Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Queen of Babble

- Meg Cabot -

Wow, the blog reads like I am on a serious Meg Cabot kick at the moment, which I guess I am, but really part of it is just that all the other books I've started lately have been so terrible/boring I've put them down again without finishing (authors: Shannon McKenna, Lucy Monroe. Not going to look for more from them obvs)

Anyway - really enjoyed this one too.

Again thought the main character, Lizzie, was a bit immature and ridiculous at times, but then again - she's 22, so probably fairly realistic.

Enjoyed the hero, Luke, too - who wouldn't want to meet at handome Texan with his own vineyard in France, and enjoyed the fact that the attraction and relationship between these two seemed really natural and believable and wasn't drawn out to the point of irritation.

Can't wait to see how they develop over the next two books.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Big Boned

- Meg Cabot -

Definitely my favorite of the three (so far) Heather Wells books.

Now, having read all three, there is clear character development and growth for Heather, so some of the things that really irritated me in the first book are, in retrospect, part of her journey and things she grows out of over the course of the series.

This books was all about Heather realizing what she really wanted from her life and career, ie: not to write shitty children's songs just for the sake of it, enjoying what she is doing at Death Dorm, not being afraid to speak up for herself and speak her mind a bit more.

That being said: she is still a little too the annoying side when it comes to lusting/longing after Connor. I think part of the reason their eventual get together moment fell a little flat for me was because of the first person structure of the narrative. Because it's all from Heather's pov, we never really get to see Connor's feelings or thoughts about her until he states them out loud. There are hints of course, but because Heather is clueless about how he feels, so is the reader and so we are left to just rely on the formula for how these type of stories generally work to know that they will ultimately end up together.

There was even an attempt to suggest that Connor and Heather were not going to end up together, with the character of Tad - the perfect boyfriend, supposedly. But since, after a hilarious jogging scene at the beginning, he mostly disappears from the action, it's hard to take him seriously as a character or a love interest for Heather.

Meg Cabot does a much better job of making the secondary friend characters more well rounded and part of the story - Magda, Pete, Tom, Patti, Frank, even the ex-boyfriend, Jordan, all seem more realistic and important to both the story and Heather than Tad ever does.

Definitely hope there are more books in this series, and will be really interested to see if the characters are developed so gradually yet clearly over the course of some of Cabot's other series. Have just started "Queen of Babble".

Monday, February 16, 2009

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either

- Meg Cabot -

Follow up to "Size 12 Is Not Fat"

Enjoyed this one very much - it was more or less free of the issues I had with the first one, in that there were the constant references to Heather's size/insecurity, but it didn't feel as predominant and irritating as in the first one.

I think part of that comes from the fact that she was much more confident in herself - particularly when it came to her investigative skills - and was speaking her mind much more often, so she didn't come across as nothing but a weight-obsessed insecure twit.

I enjoyed her standing up to Jordan, to the President of the University when he was being a jerk, and finally expressing herself a little bit to Cooper, even if it was initially under the influence of a roofie.

The mystery moved nicely, with some good misdirection and a very creepy villain/climax which was fun.

On to the next book in the series!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

To The Limit

- Cindy Gerard -

Second in the "Bodyguards" series.

Enjoyed this one too, though not quite as much as the first one.

The relationship between the characters didn't feel as developed, nor the tension built as effectively. It was a bit hodge podge and rushed.

The mystery was interesting though, and I liked the character of Eve a fair bit.

Did think the miscarriage subplot was overkill/not used effectively though. What was the point, if we were never even going to see Mac and Eve discuss it?

Will definitely be continuing the series though!