Things never seem to turn out in real life like they do in the fairy tales. Certainly not for Nola Devlin, who thinks that living in New Jersey and weighing in at more than 200 pounds disqualifies her for storybook princess status. She and her two best friends are so fat, they can't even get a decent table in a restaurant — which is what prompts them to form the Cinderella Pact. They agree to lose the pounds that are holding them down, once and for all, and become healthier, happier women. Oh, and while they're at it, they'll expose that snotty restaurant manager for the bigoted fat-phobe he is.

All of which is easier said than done, especially when you throw in Nola's sudden propensity to set everything from her car to her kitchen on fire, her spoiled (skinny) younger sister's engagement to a hyperactive gym rat who likes to guess people's weight, and, oh yes, the teensy smidge of fraud Nola's been committing at work. It started innocently enough — her evil boss wouldn't even consider Nola as a columnist, because of her weight — but the columns she's written as fab (skinny) Brit ethics expert Belinda Apple are such a smash hit that Hollywood producers are sniffing around and the whole web of lies has gotten so tangled, Nola's afraid she'll never be able to unravel it. At least, not in time for the holiday ball being thrown by Nola's very own prospective Prince Charming — who just happens to be investigating Belinda Apple.

If it sounds complicated, that's because it is. Strohmeyer, of Bubbles Yablonsky fame, spends most of the novel on Nola's weight loss misadventures, leaving relatively little time to drag the plot into place at the end. Despite that, THE CINDERELLA PACT is a highly entertaining romp through New Jersey society, featuring a lovable, if hapless heroine, who, though she'll never replace Bubbles in our hearts, will make you want to stand up and applaud when she finally gets her happy ending.