Fat Chance

by Nick Spalding

[Leah]

Last year I read the first of Nick Spalding's "Love" series, Love From Both Sides and I thought it was HILARIOUS. Seriously, seriously, proper funny with one of the most gross out scenes in a book I have ever read (and which, remembering it now, even beats out Greg's foot blisters in this book, yuck and yuckier). So I was really chuffed to see he had a new book due out called Fat Chance, and even happier when I spotted it on Netgalley during August. I downloaded it immediately, loving the blingy-looking cover and the synopsis, and I couldn't wait to get stuck in, and this novel proves that Nick really is one of the funniest writers around.

As I said in my My Week In Books post, I myself am currently dieting. At the time of writing my review (last few days of August) I've lost nearly 5 kilos in the same amount of weeks, so I'm quite interested in books about weight loss, especially true-to-life ones, which show that weight loss is bloody hard. And while Fat Chance does show that losing weight is hard, Zoe and Greg both complain about it massively, I probably would have preferred to have SEEN their weight loss. The diary format is somewhat restrictive of the novel, meaning we hear second-hand tales of their dieting disasters and achievements because it's all being recounted from their memory (even if it is the same day it happened). I'd have preferred a looser storytelling method, especially as there were other couples in the contest to win £50k if they lost the most weight, I would have liked to have seen how the other couples got on, as well as Zoe and Greg.

I must also confess that some of the diary entries were a bit too dry for me. Towards the end, Greg writes an entry on exercise and Zoe does one on diets, and they sounded like the kind of handbooks you get down the Doctor's (excepting Greg's naked exercising plan, which was hilarious). They sounded a teensy bit robotic, which was a shame, but it was only in those last few anecdotes from their dieting diaries. For the most part I loved Greg and Zoe. They're my kinda couple, who love their junk food (sigh, I miss junk food) and just like Zoe, I dread buying clothes, or trying clothes on, because I just know it'll make me sad (although I've never been stuck in a dress before, phew!). The novel really did give me the giggles a few times, even if it was a bit farcical, but who doesn't love a bit of farce? It was fun.

I really, really enjoyed Fat Chance. As a fellow dieter, I could sympathise with Greg and Zoe, and I know what they're going through - it's painful, and hard, and even worse when thousands of people are hearing all about it (although I'd probably enjoy dieting more with a £50k carrot dangling in front of me), making it worth all the shame and embarrassment. The novel made me laugh, as I've come to expect from Nick Spalding, and I just thought it was a spot-on account of dieting. I am also the proud owner of a treadmill, but I will certainly NOT be partaking in nude treadmilling, honestly Greg. A warm and witty novel, I look forward to what Spalding does next, that's for sure.This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read