Review: Woman of Substance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2013
Robin "Robbie" Smith is a twenty-five year old grad student majoring in Human Resources.  Robbie's thesis is to determine how society treats people who are different from them.  Mainly how society judges people who are obese.  In her case, how obsese women are treated.Jake Proctor is a thirty-five-year old professor of Anthropology.  He has been accused of stealing $15,000 from his project's fund.  He is taking a leave of absence while the investigation into the missing funds is going on and he is using the time to spend with his dying grandfather, the only family member he has left.With the help of three women, Mavis, Sharon, and Margaret, who are all overweight themselves and struggling with and finding their own ways to deal with society's perception of them, Robbie transforms from a small sized woman into a large woman.On Robbie's first outing as Robin, she meets an elderly man named Frank Proctor.  Frank is the grandfather of Jake and he is also dying of leukemia.  Robin reminds Frank of his late wife Mabel.  They quickly begin a friendship.In the beginning, Jake is suspicious of Robin and thinks she's trying to pry upon an old man.  Frank and Robin like each other and get along really good.  Once Jake realizes that Robin isn't trying to pry upon Frank, he asks Robin to spend more time with his Grandfather.  Jake is even willing to pay Robin for her time; something she is very upset by.  Jake's heart is actually in the right place.  He's concerned about his Grandfather being alone too much in the final days he has left.While Robin is forming a bond with Frank, she's also forming a friendship with Jake.  At different points in time throughout the book, Jake and the real Robbie meet on various occasions.  Robbie is terrified that at some point Jake is going to figure out what she's up to.  Jake seems to become very comfortable with Robin, but not so comfortable with Robbie.  It appears that Robin with her size and her caring nature reminds Jake of his Grandmother.Jake accidently discovers that Robbie is actually Robin and that she put on a fat suit for the purpose of her thesis, on the same day his Grandfather passes away.  This discovery makes Jake question just who Robbie/Robin really is and if everything about her was just part of her act.  Jake has to come to terms with his past and be willing to look inside himself.Woman of Substance is categorized as being a woman's fiction/sweet romance book.  For me, Woman of Substance is simply about realizing that it isn't what a person looks like on the outside.  It's about realizing that the true heart, soul, spirit and beauty of a person is what's on the inside.Source: Blog Tour HostReviewed for Read Your Writes Book Reviews