Book Review: The Husband Diet by Nancy Barone

What if the thing you really need to lose is him?
Erica Cantelli's life feels more suffocating than a size four dress.
On the surface she's maintaining the image of successful career woman, perfect wife and a doting mother with two young children.
In reality she's running out of hours in the day; 6 dress sizes bigger than she wants to be; ad the only man who shows her any affection is her gay best friend.
In fact, fantasising about how to kill her increasingly disinterested husband is just about all that keeps Erica sane. That and a whole different type of fantasising about the incredibly handsome new school principal, Julian Foxham.
When her husband jokes about trading her in for two size tens, Erica knows something has to change. But is another diet really the answer? Or is getting rid of him the fastest path to happiness? Now if she could only stop thinking about the gorgeous Mr Foxham, maybe she could make up her mind...
For any woman who's ever felt under-appreciated, or thought about giving up on their dreams, Erica is a laugh-out-loud funny breath of fresh air. 

The Husband Diet by Nancy Barone is an entertaining read. Erica has made sacrifices for her husband and two children so when her husband tells her that she is too fat and that he no longer finds her attractive, what should she do? Lose the weight and save her marriage or get rid of her husband in one of the many ways she has been fantasising about? Add into this problem, the handsome Julian Foxham, who has no problem with her size and who Erica can't get out of her head.
The Husband Diet is extremely light-hearted but it does not lack substance. Nancy Barone questions how far we will go to make others happy even if those actions, make you, yourself unhappy. Erica wants to save her marriage but she does not want to become a completely different person.
I enjoyed the characters that the author created and the writing style. My only criticism was that I felt as though some events were rushed. There were a few situations where I felt as though something was suddenly happening and there had not been much setting of the scene so I had to go back and read again to get my bearings.
Overall, Nancy Barone's book is very enjoyable. It will appear to readers who want a strong but realistic female character, the one who would pick the double chocolate cake over the fruit salad.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 3.75/5

Many thanks to the lovely Oliver at Bookouture, The Husband Diet is available on 31st May.

Check out the Bookouture website, they are doing very interesting things in digital publishing and have some really exciting titles coming out!