Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

I read Queen of Babble for the Summer Book Challenge. It's one of Meg Cabot's adult books. Here is a description from Amazon:

"Lizzie Nichols, a fashion-history major, wants nothing more than to graduate college and then fly off to London to be with her boyfriend, Andy. But at her graduation party, Lizzie finds out that she can't graduate until she writes a senior thesis. And when she lands in London, Andy turns out to be a liar, gambler, and a fashion disaster. Lizzie, stuck in London with a nonchangeable ticket home, escapes Andy via the Chunnel in hopes that her friend Shari, who is catering weddings for the summer at a French chateau, can help. On the train, Lizzie meets a stranger, Jean-Luc, and spills everything that has happened, only to find out that he is the son of the chateau's owner. At the chateau, Lizzie continues to babble when she shouldn't, ticking off Jean-Luc, shocking his mother, and upsetting a bride. Will she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?"

I thought this book was pretty cute. Lizzie annoyed me a lot at first, but I grew to tolerate her by the end of the book. I hated when she was making up excuses for Andy's behavior. I just wanted to slap some sense into her. I know some people say that Heather Wells, the main character from Meg Cabot's other adult series that begins with Size 12 is Not Fat, is really annoying, but I think Lizzie is way worse! I liked the story, though, and Luke made up for the fact that Lizzie was so annoying.

3 out of 5 stars

Prom Nights from Hell by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer and Lauren Myracle

Prom Nights from Hell is a collection of short stories by popular YA writers. Obviously, all of the stories are about prom, and they all have a supernatural element to them. I picked up this book because Stephenie Meyer wrote one of the stories. I was also interested in the one by Meg Cabot, but I haven't even heard of the other three authors.

The first story is called "The Exterminator's Daughter" and it's written by Meg Cabot. It's about a girl who hunts and kills vampires. She happens to do just that at her prom. This story is not Meg Cabot at her best. I was very disappointed. The reactions of the characters seemed very unrealistic. Overall, this story was just OK.
3 out of 5 stars

The second story is "The Corsage" by Lauren Myracle. The author says that the story was inspired by "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs, and she's not kidding. It's the same premise, but it takes place during the prom and is obviously more modern. The main character, Frankie, is given a corsage that can grant three wishes to the person in possession of it. Frankie thinks it's great until she realizes that she must be very careful what she wishes for! This story is just plain creepy. I have also read "The Monkey's Paw" which was quite creepy. "The Corsage" was OK, but I feel that it wasn't a very original idea.
3 out of 5 stars

The third story is "Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper" by Kim Harrison. Madison is not having a very good time at the prom; she just found out that her date only asked her because he felt sorry for her. She is about to leave when she sees Seth. A gorgeous guy she had not seen at school before. They dance together and he offers her a ride home. She agrees but soon realizes how stupid it was to get into the car with someone she doesn't know. This story was very weird! I'm still confused about it. It leaves a lot of loose ends which is kind of annoying.
2.5 out of 5 stars

The fourth short story is "Kiss and Tell" by Michele Jaffe. This story is about Miranda Kiss, a girl with amazing abilities like super speed, super strength, super hearing... you get the idea. She works as a chauffeur, picking passengers up from the airport mostly, and on the day of the prom she picks up a 14-year-old girl named Sibby. After much annoyance, Miranda drops Sibby off at her house, but she feels that something isn't quite right so she goes back to investigate. The people at the house are trying to hurt Sibby. Miranda breaks in and takes Sibby away to hide out at the prom. Who is this young girl and why are so many people after her? This story was definitely the most confusing and weird. I didn't like it at all.
2 out of 5 stars

The last story is "Hell on Earth" by Stephenie Meyer. This is why I read this book. I loved Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse so I wanted to read anything I could by Stephenie Meyer. This story is basically about angels and demons (not the Dan Brown book!). Specifically, it's about a demon who is trying to ruin the prom. This was definitely the best story of the five. I liked it a lot.
4 out of 5 stars

Overall, this book was OK. I liked the story by Stephenie Meyer and the rest were OK. Overall, I would give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum is having major money troubles. She's selling off her appliances just so she can eat, and she doesn't want to get evicted from her apartment. If that happened she would have to move in with her overbearing mother! She finds out that her cousin Vinnie has a job opening at his business. Vinnie is a bail-bondsman and he's looking for a bounty hunter. Stephanie really needs the money so she takes the job. Vinnie gives her a week to find and bring in a man who's wanted for murder. Not only is this guy a murderer, but Stephanie realizes he is the boy she lost her virginity to when she was 16!

I know a lot of people who are in love with the Stephanie Plum series, so I was looking forward to reading the first book in the series, One for the Money. At first, I couldn't figure out why everyone loves this book so much, but now that I'm finished, I want to know what happens in the next book! Stephanie reminds me of a less annoying Heather Wells from Meg Cabot's Size 12 is Not Fat series. I like that Stephanie is just a regular girl trying to be tough in a scary job. I will definitely continue to read this series.

4 out of 5 stars

Big Boned by Meg Cabot

Well, it took forever for my library to deliver my book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) so I read Big Boned by Meg Cabot while I waited. Big Boned is the third book in Meg Cabot's mystery series. I read the first two books right after they were released, so I was excited to read this third book. The series is about Heather Wells, a former pop singer, and her life as an assistant dorm director at New York College. She loves her job except for the part where people keep dying in the dorm. In Big Boned Heather's new boss is killed, and Heather, as usual, investigates the murder herself while trying to get the attention of her landlord, Cooper.

Meg Cabot definitely delivers with this book. It's funny and suspenseful and just a fun, easy read. It's easy to relate to Heather, with her body image issues (hence the title of the book) and her boyfriend troubles. It's obviously unrealistic for so many murders to take place in the same building within one year, but it's what makes the books entertaining. I can't wait for the next book to be released!

I would give Big Boned 4 out of 5 stars.

Next, I will finally read A Thousand Splendid Suns now that I have it from the library.