Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell by Taj McCoy
Do you ever find yourself wanting to read a good Romance? One of those books where a dynamically developed heroine and a fine, hard-working man overcome their hangups and fall madly in love? Where you swoon at every interaction and hold the book to your chest once you reach the end?
That was me after reading Seven Days in June and ever since, I’ve been looking for something that gives me that feeling.
Savannah “Savvy” Sheldon is living what she thinks is the best life she can get—until a demoralizing breakup in which her boyfriend tells her he needs an “upgrade”. No, she did not bust the windows out of his car *sigh*.
She decided her best course of action was to get even! Savvy decides it’s time to focus on herself starting with a “revenge” body, renovations to her crumbling kitchen, and obtaining a shred of work-life balance.
Of course, this plan is thrown into chaos—pun intended—when she starts falling for Spencer, the sexy contractor hired to break down her walls *hehe*.
If this sounds like the makings for an “all the feels” kind of read, you’re right except… this one left a bit to be desired. This book is listed as a Romance, but I would categorize it more as Women’s Fiction.
While I love that Savvy jumped into once-loved hobbies that she’d neglected over the years, I also wanted to see the build-up of her relationship with Spencer. Instead, the romance was more of a sub-subplot as Savvy spent the majority of the novel, playing tennis, going to yoga, and drinking with her friends.
And ok, her friendship with Maggie and Joan was one of my favorite aspects of the book. They were super supportive and encouraging, even though they didn’t agree with Savvy’s plans.
Yet even this began to outshine the development of the romantic relationship and her personal development. Savvy was hardly ever alone which left no time to be truly introspective about who she was and who she wanted to be. Something she really, really needed to do.
The breakup does a number on her self-esteem and while it made her realize she’d changed herself to accommodate her ex, it didn’t cause her to dig deeper. She put a lot of energy into doing activities that brought her joy, but I think there was a missed opportunity to show that it’s doing the inner work of learning to love ourselves that will bring the most joy.
This was perhaps the most jarring thing for me about the story, especially since what ended up making Savvy feel “good as hell” was being validated by the male gaze.
She started her revenge body plan in response to a man’s opinion and though her friends kept telling her she was beautiful and to accept herself as she was, it seemed to me that it wasn’t until she realized Spencer was truly attracted to her that she began to think less about weight loss.
Still, despite this, the book did a great job of showcasing that sometimes the things we think we need are the very things preventing us from being our best selves.
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