Book Review: The Weight of it All

The Weight of it All by N.R. Walker published by BlueHeart Press

I downloaded this novel to my Kindle as part of my Kindle Unlimited choices. The basic synopsis had me hooked: overweight guy gets dumped, decides to change his life. As an overweight gay guy myself, I thought, “Wow, I can probably relate to this story!” So I was eager to read it. Cut to three days later as I’m finishing the novel, and I couldn’t wait for it to end.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

After being dumped by his long-term boyfriend for being overweight, Henry Beckett decides to make some drastic changes. In a vain attempt at getting his boyfriend back, Henry does the most absurdly frightening thing he can think of.

He joins a gym.

Reed Henske is a personal trainer who isn’t sure he’ll ever be ready to date again. He’s sick of guys who are only interested in the perfect body image, never seeing him for who he really is.

As Reed tortures Henry with things like diet and exercise, Henry enamours Reed with recipes and laughter. As the friendship lines start to blur, Henry is convinced there’s no way Thor-like Reed could ever be interested in a guy like him.

Reed just has to convince Henry that life isn’t about reaching your ideal bodyweight. It’s about finding your perfect counterweight.


Characters:

I think there was only one character I liked through this whole novel, and it was a silly side character in the form of Henry’s best friend’s boyfriend. He only spoke a handful of words throughout the novel, and most were responding to sarcastic moments from his girlfriend and Henry, but at least the author didn’t say he was smiling all the time (more on that in a sec).

Henry is… okay well Henry isn’t a horrible character. However, instead of allowing us to learn about Henry’s insecurities or his nuances, the author just tells us he’s awkward and insecure, because that sets up him being anti-social. The old rule is “Show, don’t tell,” and pretty much all the author did was tell about the characters instead of showing the audience facets about them.

Reed, the other main character, is nice. That’s about it. Former fat kid turned jock (I would say spoilers here, but honestly, saw it coming a mile away!). Doesn’t judge people on the way they look. So of course, he falls for Henry. It wouldn’t be a cliché romance without it, right?

The other side characters are nuisances at best. The author wants us to feel like they all care about Henry and Reed, but really, they all seem kind of vapid and rude. Sure there were some kind hearted conversations, but they were intermixed with cliché conversations between a gay man and his girlfriends, and it was just all a bit too much. Also, the author makes it sound like Henry and his ex shared a bunch of friends and they each got some in the breakup, but yet we only ever hear about two of their mutual friends, and it’s really a quick minute worth of dialogue and then they’re gone again. Waste of time.

Story:

The story was okay. Full of clichés. I felt like I was reading a gay Hallmark movie. The ugly duckling might get his prince. The best friend of the gay guy is sassy. The cliché moment where Henry’s ex-boyfriend stumbles upon Henry and Reed at the grocery store (like, isn’t that in every romantic comedy?) Henry overcomes his social quirks to become the hero of his office. Henry’s boss turns out to be a lesbian after he has a quick coming out awkward conversation with her (saw that one coming too!). It just was all a bit cliché and I knew where every road was leading to as I read it.

Favorite Part:

Oh this was a struggle… a big struggle. I guess my favorite part is how Henry is relatable. He isn’t your typical gay romance lead character. In fact, in most gay romances I have read, he would probably be the best gay friend of the hot gay lead character. But I think the author was tapping into an audience that wanted a character that they could relate to physically and personality wise. For the most part, the author got this right.

Least Favorite Part:

Oh. My. God. This book really should have been called “Everyone Smiles,” because my GOD did they smile a lot. It seemed like at least once on every page there was “He smiled” or “She smiled” or “He gave me that award winning smile.” And if they weren’t smiling, every dialogue opener was “He chuckled” or “He laughed” or “He giggled.” I swear, it’s amazing how Henry could understand anything Reed was saying because he laughed through every bit of dialogue. Please get this author a thesaurus for Christmas.

Overall:

I gave this book a two star rating on Goodreads. I was one of the few. From what I can tell, this book is receiving rave reviews on there. I don’t understand why. But to each their own. Honestly though, if you are looking for a story with a non-cliché gay lead characters (see: overweight or not a muscle god), I would pick up TJ Klune’s Tell Me It’s Real, as it is way more well written than this piece of “literature,” and you actually like most of the characters at the end.