Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: A Weight of it All

AUTHOR: N.R. Walker

NARRATOR: Joel Leslie

PUBLISHER: Tantor

RELEASE DATE: October 3, 2017

LENGTH: 7 hours 44 minutes

BLURB:

After being dumped by his long-term boyfriend for being overweight, Henry Beckett decides to make some drastic changes. In a vain attempt at getting his boyfriend back, Henry does the most absurdly frightening thing he can think of.

He joins a gym.

Reed Henske is a personal trainer who isn’t sure he’ll ever be ready to date again. He’s sick of guys who are only interested in the perfect body image, never seeing him for who he really is.

As Reed tortures Henry with things like diet and exercise, Henry enamors Reed with recipes and laughter. As the friendship lines start to blur, Henry is convinced there’s no way Thor-like Reed could ever be interested in a guy like him.

Reed just has to convince Henry that life isn’t about reaching your ideal bodyweight. It’s about finding your perfect counterweight.

Contains mature themes.

REVIEW:

I absolutely adored this book, from the first sentence to the last. One of the reasons why I love N.R. Walker’s books is that she writes about genuine people. Her characters are flawed and lovingly human. They are you and me, they are the everyday people that you meet at the grocery store – or at the gym. They are people you can relate to.

Henry, freshly dumped for being boring and overweight, decides to join a gym to get his boyfriend back. Enter Reed, a personal trainer with the body of a Greek God and you have a set up for very clichéd story. But this story is anything but. While questioning whether the elliptical machine violates the Geneva Convention and the purpose of kale you will get to know some amazing people and have a lot of fun doing it. Right off the bat there is a genuine friendship between these two men, they just click, they make sense and they balance each other out. The love between them develops slowly as they spend more time together – at the gym and outside it.

Looks and weight are very sensitive subjects for so many people in the world today. It’s loaded with so many landmines you need a sniffer dog to even think about approaching or navigate through the subject. Body image is also something I believe most, if not all, people have struggled with at one time or another during their lifetimes. So to write a book about this subject is, in my humble opinion, is very brave.

N.R. Walker didn’t just write about it. She wrote about it in such a brilliant and accurate way, that it never put the blame or tried to guilt anyone. Not only that, she wrote a truly humorous book about an obese man falling for his personal trainer. And reading or listening to this book you will laugh, and you will laugh a lot. No, we are never laughing at someone. We are laughing with them, at the antics, the jokes and the many, many filter-less things that Henry blurts out (#PrayForHenry). And having such a wonderful time with these people you never want to leave them.

Joel Leslie did a brilliant job narrating this book. He truly captured the essence of it and the people and his performance of Henry was just perfect. He is the best narrator out there for quirky characters, he just nails them every time. He made this book a true joy to listen to and as always I’m always looking forward to listening to more of his narrations.

The Weight of it All was a beautifully written about a man determined to change his life to get back what he lost. Along the way he found what he never realised he’d lost – himself, self-confidence. But he also found true love and new friendships. It was just such a feel good book and one I know I’ll listen to over, and over again. A great read and I truly recommend it to everyone. It truly is a must read!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Tantor

Amazon  

Audible