A popular diet book is getting a fictional spinoff, but whether it will help readers lose weight remains to be seen.

Simon & Schuster's Gallery imprint will publish Skinny Bitch in Love, a novel by Kim Barnouin based on the 2005 diet book Skinny Bitch, which she wrote with Rory Freedman, Publishers Weekly reported. According to PW, the novel will be about a vegan chef who loses her job and her boyfriend in quick succession, then finds a new beginning after launching a vegan cooking school and falling for a meat-eating man. Barnouin has a two-book deal, according to PW.

Skinny Bitch gave tips on eating healthily and discouraged readers from consuming sodas and processed foods, among other things. The book became a mini-cult phenomenon of sorts and got the attention of a variety of people, including Detroit Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder. The book inspired the baseball player to become a vegetarian while he was still playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, but that decision didn't last long.

I'm not a vegetarian,'' he said in January when he was traded to the Tigers, SI.com reported. I was, for like three months.''

The news of the book deal comes as the film What to Expect When You're Expecting still plays in theaters.

That star-studded movie, which has received less-than-enthusiastic reviews, takes a fictional spin on the nonfiction book of the same name by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. Is it only a matter of time until the Skinny Bitch books get the same treatment?

Diet