Book Review: The Bride Work Size 12 by Meg Cabot

At First Sight: With less than a month to go before her wedding to P.I. Cooper Cartwright, Heather Wells is super busy, but not with wedding preparations as one would guess, but with the check-in process at Fischer Hall, the dorm where she works.

There is the usual suspects to deal with: RA's who get sick, over-zealous parents trying to get special treatment for her very special awesome kids... and a Very Important Resident in the form of Prince Rashid from a middle eastern kingdom who comes complete with two even more over-zealous bodyguards than any parent Heather has ever dealt with.

Which is stressful enough - more so now that Fischer Hall, formerly known as Death Dorm, is currently the It Place To Live in Campus - but on top of that: Heather's mom dropped by for a surprise visit, people she's sure she didn't invite to her wedding keep thanking her for the invite and one of the RA's was just found dead... and Heather has gotten to her head that another student might be the one to blame. 

Second Glance: It's not secret that I love Meg Cabot's books, and that I love Heather Wells. She has has a special place in my heart mostly because I love her personality, things haven't always gone great for Heather - even if she was a pop star once - but she doesn't let that bring her down, she's honest to God one of the most optimistic characters ever, without getting annoying.

Other than that, this is a pretty good mystery thought the plot line is fairly simple. It does have a couple of sub plots that show up and then are dropped rather suddenly, and I would have liked more resolution on that. The book is, however, very fun.

Heather is hilarious and I love seeing her with Cooper and her friends. Like I said, I genuinely like her and she's one fictional girl that I would love to have as a friend, so I enjoy spending time with her. 

Bottom Line: I liked The Bride Wore Size 12 quite a bit (and quite a bit more than Size 12 and Ready to Rock). I had a good time hanging out with Heather. I'll be happy to read another one of her adventures, and I would be okay if this was the end since things do get nicely wrapped up. The Bride Wore Size 12 is a self contained, funny mystery and it comes out September 24. 

 

Book Review: Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot

At First Sight: It's summer in New York City, but for assistant Residence Hall director Heather Wells, the work never ends. Not only does she has a bunch of kids staying at her 'should-be-closed-for-renovations' residence hall (or, as new fiance Cooper calls it: Heather's Island of Misfit Toys), but now she also has Tania Trace - current Queen of Pop - hosting a Rock Camp there too.

With Tania also comes her new husband Jordan - who happens to be Cooper's brother and Heather's ex-boyfriend - and the entire crew of the 'docu-reality' show Jordan loves Tania. 

Then, because Fischer Hall's reputation of Death Dorm is well earned, people around Tania start having 'accidents' and soon, one of them turns deathly. 

Second Glance: Size 12 and Ready to Rock was such an enjoyable read! I loved being sucked back into Heather's world. She's such a happy, funny person who doesn't just sit and watch as injustices happen. She has a really caring spirit and tries to help other people. I love that about her. 

And it was fun to see her with Cooper - now that they are FINALLY a couple, though I did wish there was more of them together. In this book, Cooper gets hired to be Tania's bodyguard, so he's a fair bit, we also get to see some of the Cartwright Family's crazy dynamics and trust me, Cooper and Jordan's sisters are NUTS.

I kind of liked to see the more human side of Tania Trace but, at the same time, I felt she kind of took over the whole story. Like it wasn't Heather solving a mystery, but rather Tania has an stalker!

Other than that, I really enjoyed this new entry to the Heather Wells Mysteries. 

Bottom Line: Reading Size 12 and Ready to Rock was like getting re-acquainted with an old friend I hadn't seen in a while, and I was reminded of all the things why I liked her. It's a fun, summer read with lots of humor and bad songs (but in a good way). 

Favorite Quote: "That was ABBA," I say with a sniff. "Everyone sounds good singing ABBA, especially in the bathroom. Why do you think they are so popular?"

3/4

Ps - You can't miss the book trailer of Size 12 and Ready to Rock:

Cover Love #29 - Size 12 and Ready to Rock

I don't know why I hadn't posted this cover before - well, I did in the Books I'm looking forward List last December - but I hadn't spotlighted it and, since the summary just came out, I decided to do so.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock is the fourth book in the Heather Wells Series - which I might have to re-read in preparation - and I just love it so much. These are very funny books with a bit of mystery and romance, but mostly I would say that they are chick lit. 

I love this cover, I think it's my favorite of the bunch of them. 

Summary (courtesy of William Morrow Paperbacks catalogue) 

It’s summer break at New York College, but that doesn’t mean assistant residence hall director Heather Wells can kick back and relax. The students may have gone home, but Fischer Hall is as busy as ever.

Only instead of college freshmen, Heather’s got a dorm full of squealing thirteen- and fourteen-year-old girls—the first ever “Tania Trace Teen Rock Camp,” hosted by pop sensation (newly married to heartthrob Jordan Cartwright, Heather’s ex) Tania Trace.

But when the producer of the reality television show that’s filming Tania’s every move at the camp ends up dead, and it becomes clear Tania was the intended victim, Grant Cartwright, head of Cartwright Records, turns to his son, family black sheep and private investigator Cooper Cartwright, for help, desperate to keep his new daughter-in-law—and company’s highest earning star—alive.

Heather knows perfectly well she’s supposed to leave the detecting to Cooper, her ex’s big brother and her own brand new fiancé. But with hysterical mini divas-in-training freaking out all around her—not to mention their mothers —how can she help but get involved?  Especially when Tania Trace herself begins to confide in Heather, revealing a secret that may be a little more "reah" than Cartwright Records ever bargained for. 

And if an added bonus to solving the crime herself happens to be that Heather can convince Cooper to bury the hatchet with his family and agree to a large wedding, and not the elopement he's been insisting on, so all of Heather's friends can come, then maybe putting her own life on the line to save Tania’s just might turn out to be worth it....

I'm very excited about this book, I remember hearing parts of this summary way-back-when this was meant to be book 3 of the series and was called Phat Chick. I'm glad that I'll finally get to read this story.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock comes out July 10th, 2012.