MEG CABOT WEEK: Chick Lit Day!

To wrap up Meg Cabot Week here on La Petite Fille Rousse, I'd like to highlight two of Meg Cabot's adult series that I absolutely loved.

Heather Wells Series
Size 12 Is Not Fat, #1
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, #2
Big Boned, #3

Heather Wells used to be a famous pop star, but now she is just your average assistant dorm director at a NYC college... well, except for the fact that people keep dying in her dorm.  Heather decides to get nosy and do a little bit of investigating herself, but what she finds is even weirder than what she expected.  While Heather's struggle with body image is part of her character, it's by no means the focus of these books.  This series features crazy college students doing very sketchy things.  I found this series to be hilarious and a little bit scary- these are my favorite books by Meg Cabot after The Princess Diaries.  I would strongly recommend these to anyone looking for chick lit with a mysterious kick.  According to her website, Meg Cabot is working on two more books in this series- I can't wait!

Queen of Babble Series

Queen of Babble, #1

Queen of Babble in the Big City, #2

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, #3

This series is a lot of fun, but it's hard to describe.  Basically, Lizzie Nichols, your average twenty-something American woman doesn't really know what to do with her life.  She has kind of a big mouth, but as far as I can tell, the thing that stands out about her most is her love for vintage clothing and fashion.  That's probably my fav thing about this series- the amazing clothing descriptions... oh, and the super excellent series ending that blew my mind!  Queen of Babble is pretty typical chick lit (by this I meant that it doesn't have Meg Cabot's crazy premise spin of secret powers, etc.).  Writing this now makes me really want to reread the series.

MEG CABOT WEEK! Belated Books: Review of When Lightning Strikes and Code Name Cassandra by Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot is skilled at creating story premises.  It's like she goes, "What would happen if...?" and then develops it into a story world.  I mean, I would imagine that's what most authors do, but Meg Cabot's imagination captures what it's like to be a young woman- full of inspiration and tenacity.  I love the pure fun of her books, and her ability to recreate the embarrassing incidents all girls live through with humour and grace.

When Lightning Strikes, Book 1

Code Name Cassandra, Book 2

The 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series

Meg Cabot (2001)

Originally written under pseudonym Jenny Carroll

Can now be purchased together as Vanished (2010)

I just now read these books because I was afraid that they would be scary.  I know, I'm a wimp, but I seriously have to be careful about thrillers because they scare the dickens out of me.  Needless to say, I found these books to be adventurous and exciting, but not really scary, so that was good!

Basically, Jess is struck by lightning on her way home from school one day, and it gives her the ability to locate missing people.  If she sees a picture of a missing child, the next day she wakes up knowing where the child is.  Cool, right?  Unfortunately, this ability has some scary consequences... Jess finds a child who does not want to be found, and the media and government go crazy for her new ability.  The attention scares her older brother who is struggling with schizophrenia, and Jess has to figure out how to straighten things out before they go out of control!  Plus, there's a super attractive bad boy with a secret past... 

In Book 2, Jess is a counselor at a summer camp, and she is faced with a difficult choice when she is asked to find a missing child...  I can't say more than that without spoiling Book 1!

I've only read the first two books in this series (in the Vanished combo-form), but I'd love to read the others.  Jess is a typical Meg Cabot heroine- she doesn't quite fit in, but she is courageous and willing to do whatever it takes to do what she thinks is right.  There is also an X-Files reference that made me laugh out loud (super awkward when reading in public).  The supporting characters are well developed- I love the presence of the older brother with schizophrenia.  It's important for authors to incorporate characters who incidentally have mental problems.  Real families deal with mental illness, and I love it when books realistically acknowledge this.  

Four stars for fun stories- these would make great beach reads!  I look forward to reading the rest of the series.  PS.  This would make a great Disney channel show (haha)!

Review- Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard
2006

AHHHH!!!! This book really creeped me out.

Summary from Goodreads:


Everyone has something to hide—especially high school juniors Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna.

Spencer covets her sister's boyfriend. Aria's fantasizing about her English teacher. Emily's crushing on the new girl at school. Hanna uses some ugly tricks to stay beautiful.

But they've all kept an even bigger secret since their friend Alison vanished.

How do I know? Because I know everything about the bad girls they were, the naughty girls they are, and all the dirty secrets they've kept. And guess what? I'm telling.

Whoa.  This book might appear to be just another YA chick-lit type deal, but it scared the crap out of me late last night.  I thought I was going to have nightmares.  Basically the girls all have secrets, and they receive mysterious messages signed "A".


Pretty Little Liars does contain the typical rich high school girl drama- they drink, they smoke, they hook up.  Somehow the mystery of what happened to their friend Alison and how they are receiving these seemingly omniscient messages from "A" makes up for the cliche-ness.


Okay- so I just cheated and read the series summary on Wikipedia- and this series is kind of whacked.  I can see how high school girls and maybe middle school girls would love it, though- it is a mystery/thriller based on what's familiar to them.  I would recommend this book to girls looking for something like that, but I'm not continuing.  I didn't realize before that there are 8 books!  


Bottom line-  if they sound good, give the first book a shot.  I enjoyed reading it, but not enough to keep going.  3 stars.

Review- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson
Translation Copyright 2008

Wow.  This book is definitely epic.  Summary from Goodreads:  Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.


I almost gave up on this book- the first 50 pages were really hard to get through- lots of setting up of the plot.  However, all of a sudden, things became very interesting.  Lisbeth Salander is an amazing heroine- if you dislike Bella for being mushy, you'll LOVE Lisbeth.  The mystery of Harriet Vanger's murder is also addicting.  At that point, I could hardly put the book down, and since it's 600+ pages long, I neglected a lot of things such as my schoolwork and my blog and SLEEP to keep reading.  The ending was a great twist-  even better than I expected.  However, it is very gruesome-  there are graphic descriptions of violent crimes.


Bottom line- definitely give this book a shot.  I'm going to give it 5 stars- the writing is stellar, the mystery is captivating, and the characters are unique and engaging.  I also liked the occasional PSA about violence against women.'


Question though- If you have read this book, what did you think about the gruesome violence in this book?  Was it necessary?  Did it make the book better?  I'm still thinking about these questions.

Review- Runaway by Meg Cabot (#3 in the Airhead series)

So if you like Meg Cabot, funny YA books, or books about glamour, this series is for you.  And if you read the first book, you have to keep going.

Summary- from Goodreads- "Emerson Watts is on the run: from school, from work, from her family, from her friends, from herself. 

With everyone she loves furious with her for something she can't explain, and nothing but the live Stark Angel fashion show on New Year's Eve to look forward to, Em's reached the end of her rope... what's the point of even going on?

But when she discovers the truth about Nikki's secret, she knows there's only one person she can turn to.

Will Christopher be able to put aside his personal feelings and help her expose her employer to the world? Is it even fair to get Christopher involved—since if he agrees, there's every chance that Stark Enterprises will try to have them both killed—this time, permanently?

Maybe it would be better for Em to just keep on running."  

Oh, and the Goodreads summary seems to leave out the premise of the series- Emerson Watts's brain has been transplanted into Nikki Howard, Supermodel's, body.  Kind of like how Mia suddenly becomes a glamorous princess.

Half-way through the book, I was kind of disappointed.  Not much seemed to be happening... at all.  I was going to give the book 2 stars- but the end really changed my mind.  The second half of the book contains more intrigue and more romance, which is what I look for in this kind of YA conspiracy/romance book.  I would now give this book 3.5 stars... and the whole series 4 stars.  It's interesting, original, and funny.  NOT as good as the Princess Diaries or Heather Wells series, but still a good set of books to read for fun.