Everyone seems to be getting on with their lives–except Maggie. At 27, she’s still working at the local coffee house, while her friends are getting married, having babies, and building careers. Even Olivia, Maggie’s best friend from childhood, is getting married to her doctor boyfriend. Maggie, on the other hand, lives with her dog Solo, and has no romantic prospects, save for the torch she carries for Domenic, the busboy. Though Maggie and Olivia have been best friends since their “fattie” grade school years, Olivia’s since gone the gastric-bypass surgery route, in hopes of obtaining the elusive size two, the holy grail for fat girls everywhere. So now Olivia’s thin, blonde, and betrothed, and Maggie’s the fat bridesmaid. Ain’t life grand? In this inspiring debut novel, Maggie speaks to women everywhere who wish for just once that they could forget about their weight.
Liz Palmer has written a book that a lot of people can identify with. And not just the chubbier set either; I feel that we all have body issues. We all have things that make us self conscious and we see in a harder light than others and we have that internal monologue about. I know I do! Maggie is an inspirational character; she admits her flaws and admits that her plans to fix he flaws are also often flawed.
While I enjoyed the story of Maggie, and how she goes through her own self discovery. The painful finding out of just what her friendship with her now very skinny friend Olivia has come down to. The book does have some problems. I will state again that over all I did truly enjoy the story, it as heartfelt and funny at times and sad in other points.
That said some things can not be overlooked. The fact that Maggie really should have realized much earlier that her friend Olivia was not what she seemed is one of them. The other huge issue I have with this book is that the ending really is a non ending. You feel like your left hanging and going, “Now what?” when you finish it. I don’t think all books wrap up in a nice little package with a bow but they should wrap up. Even if you’re not getting a happy ending you need a proper ending.
There is some romance in the book but it is mostly light. And I personally feel even in that you are left hanging. There is a good solid set of characters, and the development of them is very good. So over all if you like chic lit and like something witty check this book out. Just be warned that it doesn’t have a true ending.
