REVIEW: Livin Large In Fat Chance, Texas by Celia Bonaduce

 
Livin Large In Fat Chance, Texas by Celia Bonaduce finds the inhabitants of Fat Chance, Texas, in a bit of turmoil. Half the town wants to pave the main road, the other half doesn’t. Professor Johnson wants to make a cheap wine with the grapes he discovered; Fernando wants to produce an award winning wine. Titan can’t find his missing buzzard, Old Bertha wants Pappy to marry her but he disappears, and Dymphna’s sister, Maggie, storms into town. There’s conflict everywhere, but when a tornado strikes, the town has to band together.

It took me a while to get into the story. Part of it may be because I haven’t read the first two books in the series, so I had no connection with the characters or their backgrounds. As the book progresses, readers are eventually given a brief overview of how the town came to be, but I thought it would have been helpful if I had that information from the beginning.

Dymphna and Professor Johnson’s relationship confused me. They both loved each other, but had been together for a couple of years and never told each other? It didn’t make sense. What also didn’t make sense was how dense Professor Johnson was. He couldn’t see that his constant need to be right about paving the road and making wine with the grapes was pushing Dymphna away. He even had the nerve to talking about other people being relentless, when he himself was the same way.

Old Bertha harbored a not-so-secret desire to have the dog banned from the restaurant.
She certainly can go on and on about that, Professor Johnson thought, shaking his head. Some people are just relentless.

Dymphna and her sister also had a complicated relationship; both were jealous of one another and harbored resentment towards each other. When Dymphna catches her sister kissing Professor Johnson, she doesn’t get mad, she just hops into bed with him. They don’t even discuss what happened. It wasn’t a very realistic scenario.

The characters are a bit quirky, and the book touches on each inhabitant of the small town. It was great to see them all put their differences and arguments aside to help one another after the tornado. Even Maggie, who at one point seemed perfectly content to destroy the town, put her anger aside and showed that she did really care about Dymphna.

I think Wesley, the lawyer who came into town with his client, Cleo, and Erinn, who was making a documentary about the town, summed up the story best in this conversation with Erinn.

Why not concentrate on what you do have?”
“Which is what?”
“The story of the human spirit.”
“You must be joking.”
“No, I’m not. Cutthroat set up this town and gave a bunch of misdirected people a chance at the American Dream. They took it and ran with it. It’s very uplifting, you have to admit.”

If you enjoy books in which the human spirit triumphs over nature and other outside forces, you may enjoy this. I do, however, recommend reading the previous books first to gain a better understanding of the town and its inhabitants.

Book Info:

 July 19, 2016 | Lyrical Press | Fat Chance, Texas #3

From ghost town to growing community, it’s been a few years since a group of strangers inherited property in tiny, deserted Fat Chance, Texas. And besides creating businesses, they’ve developed friendships and romances too. But plans to pave the town may put Dymphna Pearl and her beau, Professor Johnson, on opposite sides of Main Street. In his zeal for the project, he’s making great decisions for Fat Chance, but not for them as a couple. Disgruntled, Dymphna heads back to Los Angeles to collect the rabbits she’s created a special place for in the hot Texas climate. But the professor is in for another surprise…

Professor Johnson didn’t even know about Dympha’s sister, Maggie, and when he meets her in a most unexpected way, he begins to understand why. In the meantime, Dymphna is off pursuing an exciting venture to let the world know about Fat Chance—one that will bring a talented new crew to the eclectic group. The kitschy little place they call home is clearly destined for bigger, better things—-but with so many changes a-coming will the same be true for everyone in Fat Chance, including the professor and Dymphna?