RocTBF Mini-Reviews: Fat Angie and Melt

Two more books read for #MissionRocTBF! I already know I'm not gonna hit my goal AGAIN this year but I'm just gonna keep on keeping on.

Books in this post:

Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo

As you may have guessed it, Angie is fat. We don’t really know how fat. Thank goodness. People always say a number that is offensive. Anyway, Angie is still living in the shadow of her older, cooler, thinner, more athletic sister who joined the military and is missing in action. Angie’s family wants her to move on. And to be thinner. And to forget about the clearly abusive peers in school. And to never have another mental breakdown like the one last year. Angie falls for a girl who is new to town and likes her for being who she is. But Angie’s not really ready for that.

This is a great book about a girl who is struggling to find herself amid all the identities being handed to her. She’s quirky, I guess. Really, though, I think she’s not quite neuro-typical. I assume this was intentional. Anyway, people suck and Angie has to figure out if she's really Fat Angie or just Angie after all. 

Now, Angie loses a few pounds in this book. And Angie gets involved in a relationship. Because sometimes that’s what fat girls do. If you prefer your fat girls single, eternally broken, or thrilled about their fatness, just keep walking. Also, her new friend is a cutter and there's a bloody scene. 

Melt by Selene Castrovilla:

Melt is about a teenage boy named Joey who is a hardened thug and a criminal. It’s also about fancy, almost rich girl named Dorothy. Dorothy knows about Joey’s reputation but their insta-love over comes their good sense and her parent’s hesitancy.  It helps that Joey is very hot. He’s also completely traumatized by living in a home of domestic violence. His POV chapters are told in run on and broken off sentences. It takes some getting used to, to say the least, but it also makes his chapters go quickly. There are many many feels, not all comfortable, and then the end drops the climax like a hot potato. This is undoubtedly to set up for book two. But I’m too pissed about the drop off to read it.

This book has little to nothing to do with the Wizard of Oz except that Dorothy’s name is Dorothy and people think she’s named after the book, which isn’t even true. There are also WoO quotes or whatever at the beginning of some of the sections. That’s it. Or I’m too dense to know what “set against the metaphorical backdrop of The Wizard of Oz" means, which is undoubtedly true.

Related Links: