Kris Dinnison

Let's get one thing straight from the very beginning: I am not one of those shrinking-violet fat girls. I don't sit alone in my bedroom playing Billie Holiday albums while drowning my sorrows in a carton of ice cream.

Those are the first two sentences of the book. And then the main character, Maggie, spends the rest of the book showing that, in spite of the first two sentences of the book, she IS going to sit alone in her bedroom playing Billie Holiday albums while drowning her sorrows in raw show more cookie dough.

I fucking hated this book. But unlike the narrator (who seems to know that she is in a book, because to whom is she speaking otherwise?), I am not going to spend the rest of my review saying that I, in fact, enjoyed this book. Because I did not.

The book started out promisingly enough. Oooh, a fat girl who doesn't give one shit about what people think about her body? Yes please! Except then she quickly devolves into talking about how she picks outfits to try to hide her body in so others won't see her love handles and etc. Meh. That got the book into "this is not going to be rated more than three stars" really quick. But wait! It gets worse!

So Maggie's best friend is Nash, a gay guy. Neither of them have had a relationship or been kissed yet. Nash seems incredibly lonely, with Maggie a little less so (but only a little less). And, according to the front cover, Nash is apparently Maggie's soul mate. Or something.

Except Nash is a seriously shitty friend. But I will get to that in a moment or two.

So there's a new kid on the bus, and Maggie and Nash play a game of "dibs" to see who gets to crush on him (because they apparently cannot crush on the same guy at the same time). Nash calls "dibs" on the new kid first. Seems rather harmless. No one knows the new kid's name, much less his sexual orientation. But then Nash and Maggie quickly befriend the new kid, whose name is Tom, and Nash essentially starts throwing himself at him. But Maggie gets feelings for him too! Oh noes, the drama!

And here is when it becomes obvious that Nash is a shitty friend. Spoilers tag for anyone who actually gives one rat's ass about not being spoiled for this stupid book. So Tom is not gay. At all. And he starts to like Maggie - although he's not exactly a catch, because he just wants to be friends with kissing benefits. But, anyway, Maggie doesn't know this at the time, and he kisses her. And then Nash cuts Maggie out of his life. Just boom, done. Yeah, some soulmate there.

Oh wait, it gets better. So when Nash finally calls Maggie and they have it out, he rails into her and says such gems as, since Tom kissed her, Maggie doesn't "care what I [Nash] want, as long as [Maggie] gets [what she wants]." Umm, no, that describes Nash, who cut out his very best friend because the guy he likes isn't gay and likes Maggie instead. And when Maggie tries to tell him as much, telling Nash that Tom "is not your someone" because he's NOT gay, Nash retorts with the "Thanks to you!" idiotic comment of the decade. So, basically, he is saying that it is Maggie's fault that Tom is not gay and not into Nash.

And then he cuts Maggie out of his life again for weeks and believes all sorts of trash about her.

Yeah, so I am supposed to believe that THAT is the epitome of amazing, strong friendship? That Nash is Maggie's "soulmate?" Sounds like he is a rotten friend to me, and I was rooting for Maggie to dump his ass by the end of the book. Except she doesn't, of course, because that would make too much sense. Not that I cared much for the character of Maggie, either; she was annoying as hell.

And then, since the author apparently realized that this already crappy book needed more drama for no reason (or perhaps it needed more pages), there was a bunch of shit tacked on at the end. Maggie goes to a kegger and nearly gets raped by some of the guys who keep making fun of her weight, which is supposed to show...what? That people who make fun of you want to rape you secretly? I mean, what? And she sort of confronts Kayla about being a shitty friend...except...Nash is way shittier than Kayla is in my book. And, uh, stuff, and things. To be honest, this book was solidly in one star territory by this point, and I just wanted it to be over, so I was skimming like mad.

Like I said, I didn't care for Maggie, either. She was annoying, frustrating, and, well, boring. And she tried to make it seem like she was a super special snowflake because she - gasp! - works in a vintage record store and listens to music that no one listens to, like Billie Holiday and U2 and other Grammy award winning artists who, apparently, in spite of being SUPER FUCKING POPULAR EVEN TO THIS DAY, no one listens to at all.

Moron.

The only person I remotely could tolerate in this book was Quinn, and he was just too...much. Even he got on my nerves by the end.

So, basically, I'd recommend you skipping the hell out of this book. I wish I had. show less

Early on, Kris Dinnison’s novel, You and Me and Him gives off a similar vibe to many other YA books about high school misfits. If you’re at all familiar with the genre, then you know the drill, chubby girl, gay best friend, cruel jocks and vapid prom queens, with the obligatory hard-ass lady PE instructor, just in case there wasn’t enough here for the Gleeks to feast on. The only thing it seemed to be missing was a night out at The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

But, as I read more, show more something interesting happened. For the first time ever while reading a YA novel, I actually recognized myself in the protagonist. Not just a little, either. A lot.

The storyline is pretty simple. Maggie and Nash (her GBF) both fall for an attractive new student whose flirty behavior leads to a host of misunderstandings, rumor-mongering and general teenage drama. And, while fairly engaging, it isn’t the story that makes this one sing.

Dinnison’s narrator, Maggie Bowers, isn’t just another played-out stereotype – the plus-sized nerd who worships at the altar of her outrageous GBF while they both dream of getting out of small-minded suburbia. Nope, not at all. Maggie is a fully realized, three-dimensional human being with her own issues, hopes and dreams. Like Maggie, I lost my best friend early in seventh grade when she crossed over into the “boy-girl party” crowd when I could not. Like her, I hated my fourth grade class picture. Like her, I had a healthy and loving relationship with my parents which probably prevented me from falling into the trap of self-loathing, even despite my extreme lack of popularity. The history of this character is so specific and finely-drawn, I can’t help but wonder how much the author drew on her own life. Honestly, it’s pretty astounding to find myself relating so strongly to a sixteen-year old character at my age, but I suppose that’s what good writing can do.

That’s not to say the book is without its flaws. The story itself is a bit thin and there were a few things that didn’t quite ring true in the behavior of several characters, although these inconsistencies did not extend to Maggie who is believable throughout. And neither did they prevent me from enjoying this breezy, charming novel.

All in all, I give this one high marks. show less

A perfectly amusing and charming tale of high school misfits, bullies and enduring friendship.

There was nothing extraordinary here, we have all the standard high schoolers: a misfit fat girl, her gay best friend, a couple of nerds, the former friend turned queen bitch, some jocks for conflict, and the enigmatic new kid. But a fully fleshed protagonist with an engaging narrative voice, plenty of snappy dialogue, and consistent pacing turned this into a one day read that I didn't want to put show more down. Maggie's struggles with her weight, her well-intentioned parents and manipulative peers are eminently relatable and when she finally stands up for herself, I wanted to high-five my fictional new friend.

The plot felt a little anemic though; some more plot involvement for supporting characters would have gone a long way (most notably for Cece). Also, too many cookies (which rendered a constant craving in me). But overall, just a lovely little summer read.

Many thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who kindly provided me with an advance reading copy in a very timely fashion. show less

Nash is one of the worst characters ever. He's supposed to be the gay best friend, but he is a terrible friend throughout this book. Nash and Maggie are written like outsiders because they're "different." Different meaning they like vinyl records, art, and Rockabilly style. Not exactly the most unusual counter-culture showing here. They LIKE being different and basically look down on all the popular people. I connected with Maggie's relationship with food, her weight, and her mother's show more (negative) and father's (positive) influence on her self-esteem.

The plot is that they are both attracted to new guy Tom, who seems not only cute, but also nice, indifferent to the high school social structure, and maybe into Maggie. But he seems to flirt with everyone. So, maybe he's too good to be true. I didn't ultimately enjoy this book, and I was disappointed that the book synopsis made me think this would be a story told from two points of view - Maggie's and Nash's - love triangle fight over a bisexual guy. This book was not that. I would not classify this as a LGBTQ book. It's a YA "fat girl" book. A little tired and not one I would recommend. show less