Crystal Maldonado

Digital audiobook performed by Carla Vega

From the book jacket: 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 show more whiter. Be quieter.

My reactions
This is a wonderful coming-of-age story that deals with body image, friendship, parent/child relationships, and societal expectations. Charlie is a strong young woman, mostly sure of herself, though plagued with self-doubt (as are most teenagers). Her feelings of inadequacy are compounded by media messages that “thin is in.” Thank heavens she has a great best friend, Amelia. And now a cute guy, Brian, seems to be interested in her, so things are looking up. But first love is rarely ever a smooth road.

It's how Charlie deals with the bumps in the road that really endears her to me. She’s smart, funny, kind, loyal and determined. I liked how Maldonado treated this first romance, and how the teens dealt with expectations, whether those of friends, each other, parents, teachers, or their own. And I really liked how Charlie found a way to shine and show her considerable talent.

Carla Vega does a wonderful job of narrating the audiobook. She really brought Charlie to life for me. show less

I really struggled with this one.

First of all, I want you to know that I have a lot of respect for Crystal Maldonato and her craft in writing this book. She did an excellent job portraying realistic friendships and complicated high school romances. The myriad of family dynamics is fantastic and the variety of representation is lovely to see. As a book, I think Fat Chance, Charlie Vega was fantastically done. Nothing about the writing or the quality of the story made me want to set it aside.

I show more really struggled personally with the content.

It’s absolutely wonderful that Maldonato has portrayed a plus-sized brown woman and that she has been honest with the pressure and internalized self-hate a society like ours can inspire. Charlie fights the fatphobia around her so hard, but she also carries some of it herself. She confronts it, but it’s not as easy as saying “I’m not going to feel that way anymore“ and Maldonato hasn’t sugarcoated that. It was hard to read, but I think necessary. Many other books would have made embracing self-love seem like a simple task, and it isn’t. It really isn’t. It’s important it was written like this so others who feel like Charlie can see they aren’t alone.

As an adult who still struggles with this, it was difficult for me to see the weight of the emotion and the toxic environment surrounding Charlie. It was heartbreaking to see her go on with life, knowing things weren’t okay but feeling powerless. It’s hard, and it hurts. I had to set the book down for a week to give myself an emotional break. When I came back, reading it became even more difficult. The external and internal pressure bubbled. There were moments when I was so happy for Charlie because she achieved something she wanted and found joy in it. Then to see her crushed time and again? This is not a happy book overall. It’s a little too real sometimes.

It’s important, so important for a book to exist with this kind of experience. I can’t emphasize that enough. There are a lot of hard things in life that folks make seems simple, make seem easy to just “get over“. Life isn’t like that, not really, not for many people. I appreciated the story so, so much. But it hit a little too close to home in a lot of ways, and I struggled to finish it. Charlie‘s pain was a little too heavy for me.

That said, I did finish it because I was hoping for a happy ending. I live for happy endings. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega doesn’t have a picture perfect ending, but it is happier than the rest of the book. Without giving too much away, some open communication goes a long way and things sort of fix themselves, at least for now. Real life isn’t like that, not as pretty, not as easy. But the conversations that are had needed to be had, and Charlie is lucky to have people around her who love her so much.

Overall, it’s a great book. It hit a lot of my personal issues and so I don’t know that I would reread it because of the emotional roller coaster it was for me, but for other people I think this is a wonderful recommendation. It was really nice to see the representation and to read a story that felt like it wasn’t trying to dance around the difficult topics. show less

I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss, this in no way influences my review.

This should've been right up my alley - former best friends reunite on a road trip to see their middle school selves favorite band a sapphic love triangle. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with the characters. Chloe's interest in Ramona felt more like it was based on her sudden lack of interest in Sienna rather than anything concrete. Ramona was pretty, within close proximity and harboring old feelings show more for Chloe, that was all it seemed to take. I'm well aware that that can be enough to spark the beginnings of a relationship but I wanted something more from two people who were once so close as well as more of them as individuals.

Also despite the road trip being very important to Chloe for the purposes of reconciliation, and important to the other girls for various reasons, without a connection to the characters it all felt quite low stakes. I had trouble becoming invested in the girls' budding relationship, and as meaningful as the character's other struggles were to them they just didn't hit like that for me.

Despite all that, there's a lot here that I think will make this a new YA favorite of other readers. I especially appreciate the main character having ADHD and the main cast of characters being quite diverse overall. Check it out if you're looking for something queer, cozy and full of friendship. show less

“I want to be Charlie — unapologetically Charlie. Shoulders back. Head held up high. Fat, beautiful body and all.”

Crystal Maldonado’s debut YA novel FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is going to be a very important book to a lot of people. A contemporary YA romance novel that explores the complexities of the relationships between friends, first loves, mothers and daughters, our bodies, and ourselves, FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is a must-read that belongs on every bookshelf.

Charlie Vega is a lot show more of things: a high school junior, an aspiring writer, a great friend to her BFF Amelia, Puerto Rican in a very white New England town, and fat. She spends almost all of her spare time in her perfectly crafted Instagram-photo-worthy bedroom reading, writing, and browsing body-positivity and fat fashion blogs. But, between her formerly-fat mother trying to force-feed her meal replacement shakes and a society constantly reminding her that “thin is in,” Charlie struggles to bridge the gap between knowing she deserves to love and celebrate herself and actually being able to.

When Charlie strikes up a tentative relationship with Brian, a cute, sweet boy at school, she is giddy with all of the experiences that comes with first love. Everything finally feels perfect for Charlie, until she learns that gut-punching, heart-sinking fact that Brian may have asked Amelia out first. FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA does a fantastic job exploring the intricacies of female friendship and the jealousies that can be borne from insecurity and comparison. Charlie’s journey toward self-love and self-acceptance was a joy to read and will hold deep meaning for anyone who has ever struggled to feel worthy in a larger body.

An important final note: the representation in this novel really is spectacular. Charlie is Puerto Rican and fat, Amelia is Black and pansexual and Brian is Asian-American with two moms. They are all presented with deep care and affection, never tokenizing or diminishing their authenticities. FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA is a coming-of-age story that I know will make a lot of people feel very seen.

CW: fat shaming, fatphobia, death of a parent (non-spoiler) show less