Quick Synopsis

Britta didn’t plan on falling for her personal trainer, and Wes didn’t plan on Britta. Plans change and it’s unclear if love, career, or both will meet them at the finish line.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Britta Colby works for a lifestyle website, and when tasked to write about her experience with a hot new body-positive fitness app that includes personal coaching, she knows it’s a major opportunity to prove she should write for the site full-time.

As CEO of the FitMi Fitness app, Wes Lawson finally has the financial security he grew up without, but despite his success, his floundering love life and complicated family situation leaves him feeling isolated and unfulfilled. He decides to get back to what he loves—coaching. Britta’s his first new client and they click immediately.

As weeks pass, she’s surprised at how much she enjoys experimenting with her exercise routine. He’s surprised at how much he looks forward to talking to her every day. They convince themselves their attraction is harmless, but when they start working out in person, Wes and Britta find it increasingly challenging to deny their chemistry and maintain a professional distance.

Wes isn’t supposed to be training clients, much less meeting with them, and Britta’s credibility will be sunk if the lifestyle site finds out she’s practically dating the fitness coach she’s reviewing. Walking away from each other is the smartest thing to do, but running side by side feels like the start of something big.

Book Review

I enjoyed Denise Williams’s debut novel, How to Fail at Flirting. Knowing that many people loved her sophomore novel even more, I was excited to pick up The Fastest Way to Fall.

The Fastest Way to Fall is a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance in which Britta, a journalist at a lifestyle site, signs up for a fitness app as part of a work project and is paired with Wes, the app’s CEO, as her online fitness coach. However, neither disclose their true motives or job titles.

I really love the fat representation in this novel. Britta is fat and happy with her body. She looks good and knows it, yet decides to try a fitness routine to feel better. There is no real talk of diets for Britta in sight. There is simply a fat woman happy and confident in with the way she looks. (As a bonus, there is a fitness app and coach that is all about true health and not thinness.) I thought Williams did a great job showing that Britta’s contentment with her body did not exclude her from feeling society’s anti-fatness. Was the fat representation perfect? No, but this book may just be the best fat representation in fiction that I have read so far.

However, I wish I could say that the rest of The Fastest Way to Fall worked as well for me. I could not get past the very contrived plot. When Britta and Wes begin communicating, I had a hard time believing the unnatural progression. Their flirting and eventual meeting up was so awkward and uncomfortable. There was no way I could lose myself in the flirtation that felt like a creepy middle school fantasy. In fact, I initial put down the book and decided to DNF and possibly return to it in the future. My weird guilt got the best of me, and I obviously keep slogging through to the end.

The main conflict in The Fastest Way to Fall is that neither protagonist fully discloses their job to the other. Normally, this would not be the biggest deal (although it would be super unusual), but how they meet is centered around their professional roles. The ethical issues with their jobs stressed me out. The fact that it did not worry the character’s more seemed unrealistic. Neither tried to immediately address the situation, despite there being an easy solution, and instead waited until shit hit the fan. At that point, I was annoyed with both characters for making stupid choices that they knew would end poorly. A majority of the conflict could have been easily avoided by making responsible decisions in the interest of their careers and livelihoods. You cannot convince me that two (presumed) millennials would make these choices. Have you met us?

In addition, there were elements to the plot that came across as forced or incongruous. Their is a vindictive ex that was totally unnecessary, not to mention toxic. At one point, Wes takes up a whole knight in shining armor act that precipitates him meeting Britta. This felt at odds with Britta’s character development, and it broke so many rules at his job. I will not go into the illogical climax for fear of spoilers. All in all, I could not fully enjoy the romance when it did not feel like a natural progression.

Overall, The Fastest Way to Fall is a novel with strong fat representation but an unconvincing plot. While fiction is inherently manufactured, I believe it should be believable and not feel artificial. If you find it easy to look past these issues, I recommend this book simply for its fat protagonist.

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