Skinny
Author: Diana Spechler
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After her father’s death, Gray is struggling: mentally, emotionally and definitely physically. Gray finds comfort in food and begins compulsively eating. She quickly packs on the pounds and slowly spins into a depression like she’s never felt before. With a desire to get back to her old self and get away from it all, Gray applies for a job as a camp counselor at a southern weight loss camp.  At camp, Gray meets a cast of characters from Eden, her mysterious possible half-sister to sexy Bennett, who turns her life upside down. As the summer pads along and Gray’s pounds melt away, Gray is confronted with finally facing reality, once and for all.

I absolutely loved the setting of SKINNY. As a child, I went to girl scout camp for one week and begged to come home, so I’ve never fully understand the summer camp experience. Especially not the weight loss summer camp experience. It was so much fun to hear about the daily routines of “fat camp.”

I went back and forth between liking and disliking Gray. Of course, I wanted to like her because she was the main character and you always hope to relate to the main character, but at times, she was just annoying to me. I’ve thankfully never dealt with an eating disorder, so I’m not one to judge Gray, but at times, I just wanted to scream at her to get help. Obviously her binging was extremely unhealthy, and I wished she would have realized that and gone for help before things got too out of control. Plus, with everything she was going through with her father’s death and uncovering his secret, Gray really needed professional help before the eating disorder even began.

One of my favorite aspects of SKINNY was the many characters. Spechler expertly introduced us to several characters: Gray, her mom, her dad, Mikey, Lewis, Sheena, Bennett and all of the campers. As I listed these characters, I was able to recall more than one detail about them from this book. These characters were perfectly intertwined into the story so that you felt as if you knew them all, but you weren’t overwhelmed by the number of them. I especially enjoyed getting to know Gray’s group of campers…they each had larger than life personalities and attributes that made them completely different and fun to get to know. Again, even though Gray was the main character, and we got to know her well, Spechler successfully let the reader get to know a multitude of characters who truly added to the story.

And then there were the boys in this story. Sigh, where to begin. First, there’s Mikey, Gray’s long-time boyfriend. I wanted to like him, but as a reader, something kept clicking in my mind telling me not to get too attached. Then there’s sexy Bennett, whom Gray meets at camp. Like Gray, I quickly fell for the older, mature and muscular trainer. But, still…I knew that something wasn’t quite right.

Behind the scenes of fat camp and Gray’s eating struggles lies the real story. The story of why Gray eats and how she ended up at camp. This is the story that interested me the most. I loved learning about the dynamic between Gray and her dad. Throughout the book, I was so intrigued by why Gray kept saying that she was the one who killed her father, and when I finally learned the true story, I was shocked.

Spechler kept me on edge the entire book with two storylines. The first was, as I mentioned above, how Gray killed her father. The second was the storyline with Eden, one of Gray’s campers. Throughout the book, I waited and waited for Gray to finally talk to Eden about the secret she had discovered, and when she finally learns the truth, it’s not what she expected at all. I was completely shocked and excited to learn what the real truth was.

The ending of this book is a bit difficult to handle. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that I selfishly enjoy happy endings, and while this ending wasn’t necessarily sad, it also wasn’t happy.

I absolutely love the lessons I walked away with after reading this book. SKINNY came to me at the perfect time. Since the fall, I’ve been going to the gym frequently and in January, I really ramped up my workouts. I’ve lost about 15 pounds and I’m so happy to be getting healthy and paying more attention to what I put in my body. However, the line between healthy and going overboard is VERY thin. I’ve definitely struggled with trying to figure out how to keep the balance. On one hand, I love my new body and love the energy I get from working out, but on the other hand, I stress out over every meal and count calories more than I’d like. SKINNY reminded me that the numbers on the scale aren’t the ultimate measure of happiness…and that being healthy is way more important than being skinny.

4/5