#Fat Chance Charlie Vega

[reedreadsbooks]

crystal maldonado covers my beloveds <3

[haveacupofjohanny]

Friday Feature: Crystal Maldonado – A Champion of Latine and Plus-Size Representation in YA

Crystal Maldonado’s Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is everything I needed—Latine & plus-size representation, fearless Spanglish, and a story that celebrates self-love and authenticity. Can’t wait to dive into more of her books! 💕📚 #FatChanceCharlieVega #Latin

When I first picked up Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado, I knew I was in for a treat. From the very first chapter, I was hooked by the honest, heartfelt voice of Charlie—a vibrant, witty, and fiercely relatable plus-size Latine protagonist. This was the kind of story I had been yearning for—one that fearlessly embraces Spanglish, showcases the beauty of Latine culture, and…

[thenextanakinskywalker]

Can someone please spoil Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado for me? I'm nearing the end of the audiobook but all of the characters are pissing me off and I seriously might just stop listening to it 🥴🤣

[codewaloki]

Finished reading Fat Chance, Charlie Vega on 6/17

It was so good, Oh my goodness.

Growing up fat in an immigrant family I resonated with the story very much and it was such a good read

This was such a cute coming of age story, so raw and so many feelings, I loved the fact that the main characters were imperfect, and you could see their insecurity throughout. They were fighting with being true to themselves and their feelings, although still somewhat self destructive.

Definitely recommend! I cried, you might cry

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars

[read-alert]

October TBR! 📚📖🎃 Full titles under the cut!

Can you guess what show I rewatched that got its hooks in me like never before?

Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera

Ander and Santi Were Here by Johnny Garza Villa

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldanado

Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos

A Warning About Swans by RM Romero

Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez Gomez

Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

The Follower of Flowers by Natalia Hernandez

Dark and Deepest Red by AM McLemore

You Don't Have a Shot by Raquel Marie

Sweethand by NG Peltier

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica trans by Sarah Moses

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Tale of the Body Theif by Anne Rice

Gravity Falls: Journal 3 by Alex Hirsch and Rob Renzetti

The Book of Bill by Alex Hirsch

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace, and Asaf Hanuka

Radiant Black vol 1 by David Lafuente, Kyle Higgins, Cherish Chen, and Marcelo Costa

Batgirl: Stephanie Brown vol 2 by Grant Morrison and Bryan Q Miller

[trvbblemaker]

MY 2023 BOOK LIST!

January

Neighborhood Girls by Jessie Ann Foley

The Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver

The Twelfth Grade Night by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, and Jamie Green (graphic novel)

If You Change Your Mind by Robby Weber

Spells For Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Blaine For the Win by Robbie Couch

She’s Too Pretty To Burn by Wendy Heard

Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

January Favorite: Spells For Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch

February

Like Other Girls by Britta Lundin

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green (reread)

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler (reread)

Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan (reread)

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

This Is Not a Love Scene by S. C. Megale

Again, but Better by Christine Riccio

Better Together by Christine Riccio

The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons

Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood

February Favorite: Again, but Better by Christine Riccio

March

Stuck With You by Ali Hazelwood

The Best Laid Plans by Cameron Lund

Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombes

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (reread)

Together, Apart by Various Authors (short stories)

Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie

Out of the Blue by Jason June

Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood

In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

Heartbreakers and Fakers by Cameron Lund

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

March Favorite: See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

April

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Planning Perfect by Haley Neil

Love and Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

Afterglow by Phil Stamper

Right Where I Left You by Julian Winters

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker (graphic novel)

Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard

As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti 

     April Favorite: Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

May

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman (reread)

Solitaire by Alice Oseman (reread)

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (reread)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (reread)

Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins

This is Our Place by Vitor Martins

Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney

Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levensen

Happy Place by Emily Henry

The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan

May Favorite: Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levensen

June

Divergent by Veronica Roth (reread)

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (reread)

Allegiant by Veronica Roth (reread)

If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (reread)

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (reread)

June Favorite: If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

July

The Death Cure by James Dashner (reread)

The Fever Code by James Dashner (reread)

May the Best Man Win by ZR Ellor

Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June 

July Favorite: Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June

August

Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston

The Long Run by James Acker

Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (reread)

Five Feet Apart by Mikki Daughtry, Rachael Lippincott, and Tobias Iaconis (reread)

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

The Lucky List Rachael Lippincott (reread)

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick (reread)

Indestructible Object by Mary McCoy

If You Still Recognize Me by Cynthia So

Remind Me to Hate You Later by Lizzy Mason

August Favorite: Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

September

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

The Girl Least Likely by Katy Loutzenhiser

Faith: Greater Heights by Julie Murphy

Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See

Northranger by Rey Terciero and Bre Indigo (graphic novel)

All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott (reread)

Loveless by Alice Oseman (reread) 

Coming Up For Air by Nicole B. Tyndall

Study Break by Various Authors (Collection of Short Stories)

September Favorite: Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See

October

The Night In Question by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson

I’d Rather Burn Than Bloom by Shannon C.F. Rogers

Running by Natalia Sylvester

The Kate in Between by Claire Swinarski

10 Truths and a Dare by Ashley Elston

Julieta and the Romeos by Maria E. Andreu

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown

All Signs Point to Yes by Various Authors (Collection of Short Stories)

October Favorite: Julieta and the Romeos by Maria E. Andreu

November

Lose You to Find Me by Erik J. Brown

Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler

Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (reread)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (reread)

Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (reread)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (reread)

November Favorite: Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler

December

How To Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann (graphic novel)

Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester

Surprisingly Sarah by Terri Libenson (Graphic Novel)

Sincerely, Confusingly, Yours by Hailey Gonzales

December Favorite: How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

2023 Book Total: 104

-+-

i hope you all know that sharing this with you means a lot to me. this is who i am in a list. my book taste, the number of books i read, the authors i like. this is a part of me, and you are getting it. happy 2024

[bookaddict24-7]

RECO OF THE WEEK!

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

Synopsis:

"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."

___

Check out my review here.

Add this book to your TBR on Goodreads here.

___

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it?

___

Happy reading!

[sams-special-space]

2023 Reads!

Here's my list of everything I've read for 2023! I'll be updating it regularly as the year goes on.

I'm currently in the middle of going through my backlog of books I've read and posting reviews, which will then be linked on the list! If you see a book on the list you're interested in hearing my thoughts on, shoot me an ask or a DM and I'll respond asap.

The list is under the read more since it's pretty long! A few notes: - Bolded titles are favorites - Blue-colored titles are non-fiction

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

The Obesity Myth by Paul Campos

This is Our Rainbow edited by Katherine Locke

Too Bright To See by Kyle Lukoff

Ellen Outside The Lines by A.J. Sass

The Insiders by Mark Oshiro

The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean

The Thread That Binds by Cedar McCloud

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

This Common Secret by Susan Wicklund

The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff

We Cast A Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus

The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls

Out In America edited by Michael Goff

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

Every Body Shines edited by Cassandra Newbould

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch

The Bride was A Boy by Chii

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa

Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

In The Shadow of the Throne by Kate Sheridan

Act Cool by Toby McSmith

Embrace Your Size by Hara

The Third Person by Emma Grove

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

You’re The Only One I’ve Told by Meera Shah

The Land of Stories #1: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

A Boy and His Bot by Daniel H. Wilson

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

That Sky Blue Feeling Vol. 1 by Okura

If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Our Dreams at Dust Vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani

Our Dreams at Dust Vol. 2 by Yuhki Kamatani

Our Dreams at Dust Vol. 3 by Yuhki Kamatani

Our Dreams at Dust Vol. 4 by Yuhki Kamatani

Other Boys by Damian Alexander

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

In Limbo by Deb JJ Lee

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman

Below the Belt edited by Trystan T. Cotten

Amelia Gray is Almost Okay

Unbound by Arlene Stein

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

Nimona by N.D. Stevenson

Our Dining Table by Mita Ori

I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 1 by Okura

I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 2 by Okura

Are You Listening by Tillie Walden

I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 3 by Okura

The Talk by Darrin Bell

I Think Our Son Is Gay Vol. 4 by Okura

Wake Up Little Susie by Rickie Solinger

New Kid by Jerry Craft

Junior High by Sara & Tegan Quin, Illustrated by Tillie Walden

Fat Talk by Virginia Sole-Smith

[jxrm]

a-z challenge: 2022

A: after hours on milagro street by angelina m. lopez B: book lovers by emily henry C: carrie soto is back by taylor jenkins reid D: daisy darker by alice feeney E: the expatriates by janice y.k. lee F: fat chance, charlie vega by crystal maldonado G: ghost boy by martin pistorius H: home before dark by riley sager I: i'm glad my mother died by jennette mccurdy J: just the way you are by beth moran K: klara and the sun by kazuo ishiguro L: the lesbiana's guide to catholic school by sonora reyes M: miss meteor by tehlor kay mejia N: no conscience by phil m. williams O: one italian summer by rebecca serle P: the paris apartment by lucy foley Q: queen bee by nina manning R: reminders of him by colleen hoover S: the southern book club's guide to slaying vampires by grady hendrix T: three perfect liars by heidi perks U: untamed by glennon doyle V: violeta by isabel allende W: we were dreamers by simu liu X: x by sue grafton Y: you can't be serious by kal penn Z: the zookeeper's wife by diane ackerman

[mssarahmorgan]

Book 78 of 2024: Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

I loved Get a Life, Chloe Brown, and I love YA, so I was excited to see Hibbert had written a YA romance. And it's great! Just what you would expect from Hibbert: deeply emotional but still fun, funny, and lighthearted, sweet and romantic. Celine and Bradley used to be best friends, but now they're mortal enemies. So when they both go after a scholarship that requires them to go on several camping excursions, sparks fly. First angry sparks, then the other kind. Both Celine and Bradley are vivid, well-drawn characters, the love story is so sweet and so emotionally real, the stakes are high, but this story never loses its sweetness. I loved this one, and I hope Hibbert writes more YA!

What to read next: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, by Crystal Maldonado, for another sweet YA romance where the heroine has a lot of family baggage to unpack along the way.

[reedreadsbooks]

Crystal Maldonado i love you <3

[lawsalor]

I need to rant about books

This is specifically about romance novels. I read a lot of them I love so many of them and they do include a lot of fat positivity but only for the female lead. Don't get me wrong, I love that they have body positivity, but the dude is always like 6 ft and super buff.

I just want a fat male lead. And I've read maybe one book where both leads are specifically fat, and the book wasn't that good.

"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega" was not good for me specifically because I am a fat person and it leads you on a journey to accept yourself but I have already accepted myself for years upon years. But I did love that both of the characters in the romance book were fat.

Time and time again I see fat woman buff man, fat woman buff man. On occasion you'll see like in queer books more realistic bodies but the queer books I feel always have, like, a deeper meaning into them and I just want like a silly little romance that is nothing but also good. Like even though we all go through hardships in the queer community I don't need to know how being queer is hard. I already know how hard it is because I live it every day!

I just want a stupid book with a fat male lead. And I don't want it to be erotica, because even though erotica is great I don't want it all the time I'm not going to specifically seek out a book for erotica and I know people do and that's great for them but I'm tired I want a fat male lead in a fat woman lead to be happy together in the end.

[reedreadsbooks]

I have a lot of book recs with fat MCs! mostly YA because I’m not all that into adult romance which is what I find most fat positive adult books I’ve come across are.

I could probably write entire essays about each of these books but I’ll stick to titles, authors, and age range for the sake of keeping this post a reasonable length.

Middle Grade (recommended for ages 8-12)

Starfish by Lisa Fipps

Camp Sylvania by Julie Murphy

Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera

Young Adult (recommended for ages 14-18)

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

No Filter and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado

The Fall of Whit Rivera by Crystal Maldonado

Out of Character by Jenna Miller

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

We Won’t End Up Together by Alex Nonymous

The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

Adult (recommended for adults lol)

At First Spite by Olivia Dade

Sing Anyway by Anita Kelly

All of these are contemporary, mostly including romance, except for Camp Sylvania which is about vampires.

I’m assuming anon was looking for fiction but if you’re interested in nonfiction What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon is great.

Also bonus rec: I’m currently reading Fat Girl Dances With Rocks by Susan Stinson. It’s out of print and I’m not far enough in to say definitively that I think it’s good rep but I’m loving it so far.

Do you (or your followers) have any book recs with good fat characters

Really good question actually, I read a lot of books but I frankly only ever encounter the exact opposite (fatphobia) 😬 I feel like I've heard of some romance novels with fat protagonists but that's not really my genre of choice so I wouldn't be able to recommend any myself

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would be interested to hear them as well 🙏

[-outofcontext-]

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega #OutOfContext

[read-alert]

October Wrap Up!

My favorite of the month was A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, and Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord checked off Barbados for my Read the World Challenge!

Gravity Falls: Journal 3 by Alex Hirsch and Rob Renzetti- 5⭐️

Ander and Santi Were Here by Johnny Garza Villa- 4.5⭐️

Nightlights by Lorena Alvarez Gomez- 4⭐️

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldanado- 3.5⭐️

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender- 5⭐️

Finding Joy by Adriana Herrera- 2.5⭐️

Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord- 4⭐️

A Warning About Swans by RM Romero- 4.5⭐️

The Death of Sitting Bear: New and Selected Poems by N Scott Momaday- 5⭐️

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll- 2.5⭐️

Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas- 3.5⭐️

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo- 4.5⭐️

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid- 5⭐️

Mort by Terry Pratchett- 3.5⭐️

The Follower of Flowers by Natalia Hernandez- 5⭐️

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White- 4.5⭐️

Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos- 5⭐️

Sweethand by NG Peltier- 3.5⭐️

Dying Inside by Pete Wentz et al- 1.5⭐️

You Don't Have a Shot by Raquel Marie- 4⭐️

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliot- 5⭐️

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava- 3⭐️

Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson- 5⭐️

Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present by Adrienne Keene- 5⭐️

The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor- 5⭐️

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo- 5⭐️

The Cane Kids by Kristen Lang- 5⭐️

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch et al- 3⭐️

Stephanie Brown Batgirl vol 2 by Bryan Q Miller et al- 4⭐️

Anoka by Shane Hawk- 3.5⭐️

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice- this one was a reread, originally rated 4⭐️, bumped up to 4.5⭐️ this time

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro- 3.5⭐️

[qbdatabase]

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.