I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting memoir from a bra-fitter/writer. The book was heartbreakingly sad and hilarious. I loved the all of the shoppers and constantly rooted for Natalee.

This was a really excellent book and provided a different take on retail. I liked that it was a very personal story, and how it highlighted that the author found a family at her employer, as well as her traditional family. I would recommend this book to everyone. I liked how the author treated all people with respect in her role, and enjoyed reading the life stories and lessons she learned from all the different customers.

Subtitled "Confessions of a Professional Bra Fitter" this was the rather tedious story of the author's experiences in the lingerie section of a department store, fitting women for bras. The blurb tells us that "Woven into the humor are subtle and profound insights into larger issues, such as the relationship between women and their bodies, evolving ideas about women's breasts and their sexual, social, and cultural implications, and how women negotiate all these influences and pressures as they stand before the mirror in the dressing room," but I got very little of that!

I gave up on this about a third of the way through as I read what seemed to be the same story yet again - of fitting an older woman with overly large and/or pendulous breasts for a bra, or of fitting a youngster for a bra, or of fitting a 'thrown over wife' for a bra. It was far too repetitive in describing the women, describing the sweat, describing the lingerie draped on hangers, describing grabbing the tape measure.

It offered no insights whatsoever into "larger issues" unless those issues were breasts, and it seemed far more interested in fangirling over the guy in men's suits than exploring the female condition. I think we would have gotten far better insights into that very topic - and more authentic and realistic ones - if this same author had hung out in the fitting area of a Target store and listened in on the conversations there rather than in an exclusive, high-priced department store.

You can't take the experiences and mindsets of rich, spoiled women and think they apply to everyone. It doesn't work like that, and even if it did, as I said, no such insights were forthcoming unless they were all held back for the second half of the book where, like a female fitting room, I had no interest in venturing. Based on what I read, I can't recommend this. I had expected a lot better from someone who writes for Huff Post. I guess I learned my lesson!

Great story. Couldn’t put it down. Great character development. Definitely recommend. Would be a great book to gift.

Natalee swore she would not work in retail. No how, no way. Then needing money, during summer break from school, she ends up in the only job she can find, retail. Not just and retail, she's in the bra department being trained as a bra size expert. She isn't thrilled. But, working at different stores in different towns, she learns that things happen for a reason. From fitting 10 year old beauty pageant girls to women with mastectomy's to women who are transitioning, she hears different stories and learns valuable lessons. This a fun book. I enjoyed it immensely. It is funny in parts, serious in parts, but above all Natalee keeps it real. Loved it!!

Such a nice book. It was heartwarming and all around nice. It is an easy read. Would recommended giving this book a read!


#NetGalley #BoobJob
Book Published: April 9, 2019
Review Published: June 24, 2018

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Parts of it are hilarious and parts of it (not so many) are a little sad. It is truly illuminating to see how women suffer so much from body shame or anxiety. I worked in retail in my early days and also relate to customer quirks and difficulties. Ms Woods wraps the store vignettes around her life experiences outside her job ( mother dying etc) in a satisfying manner. All in all, I recommend this book as an easygoing read.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

A hilarious read! I started this book late at night, and kept waking up my husband with my laughing. This is a very entertaining book, and I'll definitely read the finished copy when it comes out next year.

This was a quick read about the ins and outs of working as a bra fitter. I never realized how awkward this job could be on a daily basis, and yet how rewarding it could be, as well.

There were hilarious stories about women with unbelievable expectations about just how much a bra could change their lives. Then there were heartbreaking stories about a bra fitting being more than a bra fitting.

The author writes with humor and emotion, a great combination. I would recommend this book to friends and family.

This is a fictitious memoir of a college student who got a job in a department store fitting bras. IMHO it’s very silly and insensitive, but I’m sure it will appeal to some readers.

There’s just nothing much to say about it. It’s light fare and moves quickly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

As a former Victoria's Secret employee, I related to this book so much. I worked there the summer after my senior year of high school and through my first two years of college breaks. It was hands down the most fun and uncomfortable job I have ever had. The personal customer stories had me laughing and were so heartfelt that it felt as if I was back working at VS. Natalee's tale is full of finding your self worth and place in this world all while making friendships, losing people you love and meeting interesting characters along the way who open up your eyes to new and different ways of life. This book made me feel as if I was 18 again and walking into a clients fitting room and never knowing what to expect. I learned very quickly to leave my insecurities and qualms of feeling uncomfortable at the door. The job opened my eyes to many things, characters and it taught me how to love myself by seeing how other dealt with insecurities. This book and my time as a Victoria's Secret employee reminded me that we can handle what life throws at us and in some unfamiliar way find ourselves.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the privilege of reading this book. I wasn’t expecting to finish it as quickly as I did, I started it and couldn’t put it down! I had never thought about the world of Bra fitting and thanks to Natalee, I have a new appreciation for them! Part I was a more lighter read and Part II sucked me and even made me tear up a bit! This book illustrates that you never know what someone else is going thru. Natalee came across many different women who were dealing with their own struggles, which helped put things into perspective in Natalee’s own world. I loved that she put fully little characters in to lighten the content. I would recommend this to any girl who is looking for a little laugh and who has spent time in that stressful uncomfortable bra fitting room.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2414061653

As a person with breasts, who also abhors bra shopping, this book intrigued me. Boob Job does a great job showcasing the weird underbelly of a lingerie department (in a store that I assumed was Nordstrom). It's a funny, light and memoir.

This book is part humor, part self-help guide--all wrapped up in a memoir that reads like a novel full of vignettes. Natalee shares how the job "professional bra fitter" continued to fall into her lap and how specific customers--including an aging grandmother, a women in transition, a young woman looking for her first set of lingerie, and a stripper--all left an impression or taught her a lesson while working.

Written as short vignettes that push a larger story, some parts of the story are slower than others, while some parts are actually quite humorous. An easy read--I read it in the span of one evening--but lighthearted, funny and a nice break from the typical true crime, mystery, or social justice books I tend to read regularly!

[I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.]

This is a memoir that reads like a novel.....I even double checked to see that it didn't say 'a novel' on the front! It was a nice, 'cozy' read. I guess I never thought too much about such a career, but see how some of the stories were 'fitting' to that job..... The author also tells of some things going on outside the store, in her personal life....so maybe that's why I was thinking it was somewhat like a novel? Anyway, it was interesting to read about how that job works.
I received this e-galley from NetGalley, in return for my own fair & honest review.

Natalee's Wood is a professional bra fitter. She works for a well known retail outlet. She's been fitting bars for over a decade but it's less about the boobs and more about the people. She forges relationships with many of the people who she assists. Some are fleeting others are long standing. Some are more memorable than others.

Be prepared to laugh and if you've worked retail - you'll easily recall your favorite and least favorite moments in the industry. More often than now our body images are tied to our breasts and something as simple as the perfect bra size can up one's spirits. Our breasts define as a women and many of us have complex relationships with them. I myself have gone from loathing them to loving them.

Go out get your bra fitted and pick up a copy of this super fast, easy, entertaining
read.

It is always so interesting how different women react to their bodies. Body image is so important to women. They diet and exercise and have plastic surgery to achieve what they think is the perfect body. And then they continue to agonize over it.

Natalee Woods is going through a difficult time in her life. She is at the cusp of adulthood. She is about to go out on her own and find out who she is as a n adult when her mother dies. Though she feels bad leaving her father, she feels it is important to get away and start a job in a new place. As she establishes herself as the grow up she feels she should be. She gets her first job, quite by accident, as a sales person in the lingerie department of a clothing store.

In a narrative that takes the reader through her experiences with the women who come into her department and her dressing room, Natalee learns from these women how to navigate life without her mother. Then her father becomes ill and she goes through a few love interests. Each time she questions herself, someone comes into the dressing room and shares a story about their bodies and their lives that makes Natalee either feel better about her situation or helps her understand herself better.

The stories of the women who come through her lingerie department are fascinating. I think that is really the most interesting part of this book. Though Natalee is somewhat interesting, I do not think this book would be as good if the women who come through and tell their stories did not share their experiences. It is kind of amazing that women feel so open when stepping into a dressing room and trying on bras.

This book was funny at times but at other times it dragged on a bit. I never really wondered what a bra fitter would think before but now that I know, I appreciate good ones a bit more now. I understand that this book was about her personal life too but it seemed to slow the book a bit down. Otherwise, pretty light and fun book.

Boob Job: Confessions of a Professional Bra Fitter tells about the years the author, Natalee Woods, spent working in lingerie departments as a certified bra fitter. Woods shares anecdotes about the customers she assisted (some of whom were more difficult to deal with than others), along with memorable events in her personal life.

What I Liked

It's not surprising that my favorite part of the book was the many stories Woods shared about her work life. Her customer encounters went from humorous to heartbreaking and back again, and I spent most of my reading experience laughing out loud, or tearing up when a customer was in the midst of a vulnerable moment in the fitting room. There were moments when I found myself shocked at outrageous behaviors, or wincing in empathy for young girls being publicly embarrassed by overbearing mothers.

I also enjoyed reading about her friendship with a fellow fitter named Farrah, and a relationship she had with a man who worked in another area of the store, as well as stories about her parents. It was a nice way to see more about her life, outside of work.

What I Didn't Like

I didn't particularly care for the way the book ended. When I reached the end, my immediate thought was that it felt abrupt. I suppose I was expecting an epilogue of sorts: a brief chapter that wrapped up Woods' career as a bra fitter, and shared what came next. In my opinion, not having something like that at the end left it feeling a tad unfinished. Perhaps I'm too picky about things like that, but that's how I felt.

Final Thoughts

This is a pleasant read, written about a subject I've never read about before—which is exactly what appealed to me about this book. The best part of this book (for me) were the customers she encountered in her work. It was a lot of fun to read about those fitting room situations, and the hilarity that (sometimes) ensued in the store. The more somber conversations that took place within the safety of those walls were thought provoking and profound, at times.

The book is well written and engaging, but the unfinished feeling the book left me with diminished my earlier enjoyment of the book, unfortunately. I struggled with choosing a star rating that felt appropriate, ultimately settling on 3.5 stars due to my dissatisfaction with the ending. Don't let this deter you from giving this book a try, however—it's well worth giving it a try so you can experience those same laugh-out-loud moments I enjoyed so much.

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Amberjack Publications via Netgalley.

If you want an entertaining, light read that will make you laugh, and weep at times, this book will do the job. Bra fitter, not someone you run into unless you're shopping for a bra, but the experiences Natalee describes will help you truly capture what this job truly entails, and it's so much more than finding the right bra!