Unlike the other people who work in fashion, Janey Sweet enjoys eating and she is not afraid to admit it. But when her business partner and best friend, Beau, tells her that she needs to lose weight or she will lose her job, Janey has no choice but to go on a diet and hit all the gyms, yoga classes and juice bars that New York has to offer – including the Free the Nipple Yoga that, as the title implies, is practised topless. Along with old and new friends, Janey embarks on weeks of diets and exercise but at what price? In the meantime, Janey’s cousin, Ivy, is having her own problems as she finds herself working for a gym where people pay lots of money to be insulted during the workout.
I loved the authors’ first book, The Knockoff, so I was very excited about this new book and I wasn’t disappointed. Fitness Junkie is a hilarious, charming and terrific read. Some of the yoga and gym classes that Janey attends are ridiculous and seem so unrealistic that I was surprised to find out they really exist. Janey’s adventures as she tries class after class made me laugh out loud and I felt for her as throughout the novel she evaluates her relationship with Beau and finally discovers his true character. Janey, her best friend CJ, and her cousin Ivy are likable and honest. (NP)
Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza have combined forces again for a new novel, Fitness Junkie, about one woman's attempt to lost weight and save her career. The summary says: "When Janey Sweet, CEO of a couture wedding dress company, is photographed in the front row of a fashion show eating a bruffin - the delicious lovechild of a brioche and a muffin - her best friend and business partner, Beau, gives her an ultimatum: Lose thirty pounds or lose your job.
Sure, Janey has gained some weight since her divorce, and no, her beautifully cut trousers don't fit like they used to, so Janey throws herself headlong into the world of the fitness revolution, signing up for a shockingly expensive workout pass, baring it all for Free the Nipple yoga, sweating through boot camp classes run by Sri Lankan militants and spinning to the screams of a Lycra-clad instructor with rage issues.
At a juice shop she meets Jacob, a cute young guy who takes her dumpster-diving outside Whole Foods on their first date. At a shaman's tea ceremony she meets Hugh, a silver fox who holds her hand through an ayahuasca hallucination. And at a secret exercise studio Janey meets Sara Strong, the wildly popular workout guru whose special dance routine has starlets and wealthy women flocking to her for results that seem too good to be true.
As Janey eschews delicious carbs, pays thousands of dollars to charlatans, and is harassed by her very own fitness bracelet, she can't help but wonder: Did she really need to lose weight in the first place?" Fitness Junkie is out in July 2017.