Through Thick and Thin by Alison Pace

From the Publisher

Stephanie is an overwhelmed stay-at-home mom with a six-month-old. Her sister, Meredith, on the other hand, is hitting the two-year mark without a boyfriend-or even a decent date-but has a successful career as a food critic. Sometimes it seems the only thing these sisters share is their mutual desire to lose weight, so they decide to do it together. But will the strong desire for sisterhood outweigh their equally strong desire for comfort foods?

Publishers Weekly

Pace (Pug Hill ; If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend) delivers an endearing third novel about two sisters and their quests for companionship and an effective diet. Meredith Isley is very single and not so skinny. She's a restaurant critic for The NY magazine and finds in haute cuisine what she has trouble finding in romance: satisfaction. Across the Hudson, Meredith's sister, Stephanie, is a married new mother who was skinny growing up, but hasn't yet lost her pregnancy weight. Stephanie, too, fights her own loneliness and tries to survive motherhood and a troubled marriage. When both sisters decide to diet, what they gain, instead of pounds, is, not surprisingly, sometimes trite insight. Meredith's work begins to suffer, but a four-legged addition to her life heralds change. By craftily portraying the balancing act between work and play, family (be it four-legged or two) and friends, and food and fasting, Pace doesn't capture anything revolutionary; rather, she writes the ordinary well. (Aug.)

Kirkus Reviews

Two sisters with very different lifestyles come together, then fall apart, when they team up to try and lose weight. Anxious to shed pounds after the birth of her first child, New Jersey stay-at-home-mom Stephanie Cunningham recruits her New York restaurant critic sister Meredith to go on the Zone diet with her, figuring they can support each other, as they always have. City gal Meredith, who, unlike her sister, has been heavy her whole life, is anxious to slim down, especially after seeing an ex-flame whom she suspects dumped her because of her weight. But this quest is especially daunting for Meredith, who loves-and needs-food so much. She is, after all, very good at her job. The two begin well enough, but issues much bigger than dieting rear their head after Stephanie discovers that her enviably handsome and athletic husband Aubrey has a prescription drug habit. Devastated by this information, but not ready to share it with the somewhat self-absorbed Meredith, Stephanie has a falling out with her sister. This hiatus forces both to face stark realizations about themselves. Stephanie wonders if, even after rehab, she can still love her husband, and Meredith discovers how her type-A habits and unrealistically high expectations have been exacerbating her loneliness. Stephanie also goes on Weight Watchers, while Meredith adopts a remarkably soulful little dog and asks out her equally adorable new yoga instructor Gary. That Gary is a far cry from the lawyers and "junior tycoons" Meredith has long hoped for feels less important than finding someone who accepts her as she is. That the girls cannot stay estranged forever is a forgone conclusion, but it is still gratifying when "perfect" oldersister Stephanie admits that she is anything but, then reaches out to her long-time confidant. Shot through with the melancholy of having to make adult choices, Pace's latest (Pug Hill, 2006, etc.) has its share of bright spots. Sensitive and knowing exploration of the trickiness-and value-of meaningful relationships.

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