⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars
Book Description:
Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.
Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing–he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.
A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.
Book Title: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Author: Crystal Maldonado
Publisher: Holiday House
Release Date: February 2, 2021
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Book Purchase link:
MY THOUGHTS: Spoiler Free
I love this book so much!! Let me start off by saying as a chunky brown girl, I relate to Charlie Vega. Growing up, I was the chubbier cousin, friend, and daughter. And like Charlie's mom, my mom never let me forget that I was bigger than her at my age. In fact, she had me stand beside her one day to compare our thighs and asked my dad who's were smaller. Hers, of course. *insert eye roll here* Moms. . .
This book shows the different relationships Charlie has in her life. Her relationship with her mother was heartbreaking, her relationship with her best friend is one to be desired, and the relationship with her first boyfriend is understandable. That first love is a whole lot of self reflection and growing pains.
When Charlie said, other fat girls were beautiful but not her. (I'm summarizing) I definitely understood. Then mix in how she didn't fit in with her Puerto Rican side of her heritage and I resonated with that as well. I'm Hispanic but I don't speak Spanish, I can understand it but it's not my first language and often leaves me feeling like I don't fit in.
I would have appreciated a book like this in high school. I think this is such a great resource for young girls everywhere who struggle with body image. Because what I did gleam from this tale is sometimes we are our own worst enemy.
Love yourself my friends, life is too short to worry about what others think. Find your people and embrace yourself!
Author Bio:
Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author with a lot of feelings. Her debut novel, FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA (Holiday House), will be released on Feb. 2, 2021.
By day, she is a social media manager working in higher ed, and by night, a writer who loves Beyoncé, shopping, the internet, and being extra.
She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog.
Author Links:
Website I Instagram I Twitter I Facebook I Goodreads
GIVEAWAY:
Enter to win one (1) finished copy of Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado! Open USA only. There will be 1 winner.
Giveaway starts: Monday, February 8, 2021
Giveaway ends: Monday, February 15, 2021 at 12:00 a.m. CST
Direct link: Click HERE to enter! Good luck!
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