SIZE 12 AND READY TO ROCK (Heather Wells Mysteries, Book 4)

MEG CABOT

Synopsis from Goodreads: Summer break . . . and the livin' ain't easy!

Just because the students at New York College have flown the coop doesn't mean assistant residence hall director Heather Wells can relax. Fischer Hall is busier than ever, filled with squealing thirteen- and fourteen-year-old girls attending the first ever Tania Trace Teen Rock Camp, hosted by pop sensation Tania Trace herself—who just happens to be newly married to Heather's ex-boyfriend, heartthrob Jordan Cartwright. But the real headache begins when the producer of a reality TV show starring Tania winds up dead . . . and it's clear that the star was the intended victim.

Grant Cartwright, head of Cartwright Records, wants to keep his daughter-in-law (and his highest-earning performer) alive. So he hires his oldest son, black sheep of the family and private investigator Cooper Cartwright—who just happens to be Heather's new fiancÉ. Heather should leave the detecting to Cooper. But with a dorm full of hysterical mini-divas-in-training, she can't help but get involved. And after Tania shares a really shocking secret with her, this reality suddenly becomes more dangerously real than anyone ever anticipated.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, William Morrow, 2012.

How acquired: Via BookCrossing.

My thoughts:  It's been awhile since I read the first three books in this series (almost four years), but I was sucked right in as if it had been yesterday. In fact, this one could probably be read and enjoyed on it's own, without having read the first three books.

Meg Cabot is a master at the snarky humor. And the first person narration just zips along, as if Heather is sitting beside you telling you her story. In fact, Cabot's breezy writing is so masterful that it didn't even hit me until literally the last page that the writing is in first person PRESENT TENSE. Seriously! My least favorite tense, and I didn't even notice for 360 pages!

Heather is such a fun heroine, and Cooper, God, I love Cooper! And I was so happy that he got more page time here than in the previous book. And I'm sad that there's only one more book after this one.  

Mini Reviews

HEIDI, by JOHANNA SPYRI

Somehow I reached my fifties without ever having read this children's classic! And it is such a delightful read. I was of course already familiar with the story (who isn't?), but I very much enjoyed reading it. I was a little surprised when Heidi first goes to live with her grandfather, as I expected him to be much more ogre like, frowning, taciturn, etc. I'm thinking maybe he was portrayed more that way on screen? Anyway, classics are classics for a reason, and HEIDI is a wonderful story.  

TEEN IDOL, by Meg Cabot

Filled with Meg Cabot's trademark humor and teen pathos. Like The Princess Diaries, the plot is a bit fairytaleish, as a mega movie star decides to spend two weeks at a typical midwestern high school as research for an upcoming movie role. He's undercover as a transfer student, and Jenny, a high school junior and secret author of the newspaper's Ask Annie column, has been recruited by the staff to be his student guide. She has to help him blend in while keeping his true identity a secret.

It's not all just light fluffy fun though. The story touches on the serious issue of not just bullying, but of standing by and doing nothing to try and stop the bullying. Through Luke's eyes Jen begins to see the things that go on in a new light, and by the end she has grown as a person and a human being. 

GO FOR THE GOAL: A CHAMPION'S GUIDE TO WINNING IN SOCCER AND LIFE, by Mia Hamm

During her school years my youngest daughter was very much into soccer, and this was one of her books from those days. I'm donating it to a school, and read through parts of it. A lot of it is technical and motivational instructions for young girls about the game and the different positions and different moves, and I skimmed over those parts and just focused on the more personal stories about Mia's own life and her childhood and experiences. I enjoyed those parts, but the other parts were boring to me, which is to be expected as I am not the intended demographic for this book. 

Mini Reviews

Lady's Choice, by Jayne Ann Krentz 

Mira Books, 1997

At first I was afraid I wasn't going to like this one. I found Juliana hard to relate to, and wasn't sure I would like her. As soon as she and Travis had sex for the first time she just assumed that they would be getting married. I'm fine with old fashioned but good lord, it was the 80's/early 90's, not 1900. However, once they got past that little bump in the road I began to enjoy the book, and I particularly liked Travis by the end.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched (Queen of Babble, Book 3), by Meg Cabot 

William Morrow, 2008

I waited way too long after reading the first two Queen of Babble books to read this one, because I quickly realized I could not remember anything about the first two books. I'd forgotten all the back story about how Lizzie met Luke and Chaz. Once I got past that and just settled into the story, I enjoyed it well enough, but I did want to keep thumping Lizzie's forehead and asking her how she could be so blind. Fortunately, it ended the way I needed it to so I was happy with that.

Big Boned (A Heather Wells Mystery, Book 3)

 MEG CABOT

Synopsis: Life is reasonably rosy for plus-size ex-pop star turned Assistant Dormitory Director and sometimes sleuth Heather Wells. Her freeloading ex-con dad is finally moving out. She still yearns for her hot landlord, Cooper Cartwright, but her relationship with “rebound beau”, vigorous vegan math professor Tad Tocco, is more than satisfactory. Best of all, nobody has died lately in “Death Dorm”, the aptly nicknamed student residence that Heather assistant-directs. Of course every silver lining ultimately has some black cloud attached. And when the latest murdered corpse to clutter up her jurisdiction turns out to be her exceedingly unlovable boss, Heather finds herself on the shortlist of prime suspects – along with the rabble-rousing boyfriend of her high-strung student assistant and an indecently handsome young campus minister who’s been accused of taking liberties with certain girls’ choir members.

With fame beckoning her back into show business (as the star of a new kids’ show!) it’s a really bad time to get wrapped up in another homicide. Plus Tad’s been working himself up to ask her a Big Question, which Heather’s not sure she has an answer for…

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, published by Avon, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2007; 280 pages; received through Book Mooch.

My thoughts: It’s been nearly two years since I read the second book in this series, but the characters and events of the past books came back to me fairly quickly, Heather and Cooper especially. In fact, I particularly remembered how much I liked Cooper and how badly I wanted he and Heather to get together.

This book opens with Heather still living in Cooper’s brownstone, along with her father and her dog, Lucy. Her dad is getting back on his feet and is about to move out, and Heather is realizing that she might actually miss having him around, especially when it’s time to walk the dog. Heather is dating her remedial math professor, and while she’s definitely not crazy about Owen, her new boss, she’s not happy to walk into his office and find him dead.

Thus begins the third Heather Wells mystery, as the residence hall is invaded by detectives trying to figure out who killed Owen, while the grad-student workers are protesting for the right to unionize and a student claims the new reverend on campus is a perv who feels up the girls in the choir. Even though Heather promises Cooper she won’t launch her own investigation into who killed her boss, she of course is unintentionally drawn into everything.

As always with Meg Cabot, there is lots of snarky humor. My only complaint - Cooper was not on near enough pages as I would have liked. But a quick and fun read with a satisfying resolution.