This was such a sweet, positive book surrounding the wonderfulness that is food and that strange purgatory between the way you look and the stigma surrounding fatness. Bluebelle, the story's protagonist, is a wonderful main character who owns and loves her body, even though she struggles with the way she looks sometimes. The fact that she gets the guy and has a happy ending makes for such a different story about a plus sized lady, and it made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside while I was reading it. It's a powerful little spark of a novel that has so many parts of it that makes you just want to give it a big hug, that I want to press it into the hands of every girl and woman I know.

BB or Bluebelle, loves food but the trouble is her weight is what she's judged on by the doctors who examine her after a severe asthma attack and not her happiness. Unlike her sister Dove, a slim girl and opposite of Bluebelle who doesn't have to watch her weight at all.



Bluebelle makes a deal with her mum to keep the food diary her doctors request for six weeks over the holidays, so long as she can leave school and get a job. Striking a deal with her mum she starts her diary but will it work or make things worse?



Along the way her dad tries to win back their mum, Alicia at Planet Coffee becomes more bearable to be around surprisingly and Camille, Bluebelle's best friend endures her own summer holiday job before school resumes after they get their dreaded exam results!



The book tackles the issues of how we look at food, body image and self in a critical or loving way as society seems to swing from one extreme to another in view's mostly and this book shows how Bluebelle has a great sense of self not letting herself be brought down by any comments about her look or weight proving what a great main character she is as a happy, bold, bigger girl which is great!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Oh my goodness this book was so good I wanted to go right back to the beginning again once I'd finished so that I could read it again!

First of all this book is hilarious. If you haven't read anything by Laura Dockrill before then you won't know what an amazingly funny person she is, but once you're into the first 5 pages of this one, you will soon realise. But this book gave me all the feels. I cried in pats of it, i was nodding along in agreement with BB in parts and I was laughing, loudly, in public, during all the other parts. I love the way Laura Dockrill writes, she just writes how she speaks and she tells it like it is and I love her and her books because of that.

BB as a character is great. People often say that they wish they had had a book when they were x years old because it would have changed their lives and I don;t think I've really ever found anything like that before, but I wish I had had this book to read when I was 16 so I could know that someone else looked a bit like me and felt a bit like me but was still being a badass fierce member of society and just not giving a damn about what others thought about her.

This book is also an amazing advocate for body positivity. BB speaks about her body candidly and often. She talks about the words she does and doesn't like being called and why she likes her stretch marks and her rolls and her shape. I loved every moment of that. She does questions things about herself but then she has a frank discussion with herself and gets on with it.

There is also great coverage for teenagers in that time between GCSEs and sixth form and that identity crisis that it can cause. I think this is such a pivotal time and again I would have loved to hear from someone who was questioning their choices at that age and had the backup to support the choices she wanted to make.

The structure of this book is like a food diary and this book does come with a health warning because you will definitely be hungry as you are reading this book. Laura Dockrill has amazing skills of description when it comes to anything and her purely descriptive paragraphs are always a joy to read but she has outdone herself in this book. She talks about crumpets and describes them the way I feel about them, with an obvious emotional attachment. There is description of Bakewell tart and shepherds pie and toast and chips and millionaires shortbread. My Favourite 'chapters' are the one on Nutella and the one on croissants 'Truth be told, my ideal boyfriend would be a proper buttery, warm, we-put-together croissant: you could almost imagine the fold of the croissant opening up and closing around you, tucking you in for a great bit puffy hug.'. That says it all really!

At the beginning of Laura Dockrill's novel Darcy Burdock, Darcy states that her novel is for everyone except two of her enemies and young babies and I think that this is true of Big Bones. I think that although it is YA, it is definitely suitable for the younger end of that audience and upwards. You will find truth in this novel and this novel will definitely entertain you. I loved it and I know you will too!

Big Bones is the first YA novel that I have read in 2018 and I am glad I requested a digital copy from NetGalley. It was a lovely reading experience because Dockrill really knows how to write and the story was hilarious.

BB is awesome, her experiences brought back memories from when I was a teenager myself and her way of looking at life was refreshing. This is a story about body confidence and getting to accept who we really are – both physically and mentally.

It’s an easy read, very well written, funny, raw and honest. The book is intended to be Bluebelle’s food diary but in it, she also writes about her family, her thoughts and feelings, her aspirations, feminism and body positivity. To be honest, I’ve never read something like this before – this is not a book about a toxic relationship with food, in fact, it’s quite the opposite and it’s empowering.

The story was believable and I think it was only once or twice where I found myself doubting the plot. The characters were warm and seeing the heroine being so happy in her own skin was inspirational.

It’s a story about food, friends, boys and family but above all is a story about trying to be healthy, taking care of oneself and finding balance. I loved the development of BB’s attitude and genuinely enjoyed every page. All in all, this book is success and I hope everyone gets the chance to read it.

My current book for the middle of the night is Big Bones by Laura Dockrill. I have an e copy through Net Galley and requested it after seeing it mentioned on several YouTube channels. I wanted to read it and I wanted to love it.
But for about the first half of the book, I struggled. It even made me wonder if I'm too old for YA books. Or at least hose written with a teenage voice. Because I spent a lot of time feeling that things being said by the teenage main characters were quite irritating and didn't always ring true. But equally, from reading my teenage diaries I can see I was pretty irritating and said all kinds of things I didn't really mean. Also, at times I found myself really relating to the mum in the story. Seeing how she was stuck between a rock and a hard place while her children made decisions that would scare the crap out of me as a mum. Navigating through these times, balancing the attempt to be a good and responsible parent, your child's desires, and your relationship with the child. My child is seventeen months old and this is already hard, teenagers working their way to adulthood must be so much harder and scarier.
About half way through the book, though, I found my perspective start to shift and by the end I was so happy with the different characters and where they'd ended up. The teenagers grew up, the relationships across the board developed. So, I'm not too old for YA books and it's always worth giving a book a good chance!

Bluebelle knows she is not skinny and obsessed with losing weight like most teenage girls, but others are on her behalf. Bluebelle has a healthy attitude towards her life, although she does focus on food a lot. This makes the food diary funny in the way she addresses various items of food.
The family relationships are probably quite normal, if not conventional, but they do support one another which is great to see. There is sufficient sibling rivalry to be normal, which converts to protection once her sister injures herself. Bluebelle's best friend is also a great character.
This is a good book to show that teenage girls can be 'normal' and not the thoroughly unsuitable role models some YA books depict.

I knew I’d be into this story as going on the synopsis, I’ve seen some of the story in real life, and Laura Dockrill with these thoughts creates a story that feels raw and honest, but also confident and funny in it’s moments with an ending that’s touching but also one I can imagine happening, that’s real talent.

I was worried that BB’s happiness in her body would change, but thankfully this book is very much one about positivity and being happy with who you are and the writing is pretty good. BB’s descriptions of food are in particular really are mouthwatering (The crumpets at the beginning!) and do kind of make you hungry reading this book which I guess says the writing does get to you!

As a character Bluebell is sassy and a little egotistic, however she is probably one of my new favourite characters and I wish I was a dash like her myself and how the book is written is great too. I really enjoy diary form books and Dockrill uses it incredibly well in this book making for a fun read.

Big Bones is the story of Bluebelle (amazing name), who is very happy, and very confident in with who she is and how she looks. The problem is BB is morbidly obese, and that seems to be all the rest of the world sees.. A visit to the nurse sees BB tasked with writing a food diary, which soon becomes a journal of BB's life, loves and traumas, from shopping for clothes, her plans for her future, her family and their various dramas, friendship, romance, and, the thing I think most people will remember from the book - an incident involving a locked door, a dog bowl and a dodgy tummy.

It's an enjoyable book, Dockrill always does an amazing job of writing unrepentantly vivid, vibrant characters -
Bluebelle is a poster child for the body-positive movement, - but there were aspects of the book that turned me off, too. The use of 'almond-shaped green eyes' and 'buttery skin' as descriptors for a character of Filipino heritage jarred, as did a needlessly graphic scene involving invoked vomiting, and the general attitude of a professional nurse (a particular moment being when the nurse in question says to her sixteen year old patient "Well, you can look pretty in the grave then." after BB says she thinks she is pretty. I also felt the book was too long, with the first half largely concerning all the foods Bluebelle liked best, before finally swinging into a plot at the midpoint.

The ending is satisfying, with Bluebelle channelling her love for her body into wanting to make it strong, as opposed to the media-approved nonsense we're bombarded with, but by that point it felt rushed, and inevitable. I could have stood to see more time spent on developing BB's relationships on page, as the dynamic between her and her sister was the best part of the story. More of that with the other supporting characters would have been lovely.

A body-positive story about a girl who won't let her weight get in her way despite the pressures the rest of the world through at her. The message is important. However sometimes, the thoughts this 16 year old has seem far too grown-up. Still it was a great read with some incredibly poetic descriptions of food and how food makes her feel.

This book is really fun and it's so satisfying to see a confident, sassy girl with a plus size body. I related so much to her and I really enjoyed that. It was a bit boring sometimes and didn't seem to have a big plot but that may be as I've read so many heavy fantasy books lately.

I ADORED this book. In an age where so many foods are labelled as bad, dirty, unhealthy and nasty, this book is a hearty celebration of delicious meals. It is a warming jacket potato, filling up your belly and your heart. I want to read it all over again, right this second.

This is a real feel good book I loved it and could not put it down.

BB likes food and she has to keep a food diary after her mum makes her go and see a nurse.

This is not a diet book and it had parts that had me laughing out loud .

You feel like you are part of BB’s life and it was a real enjoyable read

It also made me hungry because the descriptions of the food are brilliant.

It makes you think about your relationship with food. BB has a toxic relationship with food and having been in that same place, I feel like I know what she is going through.

A brilliant book that has nice romance in it as well, and what I liked was for a change the romance was not the main part of the story.

A brilliant book that will make you feel for BB and laugh with her a brilliant book that will make you hungry.

I really enjoyed Laura Dockrill’s other Hot Key title, LORALI, and so was keen to read her newest YA novel – which is BIG BONES! It’s very different to LORALI but also still manages to capture so much of what made that book enjoyable.

This book is FUNNY. Warning: do NOT read on public transport. I got to a certain scene which involved ducks, a dog bowl, and an upset stomach, and made a horribly loud snorting noise on my commuter train. If you like the kind of humour of books like THE CONFESSIONS OF GEORGIA NICOLSON series, this will definitely be for you.

Bluebelle is body positive and a food lover – the descriptions of food in this book were so good I was getting hungry while I read it (definitely don’t read this book on an empty stomach, either). I enjoyed that it wasn’t a “diet” book – there’s nowhere where Bluebelle starves herself (there’s a point where she can’t make herself eat because she feels depressed, but that’s about it), but decides to “better” herself through exercising. She eats well throughout the whole book!

Another highlight: the romance in this is adorable! It’s not at the forefront of the book – Bluebelle has a lot of stuff to deal with in this novel – but it’s present, and well-developed, and entirely cute. The relationships with her sister, parents, coworkers and best friend are also all really well-drawn, with realistic dialogue and deep characterisation. And lots of descriptions of food. Tasty food. Mmm.

Damn, I made myself hungry again.

Dockrill is hilarious. This novel is by far the most wonderful addition to YA I've seen for a long time. Food positive and body positive, this is ideal for any teenager with a love of food. Each chapter is dedicated to a type of food, from avocados to shepherds pie and describes the beauty of food. 5/5.

'Big Bones' is a book about a teenage Bluebelle who loves food and even though she knows she weighs too much she loves her body and accepts her way too big size. The book is written as a food diary where each chapter has BB's favourite dish as a title. Bluebelle as a character is one of us: she is looking for love, she wants to be herself and she wants people to accept her the way she is. The book is quite funny but it definitely isn't hilarious - or it's just me. I really couldn't focus especially where all the food was described. I'm on a gluten free diet and I must admit that it was hard to read about all that delicious food. Warning - do not read it if you're on a diet!

I can't say I was a fan of this one unfortunately. I found the book wasn't as body positive as it purports to be and has some lines that I thought were downright silly. Early on BB says she was chewing her nails, not because she was nervous but because she just likes chewing...Because fat girls love eating, get it? I found this the opposite of body positive to be quite frank. I didn't think the voice of BB rang true either and I would hazzard a guess that the author is a thin person. There was no understanding of body positive movement or fat acceptance movement and it showed.
Aside from that issue I also found the cover, while beautiful, a little concerning as BB is supposed to be fat and the girl on the cover is not.
I couldn't really recommend this book to my students, particularly as I only finished it because it was a review copy and I felt like I had to. Readers looking for a truly body positive representation of a fat teenage girl should check out Dumplin' by Julie Murphy