"Queen of Babble Gets Hitched" - Meg Cabot - 2008

This might be a trend -  remembering and reading the last books in trilogies well after their release date...

I admit I was a bit shocked to see 2008 for this one.  It didn't feel that long to me,  I remembered most of the previous books "Queen of Babble", and "Queen of Babble in the Big City, so I just dove in."  

Basically, "Queen of Babble" could have been an open/shut stand alone novel.  The heroine, Lizzie travels to a wedding at a French chateau, where she saves the gown and meets Luke, a real-life "prince." Happily Ever After, The End.  But this is a trilogy, so there's some shifting in Book Two.  

The couple returns to the United States, NYC in fact, and end up living together.  She works as a receptionist, and restores vintage wedding gowns for free.  She rescues another dress, expects Luke to pop the question, and leaves him when she receives not a diamond ring, but a sewing machine for Christmas.  She attends a society wedding with her best friend's ex-boyfriend, they have a great evening and end up making out in a taxi and waking up in her apartment.  The reader knows nothing happened, "the Spanx stayed on.." However "QoB in the Big City" ends with a big-time cliffhanger - the last line of the book is Luke's proposal.  

It's hard not to talk about "Queen of Babble Gets Hitched" without including spoilers.  The hero isn't always obvious, but that's okay, because Lizzie is really the focus.  She takes great steps on the road to maturity by learning to keep her mouth shut most of the time, and learning how to run a successful business.  

Plus, fate really does Lizzie some favors, and by fate, I mean plot devices.  Each novel has a character who Lizzie befriends or saves who in turn pushes her career to a new level.  I honestly don't remember the bride in the first novel, but I do remember Jill from "...Big City." I thought she and Lizzie would remain friends after the wedding, but she doesn't even make an appearance.  Instead we meet a Paris Hilton-esque heiress desperately in need of some etiquette lessons, which Lizzie firmly delivers, of course.  

Meg Cabot keeps a breezy style throughout, including more humorous wedding information and advice from Lizzie.  A paragraph, advice, and a quote start each chapter, but you can choose not to read them.  Lizzie's tunnel vision regarding marriage grated on my nerves, and some of her choices bothered me, but they didn't stop me from flying through the novel in one sitting.  

Readers rooting for a happy ending will not be disappointed - whether you read the whole trilogy or just the first installment.  I would suggest that if you did read Book Two, keep reading, but I wouldn't recommend waiting 2 years to do it.

"Story of a Girl" - Sara Zarr - 2007

I found the debut YA novel from Sara Zarr, the author of "Sweethearts" , incredibly depressing and sad -  not to say it's a terrible book; it's just very real and it never lets up.  The main character, Deanna made a mistake at the young and vulnerable age of 13.  Three years later, she pays for that mistake everyday in the form snide remarks and even cruel harassment from kids in school. Then she goes home to the heartbreak of her father's indifference and disappointment. 

"Story of a Girl" begins on the last day of Deanna's sophomore year and ends with the start of the new school year.  The summer job at the pizza shop provides some modicum of comfort - but this is no Sarah Dessen novel (I love Sarah Dessen, it's not a dig on her as an author).  Pacifica may be only 20 minutes from San Francisco, but it could be any small town in the United States.  Zarr, a native of the town, describes a world of constant damp fog and desolate strip malls,  much of the population seems to work at chain stores for minimum wage.  I know I found "Story of a Girl" more depressing due to the similarities of my own small town and smaller high school.   

Readers should not expect a childhood/teenage love story like "Sweethearts", it's not as pure as that.  All the relationships are complicated by Deanna's past or current actions (again, very true to life).  She feels like a constant fuck-up, and I think its fair to say the resolutions at the end won't be enough for some readers.  I would never consider "Story of a Girl" a comfort read in the standard sense of the term, but without a doubt reading Deanna's struggles could comfort girls who've ended up in similar positions.  

1/9/2011 Resolutions 1/17 Update

Everyone makes a few standard resolutions about their health and well-being, and let's just say I'm not doing too great with those 'secret' (i.e. non blog) resolutions.  However I have already crossed 3 items off my 10 item To-Do list for January.

3) Grids.  Time to start getting serious.

8) Do something with one item in closet. 

9) Use a new fabric.

10) Watch a 'classic' film.