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The Fat Rules
Maddy Quinn survived being a fat kid and a fat adolescent, but being fat in her twenties may be more than even she can handle. Maddy is a smart, funny, chunky monkey living in a world of skinnies with only an XXL sweater set to keep her safe.
Living at home where her overprotective family can keep an eye on her, Maddy attends a nearby University where she majors in political science and not being noticed. Her mother would return her to the womb for safe-keeping if only there was room for a 266 lb. adult, and her grandmother has never met an emotion that couldn’t be suffocated with mashed potatoes and chicken fried steak or some other supreme comfort food.
Despite the over-love of a slightly nuts family and the support of good, but skinny friends, waddling around her college campus is getting harder every day. In an effort to keep daily humiliations to a minimum, Maddy lives by the Fat Rules—rules she’s developed to hide in plain sight (Fat Rule #4: never run in front of other human beings even if being chased by a mass-murdering maniac- better to die with honor than let all that jelly jiggle!). But when her birthday lunch turns into a celebration humiliation, Maddy’s best friend, Sam, gives her a dose of tough love that would put an elephant down, setting Maddy on a life changing course.
Part memoir, part wishful thinking, The Fat Rules is a laugh-out-loud ride on the crazy train with moments of heart-breaking insight into the emotional pain of being overweight. If you’ve ever struggled with weight issues, finding your place in the world, or incapacitating insecurity, Maddy Quinn is right there with you.
Living at home where her overprotective family can keep an eye on her, Maddy attends a nearby University where she majors in political science and not being noticed. Her mother would return her to the womb for safe-keeping if only there was room for a 266 lb. adult, and her grandmother has never met an emotion that couldn’t be suffocated with mashed potatoes and chicken fried steak or some other supreme comfort food.
Despite the over-love of a slightly nuts family and the support of good, but skinny friends, waddling around her college campus is getting harder every day. In an effort to keep daily humiliations to a minimum, Maddy lives by the Fat Rules—rules she’s developed to hide in plain sight (Fat Rule #4: never run in front of other human beings even if being chased by a mass-murdering maniac- better to die with honor than let all that jelly jiggle!). But when her birthday lunch turns into a celebration humiliation, Maddy’s best friend, Sam, gives her a dose of tough love that would put an elephant down, setting Maddy on a life changing course.
Part memoir, part wishful thinking, The Fat Rules is a laugh-out-loud ride on the crazy train with moments of heart-breaking insight into the emotional pain of being overweight. If you’ve ever struggled with weight issues, finding your place in the world, or incapacitating insecurity, Maddy Quinn is right there with you.
401 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 14, 2014
59 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Misti D. Mosteller
1 book16 followersMisti D. Mosteller always wanted to be a writer, but decided to go the easy route and went to law school instead. She has spent the last fifteen years practicing law and raising her young family, but in her "free" time (time when she should have been lawyering, mothering, or grocery shopping) she began her first novel, The Fat Rules. The Fat Rules is not meant to be War & Peace, there are no vampires, and it is not set in the apocalyptic future where teenagers rule (though she totally digs those kinds of books). It is based on her very real experiences as a fat chick in college and is part memoir, part wishful thinking. It's meant to be funny and silly, and above all else, heartbreakingly honest.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
June 11, 2015
It took all of thirty seconds for some guy to be pulled in by her magnetic vaginal tractor beam. I wished I had one of those.
OMG this is the most hilarious book I've read in a Long Time!! Poor Maddy has been overweight most of her life. These "Fat Rules" she's come up with over the years are hilarious!
The capers Maddy and her friends have will have you rolling. Plastic Penny and The Drop & Plop just to name a couple. This is a must read!!
My only issue with this book is that Maddy has to lose 136.5 pounds in order to get a guy. She should have been loved by more than just her friends when she was still heavy.
OMG this is the most hilarious book I've read in a Long Time!! Poor Maddy has been overweight most of her life. These "Fat Rules" she's come up with over the years are hilarious!
The capers Maddy and her friends have will have you rolling. Plastic Penny and The Drop & Plop just to name a couple. This is a must read!!
My only issue with this book is that Maddy has to lose 136.5 pounds in order to get a guy. She should have been loved by more than just her friends when she was still heavy.
May 30, 2015
It's different from what I have been currently feasting on that's for sure. I didn't know what to really make of the book at first but the writing was pretty good and the story line kept me interested.
The FC is a morbidly obese college student that has been defined by her weight her entire life. So understandably, all her internal monologue involves her physical state and how she perceives herself as well as others. She is fat first and a person next. Even her close friends, she describes them constantly by their outer appearance before anything else. Normally, this line of thinking would have me shutting the book down straight away but because of her body issues, it is completely believable.
She has to hit rock bottom before she can decide to change for herself. With those changes, come the consequences. Even with a new body, she still undervalues herself and acts accordingly.
Really wanted to slap her a few times throughout this book but again...understandable.
Pretty good writing. The love story was almost a side note but still really, REALLY good. Loved her guy to pieces. Hands down the best part of the book.
The FC is a morbidly obese college student that has been defined by her weight her entire life. So understandably, all her internal monologue involves her physical state and how she perceives herself as well as others. She is fat first and a person next. Even her close friends, she describes them constantly by their outer appearance before anything else. Normally, this line of thinking would have me shutting the book down straight away but because of her body issues, it is completely believable.
She has to hit rock bottom before she can decide to change for herself. With those changes, come the consequences. Even with a new body, she still undervalues herself and acts accordingly.
Really wanted to slap her a few times throughout this book but again...understandable.
Pretty good writing. The love story was almost a side note but still really, REALLY good. Loved her guy to pieces. Hands down the best part of the book.
May 1, 2015
I'm conflicted
I really loved this book, thus the 5 star rating. It addresses a subject as old as the disease. Obesity is painful and is very well exposed in this book. I found myself wincing at the thought process involved and being offended to the nth degree. By the end of the book I realized that it was a pretty good representation of life as a "Fatty". The seemingly innocent comments, the snide remarks, even the self hate were spot on.
Read this book for the YA romance but please be prepared for a peek inside a life that you may not be comfortable with. There really are no exaggerations in this book.
I really loved this book, thus the 5 star rating. It addresses a subject as old as the disease. Obesity is painful and is very well exposed in this book. I found myself wincing at the thought process involved and being offended to the nth degree. By the end of the book I realized that it was a pretty good representation of life as a "Fatty". The seemingly innocent comments, the snide remarks, even the self hate were spot on.
Read this book for the YA romance but please be prepared for a peek inside a life that you may not be comfortable with. There really are no exaggerations in this book.
July 21, 2020
Couldn't finish. Two pages in and I was tired of the fat-girl stereotypes. Life is too short to be pissed off by novels.
I would rather avoid a star rating at all, given how little I read, but the system won't allow a "Chose not to finish" option.
I would rather avoid a star rating at all, given how little I read, but the system won't allow a "Chose not to finish" option.
November 7, 2020
This book spoke to me
This book really spoke to me. I have a lot of these issues and a lot of these sorts of rules so I empathised from page one. But I was thrilled with the ending and the way the story went in general
This book really spoke to me. I have a lot of these issues and a lot of these sorts of rules so I empathised from page one. But I was thrilled with the ending and the way the story went in general
July 11, 2017
Great Read
Great to hear from a person who was overweight, lost it and how she dealt with it. Interesting how she finally was able to like herself, although she hit some snags along the way.
Great to hear from a person who was overweight, lost it and how she dealt with it. Interesting how she finally was able to like herself, although she hit some snags along the way.
March 20, 2016
A few years ago, I read Meg Cabot's Heather Wells series, and absolutely enjoyed it. Since then, I've been trying to find a book as enjoyable as that, but it never happened. Until The Fat Rules, which was my best free download from Amazon. My, God! This book was so enjoyable that even though I am not the biggest fan of extremely long books and with this one being almost 300+ pages long, I never wanted it to end.
The Fat Rules is the journey of Maddy, who was a lot of fun to read about and extremely easy to relate to. There were many times when she got on my nerves and her very naive and easy nature when it came to guys irritated me. During these times, I told myself that I would probably do the exact same thing if I were in her place, which made her almost a reflection of myself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her and her friends.
Bearer of those extra pounds myself, I completely understood the physical and mental struggle Maddy was going through. Maddy's weight loss journey made the book motivational in the most awesome way possible. As I said before, I found it so easy to relate to Maddy standing on the weighing scale everyday, keeping her calories in check and all the determination with which she worked. I have been there and done that, so more often than not, I felt like I was reading about myself. All those hilarious jokes Maddy made about herself and her weight were such a fresh and realistic portrayal of the struggle, which is, in fact, real.
What made The Fat Rules even more fun was an awesome gang of friends that Maddy came with. Her friends were fantastic in their own ways and made for fabulous side characters who stood out just as much as our main girl. There was practically every type of guy thrown in there as well, and it was good to see Maddy be both impulsive and thoughtful with her relationships, which made her very real. And that's what I loved most about The Fat Rules- it was an easy, enjoyable, relatable, funny and extremely amusing read.
The Fat Rules is the journey of Maddy, who was a lot of fun to read about and extremely easy to relate to. There were many times when she got on my nerves and her very naive and easy nature when it came to guys irritated me. During these times, I told myself that I would probably do the exact same thing if I were in her place, which made her almost a reflection of myself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her and her friends.
Bearer of those extra pounds myself, I completely understood the physical and mental struggle Maddy was going through. Maddy's weight loss journey made the book motivational in the most awesome way possible. As I said before, I found it so easy to relate to Maddy standing on the weighing scale everyday, keeping her calories in check and all the determination with which she worked. I have been there and done that, so more often than not, I felt like I was reading about myself. All those hilarious jokes Maddy made about herself and her weight were such a fresh and realistic portrayal of the struggle, which is, in fact, real.
What made The Fat Rules even more fun was an awesome gang of friends that Maddy came with. Her friends were fantastic in their own ways and made for fabulous side characters who stood out just as much as our main girl. There was practically every type of guy thrown in there as well, and it was good to see Maddy be both impulsive and thoughtful with her relationships, which made her very real. And that's what I loved most about The Fat Rules- it was an easy, enjoyable, relatable, funny and extremely amusing read.
May 1, 2015
Maddy Quinn is an overweight, very smart college student. She weighs in at 266 pounds. Her friends, Sam and Heather are both thin, although Sam can't seem to get along with guys and she scares them off. Maddy is finally fed up with her life when her friends talk her into a frat party and she overhears the guys trying to get the newbies to dance with the fat girl. The head of the frat house is Noah and Maddy thinks he looks like a viking. When she gets thin someday she knows he will want her. A picture of herself finally gets her on the road to be healthy. As she looses weight Noah does notice her and eventually wants to see her. Sometimes what we want isn't want we need and its a hard lesson to learn as Maddy finds out. This book is great and it takes a real look at the things all overweight people put up with, but even when your thin sometimes people still see you as heavy. This book does contain profanity and sex scenes and I know you will have a hard time putting it down. It's a good read
June 16, 2016
Not a good read for fat women
Mandy is an obese undergraduate whose friends persuade her that she is allowing her fat to undermine all of her relationships. So bingo bango bongo, Maddy goes on an exercise and diet plan that over the course of time allows her to lose 136 1/2 lbs. Maddy thought that getting thin would alleviate all her problems but she just gained new ones like how to deal appropriately with male attention, how to believe in herself, and how to change her perception of herself.
The things that I did not like about the book were the frequent grammatical usage errors, spelling errors, and the not so veiled references to bulimia.
I don't know that I would recommend this book to others. It was offensive to me as a fat person. Just once I wish that someone could write a book about obese people who made peace with their size and had successful relationships and careers without first having to lose weight.
Mandy is an obese undergraduate whose friends persuade her that she is allowing her fat to undermine all of her relationships. So bingo bango bongo, Maddy goes on an exercise and diet plan that over the course of time allows her to lose 136 1/2 lbs. Maddy thought that getting thin would alleviate all her problems but she just gained new ones like how to deal appropriately with male attention, how to believe in herself, and how to change her perception of herself.
The things that I did not like about the book were the frequent grammatical usage errors, spelling errors, and the not so veiled references to bulimia.
I don't know that I would recommend this book to others. It was offensive to me as a fat person. Just once I wish that someone could write a book about obese people who made peace with their size and had successful relationships and careers without first having to lose weight.
June 8, 2015
I enjoyed Maddy´s dialogue with herself. Filled with all that self hate and contempt, because that's how being fat is. The harsh comments she makes and how they dont hurt us, even when all people thinks they hurt, that is so true. Some people might feel it as something wrong to put in a book but I feel its good because its a faithful representation of a part of us obese people, and the way its balanced with witty and fun comments make it bearable enough for people who wont feel the empathy of being in that same position. I did enjoy it a lot. The whole arc after she loses the weight was a little off point for me but its also real in my eyes so, it didnt bother me that much. Even her view of her virginity rings true to me. I wonder how much of this is autobiographical.
February 13, 2020
*****SPOILERS*****
I found this book funny and that's why I opted for 3 stars instead of 2, since there isn't a half star option on Goodreads. I could not get over the main character's continued berating of herself. The author could have stopped or eased up on that after she lost 30 pounds. The other thing that annoyed me was that every single guy in the main character's social life is hot. Speaking of hot guys, it couldn't have been more obvious that Michael was attracted to her yet she totally ignored it. And after everything that went on during the book, she ends up alone. After all the crying and belly aching, she's all of a sudden ok with being alone. I don't buy it.
I found this book funny and that's why I opted for 3 stars instead of 2, since there isn't a half star option on Goodreads. I could not get over the main character's continued berating of herself. The author could have stopped or eased up on that after she lost 30 pounds. The other thing that annoyed me was that every single guy in the main character's social life is hot. Speaking of hot guys, it couldn't have been more obvious that Michael was attracted to her yet she totally ignored it. And after everything that went on during the book, she ends up alone. After all the crying and belly aching, she's all of a sudden ok with being alone. I don't buy it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2015
Maddy is a 266lb junior at college. She is well liked by her group of friends, who do a lot together. Maddy has a list of "fat rules" in her head, such as "Never dance, who wants to see my fat jiggling around?" At some point, something clicks and she starts losing weight. At first she thinks everything will be fine, once the fat is gone. She discovers that this isn't true, and that she has to face her mental problems as well as physical ones. By the time the book ends, she is at her goal weight of 130lbs, has taken stock in both her life and love life, and is ready to face what the future brings.
May 6, 2015
Very good read..sensitive, funny, and sadly so true on so many levels
This book drew me in on Maddy's journey in finding herself and learning how to love and respect herself. So many of us can relate on some level to a lot of the situations she finds herself in. I would recommend this book to anyone whether thin or overweight. It shows us the emotional toll it takes on both sides.
This book drew me in on Maddy's journey in finding herself and learning how to love and respect herself. So many of us can relate on some level to a lot of the situations she finds herself in. I would recommend this book to anyone whether thin or overweight. It shows us the emotional toll it takes on both sides.
September 14, 2015
My introduction to the characters was off-putting and I stopped reading. Yes, a book called The Fat Rules will focus on weight. However, the main characters completely non-existent self esteem ruined any possible humor I could find. I wanted to give the book a try so I jumped ahead after the Christmas dinner to chapter 27. There, I found a character with remaining insecurities who'd lost weight. Nothing intrigued me enough to try to go back and finish, so I quit.
June 24, 2015
Very cute and laugh out loud kind of funny quirky humor
Never have I read such a cute and humorous take on weight issues. Told through the eyes of the weight troubled person, it was such a lovable story. Great characters with a great lesson for life. I literally found myself laughing out loud while reading this book.
Never have I read such a cute and humorous take on weight issues. Told through the eyes of the weight troubled person, it was such a lovable story. Great characters with a great lesson for life. I literally found myself laughing out loud while reading this book.
September 17, 2016
The Fat Rules
Interesting take on the problems and pain that overweight girls have to deal with. So much truth that it is almost painful to read if you were one of those girls. Body image and taunting by peers is very difficult to deal with and the girl in this story handled it much better than most.
Interesting take on the problems and pain that overweight girls have to deal with. So much truth that it is almost painful to read if you were one of those girls. Body image and taunting by peers is very difficult to deal with and the girl in this story handled it much better than most.
July 24, 2014
Incredible book! I read this in 24 hours. Don't ask me how I ended up reading this, but I'm so glad I did. It's funny and easy to relate to. I felt like I was reading My best friends diary. Give it a try!
August 12, 2014
Okay, I was surprised by how much I liked this novel, given that I was looking for an actual memoir when I read it. The story draws upon experiences I can easily relate to, though mine never turned out so Rosily. A nice bit of fluff that will keep you engaged.
August 26, 2014
Love Love Love Maddy
Love Love Love Maddy
This book is funny, and Maddy is so believable! I've followed many of her "fat rules" myself. Sad to feel inadequate, glorious to feel empowered!
Love Love Love Maddy
This book is funny, and Maddy is so believable! I've followed many of her "fat rules" myself. Sad to feel inadequate, glorious to feel empowered!
February 11, 2015
I almost could not get through this book because of all of the improper grammar and punctuation (your for you're, to for two, where for wear etc). It was incredibly distracting and ruined the (fairly cheesy) story.
May 2, 2015
More!
Loved it, but I need more immediately. She just has to follow up soon.
There are so many story lines that this could be an excellent series. Great characterization. These are people I want to know.
Loved it, but I need more immediately. She just has to follow up soon.
There are so many story lines that this could be an excellent series. Great characterization. These are people I want to know.
May 31, 2015
I got this book for free on amazon. It was different from what I expected it to be. I found myself worrying that something bad was going to happen. I mean even at the end I kept expecting a car crash. It was a decent little read.
May 30, 2015
The fat rules
Wasn't that funny. The story has the feel and sticks with it. I read that it was funny. I may have laughed one time and smiled a few. So it was disappointing I really think it was written for a younger audience then me. So if you are under 60. Go for it
Wasn't that funny. The story has the feel and sticks with it. I read that it was funny. I may have laughed one time and smiled a few. So it was disappointing I really think it was written for a younger audience then me. So if you are under 60. Go for it
June 20, 2016
Funny and true to life. Loved the character s. Don't do reviews but this book deserves one. Read it in a day I couldn't put it down.
Funny and true to life. Loved the character s. Don't do reviews but this book deserves one. Read it in a day I couldn't put it down
Funny and true to life. Loved the character s. Don't do reviews but this book deserves one. Read it in a day I couldn't put it down
July 18, 2022
I liked the premise, but it had lots of slow parts. To be quite honest, much of this was incredibly hard to accept as realistic fiction.
September 26, 2014
This book was super funny and I hope it is made into a film someday. It reminded me of the good old day's back when my biggest problem was studying for a final exam.
Read
January 17, 2015Loved this book. Lived Maddy and totally related to all of her rules and insecurities. Just wish I had her dieting tips.
February 1, 2015
Loved it
I loved everything about this book. The friends, the family, the guys and Maddie. I could relate to being a part of a family in which food is the center of everything.
I loved everything about this book. The friends, the family, the guys and Maddie. I could relate to being a part of a family in which food is the center of everything.
May 8, 2015
The story is really entertaining, but the spelling mistakes are way too distracting.
May 15, 2015
Couldn't put it down
Very relatable, excellent writing. You find yourself cheering for her all the way through. I highly recommend this entertaining book.
Very relatable, excellent writing. You find yourself cheering for her all the way through. I highly recommend this entertaining book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews