4.5 Priceless StarsThis is one of those tug-at-your-heartstrings books that I just adore to bits. This is the story of Lilly. LillyLilly is rich. Thanks to her Grandma, Lilly will never have to worry about money. Ever. She has them in spades. What she also has in spades is excess pounds. Yup! If you haven't already deduced from the title, Lilly is a plus-size girl. She's insecure about her weight, yes, but she wasn't obsess with it. I mean, this girl embraces ice cream and swears that Spanx is the greatest invention ever. Love her!DevinDevin is a down-on-his-luck mechanic who needed money in order to pay his father's debts or else they will lose their house and their business. Devin couldn't afford to lose their house and Lilly's mom just provided him with a way out. The catch? Devin must date her daughter for three months and she will pay off their debt. Devin set to motion his plan and get his family out of debt except that he didn't count on falling in love with Lilly. I loved this story from beginning to end. The plot is really simple and you might say, predictable but it was well written, with witty dialogue and very likable characters. Romance books tend to be hero-centric, and more often than not, we get a whiny, unlikable heroine. Not so in this book. I loved Lilly from the start. She's funny, sweet, relatable and spunky. Something happened to Lilly when she was 15 years old which scarred her physically, and emotionally. What happened to her just broke my heart. It's totally easy to understand why Devin fell for her in spite of her "weight" issues. Devin was a lovable character, too. His mother left him and his sister when they were young. He could have gone on to do something else that he likes but responsibilities kept him close to home. So when their house and their livelihood are threatened, he had no choice but to accept "the proposition." I should hate Lilly's mom for interfering. She was a snob but I did feel that what she did came from the heart, however misguided it was. I'm glad that she made her own realizations at the end. It redeemed her character somewhat. The writing in this book is absolutely refreshing. We get to spend time in both Lilly and Devin's head, which is a plus. And both characters are funny. Another plus. And this book also have some awesome secondary characters. Case in point, Jenny, Devin's sister, and Shannon, Lilly's roommate, who is so going to get a new book soon. I hope. They were great addition to this awesome book. And yes, it has some angst to it, especially during the last 25% of book, which is to be expected considering the story line. But totally manageable. Nothing over the top. And best of all, it has a great epilogue. :)Favorite quotes/lines from the book...There are few things in my life that you’d have to pry from my cold, dead fingers before they were ever taken from me. The first thing is my Spanx. Which, in my opinion, are the best man-made contraptions ever, better than electricity or chocolate. The creators of these life changing pieces of cloth should be put on a pedestal for all the chubby girls of the world to worship. Spanx, the body shaping devices of the fatty girl world…I bow down to you. I don’t know what they’re made of, or who came up with this fantastical idea, but they’re a godsend. If it wasn’t for my Spanx, every fat roll I own would spill forth like frothy white volcano lava.Creator of Spanx...Finally, the third thing that I couldn’t live without is ice cream. As far as I was concerned, ice cream could heal broken bones if applied directly to the skin. Think about it. If you considered how many broken hearts ice cream has mended, it wouldn’t really seem that outlandish. Not to mention, ice cream is full of calcium. Calcium + bones = good!A girl after my own heart...“You’re that guy—tall, dark, handsome and totally untouchable. You’re mysterious, which drives the girls wild, and all that confidence you have wrapped around yourself is a turn on, too. You’re a challenge and it’s like encoded in human DNA to go after a challenge. I’m willing to bet you have a hundred different walls up to keep people out, which of course makes the girls even crazier. They all want to be the first one to know the real you and I bet you love your car…which is probably some really great classic mustang that you’ve named Bertha or some other horrible old lady name.”So, if you may ask whether I would recommend this book, my answer would be, heck yeah, I would totally recommend this book. This one is a keeper.
