Jemima J: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans (U)

Jemima Jones is overweight. About one hundred pounds overweight. Treated like a maid by her thin and social-climbing roommates, and lorded over by the beautiful Geraldine (less talented but better paid) at the Kilburn Herald, Jemima finds that her only consolation is food. Add to this her passion for her charming, sexy, and unobtainable colleague Ben, and Jemima knows her life is in need of a serious change. When she meets Brad, an eligible California hunk, over the Internet, she has the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself as JJ, the slim, beautiful, gym-obsessed glamour girl. But when her long-distance Romeo demands that they meet, she must conquer her food addiction to become the bone-thin model of her e-mails no small feat. With a fast-paced plot that never quits and a surprise ending no reader will see coming, Jemima J is the chronicle of one woman's quest to become the woman she's always wanted to be, learning along the way a host of lessons about attraction, addiction, the meaning of true love, and, ultimately, who she really is.Barnes & Noble Guide to New FictionThe "wonderful" story of "heroic" Jemima Jones, a struggling journalist and "Cinderella in a plus size" who dreams of slimming down to a size allowing her to capture the heart of her dream man. "Transported me to England and then to L.A.," packed with "witty dialogue" and "funny, endearing characters," it's sure to become "a house favorite." "A great vacation book."