(38)The F Word by Liza Palmer

Sunday, April 30, 2017


Olivia Morten has a perfect life.  She has an extremely successful career in PR,  is smoking hot, and is married to a handsome doctor.  She never thought that she would have any of those three things so she does not take them for granted.  In high school she was overweight - she was the one that all the other kids teased.   Until one day a cruel act sent her down a different path and she lost all of the weight and turned her life around.  She met her husband, Adam, and the rest is history.   Or at least it was - until she runs into her high school crush, and her biggest tormentor from high school, at a local coffee shop.  Ben Dunn is now a divorced dad of three kids and the principal of a local elementary school.  Seeing him brought up all sorts of emotions for Olivia as he forced her to realize that even though she lost the weight, she lived her life as though she were still that overweight woman seeking approval from one and all.   Olivia has to make some tough decisions about her life.  Will she be able to make the right decisions no matter how hard they may be?

Year after year I have read books (both fiction and non-fiction) about women who have lost weight or are trying to lose weight as a source of inspiration for my own weight loss.   This time I am one of those women who is losing weight (almost 40lbs so far).  I really, really liked Olivia and The F Word. Olivia is a people pleaser - she works hard for her celebrities, she works to make sure that her husband has everything he needs and even takes him dinner at the hospital when he has to work late.  She works hard to be a good daughter.  And she works hard so that nobody ever sees that there is still an insecure "fat girl" buried deep inside of her.  Seeing Ben again brought up all of those feelings of inadequacies.  Neither Olivia nor Ben was particularly proud of who they were in high school and are kind of looking for redemption.  I really loved Olivia's character - I could even relate to her people-pleasing tendencies.  I thought her mom was a hoot and gave Olivia the exact right advice at the exact right time.  When it is time for the rubber to meet the road I wasn't sure if Olivia was going to make the right decision.  But the whole thing was about more than just making the right decision - it was about Olivia finally believing that she doesn't deserve to be treated like crap.  It made for a pretty powerful conclusion.

Bottom line - The F Word was a quick and engaging read about a woman who worked so hard to change her exterior that she forgot that she needed to take care of her insides as well.  The F Word may not be a heavy-hitting kind of book, but it sure does have an important message.  I encourage you to pick it up next time at the bookstore.  You won't regret it!

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