REVIEW
Carissa Melody Wayne is an English teacher at a private school where she is put on the spot to appear on a weight-loss reality show called Losing to Win. To make the show more interesting or entertaining the other contestants are those from her past. One just so happens to be her ex-fiance, and the other is her high school nemesis. Although, she really does not want to do it, Carissa knows with the exposure of the show, it could be what the small town of Belle Haven, Louisiana needs to revitalize the town after Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill.
During summer break, the camera crew follows her 24/7. To make matters worse she is forced to team up with her ex-fiance, Malachi Knight a former NFL player. In order to win this game she has to let go of her feelings of the past and move forward. The question is will she move forward or backward with the one person that hurt her more than anything? Will she be able to trust him again, not only to win the game but possibly give him another chance? Not to mention one of her college friends from school that is also a contestant makes it known that he is interested in Carissa. With the cameras constantly on Carissa they are catching every drama filled tidbit they can to make this reality TV show a hit.
Losing to Win by Michele Grant was a true-to-life but television ready novel. Ms. Grant took the concept of reality TV for weight loss and turned it into a novel that anyone can relate to. It was a unique twist in this show (within the novel) because it is centered around people from the main characters past. This is a story of challenges, weight loss, determination, friendship, love and a game. The writing style is one that the reader will be able to connect with the main characters and makes the reading go fast with sarcasm, and with that is laced throughout the novel. This is my first read by Ms. Grant and plan on reading her previous novels in the near future.
Note: The only reason did not give this book 5 stars is that this was that the copy I read, which was an advanced copy, had quite a few misspelled words and editing issues.
4 Stars
Leona
Disclaimer: Book Referees was given a free ARC Copy of this book. Our thoughts on this book were in no way influenced by the author or publicist. We were not compensated for the review. Thank you for giving Book Referees the opportunity to review this selection.
