What a fun, perfect for summer kinda read!! I am ALL THE WAY HERE for thisssss!!!
Especially since I’m currently in the midst of my own hot/curvy girl summer 🍆🍆🍆

Dating Chronicles further proves my theory that the dating pool is full of pee and poo. The men she matched with were full of problems! I can attest to this!

I loved this! I’ve become a huge Danielle Allen fan over the last couple years. Her books are always so fun and full of laughter, friendships and genuine connections.

Aaliyah and Amahd were so fun to read about! I instantly took a liking to both.

I loved that Aaliyah had some much-needed conversations with her family that needed to be had - RESPECTFULLY! It doesn’t always have to be a cussing out situation.

The narration was very well done. Wesley is a pro at the game, she narrates a lot of books that I read and I really like her. But sometimes I would like a fresh, new voice.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions exotessed are mine.

This is a friend's to lovers romance and the representation of a strong curvy woman was a breath of fresh air. The book follows Aaliyah who is tired of flings and casual relationships and because she is tired if being teased about her body she decides to bae up. Who better to confide in than the bartender (Ahmad) who may shake her love life. It's a perfect story of how love always finds us when we least expect it. I enjoyed the banter ,the audio and I absolutely loved the plot.

A cute friends to lovers romance. Aliyah and Ahmed meet as Aliyah is trying to find a boyfriend, he acts as a wingman and quietly the feelings grow between them. Danielle Allen weaves in conflict with who you are vs who your family wants to be, fat shaming, and survivors guilt. In the end, love wins

As a bigger woman, it’s always great to hear stories written about curvy/full figured FMCs. I liked this book- it’s personal to me as I’m single and curvy in my 30’s. I enjoyed the characters and the story line!

Thank you for the ALC for my honest review.

Aaliyah is tired of not having "the one." She wants to skip dating and immediately find her one.

She tries her hand at online dating at the behest of Ahmad, the cute and funny local bartender.

Online dating shenanigans ensues.

This book was really enjoyable. I switched between the audiobook and the ebook. Both great experiences. Wesleigh Siobhan is such a great narrator.

While this was a slow burn, I felt everything that happened kept me entertained.

I can definitely see books 2 and 3 surrounding Aaliyahs friends.

Her uncle can kick rocks. He's such a hater.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

I expected this to be more of a romcom than it actually was. I did thoroughly enjoy the banter between Aliyah and Ahmad as they navigated their friends to lovers relationship. Yet, I found Aliyah’s character to be annoying, and there were way too many men and dates to keep track of. I also think that this book had way too many words and could have been significantly shortened as it was repetitive and overexplained things. Check the content warnings before picking this one up. There is significant fatphobia that Aliyah experiences both from family men she is on dates with, as well as significant grief.

I listened to the audio and thought the narrator did a nice job conveying Aliyah’s emotions and giving each character a distinct voice.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

This audio !!! Danielle Allen can do no wrong.... Curvy Girl Summer is the essence of Summer between the pages of a book. I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Danielle for the opportunity to read this incredible book. This is the kind of book that is a vacation or beach trip read that takes the reader outside of reality and one with the book atmosphere.

5/5⭐️ I devoured this book and the audiobook is even better! I absolutely enjoyed and loved it especially because of how it portrayed plus-size women. It was refreshing to see a main character who was confident, beautiful, and unapologetically herself. The narrator did an amazing job bringing the characters to life, making every steamy scene and heartfelt moment even more intense.

What hooked me the most was the banter and fiery chemistry between Aaliyah and Ahmad! Their attraction was palpable and the way their relationship evolved kept me totally invested. This audiobook was not only a delightful escape into a steamy romance but also a celebration of body diversity and self-love. It's perfect for listeners who want a story that's both hot and heartfelt! Highly recommend reading through audiobook!

4.75 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 stars! First of the, narrator was amazing!!! In the opening of the book, Aaliyah has a one night stand with one of her exes and realizes that she cannot do this anymore. She’s about to turn 30, and would like to have a boyfriend to accompany her to her party with her.

She decides to start dating again and agrees to go on a blind date with a co-workers friend, and she gets stood up at the restaurant. While she’s there she starts talking with the bartender, Ahmad and over time they form a friendship.

We follow Aaliyah and Ahmad’s journey and see the growth that they each have throughout this book. This story is about so much more than her dating life. It talks about women’s weight and societal norms, grieving and coping with loss, and dating and kissing so many frogs before you get to your prince. I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.

A funny and refreshing romcom and I ate up every last word! It makes me excited to read the rest of Allen’s backlist

A delight.

It is practically a cliche to say you like banter in romance - and too often books advertised as having fun or sexy banter really just have characters being rude. Not this one. Aaliyah and Ahmad's conversations alone totally sold me on their connection, and I loved that they both find ways to show up for each other too.

I'll warn that you do need to be prepared for a bit of a slow burn, as Aaliyah is online dating other dudes and Ahmad is "unavailable." But I promise CURVY GIRL SUMMER is worth the ride.

I also really liked what a BFD Aaliyah makes of her 30th birthday. She has reasons for this that she works through, but it just felt fresh and great for this sort of focus to be on one person, who's enough as she is. I hated that she had to confront fatshaming from her uncle and at least one of her dates (this is contradicted throughout).

Wesleigh Siobhan did an excellent job with the narration, no notes there.

Okay, okay, okay Danielle! Curvy Girl Summer is a sizzler of a romance novel.

TW: grief, fatphobia

Starting out your novel with a sex scene is bold choice and let me tell you, it was the RIGHT choice!

So boom, our MC Aaliyah is a 29 year old single woman who, much to the chagrin of her family (oof the fatphobia here is *painful*) has yet to find Mr. Right. She's promised her family that she has a man that they'll meet at her 30th birthday bash. There's just one problem.... that man doesn't exists adn although she's ready to start dating again we know all too well that the internet is a cesspool of dating options.

After some not so subtle shaming from her family and a push from a coworker leaves her on a one-sided blind date, she meets a bartender (Ahmad) who can match not matches her wit, but also her roasts. Sadly, he's taken (or is he?) but with his encouragement she signs up for some apps and agrees to try out online dating. What she finds is something she never expected.

I'll admit, it took me a minute to get into the story because I was just so irritated by Aaliyah's family and their fatphobic comments BUT once I did, I so so so enjoyed Aaliyah's story. We do get to see the perils and pitfalls of online dating but (SPOILERS BELOW) having Ahmad as a constant presence is so nice. And once they move past nice, oooooh honey, it's HOT!

What a fun read from Danielle Allen! I highly reccomend you take a chance and read it (especially if you're an audiobook girlie because the narrator is fire!)

#BlackLove #PlusSize #ThirtyAndFlirty


This honest review was given in exchange for an audiobook ARC via Bramble & NetGalley.
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Thank you, NetGalley for a copy of Kirby girl summer audiobook. This was really a great book. I love the positive representation of the main character. There were times I was bored by the story, but it did Keep my interest I was Wanting to know how our two main characters were going to end up overall great Read really spicy and cute.

If you are looking for a strong, confident FMC look no further! I love how she was in tune with herself and knew how to fight off her relatives. This one was steamy and also pretty cute. I loved the relationship and the characters. A perfect summer read!

🌀Synopsis
Aaliyah is turning 30 and she is determined to have a boyfriend. The guy she was previously with is history so now the countdown is on for her to find the right guy. When the local bartender, Ahmad, convinced her to join a dating app things get more interesting but not in a good way. The guys she meets are shallow or downright rude.
Ahmad keeps encouraging her and the two develop a great friendship. Aaliyah realizes she attracted to him but he’s married. Only, he’s not married, he’s just still dealing with the trauma of loss.
She finally realizes she’s good enough just the way she is, even if that means she’s single for her birthday. About the time she realizes that is the time he realizes he’s ready to move forward with her and he willingly overcomes trauma to be with her.

Curvy Girl Summer was a fun contemporary romance novel. Danielle Allen did the doggone thing with this book. From the time that A & A(Aaliyah & Ahmad) first met, I was rooting for them. Aaliyah was supposed to meet someone on a blind date that her co-worker set up, only to be stood up. Ahmad was the bartender at the bar and ended up being Aaliyah’s wing man for each date after that she went on. Aaliyah was on a mission to find her love before her 30th birthday. Her family gave her a hard time and felt that she would be single forever. Her uncle pissed me off every time he opened his mouth. I know family like this and it’s hard to be respectful when they’re disrespectful to you. As I read Curvy Girl Summer, I really thought Danielle was writing about my life.

There was only one part of the story that I wasn’t fond. I won’t say what because it would be considered a spoiler and I don’t like giving spoilers.

Curvy Girl Summer is a very enjoyable book that I think many will feel the same way. I give the book 4.5 stars.

I received an ARC Audiobook from the publisher for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, even more than I had anticipated I would!

Aaliyah was such a wonderful heroine for this book. She was headstrong, stood up for herself in any situation, knew what she wanted and went for it, and was intelligent and witty.

I loved the progression of this book and her journey to find a relationship and herself.

This was such a fun book and I absolutely loved the banter, I adored her best friends so much.

Thank you Bramble for this arc!

Curvy Girl Summer started out with a bang!!! The spice was spicing, it’s absolutely funny and it made me feel like I was talking to or hearing one of my homegirls story!!!

This was everything!!! I think a lot of us can relate to Aliyah and the expectations society places on women as we get older we should already be married and have kids. I loved Ahmad from the moment we met him as a matter of fact I love all the characters. Aliyah is so sweet, funny and relatable if any book can convince me to date again it’s this one. Curvy Girl Summer is truly the summer romance book everyone needs to read. If you’re looking for a book about getting older, being comfortable in your body and that it doesn’t matter how old you are love will come find you when it’s your time.

I really enjoyed Aaliyah and Ahmad banter and chemistry. The book started with a very high heat scene but the relationship between both characters developed over time (slow burn). The dates were differently interesting and seemed realistic. I loved that Aaliyah was confident in herself and was able to stand up for herself, while coming to terms with certain thing and recognizing the things that were driving her decisions. Overall a fun read.

I listened to the audio of this and it was fantastic. As always, Wesleigh Siobhan crushed ever scene. She is one of my favorite narrators and will always bee. Listen to the audio, it was great!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

The main character, Aaliyah, was totally relatable. I found myself rooting for her throughout her story. Kudos to the author for making a fun and spicy book. I enjoyed reading this.

Sidenote: I think the narrator, Wesleigh Siobhan, is one of my favorites to listen to.