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thelovelylibrarylady 's review for:

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
3.0
emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

As a plus-sized woman, I am always down to read books with characters who look like me. Sometimes the representation is not the best, but that was not the case with this title. Maldonado, the author, did a fantastic job highlighting the experiences of being a fat person including the anxiety that comes with clothing shopping and fitting into spaces (stadium seating, rides, school desks, etc.). I could wholeheartedly relate to these experiences and I am glad this book exists. With that being said, the storyline was not great. Charlie, the protagonist, was the only character who felt real. All the side characters, including her best friend and mom, felt very one-dimensional and didn't really add anything to the story. Also, the conflicts the plot relied on were revisited multiple times, making the story feel repetitive. For these reasons, I decided to only give this one 3/5 stars.