I say this as a woman who is fat. If you are looking for a body-positive book, this ain't it, sis. True, there is growth in the main character from the beginning of the book to the end as far as becoming comfortable in her own skin, but it took way too long to get there.

Natalie is fat. That is her defining characteristic, along with the fact that she loves paleontology. We are never allowed to forget the fact that she is fat. It is referenced on virtually every page, usually in reference to how much she hates her 'real' self and how uncomfortable she is in her attempts to hide the aforementioned fat. It gets utterly ridiculous. She is in a summer program where she is going to be working outside, crawling around in the dirt and mud, but dresses in a dress and heels. Oh, and her body shaper, because god forbid if she doesn't have an hourglass figure. After the first day, she chooses to wear vintage suede flats because the heels were unsuitable...as if vintage suede shoes are a better choice to wear out in the mud and dirt. She wears a body shaper for most of the book, even though it restricts her ability to breathe. All of this because she can't bear the thought of someone seeing a roll of fat. It's absolutely absurd. I wish that the author had gone a different way with this story. She could've made Natalie a kick-ass fat girl who was into fashion and makeup without making all of that a crutch that she could hide behind. Now, I'm not saying that some big girls wouldn't act like this, but it definitely isn't fat-positive. There is a lot of shaming and self-loathing throughout the pages of this book, and there were parts that were incredibly aggravating to read because of it.

Did I mention that Natalie isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the chandelier, despite the fact that we're supposed to believe that she is super special and brilliant? That was another annoying aspect to this book. Natalie is inherently gifted, even more so than a girl who literally grew up in dig sites. She just somehow knows what to do, and everyone is blown away by her. It reeked of the she's-not-like-other-girls trope. All that said, she has terrible judgement and does things she is specifically told not to do more than once. Then, when she gets in trouble, instead of laying low and keeping her nose clean she goes off and does whatever she wants just because she feels like it.

The romance in this book was okay, but I wish I knew more about the love interest. Their story didn't come out of nowhere, but it wasn't given a very solid foundation either. There is another potential love interest in this book as well that I liked for most of the book until the author decided to flip on a dime and make him a creep. My problem with this was that there didn't seem to be any set up to this. He was decent and then he was a douchebag, with very little foreshadowing. And then their relationship is left mostly unresolved.

I felt like this could've been a good book. I love the idea of a nerdy plus-size girl who loves designing her own clothes and studying prehistoric animals. It's quirky and interesting. Unfortunately, the execution left something to be desired for me, especially with regard to the representation of plus-sized women.