All her life, Fiona Madsen has dreamed of becoming a dancer—a dream that was shattered on her seventh birthday when her mom told her that dancing was not for “fat girls” like her. Now, at age thirty-five, Fiona is again confronted with her weight issues when the HR department at work kindly encourages her to attend a support group for people with health problems. Here, she connects with Skinny Stu from accounting and realizes the two of them have more in common than she could ever imagine. To address their issues, Stu suggests the two sign up for a Dancing With the Local Stars competition. After much deliberation and soul searching, Fiona says yes and together they—Fat Fiona and Skinny Stu—embark on a journey that will change their lives forever. But they must overcome one major obstacle first… Fiona’s sister, who’s running for mayor, finds out about the competition and threatens to have Fiona disqualified.Will Fiona withdraw from the competition to protect her sister’s reputation or will she follow her childhood dream of becoming the ultimate Dancing Queen? Set in everyday life in Seattle, Dancing Queen is a story of hope and finding the courage to be happy with who you are instead of who others think you are. "Dance your heartbreak away with Dancing Queen! By L. Leger on January 8, 2017. Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase Flagged by a new program at their mutual workplace for weight issues, co-workers Fiona and Stu are thrown together as an unlikely pair of unwilling participants. When quilting is suggested as a hobby to replace their total opposite eating disorders, they come up with their own plan to enter a dancing contest, a local version of Dancing With the Stars. Fiona, dubbed Fat Fiona nearly all her life, has long given up her 'closet dream' of dancing, thanks to her mother, whose bias towards Fiona's older, thinner, more successful sister, Violet, is as obvious as Fiona's big butt. Stu, on the other hand, is a calorie-counting, veggie-crunching skinny man with his own set of self-esteem issues, also thanks to sibling bias from a cruel-tongued parent—his father. The transformation of Fi and Stu's unlikely friendship into two skilled dance partners is a marvelous story! Charlotte Roth uses stories from both characters' pasts to deal with life-altering self-image and self-worth issues. It's a joy to watch them slowly work through feelings of disappointment and heartbreak for ones of self-acceptance and finally hope, eventually leading to forgiveness and much more. With superb character development and a well-executed storyline, Dancing Queen was a joy to read, from start to up-lifting finish. There were several typos but none that took me out of the story, so I'm not deducting for them. I give this highly recommended read a solid five stars! Well done, Ms. Roth!"