends.

Lovely debut romance with a fat heroine finding her happily ever after with a handsome, hirsute, hulk of a hero.

After winning $80M in the lottery and being besieged by "friends," Rose decides to escape her hometown and pursue a new life. She lands in a small town in North Carolina and, keeping her sudden windfall a secret, begins to make new friends, settle into a new home, and start college courses. Rose crosses paths with Angus--a veteran who splits his his time between construction projects and counselling other returning soldiers--when (after a few snarky run-ins) she hires him to renovate the house she's just purchased. Despite Angus's guarded attitude, they soon begin to share meals and conversations--becoming friends before recognizing their mutual attraction. While they begin to open up to one another, Rose holds her wealth a secret from everyone in her new town, but when Angus finds out, it jeopardizes all they've begun to build.

The good? Both Rose and Angus are kind and generous and deserve their happy ending. Rose is not a fat women at odds with her figure: She is someone who loves her body and all it can do (create and enjoy delicious food; swim, stretch, and walk; and--once Angus is in the picture--engage in hot sex). Angus lets her set the pace of their relationship after sensing she had experienced a trauma, and it's swoon-worthy to watch the slow burn.

This featured a trope I don't much love, which is when two people are kept apart by a misunderstanding about intentions that could be resolved with a healthy conversation. Considering one of them was a therapist, that made it even more frustrating.

Overall, though, the book was sweet and Rose and Angus have great chemistry.

I really enjoyed this book. It's voicy, funny, and delightful. It touches on many heavy topics, but does so with a gentle hand. I loved watching the two characters fall in love--their banter and good-natured ragging made me laugh often and smile even more. I rooted for the main character Rose and wanted her to succeed in building the happy, comfortable, loved life that she deserved. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a voicy main character, a grumpy/sunshine romance, home renovation talk, and getting to watch the happy reinvention a lovely person like Rose deserves unfold before you.