Size 18 and sexy with a “great big ass:” Body positivity in Alice Clayton’s Cream of the Crop

by Rachel Kramer Bussel

I look to romance novels, as well as other types of fiction, to both entertain me and, on some occasions, inspire me. Cream of the Crop by Alice Clayton, her second in her Hudson Valley series, does both because of its bold, outspoken and very sexy size 18 heroine, Natalie Grayson. In some ways, I’m like Natalie; I used to live in New York and brie is my favorite kind of cheese.

Cream of the Crop by Alice Clayton

But in one key area, I’m sadly not like her: she doesn’t...