WIJFR: Size 12 Is Not Fat

Size 12 Is Not Fat
Meg Cabot
345 pages

So, I didn’t realize until I was almost done with this book that Meg Cabot is also the author who wrote The Princess Diaries.  I haven’t read those books, but I’ve seen the movies and loved them, so I’m not surprised that I liked this book.  Really liked it.

This was another book I ordered from PBS right after I joined.  I was just browsing through their listings, looking for anything interesting, and stumbled across it.  The description sounded awesome and I agreed with the title: Size 12 is not fact, actually.  I used to be a size 12 once (before I became a size 14) so I should know.  The sequel is called Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, so I just ordered that too, because, you know, size 14 isn’t fat either.

Anydovebar, this book was really good.  You’ve got yourself a washed up pop princess, Heather Wells, who isn’t full of herself, gets a down to earth job in a residence hall, and becomes something of an amateur sleuth when the girls in her residence hall start dying by elevator surfing.  Heather knows girls don’t elevator surf, though, so they must have been murdered.  But by who?  Exactly the kind of mystery I like.  It keeps to you guess, but isn’t too complicated to follow along.

The characters were lovable (except for the murderer, obviously), the setting was pretty awesome, and the plot thickened at just the right points.  The climax of the book was my favorite part.  Cabot didn’t just find a way to end her mystery novel like so many other chick-lit authors do.  There were twists and turns and spanned a few chapters, not a few pages.  It made finishing the book fast and enjoyable.

It’s a few years old, but if you haven’t gotten around to this book yet, I definitely suggest reading this one.

WIJFR: Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars
Sara Shepard
286 pages

My to-be-read pile has been growing, so I decided to tackle a book today.  I choose Pretty Little Liars because I thought it would be a fast read (it was, about four hours) and I thought I could get rid of it pretty quickly through PaperBackSwap (PBS) when I’d finished.  It’s posted now and waiting for someone to request it.

I hadn’t heard of this book until I’d seen the commercials for the ABCFamily show based on the novels.  The show didn’t look like anything I’d ever watch, and I still haven’t watched an episode all these months later, but the book description on the PBS website did sound pretty interesting, so I ordered it and it sat around for months until today.

I’m not going to waste much time on an analytical review because the book was pretty fluffy.  Five girls are best friends in seventh grade, they have secrets – some more dramatic than others, one of them “disappears” and three years later the four remaining girls are being harassed through text messages and e-mails by someone who knows all their seventh grade secrets.  The book ends on a cliffhanger because (SPOILER ALERT) even though the fifth friend ends up dead, the messages still keep coming and we don’t know who it is.

I think I would have loved this book back when I was in seventh grade, myself.  Today, however, the book was only okay.  Honestly, I could not get into the characters.  They’ll all rich, self-centered, bitchy, teenage girls who care more about themselves than anyone else.  I don’t really have compassion for characters who shoplift, drink copiously underage, and sleep with their teachers and older sister’s boyfriends.  They must have been so rich that they had no problems and decided to make up some for themselves.  Honestly.

What surprised me when I read the book flap about the author, is that she says she based it on her own upbringing.  I felt sad for her, then, that this was how she was brought up.  Her picture was kind of smirky, too.

I probably won’t read the next book.  I want to know who “A” is, but not enough to actually read the following seven books to find out.  I’ll try Google instead.

WIJFR: The Autobiography of Santa Claus

The Autobiography of Santa Claus
Jeff Guinn
212 pages

In November I picked up a book at Barnes & Noble called The Christmas Chronicles by Jeff Guinn.  It’s an anthology of three books the author has written as though Santa Claus himself were writing.  I thought it would be a nice read with the holidays coming up, unfortunately, I only got halfway through the first novel by the time Christmas came and went and then with the move I didn’t have much time for reading.

Until today, when I decided to put off putting away more clothes by reading for a bit and I finally managed to finish the first novel, which, as I hoped it would be, was a lovely piece of Christmas literature.

Guinn, or rather, Claus, has a unique voice in his writing.  As I was reading it I thought this would be a great short novel to read to children at holiday time.  Guinn obviously did a lot of research in writing the novel.  Santa tells the story of himself starting when he was a young man and goes right through to today.  Along the way he meets lots of fascinating, historical characters who join him in his journey as his life transforms from that of a Bishop to that of the iconic Santa Claus.  Even Attila the Hun joins Nicholas in making toys for needy children!

The novel was very whimsical over all and was a very enjoyable read.  I’m looking forward to reading the other two novels, How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas and The Great Santa Search, in due time.

WIJFR: evermore

evermore
Alyson Noel
301 pages

I was browsing through the teen section the other night at Barnes and Noble, birthday gift card burning a hole in my pocket, looking for something easy and dark to read.  I came across some books that sounded interesting that were second and third in the “the immortals” series and then I remembered – I had ordered the first book from PaperBackSwap and it was sitting at home in my TBR (To Be Read) pile!  There was ten dollars in savings right there.

So the next evening I cracked it open around six pm.  Six hours or so later it was over.  I wasn’t overwhelmed but I wasn’t underwhelmed either.  I did order the second book on PBS and, since it’s on a wait list, it should mail in about four weeks meaning it will most likely get here in six.  I can wait.

The story is about a teenage girl, Ever, whose family died in a car crash; she was the only one to survive.  Since then she can see other people’s auras and see her dead sister and they have conversations and hang out together because her sister won’t cross over.  Meanwhile, Ever meets a new boy at school, Damen, who is immortal, which he makes very clear is not the same thing as being a vampire.  What’s more, he tells her, she’s an immortal, too!  Kismet.

Since evermore is a teenage paranormal romance novel, I have obviously have to compare it to Twilight and Twilight was much more believable.  Both are a great page turner though and I couldn’t put it down until I was done.

On a side note, it probably seems from my book reviews recently that I’m into fluff more than substance these days, but I don’t review every book I read.  Also, I tend to alternate something more serious with some fluffy like evermore.  I’m still trying to get through Eat, Pray, Love right now and I’m still stuck in the middle her section on India.  To be honest, I was going to give up on it, but I’ve decided to skim until it gets better.  So that review will be up when I finally get through.