Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich

Morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Stephanie Evanovich's debut, Big Girl Panties.

A rescheduled, overbooked flight leads to a fateful meet up for Holly Brennan and Logan Montgomery. Holly is returning home after a trip to clear up some business obligations left unfinished after her husband's untimely death. Logan is returning from an "emergency" training visit with his best friend, pro baseball player Chase Walker. The two end up seated next to one another, much to their disappointment, but soon strike up a conversation. Holly is in desperate need of a change and has gained more than a little weight in the wake of her husband's death. Logan believes he might be able to help. He takes her on as a new client, intent on helping Holly change her habits and get in shape. What neither of them counted on, though, was falling for one another.

There's something about reading a book that lays bare some of your own insecurities that really helps to connect with a character! Goodness. I've been in Holly's boat - sort of - and did really well with the help of a trainer. Unfortunately I fell off the wagon and need to toss those bad habits once again :)

I've seen a lot of grumbling concerning the fact that this book is about a fat girl who needs to lose weight before being able to attract the attention of the hot guy. Personally, that's not what I got from this. In my opinion, it was Holly's overall transformation and her influence over Logan (and his sort of transformation as well) that allowed the relationship to spark.

See, Logan is a bit shallow in terms of his relationships. I quite enjoyed his talks with Chase - especially when Chase begins to address Logan's lingering doubts about Holly (which are admittedly a bit of a turn off when he starts focusing on those last 20 pounds!).

Holly, on the other hand, in addition to the weight issue that brings them together in the first place, is grieving - something Logan realizes very early on. Not only that, but it's perfectly believable to me that as Holly sheds pounds, she becomes more confident and that this also plays a big part in the way Logan's feelings for her change.

I definitely appreciated the fact that Evanovich took the time to build the characters' relationship from meeting and becoming friends to becoming love interests. I thought this particular part of the story was done really well and was something I liked quite a bit.

While Big Girl Panties is not a flawless debut, it is one that I found entertaining and enjoyable. I liked Holly, I liked Logan (most of the time), and I liked Chase and Amanda - though their fetish became a bit overplayed and cartoonish towards the end.

It's kind of impossible to notice that Stephanie Evanovich is related to Janet E. so I'll just go ahead and say that while Big Girl Panties is funny - laugh out loud at times - it's not quite Stephanie Plum funny. Instead, Big Girl Panties is more of a heartfelt and humorous romance (with LOTS of steamy scenes).

Rating: 3/5

To see what others on the tour thought, check out the official TLC tour page here.

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