January is my least favorite month.
Every January, the steady stream of people hating their bodies intensifies into a deluge. Nonstop weight loss ads fill my tv screen and social media feed, promising dramatic, if unlikely, results. At gatherings, the delicious holiday cookies from December have been replaced with tasteless grain-free hockey pucks. Inevitably at least one family member will talk incessantly about their diet, while looking askance at my body. And I’m grumpy because my usual exercise spots are suddenly packed with new people loudly complaining about their “bad” and “ugly” bodies. By St. Patrick’s Day, I know diet culture will have melted down to its usual toxic hum, and I can drink my Guinness in relative peace.
In times of trouble, I turn to books. Instead of silently stewing all January, this year I decided to focus on books with positive representations of fat bodies, and most importantly, zero dieting.
This is surprisingly difficult. Diet culture is ever present in romance and characters reflexively police their eating. I read a lesbian romance recently where the heroine ordered a piece of lamb pie, and then spent two paragraphs explaining why she was allowed to eat pie. You see, she hadn’t eaten all day. She usually wouldn’t order anything this heavy. She was required to sample the pub menu as part of her job. The pie wasn’t that tasty anyway. And she immediately thought afterwards that it wasn’t the sort of thing she’d ever want to eat outside of winter, that magical season when one is allowed to eat pie.
This is what happens when we assign moral value to a basic human function, eating. Just eat your damn pie.
Many romance novels with fat main characters have plus-sized heroines who are deeply uncomfortable with their bodies, and feel unworthy of love. In these stories, the heroine’s self-acceptance relies on her thin lover to convince her that she’s beautiful. There’s nothing wrong with these books, and I have often enjoyed them. But I’m tired of only reading stories where a character’s fatness is central to the plot, as though it’s a character flaw they have to overcome. Just like I celebrated when queer romances moved beyond only coming out stories, I’m so glad we have plenty of romance novels with resilient fat characters, and narrative conflicts unrelated to their size.
My fat-positive books party has been the perfect antidote to my January blues. I’ve been tweeting about it all month, and wanted to share a few of my favorite contemporary romances with the Bitchery. In the future, I’ll be sharing fat-positive books in other sub-genres, so let me know if there’s something you’re looking for!
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If the Boot Fits by Rebekah Weatherspoon
I have yet to read a Weatherspoon novel that isn’t diet-free. She’s a national treasure, and this contemporary Cinderella retelling is one of my favorites.
A mistreated celebrity assistant scores a ticket to a swanky Hollywood party, and ends up falling for a famous actor who has no idea who she is. If you are looking for a fat heroine who loves her body, and has zero baggage about her size, this is your book. The heroine is confident about her appeal, even as she’s embarrassed by her job.
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Olivia Dade excels at writing fat characters, and Teach Me has one of my favorite heroines, a guarded middle-aged teacher who fiercely advocates for her students. Rose has plenty of obstacles to trusting Martin, the new teacher in school who keeps accidentally making her life more difficult. But none of them are about her hating her body. Rose knows her worth and I loved that she initially pursues Martin.
I also adored the way Teach Me gently showed Rose conquering fatphobic microaggressions at work. And Rose and Martin’s emotional intelligence is off the charts! There is much magical adult communication. I’m hopelessly inept at office politics, so I loved seeing these two navigate a bullying situation with ease.
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This low-conflict novella is set in a super-queer karaoke club, where a chubby non-binary professor falls for a fat vet admin assistant who can belt out tunes. I read it TWICE, that’s how cute these two are. I wouldn’t change a single word.
There’s mutual crush that sparks over tipsy late night flirting. And many karaoke love songs. Sam, the professor, is shy and extremely kissable, and I loved watching Lily bring them out of their shell. Lily is an aspiring fashion designer, and my favorite part of the story was how she helps Sam find clothing that fits their gender dreams.
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I cannot emphasize how hard it is to find m/m romances with fat characters who aren’t self loathing. So I’m very grateful for this grumpy/sunshine story about a chubby former apple farmer and a hockey star in need of redemption.
The Game Changers series has been one of my faves since I devoured Heated Rivalry, but there’s been very little size diversity until this installment. Role Model has plenty of angst and an epic coming out scene that made me cry like a baby! Yes, I know I said I’m over coming out stories, but I’m nothing if not inconsistent.
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Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
It’s hard to decide which Hibbert book is the most fat positive. But I’ve loved Get A Life, Chloe Brown since I saw Chloe’s cankles on the cover, and the Brown Sisters trilogy is one of my most frequent rereads.
This is the book equivalent of receiving an orgasmic foot rub while wearing a Snuggie and drinking hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. It’s a witty rom-com with a prickly heroine who is worried about her chronic illness, not her size, being pursued by Red, a mushball hero prone to rescuing little old ladies. There’s lots of extremely sexy caretaking: He cooks, he cleans, he pleasures! However, there were a couple of points where Red picks Chloe up and carries her, which is something I tend to side-eye with fat characters.
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Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
This and While We Were Dating are my favorite Guillory books. This celebrity romance has a lawyer who’s new to town, being pursued by California’s heartthrob Senator.
The heroine is closer to curvy than fat, but I struggle to think of a more anti-dieting book. The couple eat their way across Los Angeles, and much of their courtship happens over food. There’s not one, but two, grand gestures involving pastry. However, I feel honor bound to warn you that the sex scenes are lackluster.
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Their Troublesome Crush by Xan West (Z”l)
There’s no sex in this book, but there’s plenty of swoony romance and mutual pining.
In this queer polyamorous novella, an autistic trans man and a disabled cisgender woman are in a dominant/submissive relationship with the same person, when they realize they’re also attracted to one another. Both main characters are fat, and the descriptions of their bodies are vivid and appreciative. The tone of this low-conflict story is earnest and sweet, with plenty of careful communication about kink.
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As I’ve been reading this month, I’ve noticed that by consistently pairing fat heroines with thin partners, many m/f romances are unwilling to diverge from the expectation that heroes must be thin, muscular and able-bodied. I guess this is supposed to give me, as a fat reader, an opportunity to experience the fantasy of secondary social approval, of being accepted because you have a privileged partner. This is partly why I love the subversion of Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Xeni, which has a fat hero.
January isn’t over, and I’m still looking for more fat positive books to read.
Bitchery, what are your faves? And does anyone know where I can get a copy of the sadly out of print Soft on Soft?
Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series has a fat protagonist and I really like how she’s written; entirely unapologetic about her size and her loved ones respect her and treat her well.
I read a decent m/m romance called Not a Game by Cardeno C. One of the heros is larger with some self esteem issues. I have good and bad opinions about other aspects of the book, however, I do enjoy re-reading it on occasion and appreciate that the love interest is fully attracted to him just the way he is. Makes me feel the warm and fuzzies.
Seconding Teach Me, Sing Anyway and the Brown sisters. Dani Brown is my favorite, both main characters are bigger, very positively portrayed.
On the fantasy side – Paladin’s Strength by T. Kingfisher – both main characters are big and tall and strong. Heroine’s body is frequently called magnificent by the hero.
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@ MJ
The Maximum Allowable Chins are fun, and I love Charlotte’s unapologetically ornate taste in clothes – in fact Charlotte’s unapologetic belief in herself and her skills, and her determination to make a worthy life for herself and those she loves.
So like the first commenter EJ, reading fat presentation is also a particular minefield for me that I generally try to stay away from it. What I will say is this.. there is absolutely a fat “heirachy” and cultural “acceptability” that intersect with your body shape/weight distributions, how fat you are & race. I saw someone on TikTok describe it best: that hour-glass/pear-shaped girls are that the top (with your weight & race dictating how “top” are you) and all apple-shaped girls at the very bottom no matter what. So, when I read fat romance (& just looking at the book covers posted), it’s always someone who’s an “acceptable” fat to begin and a guy who loves all the “hourglass curves”. It’s a little tough when you’re fat & don’t even see yourself represented in any fat spaces (romance included)
I also like Charlotte Holmes, but I will say that the idea of “maximum allowable chins” comes from an assumption that one’s body weight is under one’s control and that if she just uses a bit of restraint here and there she can keep herself within acceptable fatness, acceptable in the way Denise discusses above. My awareness and understanding about all of this has evolved a huge amount over the last year or so (thanks, Maintenance Phase and also Elsa Sjunneson’s Being Seen for ableism). It is part of anti-fat culture to assume that weight is a matter of calories in/calories out. So while I enjoy reading Charlotte, I don’t see her as an unconditional win for anti-fat bias
Such a smart comment from Zuzus. I wasn’t crazy about One to Watch for the same reasons. (Also, the heroine’s size seemed to me to be her ONLY defining trait; she’s supposedly smart and funny but I don’t really see it on the page. And while I support anyone watching The Bachelor, I think choosing to be a contestant even though you’re fat isn’t doing all that much to actually DISMANTLE the systems of oppression, you know?
Some recent fat-positive romance-oriented YA:
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega (heroine is Latina, love interest is Korean-American)
There’s Something About Sweetie (Indian-American hero & heroine)
The Summer of Jordi Perez (fat confident white teen lesbian protag)
@LT—yeah, the calories in/out thing is frighteningly ableist, and one of the things I get so tired of hearing. People have been very well trained,…
I actually just came back to the thread to cosign any T. Kingfisher, as well as the red for If the Shoe Fits. I INHALED that book (er, phrasing?), and now I need to read everything else by Julie Murphy with the hopes it’s even half as good. Cindy IS fat, and she’s loved by her family and friends, and doesn’t have her worth tied up in her physical appearance OR finding a partner. I loved everything about the book and it gave me a kick in the pants I needed for some changes I need to make in my life.
If you’re looking for romances with big/fat MMCs, do check out Marie Lipscomb (she also writes as M.L. Eliza). As an author, she is unapologetic about her love for men without 6-pack abs and straining biceps. She also has some fat FMCs as well.