Artichoke's Heart

Written by Suzanne Supplee

Narrated by Eve Bianco

It;s not so easy being Rosemary Goode and tipping the scales at almost two hundred pounds —especially when your mother runs the most successful (and gossipiest!) beauty shop in town. After a spectacularly disastrous Christmas break when the scale reaches an all-time high, Rosemary realizes that things need to change. (A certain basketball player, Kyle Cox, might have something to do with it.) So begins a powerful year of transformation and a journey toward self-discovery that surprisingly has little to do with the physical, and more to do with an honest look at how Rosemary feels about herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9780525629979

Reviews for Artichoke's Heart

[sheriawilkinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Artichoke's Heart

Rosemary Goode is an over weight teen. She lives with her Mother who owns the local Hair salon in a small Tennessee town. When she notices Kyle Cox, a basketball player her life starts to change.

Rosemary's problems are true to life. Being overweight, the struggles she goes through at school, at home, and trying to fit in. I liked Rosemary, she is sarcastic, snarky, and has a great sense of humor.

Kyle is very likable as well. He is not the typical (stereotypical "jock"), and I really like that quality in him. The relationship between Rosemary's Mother and (her) Aunt is also one that is true to life.

Suzanne Supplee knows how to grab the readers attention, hitting real life problem with accurate details. The story flowed perfectly, the characters are well developed and the plot is true to life.

I feel that Artichoke's Heart is perfect for young adults (as well as adult) readers. There is a very good message in this story, it is not all about losing weight, it is also about, self evaluation, self worth, family and rediscovery.

Fantastic. I loved it.

[ms_rowse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Can't really write a review because this hit just a little too close to home for me. Good story, great characters. Some PG language (some students are sensitive to that, others aren't) but overall a quick, fantastic read.

[katieloucks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cool! Inspirational

[sallyburger1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fantastic read.Rose was a main character that you could definitely relate to.She had the best of both worlds,by being sarcastic and funny,to somebody who was kind and compelling. The other characters of the book were great too.The author was able to make Rose somebody you could root for every page,with not only her weight loss,but how she handled her daily life.

[rapikk_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s been a long time since I’ve read some good high school fiction. Artichoke’s Heart was just what I needed. Rosemary Goode is just trying to survive high school. She tries not to get noticed, and comforts herself with food. When one of her mom’s beauty shop clients draws attention to Rosemary’s growing weight, Rosemary knows she needs to make a change, and for the first time in her life, she wants to make a change too.

Artichoke’s Heart has everything–underdog heroine to cheer for, perky cheerleaders to hate, cute “boy next door,” a little drama, a little romance, and a plot that makes you believe that if you had to do high school all over again, just maybe, it could be better.

[lnommay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book talk:
It's not that Rosie is an ungrateful, materialistic 15 year-old. In fact, I would bet most girls her age, given the same gifts as Rosie, would think this was the year that Christmas sucked the most. Her mom did spend $700 on her, but now she has a treadmill in her bedroom to further remind her that she is fat. And like Rosie will tell anyone willing to listen (and there aren't many), "I don't walk three blocks when I actually WANT to get somewhere, much less run three miles on a strip of black rubber only to end up where I started out in the first place." Then her meddling aunt Mary gave her "two stupid diet books" and tickets for the three of them to go to the "Healing the Fat Girl Within" conference. Talk about a waste of $150! Her mother refuses to take her side in the battles against nosy Aunt Mary because, as she puts it, "She means well."
With no friends at school to turn to, Rosie finds comfort in the "secret lovers" hidden away in her room, actually, stashed under her bed: Mr. Hershey, Mr. Reeses, and Mr. M&M. When she is not working at her mother's beauty salon, she is suffocating her misery with food. What could make life worse for Rosie? The cruel taunts by the popular girls in the Bluebird Club? Having a crush on the star of all the high school athletic teams and knowing he could never like you? No, it would have to be finding out her mom has cancer.

[aleon_849032 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The reason I love this YA book so much is because even though the plot is about a girl who is overweight, you can relate with her no matter what size you are. This truly is a great comfort book, it gives you all the mushy feelings of romance and the joy of hearing how the protagonist, Rosemary Goode, loses and gains control of her life. This book was actually a relatively realistic for a YA book, it wasn’t too perfect and by end of the book, Rose hasn’t all of a sudden gone popular and gotten to her ideal weight, showing readers that overcoming something like weight isn’t something that will just be a quick fix. Who’s never had a bully, or at least who’s never just felt self-conscious about them selves? I usually don’t get all mushy over a book but by the end I was nearly in tears (happy tears) over how she overcame such a big obstacle, I would highly reccomend it.I would have to say that a few things she did were disturbing, like the way she initially tries to lose weight, so I wouldn't recommend this if you are sensitive to those kind of things.

[thekaisu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book!I really really do.It felt like a journey reading this. It was much more closer to home than I imagined it would be. I am like Rosie. And with the struggles she faced and how she overcame it just made me think that there is hope. And hopefully I'll be able to make it just like she did.It took me a while to get over the first part of the book, but once I got over Chapter 3, I couldn't stop reading.I want to be just as courageous as she is. It was difficult at first but then again nothing is easy. I want a friend like Kay-Kay. I want my own Kyle who can see past the body and see everything else that is worth seeing in a girl. I hope some guy like him exists somewhere.This is a really amazing book. I couldn't begin to tell the lessons I've learned and the truths that I've read in this book.

[gayldashersmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel illustrates just how complex the act of obesity is. I rooted for Rosemary every step of the way.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rosie's self-esteem is at an all time low while the scale hits an all-time high. Although she experiments with some not-so-healthy weight loss methods, Rosie works to navigate her way through a host of problems not to mention her first love. An enjoyable read I think many HMS girls will enjoy.

[abbylibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am picky about my fat-girl books and I enjoyed Artichoke's Heart. Rosemary is a likeable character who's dealing with her problems, albeit not always in the healthiest ways. She doesn't always succeed in her struggle with weight loss, but she doesn't always fail. And the book's not all about calories and treadmills either. With the exception of her weight, Rosemary's issues are the same issues that any girl might be going through: making friends, starting a relationship, dealing with family. That's what I really liked about it. I hate to get all message-y on you, but the fact that Rosemary starts a relationship while she's fat was a big plus for me.