Rebecca's Reviews > Big Boned

I like Meg Cabot books but some of her novels definitely go in the 'beach reads' pile. They're amusing but not particularly satisfying -- much like the junk food Heather Wells is always eating.

The concept for this series is cute: former teen pop sensation, Heather Wells, now broke and overweight, works in a NY college dorm as an administrator and solves the repeat murders that take place there. You have to look past the idea that NY detectives are so stupid they couldn't find their butts with two hands and a flashlight to find this believable but hey, that's not so different from most mysteries.

Heather's irrelevant attitude and poor eating habits are where the book gets annoying. In this novel, her boss, Owen, is shot in his office. Within minutes of discovering his blood soaked, brain spattered body, Heather is craving tacos. I'm sorry, that's not cute, it's disgusting on a number of different levels. Later that afternoon, Heather's called into a support meeting to deal with the grief and spends the whole time goofing around with her gay best friend, Tom. This also seemed inappropriate.

Then there's the fact that every single student in the school turns to Heather for help instead of the police. These kids don't seem too bright despite the fact they got admitted into a prestigious NY college but I suppose that's just to make Heather shine more brightly. That comparison kind of falls apart though when Heather decides to confront the crazed murderer alone. You'd think she'd have figured out this was a bad idea from the last two novels.

But it all ends up happy and in this book, Heather and Cooper finally get together with 2 pets. Now, if only the author would do something about this character's atrocious eating habits.