Reading While Fat

Welcome! I’ve published nearly 300 reviews of the books I’ve read since 2021. You can skip to the bottom to search books by tag or just keep reading. They are not all fat-positive, but I do note if there is any significant anti-fat bias. Thankfully, most of what I read is at least weight-neutral.

Have you ever been annoyed by a description of a fat character in a book and wish the author did better? Have you been thrilled to find a fat character that isn’t trying to lose weight? Less often, but it does happen.

In this blog, I’ll review the books I read and report whether I found anything fat positive, anti-fat biased, or weight neutral, but I’ll try to avoid repeating the worst of the anti-fat bias. I’ll focus on fiction, with an emphasis on diverse and queer-friendly authors. In 2025, I published over 70 reviews, and I plan to do the same in 2026 as well, generally published on Sundays, but reviews of new books will happen on publication day Tuesdays. If you subscribe, you’ll get reviews in your inbox whenever I publish one, but no more than that, I promise. My 2026 goal is an average of a review every week on Sundays and one new book an average of every other week.

Click on the tags in the cloud at the bottom of this page to filter by topic, or for book cover thumbnails leading to my latest reviews, click here. The list of my 2025 reads, an analysis of my 2025 reading year, and older annual summaries and other content, including my views on fat acceptance, my journey to becoming a single mother, dealing with breast cancer and life afterwards, and my coming-out story are at bbwesquire.

Playing for Keeps

The description of Playing for Keeps (publication day January 6, 2026) by Alexandria Bellefleur pulled me in instantly: a Sapphic romance between two publicists–one for a mega pop star and the other for a respected NFL football player! I thought it was a cute twist on the story that all Swifties think that they know,…

2025 Analysis and Goals

Over on my original blog, bbwesquire.wordpress.com, I’ve got the analysis of my 2025 in books, so if you’re interested in the whole picture, please check it out. My 2026 reading goals are similar to 2025:

2025 in Books: The List

Below is the list of what I read between January 1, 2025 to the present, with links to the reviews. An A = audiobook; BC = book club; D = diverse / non-white author; NG = read for NetGalley. A full analysis of my 2025 reading year is coming soon.

The Reformatory

I just about have no words (with reverent awe) for The Reformatory (2023) by Tananarive Due, but since writing about books is the reason for this blog, I have to come up with some. First, this book is an example of my belief that white people need to read books written by black people (and…

The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts

Nonfiction was only a fraction of what I read in 2025, but The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts (2023) by Loren Grush made me want to read more. While some of the individual women that were part of the first women to be part of NASA’s first astronaut class to include…


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1980s (5) ADHD (4) african american history (6) Anti-Fat Biased (38) Anti-racist (5) anxiety (8) apocalyptic fiction (9) autistic character (6) bi/pan character (7) bildungsroman (6) bisexual character (5) Black experience (9) chick lit (6) climate fiction (6) coming of age (15) contemporary fiction (77) contemporary mystery (9) contemporary queer romance (15) contemporary rom-com (9) Contemporary Romance (13) contemporary thriller (7) contemporary YA (5) crime fiction (5) depression (6) diet culture (5) displacement (5) dystopia (9) fabulism (6) families (7) family drama (23) family dynamics (16) fantasy (20) fat main character (14) Fat Positive (69) fat positive romance (16) female friendship (5) feminist (7) feminist fiction (8) feminist historical fiction (7) fiction (19) found family (7) friendship (15) grief (49) hetero romance (9) historical fantasy (5) historical fiction (54) historical fiction based on true events (14) historical mystery (6) horror (5) lesbian romance (5) LGBT contemporary (10) LGBT historical (6) LGBTQ (5) LGBTQ storyline (5) LGBT YA (5) literary fiction (27) London (5) Memoir (16) mental health (7) middle grade (5) mothers and daughters (6) multi-generational family drama (5) mystery (33) neurodiversity (5) New York City (6) Nigeria (7) nonfiction (6) patriarchy (4) queer character (5) queer characters (52) queer memoir (4) queer representation (6) queer romance (35) queer storyline (7) queer supporting characters (5) race relations (15) racism (6) reading (10) relationships (11) road trip (5) romance (7) romance subplot (11) romantic comedy (5) science fiction (9) sexual assault (6) sisters (11) small town (5) social criticism (5) speculative fiction (18) supernatural elements (5) thriller (11) trans character (5) True Crime (4) unplanned pregnancy (6) Weight-Neutral (7) weight neutral (92) women's fiction (14) women's friendships (8) young adult (35) young adult romance (5)

Professional Reader50 Book Reviews80%