I really need to get my hands on a physical copy of this book because I need to reread it! It was so so good! I’m still confident it will be one of my top books of 2021.

One of the primary aspects of this story was body positivity and Charlie’s struggles with it. The book explored how difficult it is to live in a fat body in a very real way. I’m not fat, so I can’t speak for those who are, but the author, to me, excellently explored the contradictions of wanting to love your body but also not being able to help but see it “as everyone else does”. It broke my heart to see Charlie go through this because so many of us can relate to struggling with our body image. What I especially respected about Charlie was how she often tried to keep herself from lashing out at her friends (especially Amelia) when her insecurities were the ones taking over. She didn’t always succeed, but as a human I didn’t expect her to. It just made her more relatable. 

I must admit, though, that Charlie did occasionally made me want to scream in frustration. She had moments where I could clearly understand where she was coming from with her actions, but I was still enraged by her decisions. Lol. Mostly it was because she was hurting my favorite character, and I tend to go feral when a soft character is hurt in any way by another character. It all worked out in the end though. 

Charlie’s mom also made me want her to meet me at the pit to FIGHT. She was horrible. Ugh. I couldn’t  stand her! The way she insisted on wanting Charlie to get on a diet? Barf. 

Brian, on the other hand, was so sweet that I wanted to eat him up! Ugh! My heart! I would lay down my life for Brian. He was the sweetest most kindest baby, and I wanted to protect him from all harm. He paid attention to Charlie’s little things—the things she liked, her problems, whatever—and made sure she felt seen. He was also always so nice to her. I really need me a grown version of that! 

Brian and Charlie’s relationship was so cute!  They had me melting into a puddle reading about their scenes together. When she met his other mom? Their handholding? Their first kiss? I screamed. I did think Charlie was getting a bit too swept up in Brian...but he’s the absolute cutest so I didn’t blame her at all. 

On a more personal note, I could also relate to Charlie’s experience feeling estranged from her family.  As a super shy kid growing up in Puerto Rico, parties were super uncomfortable for me for a long time. I didn’t feel like I fit in even though I was surrounded by relatives. As I got older that started changing and I started feeling more a part of it all, but it was still a challenge at times. 

All in all, I loved this A LOT. It had a bit more drama at the end than I was expecting, and I thought that could have been better paced. But damn did I love this! That’s all I gotta say.