Fat Chance Red Dress Ink
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As Americans throw themselves body, soul and pocketbook into the latest weight-loss craze, Maggie O’Leary’s informed column about the pitfalls of dieting is the one sane voice crying out against the dietocracy. Plus-size Maggie, also known as America’s Anti-Diet Sweetheart, is perfectly happy with who she is and the life she leads. Until she gets a call from Hollywood’s most enticing bachelor, Mike Taylor.
At first, Maggie thinks the call is one big joke put on by a particularly obnoxious colleague. But when Maggie learns that Taylor is the real enchilada and that he truly does need her to come out to Hollywood to help him on an upcoming film about a diet doctor, she’s in a pickle. Maggie can’t possibly turn down this opportunity of a lifetime, but she can’t exactly go to Hollywood looking like . . .well, herself.
Swearing her trusted assistant to silence, Maggie embarks on a “secret” makeover. From showdowns with her boss, who suspects his star columnist is losing her edge — er, girth — and send her Italian pastries to sabotage her efforts, to run-ins with her closest male friend, from walking through the famed red door of beauty to winding up on the wrong side of a positively lethal elliptical trainer, the newly svelte Maggie finds herself navigating a new course. Full of doubts about abandoning the comfortable life she’s known — not to mention deceiving legions of loyal readers who still think of her as their champion — L.A.-bound Maggie is hell-bent on living out her most tantalizing fantasies!
Bursting with wit, insight and heart, Deborah Blumenthal’s delicious debut novel reaches beyond the story of Maggie O’Leary to every woman who has tried to find fulfillment. Fat Chance is a lusciously guilt-free pleasure that is good to the last page!
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Uninterested
The premise of the book was pretty entertaining, but that’s about it. I had to force myself through the first 100 pages. I just didn’t care what happened. The writing style left me unamused and bored. I didn’t connect with the character, nor found her very believable (one perhaps leading to the other). I felt the story to be underdeveloped, as if I was reading the first or second write attempt. Shame. Not recommended.
2 Stars Too Stale for Me…
For sassy Maggie O’Leary, life is NOT about being skinny. As a New York City-based newspaper writer who spiritedly advocates acceptance of all body types, her successful column “Fat Chance” is one of her proudest achievements. Maggie’s never completely satisfied with her extra weight, but concludes that she cannot and will not fight nature and attempt to meld herself into the kind of super-skinny woman that society deems perfect. But suddenly Maggie’s comfortable world of newspaper columns and gourmet lunches with newspaper friends Tamara and Tex changes. Sexy movie star Mike Taylor calls and asks Maggie to visit Los Angeles to assist him with his latest movie about women and weight loss-and really, how can Maggie resist a plea from one of Hollywood’s hottest men? Yet moreover, how can Maggie meet him in her current un-svelte state? Thus begins Maggie’s wild ride toward self-acceptance, contentment and figuring out the puzzles of weight loss and love.
It’s clear from skimming the synopsis of “Fat Chance” that one can expect little more than frothy “chick-lit” type plot lines from this novel. The problem with “Fat Chance” isn’t that it fails to be sophisticated literature but that it fails to be a more-than-mediocre “fun” read. “Fat Chance”’s most serious flaw is its hit-and-miss humor. Maggie is a spirited and sometimes melodramatic heroine who lands in numerous situations that should be funny, but the reality isn’t so simple. While some of Maggie’s musings and situations will produce a giggle or two, others aren’t as funny as the author obviously intended and seem to be moments where Blumenthal is striving mightily and awkwardly to make a situation funny where is just ISN’T. Also, sadly enough, Maggie’s columns that are included in the text hardly seem excellent enough to be syndicated (as they are said to be in the novel). Many seem trite and overly straight-forward; the worst read like something from a health magazine. And yes, the characters can seem unsatisfyingly one-dimensional and silly (yes, I know this is chick-lit, but still…).
This book is a easy read and Maggie is usually a likeable enough character-readers will probably enjoy the novel’s cute, if too rushed, ending. However, this 2.2 star book is about as memorable as a store-bought cookie and readers could do far better in the area of literary consumption.
3 Stars Cute but predictable
I thought the back of the book made it sound really interesting as I am a big fan of chick lit and weightloss. (Fave Book: Jemima J by Jane Green) I have to admit that it really took me a while to get into the book. I did enjoy most of the book such as the main characters quick wit and friends but I also found the book TOO PREDICTABLE.
Overall it is more of a book to borrow from the library than actually purchase.
2 Stars Would I read it again? Fat Chance.
I just did not get this book. She’s fat - how fat, I never get a good idea. She’s about to meet some famous hottie, so she gets skinny - even though she’s been struggling her whole life with weight issues (so we’re told) she can suddenly lose it all for some guy? The “hot” affairs have no heat, the angst you’re meant to feel isn’t there, and the ending is predictable at best. (BORING at the worst).
The author seems to be trying to deal with 3 main issues - weight, food, and celebrities - without knowing a great deal about any. If you really want to read a fat-chick-lit, pick up Jemima J by Jane Green. This book is just a cheap knock-off.
3 Stars Think Huge
Everything is big - big people, big things, big talk, and big appetite. Maggie has her own column. She doesn’t believe in diets and she writes about it. She is not obese, just big. She gives talks, appears on TV, and she enjoys what she does especially the eating part. Each chapter consists of the story about Maggie and a copy of her article. Leading a fast moving life in New York City, she is a confident woman. Until a call from a movie actor, she truly believes that it is liberating to enjoy life being a size sixteen. She receives a consultant proposition and starts thinking about losing weight for the first time in her life. But, she has to keep it a secret. The many mentions of food and drinks in the book are mouthwatering even if the narration is chaotic and not that interesting.
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