This book was funny and clever. The bakery backdrop was new and it made for some interesting situations. At first I found the main character a little self centered and hard to like, but she grew on me. The character development was good and believable, but the story dragged a bit in the middle. I did read it quickly so it held my attention for the most part. The sister, cousin, in-laws and co-workers are all portrayed as likable and unique. The carpenter was a bit ehh for me. The end of the book wrapped up too quickly and there wasn’t really closure with those two characters, but the writing flowed and there were lots a funny lines. I liked it.

I felt sad for Kit the majority of this book as she truly didn't seem to like herself or attribute any self worth despite the support of her husband David or her family whether it be her own or his. As a result, "cheat day" was a double entendre as her relationships with Matt and the desire to actually enjoy food and get away from Regiment Regime. This book makes you realize to appreciate whom you surround yourself with and why it is important to love yourself. Living in a lie is not truly living.

I loved this book! A smart and funny satire that explored hunger in various forms--physical, emotional, caloric :). Overall, a supremely well-written debut novel!

A story about a woman, her husband, her affair, and her unhealthy obsession with eating “healthy.” TW: eating disorder

Okay, let me just get this out of the way. Yes, this book is basically about a rich white woman and her first-world problems BUT it was entertaining as hell, and I flew through it!
A big part of this book deals with Kit coming to a sort of standstill in her life that leads her to go back to a job she’s not sure she wants and cheat on her workaholic husband with the carpenter that’s working at her sister's bakery. All meanwhile, we see how her obsession with eating “healthy” puts a strain on all her relationships.

CHEAT DAY comes out May 25th. Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC.

This book was not what I was expecting. I was looking for some light hearted diet fiction and got a mid life crisis affair with very subtle hints of longing for a child.
That is not to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I think I did. But for a character so obsessed with diets, she didn’t talk about her diet or body very often. Also this may only be me, but for me to relate to this type of book I need a baseline concept of the dieter’s size or weight.

I really wanted to love this book because of the cover and thought this would be fluffy about food and enemies to lover type plot. It was in a sense, but the main character Kit is intensely dislikable and insecure. Yes, she is in a work slump and finds work in her sister's bakery but her personal life is great. She ruins it in the worst way and tries to cover her tracks.

Disappointed and not what I expected. Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Liv Stratman and Scribner for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available" 5/25/21

It’s hard to read a book that makes
yon hungry? And this one does? Maybe that’s because the main characters poor decisions seem directly tied to her problematic relationship with food - which ultimately makes the reader a bit peckish! Books about affairs are nothing new, but this authors tie to dieting and esteem issues are certainly a different approach to a tried and true genre. Thank you for the advance copy - always appreciated, especially when we
are all so home bound!

Cheat Day can be mistaken to compliment the plot in which our self absorbed, selfish, cruel MC attempts many diets where she inevitably fails them before she can complete them, until she starts to have an affair, losing her relationship with her husband while nearly accomplishing the one diet that is working for her. However, un-ironically, Cheat Day can refer to how often she has an affair with a carpenter who works at her sister’s bakery.

I gave this three stars for two reasons only: One, the writing style is intriguing, I actually felt compelled to keep reading to see what happened next. Even when I started to despise the main character, I was eager to read more. Two, I thought the eating disorder wasn’t romanticized or handled in a way that is inappropriate or harmful. Other than that, I hated this book for one reason. The main character.

Don’t get me wrong! I root for women who are done being in relationships that are in fact going south. I strongly believed our MC would get her shit together eventually. This character was a PRICK. Not just because she continuously cheats on her husband instead of communicating with him, she then goes on to HUMILIATE, DEMEAN, LIE and verbally abuse him! She treats him like garbage and makes him feel bad, asking for pity and forgiveness, and then running off to be with her side lover to make herself feel better, reminding herself that ( due to her new diet ) she is feeling and looking better.

I can understand her mental health when it comes to the disorder and even when it comes to her anxiety and depression. What I cannot stand about this character is that she gets to pretend like nothing happened, her husband unaware, that she’s still in love with a man she used and then dumped like a piece of garbage like she treated her husband.

I honestly believe cheating is an end deal, in my own opinion, it sets the rest of the relationship on a one way track to vanish-land.

This MC cried and screamed and emotionally dragged everyone around her into a situation she had total control over every single scene. To top it off, in the end she still managed to have control over her husband by making him feel guilty despite trying to communicate with her.

She is often verbally aggressive and cruel to her husband when they fight, often going chapters of ignoring, acting snide and abandoning him.

The kicker? She leaves him when he admits to not going along with the diets... and somehow she thinks her cheating is acceptable because he works too much?

If you’re lonely, communicate. If you cant communicate, try, or get therapy or something. If that doesn’t work out, break up or figure it out. DO NOT CHEAT. At the end there isn’t a single consequence, and don’t tell me “but she lost a love she could have had”, that was the only negative to her cheating at the end. Otherwise, it was romanticized that at least her and her husband still loved each other.

Man, never have I ever before, ever, did I root for the poor husband in a book. Ever. And that says something.

This MC who I wont even mention her name because it makes me nauseous, was absolutely horrible in way too many aspects to forgive whatever mental health issue she had going on. Some things were just glossed over and it didn’t sit well with me. I cant get behind the idea, even if this might work for some older women who dream of just packing up and leaving to do whatever they want despite how it affects anybody else. It wasn’t me.

Kit is stuck in a loop of wanting more, or maybe feeling like she should want more, yet not doing anything about it. Instead, she cycles through diets, bring her reluctant, yet supportive husband, David, along for the journey. This time it's The Radiant Regime. At the same time she starts the diet, she starts an affair with Matt, a carpenter hired to install shelves at her sister's bakery.

I think this might be the first time I've seen diet culture portrayed in fiction in a realistic way. If Kit follows the program perfectly, she is promised that she will fill energized and full of life. I was nodding my head at the terminology: "It's not a diet it's a program!" The more dedicated she is to the diet, the more isolated she becomes. She can't enjoy drinks out or family dinners. Instead of the promised superhero-blood, she is hangry. Instead of blaming the program, she blames herself.

Some may critisize Kit for being self-absorbed. However, that's the thing about depression and grief. It doesn't care if you have everything in life you need. Kit, although in unhealthy ways, is searching for ways to feel anything but numb.

However, I only gave this 3 stars because of how the solutions her Kit's issues are presented. Kit realizes she has a depression and a possible eating disorder. However, her decision to deal with it by just chosing to get over it feels hollow. It would have been nice to see her get some kind of therapy or do something to help her grow as a person.

Thank you to the Scribner and NetGalley for this advanced copy.
Unfortunately, the extremely unlikeable main character mixed with the unhealthy diet obsession did not work for me. Some parts of the book I felt could be very triggering for people with issues around food or diets.
This was a DNF for me.

What I was hoping for was some fluff, but I found Kit to be absolutely insufferable. Nothing about her was appealing to me, not even in the 'love to hate' kind of way. The pacing was off in this as well. If the last 25% made up 75% of the book, I probably could have enjoyed it more. The blasé portrayal of what was ultimately an eating disorder was disturbing as well.

I'm sure a handful will enjoy this, just not me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was not a fan of this book. I was not interested in the characters and basically I just flipped through it.

Thanks Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.
I think some can relate to the story. It was an interesting read.

I found this story lacking in character development and the writing was bland. The premise is the story of a supposedly happily married woman who co-manages a popular bakery in Brooklyn with her sister. She is obsessed with dieting, and embarking on it with her husband., She also becomes obsessed with a workman who is hired temporarily to install shelves in the bakery.

What results is an affair with the workman and her more rigid adherence to the diet she and her husband are embarking on. There is pithy dialogue and I found I didn't care for any of the characters. They all seemed trivial and self-involved and no introspection seemed to result from either the disordered eating or the infidelity.

Kit and David are college sweethearts who have been married for twelve years. David has a successful career and travels a lot, leaving Kit home in a rut. She sometimes works at her sister's bakery, but often quits and then goes back again, while looking for a more ambitious job in the interim. Kit soon starts to fall for Matt, a carpenter who has been installing new shelves in the bakery. She starts to cheat on her diet and her husband. Filled with secrets and lies, Cheat Day is a fun debut.

Not a fan of this book. The book seemed overly complex about nothing. I should have DNF early but wanted to see it through.

Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating i gave it.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and Scribner for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this book. I really didn’t like the main character at all. I found her to be pretty selfish and self absorbed. I think I was expecting more of a RomCom and didn’t get that at all from this book.

Kits “diet” became obsessive to the point of obnoxious. I do need to give her kudos for sticking with it but it seemed the longer she was in this “program” the worst she became.

I was so turned off by Kits cheating that I was soured towards the book.

While this topic of cheating is not really my favorite to read about, and the protagonist made bad choice after bad choice with little to no actual consequences, it was such an engaging little story that I flew threw it wanting to know how it ended up. I wish that the sister had more of a fleshed out character as she was pretty important but we didn’t really get to know her very well.

Not what I expected but still an enjoyable read that chronicles a woman’s struggle with both food and fidelity.

Cheat Day by Liv Stratman was a fascinating exploration of a young woman’s journey navigating her marriage and what she wants for herself. I found the book very engaging as I wanted to see how she evolved. And the scenes in the bakery made my mouth water!

The only area I found disappointing were the political references. While there were only a few, they added nothing to the story. The only thing they would accomplish is to alienate half of the readers.