hello readers it's sasha and today i am
filming the introduction
for my plus size reading vlog
*music*
i am so excited to be doing this i
feel like as a plus-sized person i don't
read enough about
plus-size representation in books
especially
positive representation because i've
definitely read my share of negative
where it's you know like you're just
like you suck
if you're fat you're just like the the
joke character but
i guess my goal with this was to read a
few books
where the main character is just fat and
that's that's it there's no joke behind
it there's nothing that this person
can't do that another skinny person can
do like i just wanted to read
about fat main characters so i picked
three books
that i've heard pretty good things about
the representation so the first book
the one that i'm currently reading i
kind of forgot to film an intro for this
so i'm already about two hours into the
audiobook for sound of stars
by alicia dow and this is about a girl
who
is living under an alien regime called
the Ilori
and it's illegal to have books and music
and essentially
she keeps a library because she loves
books and
she has this like secret library and one
of the ilori
ends up finding her book library place
but
is really fascinated with the books so
he keeps one and i think they end up
going on like a journey together to like
save the world from the ilori
and it's pretty it's pretty good so far
i can't really talk too much about it
because i want to update you guys when
i'm halfway through i do wish it was a
little bit
clearer especially because there is no
person on the cover and on the back it
doesn't really say anything
i only learned because i watched starla
read's video or she talked about it
so i'm hoping to get further into this
and see a little bit more
plus size representation and description
as i go
through the story but i am very very
early into
the the book so that's fine so that is
the first book i'm going to be reading
the next book i want to read is the
nowhere girls by
amy reed and this is about three or four
girls
three girls who find out that somebody
at their school was
sexually assaulted and essentially they
were run out of town because
no one believed her so this girl was run
out of town
after claiming that the popular kids
sexually assaulted her at a party
and i know for a fact one of the main
characters
she's plus-sized and so i'm hoping to
have
that in here and i'm hoping to have
some good ass plus-sized representation
where she's also badass because they
start to gang up against
the school and these guys and they're
trying to get them to
not pay for what they did but to like
get punished for what they did and so
i'm
i'm excited the final book i'm going to
be reading is faith taking flight by
julie murphy
i'm so excited to read this book i it's
pretty short
like it's a pretty short book this is
about a girl who is a fat
superhero i think yeah so she just kind
of like
learned she could fly one day and she
was like ah what do i do now and so i'm
pretty sure
she's a superhero i'm really excited for
this because this is actually written by
julie murphy who
is a plus-sized person and who wrote
dumplin i haven't read dumplin
and i know from the movie like the fat
shaming that her mom did didn't impress
me but i
i know what happens so i understand it
being in there but i'm hoping for this
one
that there is no fat shaming and she's
just vibing and learning how to fly like
that is the
ultimate goal i'm so excited to read
this i think i'm saving this for last
because i have the highest hopes for
this one
so hopefully i won't be let down but
those are the three books i want to read
i'm super excited i
haven't had a good plus size main
character
situation on my shelf in my entire life
except
last month with goddess in the machine
that is everything i will update you
guys
when i am six hours into my audiobook
because it is a 12 hour audio book bye
so i'm halfway through the sound of
stars
by alicia dow right now and i love this
story i love
what alicia dow has done with the
character
specifically ellie but also morris i
love her
i think she's great she's an amazing
plus-size character because
it's not mentioned hardly at all it's
just a thing
that is about her and i'm just like yes
thank you so much
she's so strong she's so cool
she loves books like books are her life
and it's just like
bish same i love that about her i love
the fact that she's so
into reading and so into books and there
are a lot of references for like the
hate u give dumplin all these different
books
so it's nice to tie it all in together i
also really like the fact that she
is um on the ace spectrum and i did not
know that going into this i was so happy
to figure that out because i did not
know that and it's so nice reading about
ace representation because truthfully i
don't read enough
of it because it's never really brought
to my attention but oh my god it's so
nice and this is such a relief and
such a good story this gives me the
fifth wave
vibes but like better more progressive
just more developed and i really really
enjoy it so i am definitely looking
forward to continuing i am finishing
this tonight i literally don't care what
i have to do
and i will give you an update when i'm
done but yeah i'm really really enjoying
this book so far and i can't wait
to continue it but also this is i think
the first audiobook that i'm gonna give
five stars and i'm really excited about
that so
bye so it is the morning i did not
finish the audiobook for the sound of
stars
because last night i downloaded just
dance2020
i was going hard for the songs
so i didn't do
what i was supposed to do
but that's fine this vlog is not going
well
i'm kind of i don't know i feel like i'm
in a reading slump
but i don't know i still want to read i
just feel like i'm kind of slumpy right
now
so we're gonna see what happens i am
planning on starting the nowhere girls
today while i'm at work
because i did pick up a seven to two
shift
so that's where i'm going right now and
i definitely feel like i can
finish both of the books today when i
get home
i'm going to listen to the audiobook
just religiously until i finish it
and the nowhere girls the font is pretty
big and it's not too
too long so i feel like i can also
finish that and that's the goal
going into the nowhere girls i'm not 100%
sure what i'm
expecting because i've heard a lot of
great things about it
but i know there's not so much plus size
representation
because it's just it's mentioned that
one of the girls is plus size and i
think that's
really it but i am looking forward to it
because it is about
these three girls who kind of like
tried to get this jock to get in trouble
for sexually assaulting somebody
and then when they came forward bullying
her to the point where she left town
so we love to see when men
get what's coming for them so i'm
hopeful
that he will by the end of this but i
will try to update you guys 50%
of the way in i don't fully know what to
expect
i wouldn't have picked it if i thought i
was gonna hate it but
yeah i don't know this vlog is not going
how i had anticipated because truthfully
it's just i've been paying so little
attention
to it i wish
i was paying more attention but i don't
know
i'm just kind of in like a vibin' mood
today and tomorrow are my days like
they're
my days to do this this vlog is going up
on time
i'm gonna make sure so i am 50% a little
over 50%
of the way through the nowhere girls
actually i just read
so much faster when i have a physical
book in front of me i don't know there's
just
something about it that just works so
much better for me but anyways
this book is about these three girls
who are very very very different girls
and they come together to try to stop
the
misogynistic attitudes in their
high school in their small town and i
love it i love it so much this is so
good
i would be shocked if this was anything
less than five stars i'm having
such a good time reading it it talks
about sex
and feminism and female power
and the female body in such a fantastic
way and it's so
empowering and there's i feel like
there's something for everybody because
one of our main characters
is plus size and she's christian and her
mom's like a minister
and then another one of our characters
is the oldest daughter in an immigrant
family a mexican immigrant family
and she's dealing with those pressures
and
our third main character is on
the asperger spectrum and she's dealing
with
what that means in terms of being a
teenage girl in high school and it's so
fascinating it's a really really good
book
and we meet so many other characters so
many other female characters
along the way that i think everybody
could find something they really enjoyed
in this
but as for plus-size representation i'm
thrilled with this book
this book is doing everything i wanted
it to plus some
because it's not mentioning her body as
being this like gross thing
that people are always trying to change
like her parents aren't trying to change
her body
her friends aren't trying to change her
body it's just like
that it is her body and she also has
these thoughts about how like a fat
person
probably is never gonna have like a
boyfriend in high school so she's trying
to focus on other things
and it's just nice to see some like
realistic plus size representation
because not every single
fat person is ashamed of who they are
and ashamed of their body and not every
single fat person's
support group and family is ashamed of
them and so
this book is doing that in such a
brilliant way and i'm so happy with it
i love this book i think what amy reed
is doing
is brilliant with this book because it's
opening up
so many different doors for so many
different conversations and i'm so
happy that i'm reading this because it's
just it's great this is a book that i
would want to pass down to any girl
that i knew ever like if i ever have a
daughter
this book is going to her if my friends
have daughters this book is going to
them
because it's just so important it's such
an important narrative it's
the whole theme of the story is
tearing down misogyny and tearing down
the patriarchy within this high school
and i think that's so important because
guys so often are labeled as these like
heroes for having so much sex
but the girls that they have sex with
are labeled as sluts
and it's just it's it's such a negative
perception of women and that can bring
such a negative
internal perception of yourself and i
hate it and i think this
this brings it up and this talks about
it in such a great way and it shows
women that
or girls that it's okay to have sex as
long as you're being safe about it and
it talks about safe sex too which is
amazing
but it's it's okay to have sex as a girl
it's okay to enjoy it it's okay to want
to do it
it's okay to know what you want when
you're doing it
and i think that's so important for
teenage girls to read about i think it's
so important
because so often as teenagers sex is for
the guys
but it shouldn't be and
this just is such a great narrative i'm
really enjoying this story
i kind of i almost wish i could not read
it anymore
and then like erase my memory and reread
it again
to have the same experiences of like
fuck yeah this is a
female power like to of the max i'm so
happy
so this is really doing a 10 out of 10
with this story in terms of plus size
representation which is the whole point
of this vlog
but also just in terms of like
storytelling and narrative like it's so
strong it's so good
so i'm definitely impressed with this
i'm definitely checking out more of amy
reed's work because i know she has done
more
and i'm really interested to see in
other things that she's done because i'm
really i'm so impressed with this but
yeah that's pretty much all i have to
say
for now i do plan on finishing the sound
of stars today as well as
the nowhere girls today and i'm pretty
excited to do that
because the sound of stars i'm just
interested to see where it goes
to see what's going on because a lot of
shit is happening so i just kind of want
to know
i'm obviously really interested in the
nowhere girls to see where this
this narrative takes our characters
throughout the rest of their stories
i'm really excited about it so i'm
definitely having a great time reading
for this vlog i know this morning i said
i was feeling slumpy and i think i was
but i think this book just pulled me out
of a reading slump because i'm so
hyped for this type of story i'm so
hyped to see
women and teenage girls supporting each
other
regardless of race regardless of body
type regardless of sexuality
and i am so hopeful that the whole story
just continues this way although i
i definitely don't foresee it changing
like i i can totally see myself having
just as much fun with this
forever and like i said i
really recommend this book for every
single every single teenage girl
like i don't think this is a book a
teenage girl should not read
like there are definitely trigger
warnings for sexual
abuse and sexual assault and it's
tough but i do think if it's something
that you can read
i think you should because it just it
talks about sex in such an open and
honest way
and it's so good this is probably gonna
be one of my favorite books of all time
i'm not gonna lie to you
this is this is really top tier so i'm
really excited to to finish it and
to see right so i have officially
finished
the nowhere girls by amy reed i finished
this about an hour ago
i want to say but i needed time to
process everything
because honestly this book was fantastic
and
it was so well written and so well
constructed and i really really really
loved it and i'm so happy i read it i'm
so happy i read it for this
oh my gosh okay so obviously it is a
five-star read for me what a shocker
like i'm obsessed with it there's
nothing really i
need to add that i didn't already say in
the last clip where i talked about the
important narratives that this
story brings up but i do just want to
mention that this
story is very heavy like it is very
heavy
and it is hard to read at times i
definitely want to put that in there
like
when you're going into this story keep
in mind that it is about
sexual assault and that is going it's a
very heavy part of the story it's very
very present
so keep that in mind going into this and
i just i adored everything about this
book i thought it was
fantastic the representation on all
accounts from
the things that i could speak to were
really well done i mean
grace is a fat main character and her
mom
isn't trying to change her dad's not
trying to change her lovely 10 out of
10.
she's also a christian and i feel like i
related to her a lot as a teenager
because i kind of had her same feelings
like oh i was never gonna have a
boyfriend and
i was really into my faith at her age
too more when i was a little bit younger
but still
and it was definitely it was definitely
reminiscent of how i was as a teenager
also
i personally think the asperger
representation was done really well
because
a lot of the times people say that when
you're on the spectrum
you don't have the emotions you're cold
you're
distant and all this stuff and erin the
girl who is on the spectrum the
asperger's spectrum
kind of proves why all that's wrong
and kind of explains in her own
narrative why
people like her act a certain way
or act differently and she kind of she
explains in a really really interesting
way
and i liked that i adored this book the
last couple of chapters i got goosebumps
reading it and finishing it like i got
goosebumps it was
beautiful it was so well done so well
wrapped up i
cried at the end like i was tearing up i
was getting very emotional because it
just it was so powerful it was so
it was so gritty and it was just it was
everything that i
was expecting but like four times that
because i didn't expect it to hit me as
hard i didn't think i would like it as
much i thought it was going to be like a
four-star read
at best you know what i mean but this
one was it was so top tier and i loved
every minute of it
that is my thought process that is my
spiel and i will
see you guys when i'm finished the sound
of stars audiobook but
just to let you know that is also
potentially a 5 out of 5 star read
because it's so so good so far so
oh my god and also hold on
where is she
hello
hello
hello
so i have now finished the sound of
stars audiobook and i said i was going
to finish it yesterday
but it's now like 7 30 p.m the night
before this vlog is supposed to be going
up
so that's awkward today was kind of a
busy day for me i didn't really get much
reading done
or listening done but i have finally
finished and
this is not a five star read for me i
couldn't give it five out of five stars
it wasn't
that the book there was anything
inherently wrong with it it was actually
a fantastic story and i would recommend
this to everybody
i just i don't know the it was it was
very rushed
toward the end and i just i didn't vibe
with it as much at the end so much
happened at the end and i was just like
what is going on who are you and it was
hard listening i was just trying to
picture the things and it just it wasn't
working as well for me as i would have
liked it to but in terms of the plus
size representation that was in the
sound of stars this was so spot on
like every part about this character
worked so well and she wasn't outwardly
described as plus size that i remember
hearing but
it was the little things the little the
little ways that she was described like
just
little itty bitty things about her she
was described as being like chubbier
and stuff like that and i just i really
liked her i just thought she was a
really good
main character i don't have too much
else to say about it i will say it is
insta lovey for sure for sure
but it's actually challenged within the
story it's nice because
ellie knows that this is all insta lovey
and that she's like what the fuck this
is so cheesy and annoying
and it was nice to see it challenged it
was nice to see it
talked about i did really like this
story i think i would have enjoyed it
better
on physical because i could have stopped
and re-read
certain paragraphs when i needed
explanations for certain parts about the
aliens because it does get a little bit
confusing at times
but overall this was definitely a really
stand-up story great plus-sized
representation
great ace representation like really
good
ace representation i believe she says
she's demi ace
so if you're looking for something like
that i would definitely recommend
picking up this book
and i really just i liked all the pop
culture references which i typically
don't like in books but it just made a
lot of sense
with everything going on in the world
being taken over by aliens it made a lot
of sense to have
all these pop cultural references to
these books that
that ellie really loved and that we as a
as a society as a book lover
we love to so it's it was nice and
that's pretty much all i have to say
about it
really happy with it i thought the
narrators on the audiobook were
phenomenal
i really enjoyed listening to them and
had nothing to do with them that i
didn't like the
audiobook as much it just it was the
fact that i got a little confused and i
was
zoning out a little bit but that's you
know that's not their fault so the next
book i'm starting
the last book for this vlog which i'm
planning on reading right now
is faith taking flight i think this is
going to be a quick read because the
font is kind of large and it's only 330
pages
and i'm also really excited about this
i'm not the biggest superhero person
but to see a plus size superhero think
that'd be pretty cool so i'm pretty
excited about this one and it just came
out it's a pretty new release so
i'm looking forward to this i think it's
going to be really good but that is
going to be the last book for this vlog
so i will update you guys 50%
of the way through tell you how i feel
about it so far and tell you how i feel
about the representation
so i've done it i've made it 50% of the
way through a faith taking flight
and i'm really liking this so far the
one note that i have
is it's kind of annoying to always have
the fat girl be like a nerd
i don't know i find that in so many
different books the fat girl is just
always like
the nerd and an outsider and i think for
once i would just like to have
a fat girl be represented as somebody
who people like and who's popular
so if i'm really liking this it's really
hard to tell which genre this is though
because
it starts off as like a contemporary
between these three friends
and then you have this like superhero
aspect so there's some paranormal
elements to it
and then you have missing dogs and
missing people and
missing animals and murder and it's like
i don't understand
fully like what genre this is supposed
to be but i'm really really enjoying it
i think the fat wrap is pretty spot on i
like the relationship that
our main character has with her
grandmother because her grandmother is
very supportive and isn't trying to
change
the way that she looks and that's
something i always look for when i have
a fat main character are the people
around her trying to change who she is
and
fortunately nobody's trying to change
who faith is so i'm really really happy
about that i don't know i just i like
the story i think it's a cute story it
reminds me a lot of
just like a netflix original film like
it has that vibe and i really like that
i don't have much to say about it so far
like i don't have
many thoughts about much else except
that i am really enjoying it i don't
know if it'll be a five star because i'm
kind of confused over like
what genre it is and kind of what's
going on because
it does jump between genres i feel like
so it would be nice if it was just a
little bit more cohesive
but i am i am enjoying this i just i
really like to see myself represented in
books
as someone who people find desirable
people
like people don't want to change it's
always nice and so i don't think you'll
ever find me rating a story with
a fat main character really low because
it's just
really nice to see that type of
representation for
myself and i really like that but i am i
i just i genuinely am enjoying this it's
going very really quick like it's taken
me maybe like an hour and a half
two hours to get halfway through so
hopefully by the end i'm gonna have a
little bit
more of an interesting in perspective on
the story
but as a whole i am really enjoying it i
have just finished faith taking flight
and i oh it's confusing everything in
this book
was good i just feel like everything in
this book wasn't great
and i do like it like it was a good
story and i do know it's part of a
series and
i have no idea when the second book will
be released but i will be picking it up
but i don't know there's just something
about it that i just didn't like that
much
i think it might have been the bouncing
back and forth between genres
or it might have been the fact that it
felt a little predictable
at times like i definitely felt like the
the
twist or whatever it was supposed to be
was kind of predictable
and i don't know it just it didn't it
wasn't the greatest book i've ever read
and considering i just read
and finished the nowhere girls yesterday
which is probably
my new favorite book i did expect a
little bit higher of faith-taking flight
but it was good the representation was
really well done
there were people who found the main
character who is plus-sized desirable
and who wanted to date her and i really
like that i like when there are people
who just genuinely
enjoy the way people look regardless of
what society thinks they should look
like and i think that was really awesome
and i did like that this book was
sapphic this is another sapphic book
i enjoyed having faith as a bisexual
fat main character because i just really
related to her but overall like the rest
of the story
like if i was just reading this for a i
don't even know what
genre i'd consider this fantasy
paranormal maybe for a fantasy
vlog i probably wouldn't like it as much
but
as i'm reading it for a plus size
representation vlog i do think the
representation is really well done and i
do like
faith as a main character kind of
overall i did feel like she was a very
realistic main character just given her
age and what she's going through
i think i'll probably rate it 3.5 out of
5 stars
i don't fully know why that rating is
there it's just kind of the first one
that's coming into my head so we're
gonna go with that
but yeah let's just talk a little bit
about all the books that i read for this
so i'll rank them so number three is
faith taking flight by
julie murphy and honestly 3.5
out of 5 is not bad it's not a bad
rating it's just
that this didn't hit for me in the same
way i had expected
but for plus-size representation this
was fantastic i felt very seen in this
story
having a bisexual fat main character
whose friends and family weren't trying
to change her and
who was liked and desired in a
relationship it was it was really nice
and that was really great
number two is gonna be the sound of
stars by alicia doe and i really enjoyed
this story this
story although it did take me a very
long time to read compared to
how long it usually takes me to read a
book i did really like it and i thought
it was a really overused idea but done
in a very original way
in terms of the representation again
this was another fantastic book with
just a girl
who was fat who was a demi ace book
lover
who someone found attractive and wanted
to be with and
didn't care that she wasn't what
typically would be considered beautiful
and then my number one
my number one the best of the best 10
out of 10 the nowhere girls oh my god
this book was everything to me in terms
of obviously five out of five stars
obviously in terms of representation for
plus size people
it was great it was a girl who was fat
who
it was just part of who she was it
wasn't a part of her story arc it had
nothing to do with her
character really it was just who she was
it was just her body description
i love that i love when we see main
characters who are fat
who aren't just obviously the butt of
jokes and obviously
the losers and obviously the nerds it's
just nice
it's just it's really nice again this is
a very very sexual assault heavy book
so go into this knowing that if you
can't read about sexual assault don't go
into this book just because i really
really loved it
doesn't mean it's going to work for you
and don't do it but
if you can read about sexual assault
then i do recommend reading this one
because it was just
it was phenomenal it was a really really
top 10 story favorite book of all time
possibly but definitely one of my
favorites of 2020. so
those were all the books i read for my
plus-size representation video and i'm
honestly really really happy with them i
didn't think i would go into this having
as much success as i had i
will now always be looking for books
with plus size main characters so
definitely comment any down below if you
have any thank you for tuning in to this
messy vlog
this is literally being finished less
than 24 hours before it's supposed to go
up so
we'll see how that goes but thank you
guys for tuning in and
thank you for showing support and thank
you for 400 subscribers oh my god i
forgot to even mention that
thank you guys so much that means so so
much to me and
here's to like four more because you
know please like comment and subscribe
if you haven't already i post twice a
week and yeah until next time
bye readers
