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Aaliyah James has a successful career and a tight friend group. Her life is good, but after a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend, she's determined to find the right man. She's approaching thirty, the same age her beloved sister died. Her family is anxious for her to find a man, start a family, and lose weight. Aaliyah wants the first two and scoffs at the latter. While her sister was married and pregnant with a charmed life at thirty, Aaliyah isn't living up to her family's expectations that she do the same.

As her 30th birthday looms with a big party planned, Aaliyah needs to find her perfect man to be her date. Aaliyah is hesitant to join the dating apps as a matter of safety. She strikes a bargain with Ahmad, the cute but married bartender at a local bar and restaurant: she'll have her dates at the restaurant every Friday so he can watch out for her as long as she tries out the dating apps and takes his advice.

We watch her go on one doozy of a date after another. All the while, she and Ahmad get closer. Their banter was to die for and well executed in the audiobook version.

What I loved about this book is that Aaliyah shuts down her annoying-ass uncle, who keeps talking about her weight. I wanted to strangle this fictional man. The fat phobia is grating and unequivocally rejected. She doesn't go on a diet or try to change her body. ❤️

While Aaliyah wants a husband and kids, she isn't willing to settle. I love this so much. I personally don't want kids, but I've talked to several women who feel the same as Aaliyah, and it fills my heart with joy. No more settling, no forcing something that isn't working to fulfill a hypothetical dream. Aaliyah doesn't settle, and she doesn't let her family's expectations change her mind. Confronting her family, who love her but are unintentionally projecting her sister's life onto her, is her internal journey.

The only thing I disliked was the bad communication trope. With romance, I expect some level of poor communication, but by the end I wanted to scream at them. If this level of avoiding a genuine conversation about feelings isn't your thing, then this might not be the book for you. However, Curvy Girl Summer felt like a modern take on dating, self-fulfillment, and agency. I enjoyed those aspects of the book very much.

The spice level was medium, and the audiobook was fantastic.

/rae/