Unfortunately this book didn't really resonate with me very much. While I loved the chemistry between the main two characters, the story itself just wasn't enjoyable. I felt that the main character was being portrayed to be one way and then was making choices that kind of went against that. The sexy times really weren't for me either, but that's not really something that impacted my rating. I did really like the two characters together, but wish they had communicated more in the beginning. She spent a good chunk of the book assuming that the male lead was married. And it just felt ick that she was falling for him anyway. She was well aware of how she shouldn't be, but it just made me not enjoy the story as much.

This is the first book I listened to by Danielle Allen, and I have to say I loved Wesleigh Siobhan for the narrator – no one else could have done it better.
This book was a lot of things, it was a look into how plus sized women are treated in public, the workplace, and by family members. But it is also how a plus sized woman with body confidence can carry herself and crush it!
All the experiences she has are so well written and I could not stop listening to the book! I never experienced online dating, so that was such a fun part. The friendships she has are enviable, and the chemistry and protectiveness she has with Ahmad is lovely. The moments she has with her uncle (he cannot stop bugging her about her weight) is frustrating but, she never backs down from him and she doesn’t let him get to her. I’m glad that she stuck up for herself and didn’t immediately start dieting!
The positive messages in this novel are awesome and great reminders that the best person we can be is ourselves so, let’s not let anyone try to crush our spirits!

I'm so excited to tell you about the hottest book of the summer!!

This book had me smiling, laughing, swooning and squealing like a crazy woman. It's funny, sweet, sexy, sex positive, body positive and positively perfect! It is a 5 star romance from start to finish.

The heroine of Curvy Girl Summer enters the world of online dating and is rudely awakened to how many bad fish there really are in the sea! But as she swipes left and right all summer on a whole bunch of frogs, could her prince have been in front of her eyes the whole time?

Danielle Allen's writing is so funny, smart and heartfelt. She can write dialogue and banter like nobody's business! I was a fly on the wall in the setting of this book just wishing I could be one of Aaliyah's fabulous friends. That is another thing I loved about this book, it's as much a love story about friendship as it is about romance.

I listened to this audiobook and smiled the entire time. The narration is excellent and draws you even further into this story. It's an automatic relisten for me.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for my ALC.

Fun, steamy, and flirty. Relatable characters. Good banter between the main characters. Nina and Jasmine are friends that everyone needs in their life! I’ve been reading Danielle Allen for years and this was another solid read! The narrator was excellent as well!!

Y’all, I freaking LOVED this book.

It had banter, chemistry, a slow burn romance, steam…just all the things that make me swoon.

Aaliyah and Ahmad were incredible main characters. Their banter constantly had me laughing. I also loved that Ahmad provided Aaliyah a safe space to meet up with online dates, which she desperately needed with some of the mess she faced. I also loved that Ahmad kept Aaliyah grounded and challenged her views on what she was accepting in a dating partners versus what she deserved.

The one part of the book that really irritated me was Aaliyah’s fat phobic uncle who says some truly vile things. However, Aaliyah doesn’t put up with his nonsense embraces every part of her self.

If you’re looking for an unputdownable sexy romance, definitely pick this one up!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (round up to 4)
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
On Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Release date: June 11, 2024

My review:
I was very excited when I saw the title and the cover of Curvy Girl Summer! The book starts with a bang (literally). It opens with a very graphic and detailed spicy scene between Aaliyah (FMC) and an ex. After this opening chapter, it turns into a slooooooow burn. The slowest I’ve read. I was somewhat buddy reading this with a friend; otherwise, I may not have finished it.

I felt some anger towards Aaliyah’s uncle with his body shaming and how he approached his “concerns.” I was ready to fight because, sir, we are not doing the fat shaming in 2024. While this part of the book did evoke some strong emotions in me, it is relatable. Family can be the worst and best all in one. Aaliyah handled herself and her family with class.

The book progresses through a series of dates as Aaliyah tries to find a man for her big 30th birthday party. The bartender at the bar across from where she lives insists on helping her and looking out for her on dates she has at the bar. You’ll have to read the book to see how it all plays out.

The narrator did a fantastic job capturing the different voices, tones, and emotions.

Tropes & Warnings:
Fatphobia/Body shaming 
Death (tragic and unexpected)
Grief
Friends to lovers

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for this advanced audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So many things to love about this audiobook!! It’s excellently narrated, first of all (seriously!) and secondly, it’s steamy 🔥

Aaliyah is ready to find a nice boyfriend to settle down with. She makes friends with a (hot) bartender who suggests a dating app, and agrees to be her wingman on Friday nights when she brings her dates in. They all end up being duds, but she’s yet to notice what’s right in front of her.

Other things to love: plus size FMC, friends to lovers, fun date setting, excellent side characters, body positivity, healing from past trauma, pro therapy. There’s a bit of stubborn miscommunication but don’t worry - they work it out 🙃

Aaliyah is on a frantic search to find a boyfriend before her thirtieth birthday, but when she keeps finding losers an observant and snarky bartender offers to help her find the man of her dreams. Boy, this one kicks off with a BANG! (Do not have your audiobook on speaker if there are people around. 💀) I loved the banter in this, not only between the MC and Love interest, but also with their friends. This writing embodies the hilarity that ensues in black friend groups, and this narrator was in her BAG! The way she performs those sexy scene makes you feel like you're in the room with them, but not in a creepy way. Her uncle literally made me want to fight, and his fatphobia disguised as "worries for her health" almost made me quit reading. I'm glad I kept at it though, because this was a fun time. The story does get repetitive at times and the premise is a type of miscommunication, but I didn't mind it as much. If you want a funny friends to lovers romance, with a plus-sized Black FMC who isn't obsessed with losing weight, then this one is right up your alley.

DNF due to personal triggers of fat shaming and fat phobia from family members. This story is important to be out there but for my personal wellbeing, I’m not the audience for it.

Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio for the complimentary audio!

This book will be published on June 11th.The cover and title grabbed my attention right away. As a plus size woman, I try to read and promote books where there is a plus size character represented. And Aaliyah was such a great female protagonist!

"Just because a woman is fat doesn't mean she can't get a man. She just may not have found the man she wants. Automatically assuming that she doesn't have a man because she can't get one because of her weight is the problem."

Aaliyah's family has put so much pressure on her to not only be in a relationship but to marry and have a child by the time she turns 30. I honestly do not know how she held her ground but she did such a great job with her parents and her uncle (who truly was the villain in this story). She also has this shadow of older sister Aniyah who had everything right on paper. Aaliyah is constantly being compared and what I have learned as I am pushing 40 is that success comes in many ways. Unfortunately for the older generation, they only see success as one thing when in reality it's a multitudes of things. I just loved her love for herself and she knew what she wanted and was not going to settle.

The relationship Aaliyah has with her two girlfriends Jazmyn and Nina always made me laugh while reading. I love how honest they all were one another and the constant support they gave to each other. It loved the scenes when they would interact. The banter between the three and even when it would just be Aaliyah with one of the girls it always made me laugh. Here was one convo that made me laugh: "Deep down, I think you're a romantic." "Ew no. Romance is dead. I just want a handful of steady, reliable men to spend my time with."

The biggest relationship we see in this book is Aaliyah's relationship with Ahmad. He struck up this random friendship with Aaliyah after she went to his bar for her first blind date and we just got to see their relationship progress. Their banter was SO good and it felt like such a believable relationship between a bartender and a pateron. He was so sweet to Aaliyah and I loved the part when Ahmad took her out with his friends. When they finally do get together, it was so so hot! Allen really did an exceptional job with the spice.

I thought the pacing of the book for the most part was pretty good. The middle got to be a bit repetitive with the dates and having them fail. I was not familiar with Danielle's writing before but I will certainly be following her writing from now!

I did do majority of the reading with my eyes but I did receive the audio which I finished the book with. I thought the narrator Wesleigh Siobhan did a great job as Aaliyah! Her tone and cadence had this sweet quality about it. And then that quick she could change to a deep and broody voice for Ahmad.

Just want to also give a heads up that there are fatphobia/antifat comments made in this book from the family members as well as tasteless men so please proceed with caution.

I will end on a quote that particularly struck a chord with me: "Being fat, existing in my body and not being ashamed of who I am and how I look was only an act of confidence to people who view me as if something was wrong with me."

I felt like most of this book, I was a delightful little fly on the wall with pom poms. Every time she was getting her back blown I'm just around here dancing, happy for her.

I read a lot of romances with plus sized characters in them, but its not very often that I read the romances of plus sized characters where the fatphobia is included. And don't get me wrong, those are lovely and also everything, but I think I needed it in conjucture of her getting the love and respect she deserved.

I immediately wanted to chuck her uncle off the yacht, and watch him struggle gleefully from the deck, and not that her family was much better. But besides my hatred for the uncle, and her many would be dates, the way she handled all the haters was something I would have loved to be able to do in my youth.

I was rooting for Aaliyah from jump..And one of the reasons I really love Danielle Allen is that her female protagonists are always unapologetically the star of the show. I thoroughly enjoyed our bartender, but I really appreciated that he wasn't the sole reason for her happiness. She sought happiness from within.

And if I could take a minute for Wesleigh Siobhan. A standing ovation for that narration.

Overall just a perfect read all around.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an early copy.

I loved everything about this book. I screamed every time Aaliyah went on a date with yet another horrible man, like seriously married men, fetish loving men, and overall men that would body shame a woman. SMH…I wanted so much for her to realize that she didn’t need a man to be worthy. I loved Ahmad and his ongoing smart-ass banter. Aaliyah and Ahmad are definitely my new favorite couple. The narration of this book was top tier, I absolutely love Wesleigh! She always seems to really bring the characters to life and makes me fall in love with them.

This book was much spicier than I imagined! I loved the storyline of the woman turning 30 whose family doesn't agree with her choices and stays on her case about being single. It feels like every independent single woman growing up which made it very relatable. I thought it was going to be a bit more rom com like, but it does get pretty explicit and steamy in some scenes. It's well written and fun to read, but it may not be for everyone! If you're at a standstill in your romantic relationships and running in exhausting circles with your family about it, this book is definitely for you!

This was a fun, summer romance read (though not as romcom as my personal tastes run). Admittedly, the love interest did make me smile a few times with his corny sense of humor.

While there wasn't any real downtime, there were a lot of conversations and scenes that were nothing but phone-calls. Granted, it's not Fantasy so there aren't necessarily as many opportunities for action scenes, but it was still a little over my threshold. (Imagine 30 year olds actually using their phones to make calls??? Maybe this was a Fantasy after all 🤔)

And I know you know the difference between a boat and a yacht (not just in initial purchase fees, but also to store and maintain it throughout the year), so I definitely feel like the wool was being pulled over my eyes for 99.999% of the book as the two really aren't comparable.

TW: grief and PTSD, mostly related to premature death of family members and romantic partners

Audiobook Notes:
I really thought the narrator did an excellent job. She was very lively and conversational in her tone, but had easily distinguishable voices for each characters. Though I was thrown off in the first chapter when she pronounced "Roth" IRA with a hard 'o,' I didn't notice any other discrepancies.

Wow this book set the tone at the very beginning! Extremely spicy in all the right ways. I loved so much about this book from.the banter between Aaliyah and her homegirl to how genuine Ahmad and her friendship began and grew. I guessed early on Ahmads relationship status wasn't what it seemed but finding out the backstory made it worth the wait. Aaliyahs family is a trip, but super relatable. If you were ever in a reading slump this is the fluffy, funny read to get you out of it. Thank you Macmillan audio for the opportunity to listen in advance.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook. I loved the plus sized rep in this book. The characters were so relatable. Big girls deserve love too.

This book was so much fun to read and listen to! The narrator was awesome! Aaliyah let the expectations of her family and society get to her head to find the perfect man for her before her birthday. This book did a good job showing how other people’s opinions of your life choices can easily effect how you think and move in life if you let it. Being in my 30s, I could relate to wanting to have it all together by a certain time frame and it can get stressful but going with the flow and living your life unapologetically is soooo much better and what’s meant for you comes straight to you with ease. The body positivity and confidence was also excellent in this. Ahmad and Aaliyah were sweet.. loved how he started with friendship and genuinely only wanted the best for her. Also loved how her homegirls were always in her corner lift her up. I really would love a second book now to know more of what’s going on in Aaliyah’s life! I really enjoyed this read 😊!

this was my first danielle allen read, and i loved it!! I will definitely be looking up other books by this author to read. the description of this book said it was smoking hot, and it wasn't lyin. this book starts off with a bang (literally), and we are taken on this adventure of finding love with Aaliyah. We meet many different gentlemen, and it is really enjoyable to see Aaliyah not only find out what she wants in love, but what she wants for herself. She has her 30th birthday coming up and it is like this big marker in her mind that she needs to be this person that she isn't sure if that's who she wants to be. While Aaliyah is meeting men for dates at this bar, she meets Ahmad, the bartender, and he piggybacks on this journey with her. he agreed to watch out for her while she is going on all these blind dates. you see their friendship grow and they start to open up to eachother and become a sense of support. i think it is a really great foundation for a love story, so i also enjoyed the pace of their relationship and how it progressed. this book definitely had me on the edge of my seat as in i couldnt wait to put the headphones back in and was just so excited to keep listening to this story.

Excellent read, very relatable, loved the main characters. As a plus size girl the read was a 20/10. I loved how you wrote the characters, I love a slow burn

🎶I LIKE THE BARTENDER IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR ME🎶
This book was so damn good, if you’re the type of person who makes fun of the person you have a crush on instead of just telling them you like them this book is for you. The banter in this book had me chuckling through the whole book. Ahmad and Aaliyah had a great friends-to-lover story, it’s a little bit of a slow burn but the spice in this book made me blush Ahmad has a way with words and that’s all I’ll say about that. If you are looking for a funny, body-positive, and beautiful black love story this is for you.

Thank you NetGalley and Danielle Allen for the ARC