Dec 7 2007
REVIEW: Big Boned by Meg Cabot
Dear Ms. Cabot:
Everyone knows by now I have an inappropriate girl crush on you and that I squeal a bit every time I get a new book of yours (okay, maybe only Ned knows that I do this squealing thing . . . and now everyone else). But I wondered, after I finished, if the tone of the book wasn’t more suited to the YA audience than the adult audience because even though Heather had adult thoughts, at times, she acts more like a youth than a nearly thirty something year old person.
I have enjoyed the slow progression of romance between Heather and Cooper since the first Heather Wells Mystery so when the book starts out with Heather and some other guy, I admit to flipping to the end . . . and was satisfied enough to continue reading. What can I say? I am a sappy romantic and, ahem, I think you are too given the endings of all your books.
A little background is in order. Heather Wells is a former teen star (think Tiffany) whose mother ran off her with her money and her manager and left penniless with no career, Heather decides to go back to school. She enjoys free tuition in exchange for her job as the assistant dorm director of the Death Dorm at New York College, so nicknamed because of the number of murders that have piled up in the dorm.
Heather has a new boyfriend, Tad, a buff, health nut young man who just happens to be her remedial math professor. Her job as the assistant dorm director is going well even though she is on her third boss. Her father is finally moving out of her home. Everything seems roses until she opens the boss’ office door to see him dead with a gunshot in the head.
Heather isn’t really trying to investigate this murder except her grad assistant, Sarah, is in love with the prime suspect and Sarah claims to know exactly who killed the Death Dorm’s big boss.
The mystery was a bit weak. In the previous two books, Heather actually engaged in some investigative work such as going to talk to witnesses and putting together clues. This time, Heather serves as a Dear Abby for the relationship needy rather than a detective. Ultimately, Heather solves the mystery but not due to any investigatory chops but mere happenstance.
Heather doesn’t really engage in any personal growth and while all the old familiars appear in this story, it lacked a freshness, a sprightliness to the story that the previous two had. I also thought that this entry was a bit too sappy with the romance and a bit too weak on the mystery. B-
Best regards,
Jane
This book can be purchased in trade paperback or ebook format.
Meg Cabot has been offering up video blogs (vlogs) at YouTube about everything from Little Women to her neck.
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Dec 07, 2007 @ 17:22:11
I didn’t know you squeed for her contemporaries. I’ve never read her but I do own the first Princess book for teens.
Dec 07, 2007 @ 21:39:11
I’ve read all her books but her last two Princess books. I’ve purchased them but haven’t read them. Probably my favorite series was the Mediator one. I also liked the ones about the girl who saved the President. Oh, and her last one about Avalon was cool too.
She’s not Dessen, but I find her to be consistently entertaining.
Apr 22, 2008 @ 19:13:16
I really enjoy the humour in the Heather Wells mysteries. However, I have found the charachter Sarah hard to take and honestly, at the beginning of the particular novel, I was hoping that she would be the murder victim. I felt guilty about feeling that way but she is honestly one of the most annoying people that I have read about and I’m only half way through the book. It is always best to finsih reading a book before critiquing it I am sure but I just had to say it. Sarah is too self centered to self righteous too tooo tooo. Ugh, I understand that she is young, but give me a break. She is a college student not a preteen. If she was even slightly more attuned to the real feelings of others and not what she judges them to be she would be a little more likeable.
Having said that, I love the other charachters. I am interested in the mystery and I am hoping to heaven that Tom is a reurring charachter in later books.
Apr 22, 2008 @ 19:29:48
Do you think that there is more in the series? I thought this gave some closure to it. I would love to read more Heather Wells’ mysteries, though.
Jun 03, 2008 @ 09:56:39
I know! I totally agree, I would so want to read more Heather Wells’ mysteries! I really like then, and I so hope that Heather and Cooper will get together! Their like perfect for each other! Don’t you think?