Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza Review

Goodreads Summary: When Janey Sweet, CEO of a couture wedding dress company, is photographed in the front row of a fashion show eating a bruffin–the delicious lovechild of a brioche and a muffin–her best friend and business partner, Beau, gives her an ultimatum: Lose thirty pounds or lose your job. Sure, Janey has gained some weight since her divorce, and no, her beautifully cut trousers don’t fit like they used to, so Janey throws herself headlong into the world of the fitness revolution, signing up for a shockingly expensive workout pass, baring it all for Free the Nipple yoga, sweating through boot camp classes run by Sri Lankan militants and spinning to the screams of a Lycra-clad instructor with rage issues. At a juice shop she meets Jacob, a cute young guy who takes her dumpster-diving outside Whole Foods on their first date. At a shaman’s tea ceremony she meets Hugh, a silver fox who holds her hand through an ayahuasca hallucination And at a secret exercise studio Janey meets Sara Strong, the wildly popular workout guru whose special dance routine has starlets and wealthy women flocking to her for results that seem too good to be true. As Janey eschews delicious carbs, pays thousands of dollars to charlatans, and is harassed by her very own fitness bracelet, she can’t help but wonder: Did she really need to lose weight in the first place?

A hilarious send-up of the health and wellness industry, Fitness Junkie is a glorious romp through the absurd landscape of our weight-obsessed culture.

My Thoughts:  This book was so much fun.  The writing style was easy, engaging, hilarious, and I devoured it.  It was a perfect satire of the health and wellness industry, and the pressure that is put on people today to be fit.  Living in NYC, in a business that is heavily centered on fitness, all of the characters were like people that I come across on a daily basis.   They were exaggeratedly ridiculous, while still maintaining truth.  I really liked and connected with the main character Janey.  All of her feelings were super relatable, and I felt for her situation.  Her best friend Beau, the catalyst for Janey’s fitness journey, was just the worst (in the best way).  While being manipulative and cruel, he still managed to be entertaining, and I completely understood their relationship.  I loved Ivy, and know a lot of friends who teach fitness who go through the same thing she does.  I felt that the plot definitely took a back seat to the characters in the novel, but it was a super quick and engaging read.  Everything happens pretty quickly, but it matches the high-stakes writing style.  Janey’s arc wasn’t super big, but I appreciated the subtle changes in her thinking and self-confidence.  It made her seem more real and I felt super satisfied with how it ended.  This book definitely gave me Devil Wears Prada vibes, and I think fans of Lauren Weisberger would enjoy this one too.  I’m for sure going to pick up Sykes and Piazza’s other book, The Knock-Off, soon and I am excited to see what else they come up with!