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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not at all what I was expecting! To be fair, I only glanced at the blurb and that was a while ago but this was so much better than I was expecting! This has a definite chick lit + cozy mystery vibe. It kept me engaged throughout the book.
I really wanted to love this book, but i didn’t. I think a major problem I had with it was that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator really irritated me. I might have liked it better if I read the actual book. The story did have some good points, but I figured out who the bad guy was very early on which was frustrating. I don’t plan to continue with the series.
You know how some things in the late 90s and early 2000s felt like the pinnacle of progressive media, but now it retrospect it's actually not that great and really problematic in it's execution? Well, this was that, but even worse in so many ways.
There will be mild spoilers, more situational than any big plot points.
So let's start out with the weight thing. Skip down to the **** if needed to avoid weight discussion.
"Hell, no. I used to be fat. A real lard ass. Kind of like you are now, actually. A size twelve. I drowned my sorrows in candy bars, never worked out, like you. Do you know I never go asked out - never, not once, until I turned thirty?"
...
"There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time. Size twelve - is not fat."
A very large part of this book had to do with weight and size. Now, I'm no expert in size by any means, but pulling from my own experiences going up and down on the scale for most of my life I know a bit. Which I'm guessing is more than Cabot had when she was writing this because Heather Wells is a caricature of a plus-sized protagonist.
First of all, from a technical perspective size twelve is pretty much the bare minimum you can be and qualify as plus sized. Most plus sized stores start at like 14, at 12 you can still shop in most regular stores - you just feel like shit in boutiques.
However, without Cabot reminding you of the protagonists clothing size every other page and in the title, Heather is portrayed as the cartoon "fat friend" seen in many movies and shows from that time period.
Heather talks about food constantly, she complains about her weight constantly, though also has a very false sounding acceptance of it, it is constantly mentioned how physically inactive she is, as well as how she is constantly reminded by the people around her of her weight, she describes every thin person around her as an equally weight obsessed trivial person (aka, a ‘skinny bitch’). None of these things are necessarily unlikely to occur for plus-sized people, I myself could relate to a good number of them, but there shear quantity and frequency of all this together along with the tone made it feel more like a joke than anything else.
At one point in the novel, rather than getting to be pretty in a dress, we're told how Heather borrowed her friends late-term maternity dress - we are reminded more than four times about how tight it was on Heather and how she was practically spilling out of it "and not in a good way."
Now, I'm sure that for an ex-teen popstar that weight is something to obsess over. Hell, weight is always hard for everyone. And yes, we should be demonstrating examples of people not being stereotypical skinny or struggling with their weight or accepting and/or liking their weight.
I just don't think this was the healthiest way to do it.
Because at the end of the novel, when Heather was no closer on the path to character development, she didn't reach the point of 'I'm okay with my body and I like how it looks, I'm okay with being plus sized' - instead she was still very closed to where she'd started at the beginning of the book 'I'm not fat, I'm average.' Heather completely throws off the label of being plus-sized, rejecting it as an option reserved for bigger people - without ever confronting the concept at all.
For all I know, maybe Cabot does address this kind of terrible notion in the next book. But regardless of if she does or not, that previous statement is the message readers are walking away with.
****
"I'm thinking it might be nice to work for a man for a change. Don't get me wrong, female bosses are great and all. But I could do with a break from all that estrogen in the office."
Much of this books humor reminds me of the Gilmore Girls; on the surface it's kind of fun and seems like it could be snappy, but look past the first millimeter and it's just judge-y and mean and self-centrist.
The reader is constantly reminded how Heather is a "nice girl," the only evidence of this is seen through Heather being reckless and overly forgiving. Throughout the narrative, Heather is extremely judgmental of everything: her place of employment, her previous place of employment, both industries, college students, everyone's weight, herself. I mean, who isn't judgmental to some degree (I myself can be very judge-y, I mean look a the length of this review), but Heather is never forced to confront that about herself or is even called out on it.
The concept of gender in the novel itself is ridiculous. The above quote is one very good example of this, the kind of 'oh, quirky funny jokes' that undermine the speakers own sex. The plot point about Heather knowing the girls deaths couldn't have been accidental, because "girls don't elevator surf."
This statement is completely different from 'these girls don't seem to have the personality of people who elevator surf' or even 'huh, not a lot of girls elevator surf.' But rather, that being female is by nature incompatible with elevator surfing.
It's just weak and lazy mystery writing. (That’s right, the genre of this book is actually a mystery. It showed up occasionally between all the nonsense.)
Last but not least, I just wanted to touch on how the "diversity" was extremely limited and frankly uncomfortable in its execution. The majority of the characters were also caricaturish and the romance was underwhelming and felt recycled. And the writing felt almost identical to Cabots books for younger audience with a couple more swear words.
I do not recommend and will not continue.
There will be mild spoilers, more situational than any big plot points.
So let's start out with the weight thing. Skip down to the **** if needed to avoid weight discussion.
"Hell, no. I used to be fat. A real lard ass. Kind of like you are now, actually. A size twelve. I drowned my sorrows in candy bars, never worked out, like you. Do you know I never go asked out - never, not once, until I turned thirty?"
...
"There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time. Size twelve - is not fat."
A very large part of this book had to do with weight and size. Now, I'm no expert in size by any means, but pulling from my own experiences going up and down on the scale for most of my life I know a bit. Which I'm guessing is more than Cabot had when she was writing this because Heather Wells is a caricature of a plus-sized protagonist.
First of all, from a technical perspective size twelve is pretty much the bare minimum you can be and qualify as plus sized. Most plus sized stores start at like 14, at 12 you can still shop in most regular stores - you just feel like shit in boutiques.
However, without Cabot reminding you of the protagonists clothing size every other page and in the title, Heather is portrayed as the cartoon "fat friend" seen in many movies and shows from that time period.
Heather talks about food constantly, she complains about her weight constantly, though also has a very false sounding acceptance of it, it is constantly mentioned how physically inactive she is, as well as how she is constantly reminded by the people around her of her weight, she describes every thin person around her as an equally weight obsessed trivial person (aka, a ‘skinny bitch’). None of these things are necessarily unlikely to occur for plus-sized people, I myself could relate to a good number of them, but there shear quantity and frequency of all this together along with the tone made it feel more like a joke than anything else.
At one point in the novel, rather than getting to be pretty in a dress, we're told how Heather borrowed her friends late-term maternity dress - we are reminded more than four times about how tight it was on Heather and how she was practically spilling out of it "and not in a good way."
Now, I'm sure that for an ex-teen popstar that weight is something to obsess over. Hell, weight is always hard for everyone. And yes, we should be demonstrating examples of people not being stereotypical skinny or struggling with their weight or accepting and/or liking their weight.
I just don't think this was the healthiest way to do it.
Because at the end of the novel, when Heather was no closer on the path to character development, she didn't reach the point of 'I'm okay with my body and I like how it looks, I'm okay with being plus sized' - instead she was still very closed to where she'd started at the beginning of the book 'I'm not fat, I'm average.' Heather completely throws off the label of being plus-sized, rejecting it as an option reserved for bigger people - without ever confronting the concept at all.
For all I know, maybe Cabot does address this kind of terrible notion in the next book. But regardless of if she does or not, that previous statement is the message readers are walking away with.
****
"I'm thinking it might be nice to work for a man for a change. Don't get me wrong, female bosses are great and all. But I could do with a break from all that estrogen in the office."
Much of this books humor reminds me of the Gilmore Girls; on the surface it's kind of fun and seems like it could be snappy, but look past the first millimeter and it's just judge-y and mean and self-centrist.
The reader is constantly reminded how Heather is a "nice girl," the only evidence of this is seen through Heather being reckless and overly forgiving. Throughout the narrative, Heather is extremely judgmental of everything: her place of employment, her previous place of employment, both industries, college students, everyone's weight, herself. I mean, who isn't judgmental to some degree (I myself can be very judge-y, I mean look a the length of this review), but Heather is never forced to confront that about herself or is even called out on it.
The concept of gender in the novel itself is ridiculous. The above quote is one very good example of this, the kind of 'oh, quirky funny jokes' that undermine the speakers own sex. The plot point about Heather knowing the girls deaths couldn't have been accidental, because "girls don't elevator surf."
This statement is completely different from 'these girls don't seem to have the personality of people who elevator surf' or even 'huh, not a lot of girls elevator surf.' But rather, that being female is by nature incompatible with elevator surfing.
It's just weak and lazy mystery writing. (That’s right, the genre of this book is actually a mystery. It showed up occasionally between all the nonsense.)
Last but not least, I just wanted to touch on how the "diversity" was extremely limited and frankly uncomfortable in its execution. The majority of the characters were also caricaturish and the romance was underwhelming and felt recycled. And the writing felt almost identical to Cabots books for younger audience with a couple more swear words.
I do not recommend and will not continue.
A quick and easy read. In true Meg Cabot fashion, I was quickly drawn in by Heather Wells, and rooting for her to solve the crime. It also was quite funny. A perfect beach or rainy day read!
I have no idea why I didn't rate this before. Meg Cabot, always exceeding my expectations. One of my favorite authors. This book is really funny and is a genuinely good mystery. It kept me guessing until the end. I bought the rest of the series before I even finished the book because I was excited to keep the story going.
Most chick lit authors are not at all to my liking, but I do love most books by Meg Cabot. This one has the advantage of being a mystery, as well as having less of a romantic plotline/love story than the others. It's more mystery than chick lit. On the other hand, it is less witty/clever than the others. This series is definitely not towards the top of her oeuvre (Ha, yes I did just refer to Cabot's work as her "oeuvre"). I'm rereading the series, though, because she wrote a fourth book, and it's been a very long time since I read these. And, you know, a good stretch of escapist reading is a great thing, every now and again.
I have a weakness for fluffy mystery novels, but some of them are so bad that I can hardly stand it. I am delighted to discover Heather Wells, a character who is intelligent and smart but also very much a "chick lit" heroine. Heather's voice is refreshingly goofy and I really enjoyed this mystery. I will definitely be reading more when the urge to read a light mystery comes along.
It was a really cute read! Definitely a perfect read for when I am sick
I thought this novel was excellently written. I captured and held my interest immediately. Cabot kept me guessing about the murderer until the end. However, I hated the main character. Heather was one of those girls who constantly makes poor choices that she knows are poor prior to making them and does it anyway. It drove me crazy through the entire novel. I may read the sequel but I'm in no hurry. All in all, a good quick and light read.