Weight Expectations (Cipher Office #1) by M.E. Carter
Rian Thompson thought she joined the gym to get healthy. Little did she know she was about to add hundred and ninety pounds of swoonworthy abdominal muscles and arrogance to her life. Every day in Rians’s life follows a predictable pattern, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s got a nice job, a nice place to live, and a nice family – even if they are a little wedding-zilla-ish at the moment. She doesn’t need anything spectacular to be happy. She just needs to get healthy – mentally, physically. . . and maybe spiritually if that happens. But she’ll settle for two out of three until her sister finally gets hitched. Carlos Davies thought his life was perfect. Little did he know it was about to be turned upside down by a woman who is not his type. In Carlos’s mind, his life is damn near perfect. He’s got a great job, a great place to live, and a great stash of pick up lines that always work. It has occurred to him that maybe no one actually takes him all that seriously. But with these bulging biceps and thick, dark hair, does that even matter since he’s never sleeping alone? Welcome to Weight Expectations, where great—and unexpected—things happen.
Let's start with the good, shall we?We get to visit old friends again in this Cypher book! Lots of Quinn interactions and yarn references.Rian was written really well. She was witty and self deprecating. A realist with wit. I like that idea... Feel free to use that on my gravestone.There were some great side characters- Abel and Francesca. I don't know who the other books are going to be about in this series but I loved interacting with both of these characters. Honorable mention goes to Tabitha. (Who's name choice I still can't get over. Out of all the names in the world....)
Okay it can't be avoided any longer-I could not bring myself to finish the book. Hey, I did make it over half way but at that point I was hating on the Carlos POV chapters so much that I practically wanted to skip them all!Should we talk about Carlos? I think he lived a previous life as Gaston. I kept making notes in my kindle to the tune of "unappealing narrator..." I'll leave it at that. I think the picture has been painted.While I loved Rian, I had a very hard time picturing her. She would mention she was morbidly obese and then in another chapter put on Carlos' shirt and it would go down to her knees because he was so buff. I couldn't get a handle on her size and since weight was such a big issue in the book- I think I should've been able to.There was also a lot of Carlos saying that Rian wasn't his type but he couldn't get her out of his head. A lot of that. I'm personally not a fan of that type of attraction- it feels very Mr. Darcy (aka: you're family sucks and sometimes all of you are embarrassing, also we should get married).I think this book will appeal to some people. Perhaps if you enjoyed Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich you will like this one? Unfortunately it wasn't for me!