Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

By: Crystal Maldonado

Narrated by: Carla Vega

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.

a Fantastic Read!

I LOVED listening to this book which says a lot as sometimes I find it hard to get into fiction. Wonderfully read and great characters!

Sooo cute

This book was so good I could relate to it in so many ways. Loved it

heartwarming

I laughed, I cringed, I cried, and I laughed some more.
Charlie embodied so much of what I went through in high school I felt like I was time traveling. Her struggle against her insecurities and doubts was so personal and honest she felt like a old friend. I loved every moment of her, even when she wasn't at her best.
Charlie isn't this perfect Disney teen but she felt absolutely real and real people have flaws. Loved it and recommended it to my younger sisters.

amazing coming of age story

really enjoyed how the author unapologetically celebrated diversity. also wonderful that our heroine was both liveable and flawed.

Overall amazing

You shared what a lot uf us have have through in out teen years. Thank you for writing this book.
Mother daughter relationships, best friend relationship and that first love.