Review: Fat is the New 30 by Jill Conner Browne

Title: Fat is the New 30
Author: Jill Conner Browne
Publisher: Amazon
Publish Date: March 20, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the PR. This did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're looking for a laugh.
• You want to armchair travel to the South.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "The Sweet Potato Queens® are back and bawdier than ever in Southern belle extraordinaire Jill Conner Browne’s ninth edition of the hysterical series. Having experienced pretty much ALL of the crappy parts of life, Browne feels it is her duty to render whatever assistance she can to her fellow sufferers — and she does so in her own inimitable fashion.
Her father taught her there are very few situations in life that we really and truly cannot change, and it is up to us to figure out how to either make fun OUT of them — or make fun OF them. And fortunately for the rest of us, Browne is well equipped for both. Including the exploits of the Queen contingent and her family, she delivers applicable tidbits like:

* Thinking or talking about watermelon can save any negative situation.

* If you get drunk in Scotland, you can’t have your cow with you.

* When sanity and reason fail, you can always cheerfully resort to ridicule.

* Denial means that every situation is perfectly perfect.

More fun than a Cracker Barrel full of monkeys, Fat Is the New 30 will change your life — or at least give you ideas for making fun of your ownself."

My Two Cents:

This was my first experience with the Sweet Potato Queens books. There are several that came before Fat is the New 30. I had seen the books just about everywhere and had heard a lot of good things so I was really excited when I finally got this opportunity to read this book.

Jill Conner Browne had me smiling and at some parts, I was laughing out loud even. While the book is geared towards people a little bit older than me who have had a lot more life experience (children, houses, etc.), I still found a lot to like about this book. I can most definitely see why her books are so popular with so many people.

Being around Browne in real life must be a hoot. She has so many funny stories and gets herself into so many funny situations. The way that she writes really pulls the reader in. You don't feel like you're so much reading than sitting and gabbing with a friend over coffee. I love when books can make you feel that way.

My only real, sort of criticism is that though this book is mostly a stand alone book, Browne makes several references to previous Sweet Potato Queens books and some of the things that you would only know not having read the books. It kind of took me out of the story having not read the book.

Bottom line: This is a very funny book and I am definitely looking forward to reading some more Sweet Potato Queens.