For sweet, sexy, and strong moms…intoxicating…deliciously satisfying…” —Essence
“It is impossible not to fall in love with the plucky plus-size heroine of bestselling author Randall’s fourth outing… A heartwarming and engaging read, Ada’s story is more than that—readers following Randall’s rules will drop the pounds along with Ada, and perhaps discover something about themselves.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[Randall's] keen observations of black culture and the human condition impart a true celebration of aging, health, and beauty in the context of one woman's life…Randall is sure to draw plenty of attention.” —Booklist
“This isn't a diet book, and it's not a self-help title either. However, this new novel by the author of the New York Times best-selling The Wind Done Gone could be either (or both), as it follows the attractive yet overweight Ada Howard through her weight-loss journey.... Randall's honesty on life and change is refreshing, especially as she introduces characters who test and embolden Ada. A seemingly minor character offers the greatest moment of this novel; his story, woven almost imperceptibly into the narrative, shows the strength of Randall's storytelling. Randall takes an ordinary weight-loss story and creates timeless personalities, demonstrating the challenges that we all face when reaching for a goal” —Library Journal
“Ada's Rules might be a diet book disguised as a novel, and it might be a novel disguised as a diet book, but I guarantee it will make you laugh and make you think, while it nudges you oh-so-gently in the direction of a brand new way to think about and celebrate your body.” —Pearl Cleage, author of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
“Ada's Rules is a modern love song to women, to men, to the bodies we all inhabit through tasting, loving, cooking, nurturing, and aging. No one is too old or too young, too heavy or too lean, to absorb the wisdom of Ada's insights about embracing our histories, writing our own, and nurturing the bodies that allow us to fashion the lives we want to live. Alice Randall does it all with humor, gumption, savvy and compassion. Ada is here: reach out and read her!” —Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Lark and Termite
“Alice Randall's Ada's Rules is a story about bodies—about the stories we tell ourselves about them, and the narratives they shape for us, and the ways in which they are shaped by politics and history and culture. Ada's Rules is a sharp, poignant book about the emotionally fraught war that Ada has with herself and her body, but is ultimately about the struggle all of us undergo—to cross the gulf between the people we are and the people we want to be—and the way we learn to patch together a useful guidebook by taking the best wisdom that we can find from every source we encounter.” —Danielle Evans, author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
“Ada's Rules is a novel for anyone who has ever wanted to take control of her life. With loveable characters, whip-smart dialogue, and a plot that will leave you breathless, Alice Randall has written a story about how we really live. There is love on these pages— tough love, but tender at the same time. Ada's Rules is a novel about the way people genuinely change their lives.” —Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
A feisty middle-aged black woman sheds 70 pounds and rekindles the flame with her preacher husband. Approaching her 25th college reunion, 220-pound Ada Howard decides to get out of her 3X sweats and work towards that stretchy size-10 black dress at Target. It's not just that she wants to look good at the reunion for foxy old flame Matt Manson, who appends a handwritten message ("Honey Babe. It's been too long.") to the invitation. And it's not just that her preacher husband, Lucius, might very well be cheating on her. (He's lost weight, bought a new car and is never home.) Getting slim and healthy is a political issue for Ada. Her three older sisters died of diabetes before they turned 60, and every day at KidPlay, the day care center she runs in Nashville, she sees a parade of oversized African-American women feeding their children the same fattening junk food they eat themselves. So Ada embarks on a program of exercise and diet based on the list of 53 rules that opens this self-help manual delivered in a fictional format. For the most part, the rules are nothing you couldn't find in an actual diet book--though probably not "Get better hair down there," which forecasts the earthy humor with which Randall (Rebel Yell, 2009, etc.) in subsequent pages chronicles Ada's journey toward size 10 and a revitalized marriage. When Ada visits the four congregants she suspects of being her husband's bit on the side, instead of confessions, she hears a litany of the sexual tributes to his wife that Preach recited when invited to adultery. His highly improbable confidences are typical of the novel's relentlessly positive tone; Randall's emphasis on black pride and self-respect, while understandable, makes for predictable fiction. A quick aside about a betrayal by Ada's best friend Delila strikes the only note of adult complexity in a book dedicated to simple cheerleading. Well-intentioned and readable, but very broadly drawn and often gratingly rah-rah.
