FABPick - LIZA PALMER!! (and a contest)

OMG! I am so excited about my FABPick this month, because I have the incredibly FABulous LIZA PALMER here!!



As you may remember, I found Liza's first book, CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FAT GIRL, when I was in Dallas at RWA Nationals. I stuffed the book in my bag and promised myself that I would read it ... sometime. Well, when I finished it, I was kicking myself that I waded through so many not-so-great books before I landed on CWTFG. I immediatly had to dish it, even though it was the middle of the night. Then, as we usually do, I sent the author an e-mail telling her about the dish. Sometimes we get no response from these e-mails, sometimes the (usually very famous) authors will drop us a "thanks for letting me know" e-mail. But Liza? I knew she was FABulous when she actually took the time to e-mail me back, saying she'd read the dish and was thrilled with it. Big smile from me there. That, to me, shows that she pays attention to her e-mail, and that she actually cares what her fans have to say. And let me assure you, though I may wear a reviewer hat here, I am - first and foremost - a Reader, and therefore, I am also a 'potential fan'. She earned my respect right away, and has since maintained it because of her helpful and very professional attitude. Thanks, Liza!

But you want to hear about her book, right? Well, I'll get to that. I'm cheating a bit on this one though, as I'm going to re-post my original dish of CWTFG today. Then on Wednesday, I'll dish her new book, SEEING ME NAKED. Friday, you get the interview.

And you want to know about the contest? Well, ok then. I'm doing the usual "blog this book" here. You remember this one, right? You will post a .jpg of the cover of SEEING ME NAKED, along with the Back Cover Copy from SEEING ME NAKED, on YOUR website or blog (click here for .jpg and BCC). You will also link your post to THIS post. Then you will come here in the comments of THIS post and leave me a link. Don't have a blog? You can still play. Just mention this contest on your favorite blog, loop, or group. If ONE person comes here from your mention, and says in the comments that you sent them, then you get an entry. The prize is a signed copy of SEEING ME NAKED.

But there is also another contest afoot this time. If you decide that you really want SEEING ME NAKED after you read the dish (and come on! who wouldn't want this book!?!), then you purchase SEEING ME NAKED online. E-mail forward me the receipt that shows that you bought SEEING ME NAKED. (You may, of course, erase any billing info!) I will do one random drawing on Friday, and Liza will send that winner a signed copy of her debut novel, CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FAT GIRL.

And speaking of CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FAT GIRL... here's the dish!


But really, I'm here to tell you about THIS BOOK, CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FAT GIRL, by Liza Palmer. I picked it up in Dallas, during the RWA National Convention. I met the beautiful author, and she even signed it for me. So, I'm just telling you right now that you are not getting MY copy of this book. Sorry.

Check out this BCC...

Maggie and Olivia have been best friends since they were in grade school. Both overweight, they befriended each other when no one else would. Now grown up, Maggie is still shopping in the euphemism-if-there-ever-was-one "women's section", while Olivia went and had gastric bypass surgery in search of the elusive size 4, the holy grail for women everywhere. So now Olivia's thin and blond and getting married to a handsome surgeon, and Maggie is the fat bridesmaid, again, in charge of planning "The Shower" and keeping Olivia's secret: that she's really a fat girl in a thin body. Ain't life grand?
With wit and wisdom, Liza Palmer gives voice to women everywhere who wish for just once that they could forget about their weight.

Checking it over, the only thing that I don't like is that it sounds a bit light, compared to the story. But it is actually very accurate, so no complaints from me on this one.

I'm not going to give away any plot points or secrets with this one. I'm not going to tell you my favorite part, or my least favorite part. Wait, I will tell you my least favorite - the end. No, I don't mean that the end was bad. I mean that the book ended. It ended, and I was sad, because I really LOVE Maggie.

This is a very well written book, that deals with so many different things that I can't even describe them all. It's got a great cast of characters in it that all seem so real, you can mix them up with people in your own life like I did. There is even the hint of a romance. But at the core of it all? Well, there's Maggie.

What's not to love about a woman named Maggie? (I have a daughter with the same name. No, not Margaret. Maggie. I LOVE THIS NAME!) Maggie has been bigger than most everyone else for as long as she can remember. She sees the world through her own special lens, in which she constantly judges how other people will react to her. She has a mile-high wall around herself, to make sure that nobody gets close enough to hurt her. It's painful to see at first, because though this story is written in First POV, you can see from the reactions she gets from people around her that the way she sees herself is very different from the way the world sees her.

Maggie has been working a dead end job for two too many years. She's wasting her Master's Degree at a coffeehouse run by a jerk of a boss, with a pseudo-surrogate mother figure who craves attention and a ditzy wanna-be actress as her co-workers. And then there's Dominic, the 28 year old busboy.

Maggie has a teeny tiny crush on Dominic. She loathes her boss, but craves his approval. She adores her mother and slightly envies her older sister. She wonders where she fits in to her now-skinny best friend's life. And she hates her "Area", that section of her body that she just knows is the center of everyone's attention any time she enters a room. Maggie has a lot to learn.

And well, she does. But I'm not telling you anymore about it. I can't. Because I want you to buy it for yourself, and sink your teeth into it like it was something out of a pink pastry box. It's just that good. Trust me!

This is, by far, my favorite book that I've read from my RWANats stash so far. It wasn't on the top of my TBR pile when I got home. I had to wade through dozens of books before it made its way to my hands. Most of those other books were decent. I may even dish a few of them. But this book? I truly regret not reading it sooner. I regret even more that I finished it as fast as I did. It was gorgeous and strong, sassy and fearless, funny and beautiful, all at the same time.

Just like Maggie.

Go order this book today. It's one Conversation you really shouldn't miss!

Keep Turning Those Pages!