“My own relationship with my body is so complicated. […] I’m fat, and I celebrate other fat people, but I don’t quite celebrate me. I would secretly give anything to be thin, while outwardly and openly rebelling against the idea that anyone should have to.”
—from Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
From debut author Crystal Maldonado comes Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, a memorable, nuanced, and binge-worthy coming-of-age novel about a fat brown girl trying to survive her chaotic life in a white Connecticut suburb.
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 has ideas about what she should look like: thinner, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
“This book feels like your best friend giving you a hug—it’s warm and sweet and healing.” —Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best
There’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend, Amelia, who is everything Charlie is not. Slim. Popular. Athletic. So when Charlie starts her first relationship with a cute boy, everything is perfect until she learns one thing—he asked her straight-sized BFF out first. Is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?
Because it’s time people did.
“A sweet and cheerful debut, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega moves with rom-com energy and a whole lot of awkward, goofy, chubby-girl-with-a-crush-on-a-boy vibes.” —Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath and Marvel’s America
Inspired by her own experience as a plus-size Puerto Rican growing up in a predominantly white neighborhood, Crystal Maldonado wrote Fat Chance, Charlie Vega for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. Maldonado wanted to provide a positive representation of a fat Puerto Rican girl who gets to be happy, giving readers a chance to see themselves reflected back at them in the books they read.
Charlie’s experience captures the realistic internal struggles a lot of women and girls face—comparing themselves to their best friends, grappling with perfectionism and their own insecurities, and learning to navigate the confusing world of dating. While tackling fat phobia, diet culture, and body shaming, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is also filled with messages of hope, strength, and self-acceptance.
Sensitive, funny, and honest, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships with our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves, and reminds readers to love themselves, be kinder to themselves, and know that they are good enough exactly as they are.
Start your summer reading right with a free copy of Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by entering our giveaway! Five lucky winners will receive a hardcover copy of Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, the perfect body-positive novel to read this summer. Enter below for a chance to win!
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