I’m going to let you in on a little secret. It’s something I haven’t really shared with anybody before, but anyone who really knows me probably won’t be surprised. I’m a food addict. Yup, it’s true. I LOVE food with a passion. I come by it honestly. All of our family events evolve around food. We love to eat it, we love to share new recipes, and we wouldn’t consider getting together without planning a massive eating event. Are we all grossly overweight? Not at all. Some of us are slightly more rounded than we’d like to be (me!) but we have to make sure we get enough exercise and eat more carefully in between our gastronomic events.
I tell you this because I’ve always battled that extra 10 to 20 pounds. Even as a teen I was rounder than I wanted to be. Along with this battle came self-love issues. Obviously, it’s all tied together in a society that values thin bodies above all things. I consider my near obsessive love of food an addiction. The problem with a food addiction is you can’t remove the temptation completely from your life. You need to eat. You need to have food around all the time. Which means you have to have a tremendous strength of will to avoid overeating. About the best you can do is eat stuff that tastes like butt. I mean, isn’t that pretty much what a diet is? Eating stuff you probably wouldn’t touch with a ten inch spatula if you weren’t trying to carve a few inches of jiggly stuff off your hips? But if you truly love food. If you have a passion for it like I do…it’s incredibly sad to force tasteless, rubbery food down your gullet when there’s so much yummy stuff around you could be enjoying.
My solution? I wish I had one. I generally try to avoid the worst offenders such as things that are fried or laden with butter and cream. I eat smaller quantities and try to work out regularly. I’m not perfect, as evidenced by my still curvy form, but I don’t want to live my life hating and depriving myself.
If, like me, you’ve fought against weight gain for a while and are tired of fighting the battle, you’ll enjoy The Biggest Poser. This book is based loosely on the reality show of almost the same name #:0) and deals with the battle of the bulge in a fun story filled with characters you’ll love, characters you’ll hate, and, as an added bonus, gives you a mystery to solve and a romance to enjoy along the way.
Personal trainer for the ever popular, Lose it! reality show, Jillie Maxwell is up for the most important award of her career. And she’s competing against the biggest b-eye-itch she’s ever met. Fortunately for her, she has the sexiest man alive in her corner. Problem is, each and every one of them has a dirty little secret that could tank a career.
For the contestants, the race is on to lose the most weight and win everything. For the staff of the popular weight loss show, the clock is ticking to the culmination of their lies and the possibility of losing it all.
Will the Biggest Poser win? Or will the lies just grow and grow until they sink the whole show? Only one thing is certain. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be an entertaining ride!
EXCERPT:
She found him in the gym, working his pecs with a couple of twenty-pound weights. She stood just inside the door and watched him for a few minutes, enjoying the way his muscles flexed against the thin T-shirt and shorts he wore. Sweat gave his skin a fine sheen and darkened the material of his shirt around the neckline and across his broad back.
Jillie’s thighs tightened at the sight. She chewed on her bottom lip, losing all desire to confront him with the letter. She shoved the letter deeper inside her hoodie pocket and started to turn around.
“Jillie?”
She stopped and, taking a deep breath, turned to face him, forcing a smile.
He stood next to the weight bench, a towel around his neck. He was grinning. “Did you come to work out?”
She hesitated only a moment and then lied through her teeth. “Yeah. I did. I didn’t expect to find you here.”
He mopped at his face with the towel. “I was just thinking about you.”
Pleasure spiked and her smile softened. “You were? What were you thinking?” She headed across the room.
“I was going over a recipe in my mind. I thought of you because I know you’d like it.”
“Ooh, now you’re talking my language.” She headed for a treadmill and climbed on, setting it for a five percent incline and five miles per hour to warm up. Brandt took the treadmill next to her. “It’s a mocha fudge cake, with mousse frosting.”
“Oh. My. God! That can’t possibly be low calorie.”
“I think it will be. I have some things to work out. But I have a high level of confidence I can make it happen.”
Jillie shook her head. “If I hung out with you I’d weigh a thousand pounds.” She upped the miles per hour and broke into a run. The sound of the treadmill Brandt was on changed, telling her he’d upped his speed too. When she looked over, he was staring at her.
“No. You wouldn’t. First of all, my recipes only taste fattening. They aren’t really fattening. Secondly, you’d work off every calorie.”
The look he gave her made her miss a step and almost fall off the treadmill. She gasped and grabbed the handle bar, barely keeping herself upright. When she looked at him again he’d notched a single eyebrow upward, his eyes sparking with humor.
Jillie wasn’t brave enough to ask him how she’d work off those calories. She upped her speed another mile per hour and he followed. She turned to him and found him grinning. “Is this a challenge?”
“What do you think?”
She snorted. “I think you’ll lose, cook.”
The other eyebrow notched up to match its twin. “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?”
Jillie bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling and nodded. “Yeah. That’s how it’s gonna be.”
“All right then. Bring it, trainer.”
“Five percent incline, cook.”
He increased his incline.
Jillie reached up and increased the speed two more notches. She was running full out on a five percent incline. “Nine miles per hour.”
He frowned. “Oh please, I can do that in my sleep.”
She snorted. “Ten it is then. I was trying to take it easy on you.”
Brandt laughed outright. “We’ll see who’s left standing in twenty minutes.”
“Thirty.”
“Thirty-five is my final offer.”
Done. “Forty minutes.”
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Sam Cheever's published work includes 50+ books of romantic suspense and fantasy/paranormal. Her books have won the Dream Realm Award for fantasy and The Swirl (interracial romance) Award. They've been nominated for and/or won several CAPAs, have been nominated multiple years for “Best of” with LRC and The Romance Reviews, and have won eCataromance’s Reviewer’s Choice award. Sam is published with Musa Publishing, Changeling Press; and Ellora’s Cave. She also publishes as Declan Sands, writing m/m fiction, and under her own imprint, Electric Prose Publications.
In real life, Sam lives in a cabin in the woods with 13 dogs and one husband. A self-proclaimed dog-aholic, Sam insists she's holding at 13...maybe...
Learn more about Sam Cheever on her website and blog Eclectic Insights. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find Sam on Goodreads, her Amazon Author Page, and About. Me.
