Here's a twist... I like the TV movie version better than the book! I saw the movie about a couple weeks ago on Lifetime Movie Network (titled Lying to be Perfect) and enjoyed it. Poppy Montgomery was wonderful as Nola Devlin/Belinda Apple. Her leading man, real husband Adam Kaufman as David Stanton Jr. wasn't bad either. A 21st century Cinderella fairy tale rendition ... instead of pitiful to princess, it's fat to skinny. Can we guess why that attracted me? Yeap, someone's been carrying an extra load or two *huge grin*, so I can certainly relate!I'm not sure if I would have liked the book version better than the movie adaptation had I read the book first. I just really enjoyed the movie take on it. I would even venture to say it's just about completely different. The only thing that stayed the same was the plot ... fat lady takes on an alter ego to stay afloat in her career and in the process becomes skinny and ends up with a rich handsome man. Sexiest? Not exactly. Certainly if you go political on it, but then you'd lose the fun of a simple romance story. It's simply a chick flick/read.Synopsis by Goodreads:Nola Devlin has a secret identity. By day she is an overweight, frumpy, and overlooked editor at Sass! (the "celebrity magazine with an edge!"), but by night she slips behind her keyboard and into her alter-ego: Belinda Apple. Belinda is thin, gorgeous, British and the author of a trendy advice column- she is, in effect, the latest Carrie Bradshaw. Not even Nola's two best friends or her self-absorbed sister (who worships Belinda as the "sister she never had") know her secret. When "Belinda" jots off a column about how easy it is to lose weight, Nola is shocked when her best friends take her own lies to heart and urge her to follow Belinda's weight loss program. Since Nola can't reveal herself as the real Belinda Apple, she bites the bullet and joins her friends in making the "Cinderella Pact"- a last ditch attempt to lose weight (again!) and transform their lives for good. But as the pounds come off, things don't turn out the way the three friends expect. Their journey of self-discovery leads to the return of an old love and the unmasking of new problems. Meanwhile, Nola finds herself torn between two different men as she stomps out fires caused by her deception as Belinda Apple and falls in love with the man who just might be her prince - or the rat in coachman's clothing.
This book was so positive and delightful that I'm going to put it as one of my new favorites. Nola Devlin's story is real and refreshing. I wished the movie , "Lying to be perfect", was more centered around the book. The movie was cute and that's why I ordered the book but turns out that the book is nothing like the movie, go figure. For one thing, "Chip" is nothing like the actor in the movie, which makes reading about him awkward. "Nola", though, is perfect. The actress that played her part was exactly what I thought "Nola" should have looked like, albeit the brown hair (from the book). I do have to say that the beginning of the movie was much like the book but the rest was pure Hollywood. So if you want to watch the movie I still say it pretty good just not exactly what the book was about. For you readers out there. Try this book. The love story is genious, the mother/daughter/sister relationships are freakishly exact, and the weight loss battle is what most every woman battling obesity goes through. It's a 5 star book. Read it!!!
What do You think about The Cinderella Pact (2006)?
The introductory list of the steps to transforming yourself into Cinderella was so overblown I thought it was satire. I was intrigued by the idea of a trashy chick lit novel that championed self-love and internal growth as keys to happiness while challenging mainstream sizeist stereotypes. If you, too, are looking for that book, The Cinderella Pact is not it. If you're looking for another re-warmed version of the same fatphobic, "if you love yourself, you'll loose weight," "happiness and success come when the pounds are gone" shaming of plus-sized women you've probably heard all your life, then this novel fits the bill. Also, prepare for lots of triggering descriptions of delicious food, followed by didactic harping on weight watchers points, the joys of jogging, and "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" messages.I'll be real with you: I'm not fat. I've never been fat. I've never been on a diet or joined weight watchers. So far, that's the way my genes have worked out for me. That said, I'm still sick of being told that my value is in my appearance and that doing my best to look conventionally attractive is my only shot at a happy life.I didn't hate The Cinderella Pact, but dang, Strohmeyer could have done a lot better. Fat women can have love, satisfaction, and happy endings without loosing weight, too. Just do an internet search for fatkini and you can see a whole lot of big ladies enjoying their lives, and I think taking pleasure in good things is a better aspiration than getting skinny.
—Little
This book reads like an ad for Weight Watchers.And it has that familiar chick lit plot where the main character gets herself into a ridiculous situation and lies and lies and lies to cover it up until the crushing weight of her stupid lies forces her to come clean. And then, well, not much happens and she gets the guy. This plot is so annoying! Especially when I'm supposed to believe that Nola is intelligent and talented when the complete stupidity of the situation she has gotten herself into makes her seem like a moron.And the romantic interest is named Chip. Chip. The principal of my school when I was younger was named Chip; I do not want to picture him when the Chip in this book is supposed to be some Hottie McHotterson.It's not a badly written book. I'm sure a lot of other people would enjoy it. But I don't like plots centered around endless lying, and I don't like people named Chip, and I'm uninterested in weight loss stories.It just wasn't for me.
—Jojo
Shockingly, I liked this book. At first, I thought it would be just another "Chick-Lit" book with self-loathing characters who whine about their problems. However I enjoyed Nola and her alter-ego Belinda Apple. Although there was some self-loathing on her part, in the end, she turned her life around. She started eating healthy, exercising, and even paid for her sister's dream wedding even after her sister thought so little of her. Her weight loss struggle seemed very realistic with the weight wa
—Carol
