Queen Of Babble In The Big City
The Low Down
Title: Queen of Babble in the Big City
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date: 2007
Main Components: Comedy, Love, reaching your goals and finding yourself.
Interesting Detail: This is the second book in the Queen of Babble series
Meg Cabot’s novel Queen of Babble in the Big City, which from here on I will refer to as QBBC as the title is too long to continue typing, is the second book of three in the Queen of Babble series. It is the continuation of Lizzie Nichols story, which has now moved to New York City in an attempt at starting a business in wedding gown restoration. Lizzie Nichols is a talkative woman who cannot keep her mouth shut. It is torture for her to keep a secret, this often getting her into trouble when she reveals things about herself she doesn’t mean to say out loud. She will talk in her head about embarrassing thoughts, only to realize she said it all out loud. Lizzie Nichols was recently asked by her boyfriend, Luke, that she met in the summer to move in with her, which makes her happily break her original plans of finding an apartment with her best friend Shari. After much struggle she was able to find a non-paying job in wedding gown restoration and with the help of Shari’s boyfriend Chaz, a paying job as a receptionist at his dad’s law office. Life seems good for her with everything working out as planned. That is until her big mouth gets her into trouble once again. At work she is becoming too friendly with Jill Higgins, a bride-to-be who is constantly put down in newspapers due to who her future mother in law is. At home, Lizzie made the mistake of letting the marriage word slip to commitment shy Luke. These two things are leading Lizzie straight to homelessness and unemployment unless she can babble her way to a happily ever after.
I know the plot of this novel seems very predictable and over-done but surprisingly it’s full of surprises. The well experienced reader that I am, I was so sure I had the whole novel figured out by about half way through. I was almost 100% sure I knew the ending as all books like this were the same. This also allowed me to know how the third book was going to play out. However, in the last two paragraphs of the novel I was proven wrong, shocking me to no end. As if that isn’t bad enough, the novel ends on a cliff hanger, making me want to run out and buy the next book. QBBC is full of unexpected turns like that, keeping you constantly surprised. I fell in love with all the characters in the first book and this sequel reminded me of why I love Meg Cabot books. This book is full of laugh out loud humour and enough drama that it keeps the story interesting. It is easy to find yourself caught up in this book and Lizzie Nichols outrageous story and inability to keep her mouth shut.
Here’s where I need to issue a warning to those that plan on starting this series, Meg Cabot is traditionally known for her teen books but she does have a few in the adult section of the book store. The Queen of Babble series is directed at adults thus at times has mature subject matter and crude language. I think the novel wouldn’t be what it is or nearly as good if it wasn’t this way though, but I thought I should just warn you so if you are uncomfortable with things like that or want to recommend the book to your younger sibling, well don’t. My only complaint with this novel is not against Meg Cabot, she is an amazing writer, it is against her editor. There were a few typos and mis-wordings that the editor should have caught. One of these was in the first sentence of a chapter, which stood out for me and caused a little bit of confusion, the word ‘snow’ was written when it should have been ‘show’. This caused me to squint at the book to see if part of the ‘h’ had been scratched off as sometimes occurs, but this is not the case. A few sentences I had to re-read a few times in order to understand them.
An interesting detail of this series is that every book, well at least the first two as I have yet to read the third, is that between each chapter is a page or so of extra writings. Now you’re probably thinking, “what the heck is Laura talking about?!” but it is hard to explain so to clear it up I will give you specifics. To explain I have to give some background information about the first book. One of the things Lizzie has to do in it is write her thesis in order to graduate from university. She created her own major, history of fashion. So in between each chapter is an excerpt from her thesis, providing interesting information on the history of certain styles and fashions. In the second book QBBC, in between chapters is a sort of wedding guide. It shows sketches of different wedding gown styles, necklines, cuts, veils and other information regarding weddings such as what to put in your purse. I found this a good idea as it provides some interesting information and a short little break before you resume the story. It is also a good place to stop reading and leave your bookmark without accidently glancing at the beginning of the next chapter to only become overwhelmed in curiosity that you just have to continue reading even though you have units waiting and school in a few hours. I highly recommend this whole series, I’m assuming the third book will be just as good, if you like a romantic comedy with some good and important lessons imbedded throughout.
I rate this book 4 late nights out of 5
Even though I spoke highly of this book and series, the few typos and confusing sentences prevented me from awarding a full 5.
Other Fancy Tidbits
Price: $14.95
Other books by Meg Cabot: Adult: Size 12 is Not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, Big Boned, The Boy Next Door, She Went All The Way, Boy Meets Girl, Every Boy’s Got One.
Teen: Jinx, Pants On Fire, All-American Girl, Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel, Nocola and the Viscount, Victoria and the Rogue.
Series: The Princess Diaries, Mediator, the 1-800-Where-R-You Books.
Website: www.megcabot.com
Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her adult contemporary fiction, she is also a bestselling author of the young adult fiction series The Princess Diaries. She currently lives in Key West, Florida with her husband.
Title: Queen of Babble in the Big City
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date: 2007
Main Components: Comedy, Love, reaching your goals and finding yourself.
Interesting Detail: This is the second book in the Queen of Babble series
Meg Cabot’s novel Queen of Babble in the Big City, which from here on I will refer to as QBBC as the title is too long to continue typing, is the second book of three in the Queen of Babble series. It is the continuation of Lizzie Nichols story, which has now moved to New York City in an attempt at starting a business in wedding gown restoration. Lizzie Nichols is a talkative woman who cannot keep her mouth shut. It is torture for her to keep a secret, this often getting her into trouble when she reveals things about herself she doesn’t mean to say out loud. She will talk in her head about embarrassing thoughts, only to realize she said it all out loud. Lizzie Nichols was recently asked by her boyfriend, Luke, that she met in the summer to move in with her, which makes her happily break her original plans of finding an apartment with her best friend Shari. After much struggle she was able to find a non-paying job in wedding gown restoration and with the help of Shari’s boyfriend Chaz, a paying job as a receptionist at his dad’s law office. Life seems good for her with everything working out as planned. That is until her big mouth gets her into trouble once again. At work she is becoming too friendly with Jill Higgins, a bride-to-be who is constantly put down in newspapers due to who her future mother in law is. At home, Lizzie made the mistake of letting the marriage word slip to commitment shy Luke. These two things are leading Lizzie straight to homelessness and unemployment unless she can babble her way to a happily ever after.
I know the plot of this novel seems very predictable and over-done but surprisingly it’s full of surprises. The well experienced reader that I am, I was so sure I had the whole novel figured out by about half way through. I was almost 100% sure I knew the ending as all books like this were the same. This also allowed me to know how the third book was going to play out. However, in the last two paragraphs of the novel I was proven wrong, shocking me to no end. As if that isn’t bad enough, the novel ends on a cliff hanger, making me want to run out and buy the next book. QBBC is full of unexpected turns like that, keeping you constantly surprised. I fell in love with all the characters in the first book and this sequel reminded me of why I love Meg Cabot books. This book is full of laugh out loud humour and enough drama that it keeps the story interesting. It is easy to find yourself caught up in this book and Lizzie Nichols outrageous story and inability to keep her mouth shut.
Here’s where I need to issue a warning to those that plan on starting this series, Meg Cabot is traditionally known for her teen books but she does have a few in the adult section of the book store. The Queen of Babble series is directed at adults thus at times has mature subject matter and crude language. I think the novel wouldn’t be what it is or nearly as good if it wasn’t this way though, but I thought I should just warn you so if you are uncomfortable with things like that or want to recommend the book to your younger sibling, well don’t. My only complaint with this novel is not against Meg Cabot, she is an amazing writer, it is against her editor. There were a few typos and mis-wordings that the editor should have caught. One of these was in the first sentence of a chapter, which stood out for me and caused a little bit of confusion, the word ‘snow’ was written when it should have been ‘show’. This caused me to squint at the book to see if part of the ‘h’ had been scratched off as sometimes occurs, but this is not the case. A few sentences I had to re-read a few times in order to understand them.
An interesting detail of this series is that every book, well at least the first two as I have yet to read the third, is that between each chapter is a page or so of extra writings. Now you’re probably thinking, “what the heck is Laura talking about?!” but it is hard to explain so to clear it up I will give you specifics. To explain I have to give some background information about the first book. One of the things Lizzie has to do in it is write her thesis in order to graduate from university. She created her own major, history of fashion. So in between each chapter is an excerpt from her thesis, providing interesting information on the history of certain styles and fashions. In the second book QBBC, in between chapters is a sort of wedding guide. It shows sketches of different wedding gown styles, necklines, cuts, veils and other information regarding weddings such as what to put in your purse. I found this a good idea as it provides some interesting information and a short little break before you resume the story. It is also a good place to stop reading and leave your bookmark without accidently glancing at the beginning of the next chapter to only become overwhelmed in curiosity that you just have to continue reading even though you have units waiting and school in a few hours. I highly recommend this whole series, I’m assuming the third book will be just as good, if you like a romantic comedy with some good and important lessons imbedded throughout.
I rate this book 4 late nights out of 5
Even though I spoke highly of this book and series, the few typos and confusing sentences prevented me from awarding a full 5.
Other Fancy Tidbits
Price: $14.95
Other books by Meg Cabot: Adult: Size 12 is Not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, Big Boned, The Boy Next Door, She Went All The Way, Boy Meets Girl, Every Boy’s Got One.
Teen: Jinx, Pants On Fire, All-American Girl, Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel, Nocola and the Viscount, Victoria and the Rogue.
Series: The Princess Diaries, Mediator, the 1-800-Where-R-You Books.
Website: www.megcabot.com
Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her adult contemporary fiction, she is also a bestselling author of the young adult fiction series The Princess Diaries. She currently lives in Key West, Florida with her husband.
posted by Laura G at
5:41 PM
4 Comments:
I am a huge fan of Meg Cabot having read all of the Princess Diaries series (that is out so far), and whole bunch of her other teen and adult books, including the Queen of Babble series. Like you I have yet to read the third book - as hard covers are so expensive and it's not it the library (gosh darn it) but I have really enjoyed the first two.
Queen of Babble actually reminds me a lot of the Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, as they are both so funny and involve the fashion world.
I completely agree with your post, it was a very eventful and surprising book, and the typos were very annoying! There are actually quite a few mistakes in a lot of Meg Cabot's books, which like you, always made me stop and stare at the word for a good few minutes trying to figure out just what went wrong.
Marvellous post!
Though my post may not be as long as dear Amy's, I thoroughly enjoyed all your reviews. As I do not have time to read at the very moment, and I am sure many of us dont due to June rush, it is very convenient to know that with one click I can read summaries and quickly pick and choose which books would be a great summer read or a fun fast read for the week.
I especially enjoy your style of writing as it is clear though very vivid. I look forward to taking into consideration your opinions of these books as I hopefully muster up enough time to finally begin reading again this summer.
Ps. your passion for books and literature truly shows in your writing :)
TARA AZADEH
JUNE RUSSHH! i agree with Tara. i would love to read all of them and i would definitely love to write a longer comment. But i cannot dear laura. But i do love your reviews because honeslty, i have not read those books you just talked about. DUN DUN DUN, and now i do want to read them because they do sound really, really good and worth reading. thanks for giving me insight on new books :)
Yeah, I too am a big fan of Meg Cabot. Though I haven't had a lot of time these days to read, some of the last books I picked up have been hers. In fact, now that I think of it, I think Queen of Babble in the Big City was one of the last books I read.
I really like buying her books (instead of taking them out from the library) because I love reading them again and again. She's just one of those authors where you can get a light read that will never cease to keep you entertained. Sure, the typos can get annoying but I'd hardly call her books fine literature. They're fun books!
Although I like the Queen of Babble Series, it reminds me an awful lot of Sophie Kinsellas 'Can You Keep A Secret'. But then again, how original can you get these days, right?
Anyway, WONDERFUL POST LAURA. You're a great writer!
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