Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee-Tween-Teen

Rating: 5/5 Stars

About the Book: Rosemary Goode is smart, funny, and sassy, but no one seems to notice. All anyone sees is her weight - all 200 pounds of it. She doesn’t fit in at school, she finds herself getting made fun of by the popular Bluebirds, and the only boyfriend she’ll ever have is Mr. Hershey, or Mr. M&M. At the start of a new year, Rosemary finds herself disappointed. Santa just brought her an unwanted treadmill for Christmas and her Aunt Mary gave her tickets to a "Healing the Fat Girl Within" Conference. On top of that, Rosemary’s mother has sneakily set up counseling sessions for weight loss. After a meltdown at her mother’s gossipy salon, Rosemary decides she is going to lose the weight - on her terms. Rosemary tries various methods to lose weight, but it’s a slow process. When Rosemary’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, the distance between them grows even more and Rosemary tries to keep from turning back to food. Things start to look up when Kyle Cox, the school’s newest football star, starts to take a notice in Rosemary. But how can popular, good-looking Kyle ever like a girl like Rosemary? And how will Rosemary bridge the ever-growing gap between her and her mother?

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Upon opening this book, I found myself drawn in and I didn't want to leave the story. This is one of those stay in bed and read all day books. Don't be fooled by the cover of this book-although this has some chick lit elements, the story goes much deeper than typical light chick-lit fare. The characters are wonderfully drawn and relateable-I cheered for Rosemary and had a bit of a crush on Kyle. I'm looking forward to reading more from this debut author.