Rating: 
Summary: Offensive Fairy Tale
Review: My God ladies if we absolutely must keep buying books in this genre and encouraging publishers to produce them can't we make our tastes a little more discriminating? This is a Bridget Jones redux that rises to offensive heights.Billed as a tale of 'ugly ducklings', I was expecting some measure of suspension of disbelief, but even my imagination can take only so much. The first third or so of the novel shows real promise, Jemima is fun heroine to ride along with and her two buddies have their own endearing idiosyncracies. At first, every time you think you know where the plot is going a little twist is thrown in. Not necessarily for better or worse, but it is a nice change from seeing developements coming from a mile away. Only when Jemima starts dropping pounds does the story start to lose its effervescent steam. Suddenly this sweet confection of a fairy tale becomes dark and disturbing to the reader. Our heroine becomes a skeleton and flys halfway around the world to hook up with a random guy she met on the Internet (gag) and decides to be 'compassionate' to his overweight secretary (double gag). She seems wholly oblivious to the fact that she's become exactly the sort of person she's hated so much before she starved herself half to death. When things inevitably blow up in her face, she fortuitously befriends a British girl who is the carbon copy of her pal across the pond. Fairy tales only need one overly generous fairy godmother, thank you. The kicker to this whole sorry affair comes with the tidily disgusting ending, which had me set to shove the novel down the garbage disposal if it had only been my copy. Remember boys and girls, the only way to make someone to love you for who you really are is to transform into someone skinny and blonde. Then, when they don't recognize you, they'll fall in love with your outside and learn to put up with your inside. Once they've married you, you can be free to let yourself go because you've got them trapped and it's too late for them to do anything about it. And we all lived bitterly ever after!
Rating: 
Summary: Have you even read the book?
Review: For those who see Jemima J as negative have obviously not read it. Yes, the character believes that being skinny will make her happy but so do a lot of people in "real life". Her character, unlike "real" people, discover what truly matters in life and that is real friends and love and being true to yourself. She realizes this after she loses weight but it is not being skinny that makes her happy. This book is not giving out a negative message saying that in order to be happy you have to be thin. It is quite the opposite. The book is trying to show that being thin isn't what makes us happy. I think this book was amazing and I loved the characters. Anyone who has anything negative to say about this book and its message needs to read the ending again...slowly.
Rating:
Summary: oops, again??
Review: first, when i read this book, i found myself in this book.
jemima j was quite similar.. no, she was just same with me.
i expected some curvy or over weighted girls(women, anyway) to be proud of their own selves at the end of this story.
but, oh gosh, it's again..
why do those writers always think ONLY slim, well, SKINNY women can make men's knee to be weak??
jemima takes some serious diet, she is eventually being skinny.
i'm so exhausted by this kinda story. really enough!
Rating: 
Summary: Light and enjoyable, but offensive
Review: I really wanted to like this book, because it would have been so refreshing to read a romance about an overweight (though not really as obese as we are led to believe) young woman. However, I think it sends the wrong message about society's values when Jemima is transformed from being a lonely [person] stuck in a dead-end job to having an exciting, fulfilling life and career simply because she lost a lot of weight. In fact, she becomes shallower as she becomes skinnier. The fact that Ben, who is supposed to be a sensative "Mr. Wonderful", apparently never even noticed that Jemima was female until after she lost so much weight that she was unrecognizable is just not heart-warming to me. Plus, it was extremely offensive when the hunk who secretly lusts after heavy women, but wouldn't consider being seen in public with one, is depicted as a ... deviant. This book is actually enjoyable light reading of an Ugly Duckling/Cinderella nature if you can somehow keep Jemima's adventures separate from the larger societal issues, but if you are a woman "of a certain size", prepare to be at least a little bit offended.
Rating: 
Summary: Unrealistic and shallow
Review: I liked the premise of this book and had high hopes, but was sorely disappointed. I'm not even sure where to begin on this book. First of all, it's impractical. There is no way someone can lose that much weight so quickly by over-exercising and under eating and remain healthy. The author even alludes to that fact, but the main character practically stops eating with no repercussions whatsoever! Second of all, it's insulting. People who are overweight may or may not have overeating to blame, but the author's comments about how one just needs to make a strong decision to lose weight and the pounds will melt away is ludicrous. More importantly, it perpetuates a ridiculous stereotype that people who are overweight just eat all of the time. It's just not that simple. Third, the author is painfully unsympathetic to her character. There is no reason that the reader should dislike this character - her main flaw is that she's overweight, but she's intelligent, thoughtful, and caring. She has some doormat tendancies, but that's hardly reason for the author to treat her with such negativity. I didn't mind the premise of the book. I didn't mind the general plotline of the story. But a dash of realism, with a little bit of goodwill towards the main character, would have prevented me from seeing the book as a piece of .... I read the whole thing and hoped for some redemption, but it just wasn't there. I won't loan this one to a friend. I won't give it away.
Rating:
Summary: Read Jemima J!
Review: This is a great book! I found myself hardly able to put this down. It is a book about poor Jemima Jones who is able to pick herself up and change her life for the better.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational and Feel Good Book
Review: I loved this book because the character is someone I can relate to and it was funny and witty. Yes, I agree, that it is not totally realistic but it really doesnt matter when the book is this good.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT-COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN
Review: This was a very good book. I couldn't put it down, I couldn't wait to see what happend to JJ. I would recommmend it to anyone who is looking for love.
Rating:
Summary: Virginal Fat Chicks? No WAY!
Review: This novel is clearly is based on the Bridget Jonesian model but with a supposedly new and different twist: Jemima J is fat; the stereotypical fat woman at that. She eats constantly, has no life, has no friends. And why is that? Because at 5'9" she weighes 200lbs. That's about a size 16. 100 lbs overweight indeed! A woman at 5'9" could not survive at the "ideal" weight, not to mention the book advocates using anorectic methods of weightloss. She works out to exhaustion, skips meals, etcetera, in search of a more socially acceptable body. I'd like a to read a book that questions the system that makes a woman feel inadequate when she is a size 16, like the majority of American women are. If you are fat this book will bum you out. Avoid it at all costs.
Rating:
Summary: Completely wonderful
Review: I happened to stumble upon this book 3 days ago, and let me tell you, it had to be the most anti-social 3 days that I've had in a long time!!! This book was amazing! I thought I was reading some of my own thoughts. I believe that everyone can relate somehow/someway to this book. It was so capturing that I couldn't wait to get back to the book, I even dreamt about JJ and the crew. This novel is written excellently! I love it! It was bittersweet when I finnished the book, I didnt want it to end! Fortunatly a friend of mine is now reading it so that I will have someone to talk to about it! Thank you Jane Green!!!
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