Estoy aquí para quedarme

by Kelly deVos, Natalia Navarro Díaz (Translator)

¿Desde cuándo el mundo de la moda y el sobrepeso pueden encajar? ¿Lo logrará Cookie a pesar de los kilos de más que la acompañan? Cookie Vonn sueña con salir de Phoenix cuando acabe de estudiar en el instituto, ir a la Parsons School of Design y convertirse en una gran diseñadora de moda. Pero en ese mundo, estar gorda es un pecado capital, y ella pesa más de ciento treinta kilos. Además, que la comparen constantemente con su madre, que era una súper modelo, y que lo hagan después de tomar el postre... no ayuda. Gracias a su trabajo en un blog de moda gana un viaje a Nueva York para conocer a sus ídolos... a los que espera tener la oportunidad de mostrar sus diseños para tallas mayores y pedir una beca para estudiar en Parsons. Pero cuando llega a la ciudad, el blog ha cambiado de propietario y la han reemplazado por la hija del jefe, una chica que tiene todo lo que a ella le falta: dinero y muchos menos kilos. Herida y humillada, decide perder peso y reconducir su vida. Después de dos años, consigue adelgazar y llamar la atención del diseñador del momento, Gareth Miller. Él le ofrece lo que siempre ha querido: una oportunidad para vivir y estudiar en Nueva York. A partir de ahí, espera que todo vaya a ir viento en popa. Sin embargo, no solo se topará con los problemas de siempre, sino que tendrá que tomar una decisión: perseguir sus viejos sueños o... soñar con algo nuevo.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary, Fashion, Audiobook

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2018

About the author

Kelly deVos is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, Kelly can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection. Her debut novel, Fat Girl on a Plane, named one of the "50 Best Summer Reads of All Time" by Reader's Digest magazine, is available now from HarperCollins.

Kelly's work has been featured in the New York Times as well as on Salon, Vulture and Bustle.

Reviews

[Ang · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, but I have to review this. First of all, it was an ARC. Secondly, this book has been all over fat YA Twitter, and I was super excited for it.

HOWEVER, I'm not going to finish this. I'm not even going past 25%. I don't need to read about an "after" thin girl, and the "before" fat girl on two different timelines. I don't need to read about how the thin girl's life is soooo much better and how the fat girl goes to an imitation Weight Watchers because she's so humiliated at her fatness. I DON'T CARE IF THE STORYLINES FLIP AT SOME POINT AND THE FAT GIRL IS THE HAPPY GIRL. I DON'T WANT TO PUT UP WITH EVEN ONE MINUTE OF FAT GIRL SELF-HATE AND LOATHING. It's insulting to me as a fat girl reader that I should have to put up with it to get to some moral of the story about fat girls loving themselves.

There's an author's note attached to the beginning of the book; the author explains exactly her purpose in the dual storyline. And frankly, I do. not. care. This structure is bullshit, and it's exactly the wrong way to go about telling fat teenage girls that they should love themselves, in my opinion. I couldn't read another word of it. The minute fat Cookie walked into the "NutriNation", DeVos lost me. I can't read another minute of fat girls miserably trying to diet themselves thin to learn to love themselves. It's been done.

If you want a real story about a fat girl in fashion, you should read The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding, because that book is so real about fat girls, and it involves dieting, and it's done the right way.

I'm sorry to Kelly DeVos for feeling this way. I'm sure she's a great lady, and a good writer. But I refuse to punish myself by reading about another fat girl on a diet.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Laurie Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book last week and totally forgot to add my review! The short version: I adored it. The longer version: It's a bold, sharp, smart, totally unforgettable gem of a YA contemporary debut. The main character, Cookie Vonn, is a girl you'll cheer for and relate to as she struggles to find her place in the world of fashion- and figure out where her heart is at in the process. Emotionally weighty, laugh-out-loud funny, and impossible to put down!

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with this book from the prologue, where the author explains this is not a Cinderella story of getting thin, but that the first chapter was based on a true experience of how she was treated on a flight based on weight. Which really strikes home in a visceral way.

But I digress. Kelly DeVos has SUCH a great writing voice. Cookie is fun, upbeat, sardonic at times, and such a great narrator. Told in dual timelines, this book examines her journey as a blogger and budding fashion designer, her experiences with others in the industry, and also how she is treated differently at various points in her life because of her weight. Tommy, I fell in love with from the very first time he appeared on page, and alternated between wanting to slap at times and hug for being so real and incredibly imperfect. You can’t help but cheer for him and Cookie’s friendship as it goes through those turbulent growing up times, and appreciate Cookie’s strength as she insists on who she is and who she will be valued as. LOVED this one.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often a book makes me want to stand up and cheer (along with making me LOL throughout). FAT GIRL ON A PLANE is like SEX IN THE CITY meets BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY meets something uniquely and completely all its own (I mean, how many authors can get away with casually and hilariously referencing sun bears, blob fish and Noam Chomsky all in one book?). This Contemporary YA novel is smart, sexy, edgy, rebellious, touching and inspiring (and very funny) all at the same time. Author deVos doesn't just make body positive fashion cool, she turns it into a raucous battle cry that readers can't help but want to enthusiastically join in on.
P.S. - deVos's insider look/send-up of the fashion industry is both fascinating and slyly subversive. And her love for the art and craft of fashion design and clothes construction is infectious. Hands down one of the best reads of 2017. #TeamCookieVonn #TeamGrandma #TeamThatHotGondolaScene ;)

[Laina SpareTime · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm really behind on putting reviews up here, but this article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/op... came across my twitter feed and it made me want to crosspost, so, skipping ahead for this one.

Blog link: https://lainahastoomuchsparetime.blog...

Warning, this review is 3500 words long. I did not like this book, and worse than that, I thought this was a very harmful book, and this will not be a positive review. If that bothers you, move on now. I am also putting a major trigger warning if you have any kind of sensitivity about fatmisia or dieting, because this review has to talk about those a lot as that's all the book is about. Fair warning, I will also not hesitate to delete comments I find offensive. Please click over to my blog post if you would like to see some of the 20+ citations I have in this review.

Also this review will not be my usual formatting as I have too much to talk about. I will also be quoting the eARC quite a bit, so you know, all material subject to change etc.

Let's do this.

Just to get this out of the way, the author is fat and this is ownvoices. It just seems the author and I have very different views on fatness and dieting.

I think my first clue I was going to be irked at this book was actually a line in the author's note before the book even started, when it says, "I don't know if I will decide to lose weight in the future, but if I do, my efforts will be wellness focused". I object to the idea that intentional weight loss (i.e., dieting) is healthy. Did you know that intentional weight loss increases the risk of mortality in fat people with type 2 diabetes? Did you know that intentional weight loss is considered so unhealthy for children and adolescents that the American Acedemy of Pediactrics explicitly tells parents and doctors not to do talk negatively about weight? I wholely and sincerely disagree with this framing of intentional weight loss as a measure of "health" or as something that will make you healthier.

My second was the second line of the book is actually wrong. The first and second lines of the book are, "No. You can't just buy two seats in advance." This is talking about airline seats specifically (and goes on to blame "global terrorism"). This is wrong, and has been for probably the last decade. In fact, many airlines specifically require it. Now, bear in mind, that the person whose blog I'm linking to in two of those links is at least sixty pounds heavier than Cookie. (I don't know their exact weight, but it's over 400 pounds - it's kind of in the blog name - and Cookie is specifically stated as being 330 to 337 pounds.) I have a majorly hard time believing that someone who is as self-conscious about their weight as Cookie is didn't bother to google "Flying while fat". (Which is also the title of a short six minute documentary you should watch.) So I have serious disbelief in general that she had no clue that this was something that happened, when half her character is talking about fatmisia, and then to say something I know isn't true in the second line of the book? That's not a good start.

Where do I even go from here? I guess let's talk about the storytelling a bit. This is told in two storylines - past and present. The past is denoted by "FAT - (number) days until NutriNation" at first, and later "FAT - Day (number) on NutriNation" and the present is denoted by "SKINNY - Day (number) of NutriNation", with the past slowly catching up to the present, but still leaving about a year's gap between them. First of all, the fact that both the past and the present are told in first person present tense is a little weird. I dunno, that's just a weird stylistic choice that I wasn't into. Second, wow, that's kind of obnoxious! The very first thing you read in each chapter is about her weight.

I'm going to try and knock out my other complaints before getting into the meat of the weight stuff, so let's skip to - the romances in this are obnoxious and I didn't like either of them. First of all, let's talk about the fashion designer Gareth she gets in a relationship in. He hates fat people. She doesn't care about that because she's thin now and he's hot. He would not have looked at her twice when she was fat (literally, they were supposed to meet when she was fat and it didn't happen basically because she was fat and the book's buttmonkey) but you know, he's hot, so who cares if he's an awful person?

Now ignoring all that, he's in at least his mid-thirties, and she's nineteen. He literally says, "I suck at romance and you're an inexperienced nineteen-year-old." So why are you sleeping with her, dude? She's literally idolized him for years. He is on a first name basis with the Dean of her dream school that she couldn't afford to go to, and everyone suggests that he pay her tuition and acts like it's a given he will because they're sleeping together. His company hired her, so he's her boss, and could also ruin her future career. That's totally not an imbalance of power that makes the consent situation sticky at all, is it? He calls himself "Uncle Gary" jokingly when she's upset at one point and I was so grossed out.

On the other hand, you have Tommy. Her best friend who she's had a crush on forever. He is perfectly fine with people bullying her about her weight and thinks that she should just get over it and not take it so seriously. At one point he says stuff about how people have tried diets and they don't work and "some people are happy the way they are", and then almost immediately goes, "My mom's doing NutriNation. You could try that." Like, wow! Sure, you're great, but try this diet that will surely work!

When they talk about his feelings, it's really gross. He goes on about howhe "did everything", and mentions taking her to school dances, spent hours with her grandmothers, was "there" for her, and "waited and waited". And honestly what the frig. Does he think that she should have liked him because he was her friend? Not to mention, he blames her for not knowing she liked him, but he never uses his big boy words to say he likes her. It's so entitled, and gross, and it reflects a lot of the misogyny in the book.

There is a heavy reliance on "mean girls" for conflict, which makes the conflict feels incredibly shallow. "A thin girl was mean to me because I'm fat" is a very shallow take on fat oppression. At one point Cookie seeks out a geek guy to make her blog because she's not capable of Googling how to make a wordpress (seriously), and he says a girl who he asked out and rejected him will be "on a barstool next to me begging for my phone number" in five years, and Cookie basically agrees with him. It's really not cool.

There are no queer people in this. A book focused on the fashion industry has no queer people. Not a one. I also noticed a grand total of one POC in a book set almost entirely in New York, Argentina, and Arizona. 'Cause you know, those places are super white. It is also quite amisic, with gross comments about "just friends" and weird things about "being a virgin forever" being treated like being a leper. There's also a lot of ableism. I'll get into the healthism later, but there's ableism even aside from that. Disabled people just don't exist in this book.

And I suppose it's time to talk about the weight loss arc. The author's note says this isn't a "Cinderella weight loss story", but yeah it kinda is. It's the Fantasy of Being Thin. Every single good thing that happens to her happens because she's thin. She got the NutriWater sponsorship of her blog solely because she ran into an important person from the company at the airport (literally, she dropped her water all over the floor) and he's impressed by her "inspirational" weight loss. Gareth wouldn't have dated her when she was fat, which frankly I think is a small mercy, but certainly helped her get further ahead.

Meanwhile, everything bad that happens to her happens because she is fat, or because she was fat. She pretty much loses her friendship with Tommy because she wouldn't put up with being bullied for her weight and he somehow thought that was all her fault, and even at the end they basically agree to disagree so they can stay friends. People are constantly making weight related comments around her - seriously, no one is just talking about their taxes in public? Every single bad thing that could happen to a fat person ever happens to Cookie while she's fat, because of course it does. She has to buy a second seat on an airplane, a mean girl bullies her about her weight and then turns out to work at her job, no one ever likes her romantically because she's fat, she gets sent to fat camp, and on and on.

There is not a bad thing that happens to her that isn't because she's fat, and there is basically not a good thing that happens to her that isn't because she's thin. It is exhausting to read.

Here's a list of things that the book says fat people can't do: have people be romantically interested in them, be asked to school dances by said romantically interested people, get married, hike up a hill, walk a mile, run five miles, exercise for reasons that aren't based in revenge, wear miniskirts, wear clothing that isn't "flattering", wear clothing that doesn't "pull off something of a magic act" and "make them look thin", and this one really makes me angry.

This book implies that fat people can't be victims of sexual assault or harassment. To quote a scene where a very creepy dude is oggling her:
"Situations like this have been one of the hardest things about losing weight. My body changed, and suddenly I became a player in this game where people are trying to get sex or approval or whatever from each other."
I'm going to point out this creepy dude is her stepfather. Might be a shocker, Cookie, but fat people aren't immune from abuse. I'd also point out that fat people have plenty of consensual sex, but wow, the implication there that fat people can't be harassed is really freaking gross.

The diet program that magically works when nothing else, including the nine thousand USD for the length Christmas break fat camp that she's sent to twice, works, is basically Weight Watchers by another name. I'm going to quote Ragen Chastain here, because she says it wonderfully:
One study showed that participants lost around about 10 pounds in six months and kept off half of that for two years. Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer of Weight Watchers International at the time, said: “It’s nice to see this validation of what we’ve been doing.”
So we're in agreement that Weight Watchers doesn't work, yes? This is also part of the reason why they are bleeding money, leading to things like serial yo-yo-dieter Oprah needing to buy them, co-opting the language of size acceptance and releasing special lightbulbs because having sex as a fat person is just something you shouldn't do with the lights on, and offering their program to teens for free, because why not get the children on the diet culture wagon as early as possible?

Mind you, Cookie thinks there's less support for losing weight than there is for quitting smoking. I guess Cookie didn't know there's a $65 billion diet industry? She also mentions medicaton for quitting smoking, but acts like that doesn't exist for losing weight. I guess the anal leakage wasn't glamorous enough to write about (and to be fair, it doesn't work), but there's a $615 million dollar industry of those, too.

The fact of the matter is long term intentional weight loss doesn't work. If it did, why would there be such a big industry trying to sell it to you? You could just do it, and be done, if it was easy. Diets don't work. It doesn't matter if you call it a "lifestyle change" or "healthy eating" or anything. There is little to no evidence that anyone knows how to make fat people thin permanently. Fifty years of weight loss research says this. The book, however, argues that "people who drop weight faster" (than two pounds a week) "don't usually keep it off", and sometimes people with thyroid conditions might plateau several sizes below what they started at, but they won't gain weight when they stop dieting or anything (see: Piper).

So this book acting like it's as easy to lose weight as going on Weight Watchers for a year really makes me angry. I also think it really enforces a ton of stereotypes about fat people, like that they eat more than thin people (because god forbid someone with a larger body NEED to eat more?), that they're only fat because they overeat, that every fat person emotionally eats (which is not handled with any kind of depth - it's just handled through determination and not!Weight Watchers), that no fat person is physically fit, that fat people binge, that fat people must be made to look thinner by their clothing or it's not "flattering" (f*ck flattering). There's also so much healthism. It's only okay to be fat if you're healthy. A sugary drink is a "diabetic nightmare of a drink", and don't eat too much of this food because you'll have a heart attack at forty.

Okay. I'm going to try and get off this track before I stress out. But I will say - Cookie's obsession with food and calories once she starts is incredibly triggering. And if you read a character who had always been thin with this, you would be saying, "wow, that's disordered eating". At one point she counts the croutons in the salad because she's only allowed to eat five. She talks about eating food that isn't low fat/low calorie as "falling off the wagon". She runs five miles every morning but doesn't eat breakfast. She talks about food like peanut butter cups only in terms of how long it'll take to run them off on the treadmill. (Hey, newsflash, people aren't Bunsen burners, you can't just say how long someone's body uses energy for.) She hasn't eaten Doritos in two years and is proud of this because it means she's being "good" (food morality at play). She talks about not "wasting" calories on alcohol multiple times.

She uses the phrase, and I quote, "There's a hunger stronger than the desire for food. The desire for revenge." This is ridiculously close to the pro-anorexia quote, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Because her "revenge" is losing weight.

She won't eat 15 almonds instead of 12 because that's three "points" instead of two. When she's dieting, she's "hungry every second of every single day". She eats the same lunch, either cubed cheese, almonds, and fruit, or Lean Cuisine spring rolls with fruit, and for dinner she eats Lean Cuisine dinners and steamed vegetables. (Sidenote, I wouldn't have been surprised to find this book was sponsored by Lean Cuisine.) At one point, one of her weight loss companions gives her the advice of "stick with the spring rolls" even if she has to "choke them down".

Because that sounds so much healthier than eating a wide variety of food you enjoy and that makes you feel good, but doing so in a fat body. These are disordered eating patterns, and the idea of them being normalized like this is horrific. Seriously, the summary does not discuss how graphic the dieting talk is, and it's really triggering.

Let's talk her blog and fashion.

I detest the idea of a plus size fashion blog being run by a thin person. I would personally unfollow a plus size fashion blog run by a person who was dieting, because I do not support diet culture, but a plus size fashion blog run by someone who's a size six? You are speaking over fat people instead of boosting their voices. Cookie is practically a Thin Savior of fat people, nobly battling for their right to "flattering" clothing. It feels incredibly hypocritical. And if that plus size fashion blog was sponsdered by a diet water company? WOW would I bail. That is predatory.

That also represents something that annoyed me about the book. It acted like Cookie was the only fat person to ever want to make fat size clothing. I'm not big fans of either of them, but you're not gonna mention Tess Holliday or Ashley Graham? You don't mention Beth Ditto ? You're going to talk about Project Runway constantly, but you don't talk about Ashley Nell Tipton who won season season 14 with a collection of plus size clothes that weren't remotely "flattering", but were gorgeous and amazing? Or if you don't want to talk about actual fat people, how about Christian Sirano who won Season Four in 2008, and makes amazing plus sized clothing? (That last link is a youtube video.)

It seems incredibly disrespectful to write a book about plus size fashion and ignore all the people who are doing amazing things that field. Cookie is not the saviour of fat clothes. She is a nineteen year old girl who doesn't seem to have any respect for the amazing people who paved the way for her successes.

Summary: Let's wrap this thing up, because I've probably lost you all by now with my ranting.

Now, I think there will be arguments that says "well the book shows that weight loss doesn't solve everything" and "she decides to stop dieting at the end" and sure, that happens for like one page. But there are three hundred other pages that do the exact opposite. This is not the fat representation that I want. This is not "body positive". There are tiny, tiny attempts at "well maybe being fat is okay", but it is so lost in the flood of diet culture and fat hatred that it's incredibly underwhelming.

I think if you gave this book to someone who believed there was something wrong with their body, it would only reinforce that. It certainly didn't make me feel good about my body. It, in fact, made me not want to exercise/do the yoga I do regularly because I would proving the book right. And I like yoga! I think it could trigger an eating disorder episode in people. I think in general it just sends a terrible message, but for anyone with any kind of sensitivity to dieting or not the best relationship with food, this could be incredibly harmful.

I do not recommend this book, and next time I'm going to trust my instincts, because when I first read the summary of this, I knew it was going to be like this, and I wasn't going to read it. But people I thought I could trust said it was good, so I decided to give it a shot. I regret that. Half a star solely because the writing didn't always make me want to claw my eyes out, and Piper was okay as a character.

Other notes:

- I can't include these on goodreads because this review is too long for the character limit with them. There are a fair few, though, if you pop over to my blog.

[E. Latimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** I received an ARC copy of this book

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, but I loved it pretty much from page one. The scene on the airplane is heartbreaking, and I know people that have gone through exactly that. Everything Cookie goes through made me ragey, and then I wanted to stand up and cheer so many times when she stood up for herself, or came out on top. I'm pretty sure there were a couple moments while reading in starbucks that I fiercly whispered "YES!" and had the people at tables nearby look at me funny.

There is so much to unwrap in this book that I could do a full report on it (body image, our relationship with food, people's treatment of anyone they deem "lazy" or outside the boundaries of societies idea of beauty) But what I will say for now is that this is not only an entertaining read, it's intelligent, it will make you think, and it will make you cry. And yes, cheer out loud in the middle of a busy coffee shop. I have no regrets.

[Katy O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and Harlequin Teen for this free review copy!
*
Cookie's story was such a raw and honest one, depicting a journey that so so so many young women experience every day. What really touched me the most was that it wasn't a straight up "fat is beautiful, I love my body" story the ENTIRE time ~ I love reading that too, but I fully understand just how hard that is to achieve. Readers get to experience Cookie's journey toward acceptance, and witness her struggle to maintain the eating and exercise regimen required to maintain weight loss.......and YES. I promise she learns to EAT again! This journey combined with some FABULOUS plus size fashion design make this an intensely readable story. I could go on and on and ON about how complex this issue is, but it's an intensely personal one for everyone, and deVos shares a unique view into one teen's fictional journey. The author's note is a must-read.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not my usual fare, but oh, I loved it. Cookie's voice grabbed me from page one and I couldn't put the book down! Smart, achingly real, fun, and inspiring. [I received an ARC of this book.]

[Stephanie Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelly DeVos’ Fat Girl on a Plane is an important look into society’s perception of body image. In it, we meet Cookie, a fat teen fashion designer with a passion to create clothing that all body types can wear and be comfortable in. There are two interesting timelines in the story and I was amazed at how fluidly DeVos was able to bring her reader into the then and the now as Cookie starts her weight loss journey. But will she be happy when she successfully loses the weight? Or does she just need to look deep within to discover true happiness? Cookie is torn between deep feelings she has suppressed for her best friend Tommy, and the desire to go to New York and work under the tutelage of iconic fashion designer Gareth Miller. When her dreams start becoming reality – living in New York and designing a plus-size fashion line, Cookie starts to wonder if this is really what she wants. Add into the mix a romance with Gareth, a horrible nemesis who I loved to loathe in Kennes, parents that clearly have no interest in parenting, and a spunky loving grandma, and this book is sure to be a well-loved story! Body image issues, family, romance, friendship, and fashion round out this book to make it a great read – for anyone who has ever felt they want to reach their dreams but are uncertain of their potential!

[Xiomara Canizales · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really good intention with a very bad performance...
It would have being a good book if the author had a defined audience because I got the sense that it was meant for YA but there where several aspects that make me doubt of it.
I could not take the idea that I was reading a story of an older woman even though the protagonist was 19, that was a big fail for me, it was hard for me to 'create' in my head such character.
I found the romantic relationship inappropriate, a 19 years old girl with a 35 years old man was something I don't want to read about, even not taking the age in consideration Cookie (didn't I mention the girl's name?) was in such disvantage with Gareth Miller (the love interest) that I didn't want to read anything about it.
So, if the author would have made Cookie a little bit older, maybe 23, the romance wouldn't be so bad... And maybe by NOT including a romance at all the main idea of the book would have been delivered better because I could see the message, the real intention of the novel which was to show the struggles of a young woman being overweight specially in the fashion industry and how the society's perseption of her body affected her in every aspect of her life.
Anyways, I sincerely hope that YA authors take there audience more seriously (I am an intruder in the genre, I feel like) and stop including unrealistic romances and to be able to communicate with them better, to write characters as if a teenager/young adult was writing it not just include a number as an age take it for granted that is all it takes to write a YA novel.
But that my friends is just my opinion

[Jolene Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I CAN'T WAIT! Kelly is brilliant and everyone needs to add this if they want to LIFE right.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This afternoon I finished FAT GIRL ON A PLANE by Kelly DeVos and I cannot even describe how good this book was. Funny, compelling, thought-provoking, bittersweet, empowering, hopeful—there's a little bit of every kind of emotion in this book and I loved them all! As an amateur seamstress, I adored all the fashion details, too. This also struck me as the perfect crossover book—a great YA read, but I found it very reminiscent of women's fiction greats like Sophie Kinsella and Liane Moriarty, too.

(Update 11/2018: I wanted to add a note about some discussion that's happened about this book since its release. There has been some controversy, and reviewers who have pointed out that much of Cookie's story could be triggering to fat readers who struggle with disordered eating. As a reader who isn't fat, that's not a judgment call I can make, so I wanted to make sure to note that in my review!)

[Kristi Housman Confessions of a YA Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great debut.  I highly suggest reading the author's note.  It explains why the book is written the way it is and how it started from a personal experience on a plane.



Fat Girl on a Plane is told by one narrator, Cookie Von.  But it is told in alternating chapters starting two years apart.  



Cookie is a high school senior.  She is in love with her best friend, Tommy, and is over 300 pounds.  Cookie's mom is a supermodel and her dad is a doctor.  But neither are there for her and she lives with her grandma in Arizona.  Cookie wants to be a fashion designer.  Right now she blogs and makes clothes at home.  The story starts with Cookie trying to go to NYC to interview a fashion designer, Gareth Miller.   But Cookie runs into a huge problem at the airport.  She is told that she has to buy a second seat and may have to take another flight if the current one is full.  It doesn't matter that she just got off a plane and fit in the seat.  They looked her over and decided she was too big for one seat.  Cookie is embarrassed and has even bigger issues when a rude teenager wants to sit in her extra purchased seat.



Cookie decides that she needs to lose weight.  She has goals and fat girls aren't treated well in fashion.  So she joins a diet program and starts exercising.  Everything becomes about losing weight, designing clothes, and getting into her dream school, Parsons.



The skinny Cookie chapters start two years later.  She is down almost 200 pounds and now looks like her mom.  She is going to NYC to interview Gareth Miller.  She never got to the first time around, but now she's thin and beautiful.  Everyone looks her in the eyes now.  They talk to her and treat her like she's perfect.  Cookie confronts Gareth on why he doesn't make fashion for plus sized girls, especially when the average size is a 12-14.  Gareth's recent line doesn't do well, so he decides to work with Cookie.  She ends up working and living with him.  They start a relationship and she needs to decide if she wants the perfect life handed to her or if she wants to work and earn things herself.



I really liked this book.  It was such a unique way of telling the story.  We see Cookie struggling in different ways when she's overweight and when she's thin.  I loved her growth in personality towards the end of the book.  Her best girlfriend, Piper, was amazing, too.  I would actually love a whole book about her.  I also loved Cookie's grandma.  Her parents sucked, but her grandma loved her more than anything.



I gave this book 4  1/2 stars (rounded up to 5 on goodreads).  Thank you to Harlequin Teen and Edelweiss for my copy for review.

[☆Dani☆ ☆Touch My Spine Book Reviews☆]

m sorry but this book was just not for me. There was constant switching back and forth of timelines that just made me super confused at times and had a hard time following. I also expected this book to be different and made me a bit uncomfortable about my weight and myself reading this book so just knew it wasn't for me but I really appreciate this opportunity.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
Body image is a particularly sensitive topic, which impacts on young adults and adults alike. Inspired by her own experiences with body image, debut author Kelly deVos brings her audience the tale of Cookie Vonn, a late teen grappling with the ins and outs of being classed as ‘too fat’. Fat Girl on a Plane is an insightful and heartbreaking tale, but told with a good measure of humour to lighten up Cookie’s situation.

It is pleasing to see a book on the young adult shelves that moves away from the traditional girl meets bad boy story. Fat Girl on a Plane is fresh, light and different. Although I had trouble connecting to this tale, I thought it was adequately able to tackle an important topic in the lives of our young people and adults alike, body image and self confidence.

There are some comforting issues that are brought to our attention while reading Fat Girl on a Plane. At times I found it rather confronting, as well as distressing. deVos tackles the issues at hand with a strong sense of sensitivity and understanding. Many of the difficult sequences of this novel appeared to be touched with a sense of first hand understanding and realism.

Cookie is an agreeable character, I could see her flaws as well as a her attributes. I mostly enjoyed following her character arc. deVos structures Cookies journey in a before and after weight loss format. For the most part this seemed to work well, but the transitions could have been a touch smoother for me personally. In terms of the secondary characters, these were a perfectly agreeable set that added substance to the book and Cookie’s interactions.

deVos provides the reader with an insight into the fashion and weight loss world through her first novel. On the whole I thought deVos was able to draw in plenty of insight and interest in these areas, but there were times when I felt like I was the wrong target audience for this book. Despite this, I appreciated the messages that were conveyed to the reader, that it is more important to be happy in your own skin than to embark on a radical weight loss journey. deVos highlights how weight loss isn’t always the key to happiness or attainment in Fat Girl on a Plane. Plenty of thoughtful rhetoric for this young adult offering for older readers (aged 14 +).

*I wish to thank Harlequin Books Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.

[Diana Pinguicha]

Fanart ROUND ONE!


Cookie Vonn by Pinguicha on DeviantArt

[Anna Priemaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

FAT GIRL ON A PLANE is told in alternating timelines--FAT, before Cookie lost 199 pounds, and SKINNY, after. Cookie expects her life to be so much better once she's lost the weight, but both her FAT and SKINNY timelines turn out to be full of body shaming, jerks, and disappointment. Which makes it sound like this is a depressing book to read, but it's not. Cookie might not always make the best decisions, but she's full of this anger-fueled badassery that had me constantly cheering with glee as Cookie refuses again and again to be walked over. An empowering read.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley for the e arc!

Cookie is amazing. This book was amazing. I've officially been blown away by this novel. Okay so let me start out by saying that contemporary fiction is NOT my thing at all. Unless I can relate to a character, it sucks. Being a bigger girl myself, I rarely come across books with a big main character. Not only did a lot of the subjects hit home with me, but I am so impressed that cookie went through all of that mental abuse and still managed to fight for her dream of making clothes for ANY size which is a MASSIVE issue in the real world. This almost reminds me of sex in the city with the sass.... but without the sex. Simply stunning!

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jumped ship and DNFd at about halfway through. When I got to the scene of Cookie having sex on a gondola with a guy, complete with details, I was done.
Disappointed; thought this would be more like “Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Chip Cookies” by Erin Dionne, which was hilarious!

Steaminess Rating:
❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥
(Check my profile for my “Steaminess Rating Chart)!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Body image is a hard topic to tackle but this debut author did it with humor and heart. Cookie Vonn (a cringeworthy, ironic name for this character IMO) is on her way to fulfilling her dreams of working in fashion when she’s told shes “too fat to fly”. Humiliated and ashamed, she vows to change her life and is determined to lose the weight and be the dream girl she covets. Now skinny and watching her dreams come true, Cookie discovers that being the “skinny” girl does not guarantee happiness and doesn’t automatically come with an easy life. I loved her wit and dry humor and found myself becoming protective over her while reading her story. This was well written and tackles this subject in a respectful, appropriate way. For me, Fat Girl on a Plane was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars (rounded up from 3.5).

[Obsidian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note that I received this via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

I had a hard time with this one. I think the back and forth of the story-lines, Cookie being "fat" and Cookie afterwards being "skinny" just made the flow of this book slow to a crawl. We also had to keep re-reading the same point made over and over again. I also thought Cookie's relationship (she's 19) with an older man (he's 31) did not read as loving or even romantic, it was just messed up the whole way through. I also didn't like the resolution between her and her supposed best friend Thomas, he was a jerk and a user who didn't stand up for her at all. DeVos tries to wrap things up in a nice tidy bow, it just didn't really work.

So I was initially intrigued by the premise of this novel. We have a young woman (Cookie) who is the daughter of a well known model who has struggled with her weight for a number of years. When she has an awful experience trying to fly and is forced to buy a second seat she decides that she is over having to deal with being treated as less than due to her size. Deciding to join a weight loss company (think Jenny Craig but called NutriNation) she finally starts to lose the weight. However, she has a harder time putting to rest a lot of things she has carried with her.

Cookie Vonn is dealing with her first year at college and is off to interview a well known fashion designer, Gareth Miller. Newly skinny, she meets Gareth on a plane and does her best to resist him. When he offers her an opportunity to design clothes with him she ping pongs between being with him and avoiding her past.

I honestly don't know about Cookie. I was meh on her for most of this book. Probably because she has a lot of issues that I don't think are worked out very well in the end. She had an absentee mother and father who sound like the worst. A stepfather who is creepy. And a solid grandmother. Until her best friend Thomas ditched her for someone awful, she seemed to be doing alright. I just didn't buy that the girl who are introduced to in this book would be so foolish to get involved with Gareth, there is no substance there at all.

Speaking of Gareth, I was bored of reading about the lifestyles of the rich and famous (the "Skinny" chapters) with her and Gareth flying everywhere and her being hot for him. I wanted to actually read more about design, the history of fashion, some more descriptions of clothing that Cookie was making. The fashion for the most part takes a back seat.

The other characters don't work at all either. Cookie's parents are barely in this, but the backstory to them doesn't work very well. Things are also left hanging between Cookie and her parents too so we don't even get a resolution.

I loathed Thomas. Sorry. All of the mess that went down between him and Cookie, I think that her grandmother telling her to keep taking the high road was nonsense. She was wronged and even arrested (mild spoiler) cause of his actions. He chooses to be with someone who dismisses Cookie and calls her Cankles. His entire actions shows that he doesn't care about her at all. I was fine with him disappearing in the "Skinny" chapters until he shows his face again.

We get some other minor characters that don't really sing for me at all.

The writing didn't really work for me in the "Skinny" sections. In the "Fat" chapters with Cookie finishing up her last year of high school and dealing with the loss of her best friend to a new nemesis, I felt that book was more authentic for me as a reader. If deVos could have found a way to make the two versions of Cookie work together, this would have been a different book.

The flow was not good. I don't even know what to say. Thank goodness for the chapter headings telling me where we were in Cookie's personal journey cause I would have been lost. Sometimes it is better to tell a story through chronologically. This one maybe would have worked better that way.

The locations of this book are Phoenix and New York and some other "exotic" locations. I didn't really get a sense of any of the cities. I would have liked the cities, especially Cookie's hometown and New York coming more alive via the narration.

This book reads as New Adult to me too by the way. And I usually cannot get into those types of books very well.

The end was....well it happened. I cannot begin to guess what is next for Cookie.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe 1.5? But I'm so disappointed and frustrated I just don't have it in me to be nice...

In summary... this book is a hot mess that does not even feature plausible body positive, which kills me because that's how this dumb thing has been marketed. This book suffers from so many... Just stupid things. Now. I do admit contemporary isn't my go-to genre. But given that the MC is fat (or is sometimes fat...?) I wanted to give this a go. #ownvoices matter.

My critiques for why this book is horrid are 90% spoilers so... beware.

There's an Author's Note at the start of the book. I found this odd but ok, this could be some sensitive stuff... In this note, she says that this book is not a "Cinderella weight loss story," and then the story is kind of... exactly that... Most of the bad stuff happens when the MC's fat, good things when she's skinny. These are not my determinations of good and bad; they belong to the MC. Like all of her dreams coming true all happen because she gets skinny. And then she barely spends any time at all in the book realizing that "oh shit, maybe things aren't so black and white, maybe my size doesn't matter?" Seriously. So little time spent on that...

Then there's the fact that the MC is Fat then Skinny. That is literally how the chapters are labeled. That's fine. It helps clarify timelines, her own mindset, etc. I really thought we'd get some great “ah-ha!” moments about size and happiness, but as previously mentioned, there's very little time devoted to that revelation... But also... Then you do some math and realize that the MC is still calling herself FAT when she's a SIZE 6. Yeah.

There's also the idea of the MC running a blog for fashion “size 2 to 32." Which is cool. But I've never stayed with any fashion blogger/vlogger who's skinny. As a fat woman, I've always sought out women with similar shapes to me. There’s no way I'm going to have a size 6 former fatty tell me how to fashion. Especially not if they're sponsored by a diet/health drink, which only sponsored her in the first place because she lost 100+ pounds using their (and others’) products.

That brings us to the dieting portion of this mess... So there's knock-off Weight Watchers (but real Lean Cuisine? Ok, weird branding stuff there that just seems odd to me...) and to lose weight, our MC joins not-Weight Watchers. And then proceeds to moralize foods as good and bad and blah blah blah. It’s boring to read, but also pretty damaging. She talks about ALWAYS BEING HUNGRY. Literally picks croutons off a salad because she can only have five. Literally will only eat 12 almonds and not 15 because it ups the number of points she spending. Literally chokes down the same Lean Cuisine lunch for days on end, even when it makes her sick. There's even more seriously concerning diet scenes in here, which we'd definitely be talking about if it were a skinny MC. I was personally very worried about the MC when she was doing all this but... again, barely any attention/gravity was given to her "revelation" at the end of the story, about how “hmmm, maybe this lifestyle isn't healthy either... “

So I mentioned branding... Let's touch on that for a moment too. In a book about fashion and fatness, why is there no mention whatsoever of any of the existing brands or people out there championing this cause? Seriously. Where are these names? We can name drop Lean Cuisine, but not... Real people and brands that the MC should have been idealizing if she really did care about fat fashion? No. Instead she idealizes an utter jerk. And speaking of that jerk…

There’s the AWFUL HORRIBLE ROMANCE LINE. Can we please talk about the fact that this book makes a relationship between a 19/20 year old and a 30-something year old seem like no big deal? Can we please talk about that? This man is one of her idols. This man is rich. Powerful. A serious name in her field. He is her boss. And then they sleep together. And have a seriously out-of-whack romance. It’s awful. Why would you EVER put that in a YA book? WHY? Now… I kind of get it… After all, he ends up kinda betraying her (I say kinda because he’s running a business, what did she expect) and she realizes that maybe having everything she wants (sugar daddy had been paying for all her dreams to come true) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But… that same betrayal could have happened just as effectively had they NOT BEEN SLEEPING TOGETHER. He could have just been a mentor. I’m super skeeved out to think about giving this to my teens because of the major age difference in this romance. He even jokingly calls himself her uncle at one point. *gags*

Other problems… When people treat the MC like crap when she’s fat, she’s told to take the high road, that she’ll be better than them in the long run. Um. No. It’s okay to show some sympathy for our MC there. But then her bullies get all the sympathy. When she wants to ditch the people who are treating her like crap, she’s told not to do that either, and to take the high road. Again. No! They treat her like crap, and she doesn’t need that in her life! Screw “obligations” and “time spent on relationships”. If someone is going to sit by and treat you/let you be treated you like crap, its unhealthy and you need to cut that person out.

There’s also an AWFUL comment about how one of the worst parts of losing weight is dealing with attention from strangers who find her attractive; something she never dealt with while being fat. The scene is brief but still very crappy when you stop and think about it. The implication is that fat people aren’t attractive. That “being too attractive” is a skinny person problem. Now yes, in another scene in the book, a different fat girl gets a dude’s phone number. And that different fat girl does end up with a boyfriend. Of course, that boyfriend is a “status symbol” of how worthy fat girls can be (no joke, our MC says this). But the way our MC’s comment is delivered is really awful... I’d pull you a direct quote but I can’t bear to open the book again and look for it.

There’s also a few glaring factual errors in here. You can indeed buy two seats on a plane under one name. I’ve done it. It is possible. Tricky. But possible. And the cost on that second ticket seemed high. I paid 1k for my fat seat, round-trip Austin to London. And she’s paying half that just to get from Chicago to NYC. But maybe it’s higher because it’s being bought at the gate… And what about that crap with the LEGO Mindstorms? Weird side plot aside… Those kits retail for $350 each. I know; I’ve purchased them at the place I work. And with her math ($100/kit, receipt for $6k) that’d be 60 kits. No store (other than maybe an official LEGO Store) is going to stock that many LEGO Mindstorms at a time. A simple Google search on either one of these things would have helped with basic fact-checking. Ok, but the plot! These are needed for the plot! Still. You’re going to tell me that our “bright” (this is a term used to describe her, many times) MC couldn’t Google stuff? Like how to make a blog? So she goes to a stereotypical computer geek to get one made? I can’t.

And what was up with the religious “Come to Jesus” bit at the end? That was kinda out of nowhere and did not feel necessary. Honestly, it detracted from the already smallish significance of the MC’s pseudo-revelation.

Then there’s just… other bad writing bits. Same phrases used over and over. Clichés. Side plots that seem irrelevant. All of the aforementioned crap. It just combined into something that was clearly a debut novel, that still needed a lot of work and (I hate myself for saying this) probably got pushed through publishing simply because it filled a diversity box for someone’s quota.

Also. Maybe you’ve been noticing I’ve been using MC instead of her name… Well, that’s because I just can’t stand typing it. So what is her name? Cookie. Yup. A fat girl named… Cookie. This is at least the third book where I’ve seen this done, and I’m so over it.


What good things can I say? While a lot of folks don’t love the split timeline between Fat and Skinny, I like it. It flowed well and I think there could have been real promise there in the structure of the novel, but the story itself really killed that promise.
There’s also a good (SURPRISE?!) spoiler…

At the end during part of her (weak) AHHA moment, our MC make a blog entry in which she calls out people for supporting companies who don’t support fat fashion. An excellent point is made regarding how fashion consumers (in particular those of us who are excluded) take anything they can get even is just purses and accessories. I felt called out. I’ve often been the fat friend shopping with the skinny girls, and thus forced into an accessory purchases, because at least then I was getting something. These weren’t fancy designer places, but I was still giving money to people who didn’t care about me as a consumer. As I’ve gotten older I’ve been better about where I spend my money; if my size isn’t included, I’m probably to going to purchase from a company, even if it’s for another person. I was very glad to see this point included. I hope it brings a bit of awareness to others about how our money affects manufacturing.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wickedly funny and compulsively readable crossover YA/adult. Cookie Vonn is a plus-sized young woman with big dreams for working in fashion -- specifically, using her talent and passion for design to create clothes that make people of all sizes feel beautiful, and taking the industry to task for making women over size 10 feel ugly and invisible.

After an intensive weight loss program, Cookie finally starts to get noticed by all the people who overlooked her when she was fat -- and when she gets an internship with a major (and ahem, troublingly sexy -- thanks, Harlequin!) designer, it seems like she's finally got her foot in the door. But when going up against the giants of the fashion industry, and an entrenched anti-fat culture, Cookie's biggest dreams start to crumble.

FAT GIRL ON A PLANE excoriates, with fierce intelligence, the way the fashion industry talks about (and doesn't talk about) weight. The book alternates between two timelines -- Cookie at 300+ pounds in high school, and post-weight-loss Cookie at 120 pounds (counting calories and hitting the treadmill) at age 19, working for the darkly handsome designer Gareth Miller. The contrast neatly shows the way the world treats the fat and the thin, and throughout it all, Cookie lets everyone know how she feels about it with a fierce wit and a sharp tongue. The book is unapologetically smart, and if the villains are sometimes a bit too comically evil, well, the world is shitty to women about their bodies, and it's great to read about a young woman punching back.

The book neatly crosses the bridge between YA and adult romance (there's a lot of delicious flirting and heaps of sex, but it happens off-page). Also, THE FASHION. DeVos is clearly a master of her craft. Reading about Cookie's passion for design (and the CLOTHES) made this page-turner even more delicious. I'd heartily recommend this for 14+, and mark it unmissable for anyone who's ever felt like the fat girl on the plane.

[Vicky Again · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I think the first thing that needs to be said about this book is that I stayed up until almost 2 AM reading it in one sitting.

*nods sagely with weary, red eyes*

Yup. Something about this story was so addictive. But it wasn't like a trashy-sort of addictive, more like a I'm-so-taken-by-this-novel-I-can't-stop-reading sort of addictive. I did not put this down and I pushed through any sort of need to sleep to finish it as quickly as possible.

I picked it up and didn't set it down until I was completely finished.

For some reason, I found this novel to be extremely emotionally cathartic, in a way. I just really felt the whole novel and managed to relate to Cookie, even her life is very different than mine.

You don't need to be fat to read a book about a fat person, just like you don't need to be an alien to read a book about aliens. That's not how it works. I think everyone can relate to this, and not on the level of a skinny girl going "Oh my gosh, I look so fat in this!"

When reading this, you just really feel what Cookie is going through, both in the earlier timeline where she's dieting, and in the later timeline where she's trying to make a name for herself in fashion.

I like how DeVos emphasizes that even though Cookie goes through a lot of weight loss, this is not a weight loss story. This is not a book about how you should lose weight, but includes weight loss because it's an important part of Cookie's story, but it's not necessarily something that's always required.

I think Cookie really learns a lot in this book, and even in the "past" timeline, she learns a lot, although she certainly learns more in the "present" timeline.

I feel like the reason I took off a star is just some more technical errors. I feel like this book could have been a little more polished. In the past, I've seen some really awesome things done with the parallel, two-timeline narrative and was kind of hoping for a little more intersection between the two timelines in this.

Similarly, I just felt like some of Cookie's personal relationships and how DeVos wrapped up Cookie's story could have used a little more polishing & cleaning up.

Despite this, I really loved how genuine, honest, and heartfelt this novel was. It was very real and I could definitely see the emotion behind DeVos' words with how she really understood and related to the topic she was writing about.

Like I said before, I think this was a really digestible read and DeVos did a very good job with the pacing & making sure the whole novel had things going on and wasn't just people doing nothing.

The actual elements of the plot--Cookie's love of fashion, her desire to be part of a fashion blog and get her name out there, and eventually make a clothing line--were all really interesting, and I think something that's also really important and applicable as plus sized fashion needs to be expanded.

This book touches on relationships with an age gap & how they're unhealthy, unhealthy relationships in general (both romantic & non), and a lot of other real topics.

I did really enjoy reading and although some of the story felt in need of a little bit of cleaning up, such as wrapping up character relationships, overall I think this is a book with a really good message not about weight loss, but about finding your path in life. I'd definitely recommend if you're looking for an addictive contemporary with themes about friendship & family & body size & positivity.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review!

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[Emilyyy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a well-written book makes me want to write a better-written review. Kelly deVos’ Fat Girl on a Plane makes me want to write the best review I’ve ever written.

This book wasn’t what I was expecting. Honestly, the number of books with plus-size protagonists I’ve read is pretty limited, and I assumed this would be another one of those books in which the protagonist learns to love herself the way she is with the help of the male version of a manic pixie dream girl love interest. DeVos took my expectations and exploded them into shreds of velvet and edible glitter.

Fat Girl protagonist Cookie Vonn has wanted to be a fashion designer since she could talk. Told in alternating time lines, the book follows her as she gives everything both for that dream and to find herself. In her senior year of high school, Cookie interns for a local fashion blog and finds everything she cares about threatened when the blog is bought by a new owner. After a humiliating experience flying to New York for a show, she vows to lose weight and make her dreams come true. In the second timeline, Cookie is in college and is given the chance to interview one of her designer models. She gets way more than she expected, though, and receives the opportunity of a lifetime. But at what cost?

Through the dual timelines, deVos illustrates the dichotomy of how society treats plus-size and thin women. She writes the world as it is: favoring thin women over those who aren’t, but treating all women with a heavy dose of misogyny. We follow Cookie as she sets her sights on a weight-loss goal and achieves it. DeVos writes this without casting shame on either side. She shows exercising as a chore, yes, but not necessarily a bore or great labor. She does, however, have us sympathize with Cookie when she’s constantly unable to eat the things she wants. Throughout the book, deVos doesn’t portray the character’s weight loss as a negative thing. Cookie worked really hard to get what she wanted. It’s in the end that she finally begins to see that maybe it just wasn’t what she wanted all along.

I would consider this a coming-of-age novel. But there’s isn’t a clear line of when Cookie can be considered “grown up.” If anything, deVos has written a dynamic character arc that reads like real life. There’s no magic moment when Cookie becomes a better, put-together person. On any given page, she’s a work in progress.

Let’s talk about the protagonist some more. Cookie Vonn is driven, witty, and direct. She makes all of her own clothes and sews pockets into all of her leggings (!!). In either timeline, Cookie’s actions are both cringe-worthy and completely relatable. DeVos has created a character so realistic and fantastic that I rooted for her even as she made choices that sent her life spiraling. If Cookie rallied armies for battle, I’d take up my sewing shears and follow.

I am enamored with Kelly deVos as a writer. I typically describe myself as a fantasy and science fiction reader; I only have so much patience for contemporary storylines. But, I’m going to be honest, at no point in Fat Girl did I stop and think, “This would have been better with dragons.” (A common reaction for me.) Any author who uses well-placed Harry Potter references gets bonus points from me. But, on top of that, deVos writes phrases like “emotional bandwidth” and “that residential version of the Apple Store [he] calls an apartment.” Her book is sex-positive without being graphic. (I’m ace, guys, and that sex scene was hot.) DeVos’ love for coffee shines throughout the book, and she actually knows what she’s talking about when Cookie enters a coffee shop. (If I have to read another writer have their character order a “double mocha latte with three shots of espresso” I will heave a three-head La Marzocco at them.)

I finished the book, and the first thing I thought was, “This is her debut??” Kelly, congratulations on a fantastic book. I look forward to following your phenomenal career.

[Tawney · Rating 5 out of 5]

There comes a time when you read a book and know…this was what the world needs. That’s just what I thought when reading Fat Girl On A Plane. The world NEEDS this book. Girls, young and old, need this book.

This book takes a sensitive matter of peer perception and adds humor and empowerment to body positivity. It’s something in this day and age, especially in the fashion industry, that girls need to see.

Cookie is a fantastic character. Intelligent, witty and strong. She’s a teen fashionista who wants to make fashion for ALL body types. You can’t help but root for her all the way. You feel for Cookie, whether it’s the airplane scene or the interactions with her model mother. Kelly brings the emotions. You will rage for Cookie. You will cry with her and you will go “hell ya” at her accomplishments. Cookie is a relatable character that enters your heart and pulls at your soul.

Kelly does a wonderful job at the different times lines, the Cookie in the past as overweight and the Cookie in the present as thinner. I never got lost in the timeline switches and it added more depth to the story. The description was wonderful and immersed you in the setting. I saw every color of fabric and pictured every outfits. Kelly seems to have a true nature for fashion as it shows in her work with Cookie.

The wit and charm of Cookie just added to the strength of the story about family drama, dating, peer perception, friendship and body image. It was a wonderful read of one girl’s determination to go after her dream but to also be true with herself. Fat Girl On A Plane is a read for everyone. Cookie takes you on an emotional journey that leaves you rooting for her until the very end, which is satisfying. Once I closed the book I was left thinking about certain scenes and wondering what society would be like if we all could be just like Cookie.

Should you read it? YES! Fat Girl On A Plane is a must read that speaks truth about societies perception of body image with a strong female heroine who breaks boundaries for body positivity. You won’t want to put this book down until the very end.

[Lex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a unique and a refreshing book about following your dreams, fashion and being happy with ourselves because we only get one life and we should enjoy it to the fullest.

*Gifted by HarperCollins Canada*

[Samantha (WLABB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I heard this book was about fashion and a fat girl, it had my attention, but this was not just a story about a fat girl on a plane, it was about the pursuit of her dreams and her journey to loving herself.

• Pro: Cookie was by far the very best thing about this book. Her voice immediately took me hostage, and I found myself so invested in her story.

• Pro: The story was told via two timelines - fat and skinny. Fat followed Cookie during her pre-diet and early dieting days, while skinny followed her once she had achieved her goal weight. I thought the dual timeline was utilized quite well, and deVos did a great job contrasting Cookie's life before and after the weight loss.

• Con: I struggled a little with the "skinny" romance. I totally understand what deVos was going for here, but I just couldn't get fully onboard with it.

• Pro: All the fashion and construction stuff was fun to read about. My daughter has a BFA in costume design, so it sort of brought me back to that world for a little bit, and I was happy to visit.

• Pro: We had a little trip to Argentina, and I have never been there before in a YA book.

• Pro: deVos highlighted a lot of issues with a focus on body image and the fashion industry's bias against larger women.

• Con: The ending made me want to throw the book out the window. I was enjoying this book so much. I was smiling, laughing, tearing up a little, raging when it was appropriate, and then the ending happened. It didn't ruin the whole book for me, but I really didn't feel like it accomplished anything. I was definitely not sated by that ending.

• Pro: This book featured a fantastic grandmother, who I will adding to my YA-grandmas-I-love list. She loved Cookie with all her heart and made so many sacrifices for her, but she also called Cookie out when she was wrong, and challenged her to be a better person.

• Pro: There was a lot of times in this book, where I found myself getting really emotional. Cookie's life was no cakewalk, and she had experienced many disappointments. All that plus the way society treats overweight people made my heart ache for Cookie, who was brilliant, smart, talented, witty, and just had so much to offer. I rooted for her to find her happy.

Overall: An entertaining and sometimes emotional look at one young woman's journey to learning to love and value herself.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is going to be a truly difficult review to write for me. Lately, I have needed this genre just to remind myself that I am wonderful just the way I am and had I read the synopsis for this book a little closer, I would have found that it wasn't written the way I expected. One thing that bothered me was the two different timelines and how they were labeled. I took some getting used to, but I managed after a while.

Please don't get me wrong -this was a wonderful book but not, perhaps, for the truly heavy woman (or man) who really loves themselves as they are. Most books of this genre do have to deal with the love/hate relationship of the fat body...it is not something easily written, a fine line the author has to walk. And there lies the issue (mine) with this book -the heroine believes that her life will change and she will get everything she ever wanted if she just lost weight.

There are the usual stereotypes in this novel -the missing father, the high fashion model mother who abandons (for all intents and purposed her daughter) then uses her, the rich and perfect fat shamers at school and work, the regular fat-shamers, the boy that just couldn't speak his mind the best friend that lives half-way across the world and the man who used our heroine.

I did learn a LOT about the high fashion industry and how it does not want to deal with anyone over a size 8-12, I learned a lot about Claire McCardell (enough for me to learn more about her on my own).

What I did not like is the thought that Cookie (our protagonist) did diet and for what I felt are for the wrong things and I'm afraid that other younger girls are going to think the same way the heroine did. However, the reason I gave it a high rating is that Cookie did learn in the end not to care what other's thought and to learn to live life on her own terms.

It was a satisfying and interesting read for me---however, I would not recommend this book to anyone younger than high school (there is sex in this book).

*ARC supplied by publisher.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 2 out of 5]

CW: Fat shaming, extreme dieting, poor body image, arsehat parents, sexual content.

I'm going to rip the band aid off and come right out and say that I did not like Cookie. At all. She was an angry and unhappy person when she was fat, and still quite an angry and unhappy person when she was skinny. She was capable of being as cruel to others as they were to her. I know there was some kind of epiphany about self-love in there somewhere but all the agro leading up to that spoiled it for me. She was petulant and down right spiteful at times.

The dieting seemed to be quite extreme and she seemed to be constantly depriving herself of food. I'm not a dietician or a doctor so I can't comment on whether that kind of weight loss strategy is healthy , but common sense would dictate that it was not.

I don't know guys, it just felt like some of the messages were a bit 'off'. I mean the funeral scene people, really? And the super uncomfortable relationships with both of the love interests. They weren't romantic or loving.

Sorry, but this just wasn't for me. The only aspects I enjoyed were the Australian chick and the 'young blogger and aspiring designer' storyline.