Rating: 
Summary: Looking for a likable character? Save your money.
Review: I don't like to write customer reviews that trash an author's hard work. Hopefully, the author of this book won't see this review.I love to read a variety of genres, especially chick lit for an escape. This book, however, was nearly unreadable for me. I was disappointed from the start. I found the main character, Maggie O'Leary, to be unlikable. She just seemed abrasive, bitter, and full of herself. There just wasn't anything to like about her. When Maggie talks about herself, she describes herself as insecure because of her weight, but nothing in her personality seems to confirm that. Once I start a book, I like to finish it so I kept going assuming that this might just be a book that takes awhile to get into. About 60 pages in, when Maggie starts her weight loss plan, I nearly started to enjoy the book. This was shortlived, however. After about five more pages the book got worse. I know you're supposed to suspend disbelief when reading fiction, especially chick lit, but this was ridiculous. I'm supposed to believe that Maggie went on a crash diet and lost enough weight in five weeks to go from the obese champion of fat people everywhere to model thin? She heads out to Hollywood to help a Ben Affleck-esque movie star understand the mind of an overweight person for an upcoming film role. Everyone she comes across in Hollywood is stunned to find that the "fat columnist" is actually THIN. Yes, thin. Not average, but Hollywood thin. Come on. In five weeks? To make matters worse, when she meets the movie star she's immediately so comfortable with him that she's patting his knee and talking in double entendres. Not even close to a believable character. Of course, after two days the movie star falls in love with her. *Insert eye rolling here* Ugh, I can't go on. This book was just so bad. The character development is unbelievably weak, the dialogue comes straight out of a Lifetime Original Movie, and the story line is just plain ridiculous. You want a character you can identify with look for Jane Green's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: I loved this book. It really got into the head of the overweight woman and told a touching story of romance and longing, not to mention trying to lose weight and look great. Great summer read.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It's great to have a heroine who isn't perfect in every way...she's overweight and therefore someone I could actually relate to! The story is one that every woman can relate to on some level, though...the heroine spends her whole life preaching her principles (publicly, because she's a newspaper columnist) and then suddenly she's faced with a decision that makes her question everything she's ever stood for. Beneath the funny, cute style of writing, the story is really a touching, intimate look at what happens when you have to swallow your pride and examine who you really are.
Rating:
Summary: Please save your money and time
Review: I really haven't disliked a book this intensely since, well, ever. The plot is unbeliveable and predictable and boring, the main character is unlikeable and almost none of her motivation or behavior is satisfactorily explained, and the supposedly wonderful column that the main character is famous for is little more than the equivalent of space-filler sidebar content from Shape magazine. I almost laughed out loud when the main character suggested that the column would win a Pulitzer. The author isn't a bad writer (the food descriptions were nice), but this book felt very ficticious in an obvious way, like the author knew the characters (and their situations -- Can someone who has ever lost a significant amount of weight, or figured out what is truly involved, really believe that it happens in 5 weeks and that 30 pounds is enough to go from noticeably fat to seriously, Hollywood thin?) possibly even less than the readers did, and that the plot was just thrown together to fill the appropriate number of pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better
Review: I really wanted to like this book. The idea of a woman who accepts her size, plus the bonus of falling for a movie star - it seemed like my perfect book wrapped into one. Honestly, I wanted to like it. But I didn't. I couldn't even finish it. Other reviewers have mentioned much of what I found frustrating - the inconsistency of the heroine's character, the jarring inclusion of the columns that does nothing to further the plot or the characters, the confusing writing, the uninteresting secondary plots. Gah. It's clear that what the author really wants to be writing are cookbooks and self-help books. She should do that instead. I'll add a complaint - the clumsy writing made the ending way too clear. When I quit halfway through, I checked the ending, and I was right. There were some funny bits at the beginning, for which I was grateful, and at least it wasn't plagued by the spelling errors and typos that many other RDI books have been (except for "movie premier" - teehee!), but overall, I was heartily disappointed. Is chick lit this tapped out already?
Rating:
Summary: Don't Take this Chance
Review: I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library instead of spending money on it. The idea of this book is great but it just doesn't live up to it. I found the main character Maggie to be unlikeable and uninteresting. The story itself is boring and perdictable. The only good thing about this book is the picture of the pink frosted cupcake on the cover. Save your money and buy dessert instead!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Take this Chance
Review: I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library instead of spending money on it. The idea of this book is great but it just doesn't live up to it. I found the main character Maggie to be unlikeable and uninteresting. The story itself is boring and perdictable. The only good thing about this book is the picture of the pink frosted cupcake on the cover. Save your money and buy dessert instead!
Rating: 
Summary: "It's okay"
Review: That's what the 3 stars choice said when I moused over it ;-)
As an overweight woman, a story about an overweight woman who gets the guy is intriguing. And that's how this book appeared on the surface. Funny, intriguing, etc. However, once I got "into it", Fat Chance just wasn't that great. There were some fun portions, some that made me chuckle, but all in all....eh. If you need something to read and can't find anything else, this one will do.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother buying
Review: The plot had potential but it just fizzled out on page 2. If you feel like you have to read it, go to the library and get it and you'll be glad you didn't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: What a fun read! Great book!
Review: This book really stands out from the pack. Blumenthal is a great storyteller (I really identified with Maggie's weight issues!), and I thought that her columns - like reading her diary - added a lot to the overall enjoyment.
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