Olivia and Maggie did everything together during their high school years; fantasized about dating the hottest boys in the school, hung out at each other's houses and ate Nachos BellGrande in Maggie's car on prom night. After 15 years of friendship, Olivia is set to marry her golden doctor boyfriend -- the only boyfriend she's ever had. Maggie is one of the few people left in Olivia's life who knows her dirty little secret -- she used to be obese. Taking the gastric bypass route, Olivia can now shimmy into her perfect size 2 wedding dress while inventing her perfect past so she can maintain her perfect present.

Maggie is beyond overeducated for her waitressing gig at the local coffeehouse. Unlike her best friend, she has no boyfriend, no prospects and is destined to become a sad old lady who lives alone with her uncontrollable dog Solo -- that is, until she gets evicted. Solo needs obedience lessons, but is afraid to go near the trainer or go around the blue buckets used in her training. If that wasn't miserable enough, Maggie is still carrying around her high school weight...plus her college weight...and her can't-get- a- man-destined-to-die-alone-depression weight. Things can't get much worse, especially since Maggie's crush, Domenic, seems to look straight through her girth. With the wedding looming, Domenic giving her a cryptic mixed CD with a beautiful hidden track ,and a new healthy diet and exercise regime, things might just turn around for Maggie. Will she be able to get past her fears and go around her own blue buckets?

With a mix of humor and pity, Maggie's life is full of the ups and downs an obese person might face. Unlike Jennifer Weiner's GOOD IN BED, where the main character deals with her issues with wit and gusto, Maggie seems to be crippled by a fear of inadequacy instead of charging through life with her head held high. The saving grace of this book is the supporting characters in Maggie's life -- her divorce lawyer mother, who swears too much, her small group of supportive friends, and her feisty sister, who won't stand to see her sister kicked around.

Book Summary

Everyone seems to be getting on with their lives--except Maggie. At 27, she's still working at the local coffee house, while her friends are getting married, having babies, and building careers. Even Olivia, Maggie's best friend from childhood, is getting married to her doctor boyfriend. Maggie, on the other hand, lives with her dog Solo, and has no romantic prospects, save for the torch she carries for Domenic, the busboy. Though Maggie and Olivia have been best friends since their "fattie" grade school years, Olivia's since gone the gastric-bypass surgery route, in hopes of obtaining the elusive size two, the holy grail for fat girls everywhere. So now Olivia's thin, blonde, and betrothed, and Maggie's the fat bridesmaid. Ain't life grand? In this inspiring debut novel, Maggie speaks to women everywhere who wish for just once that they could forget about their weight.