Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

Size 12 is Not Fat is a chick-flick disguised as a murder mystery.

The book follows the adventures of Heather Wells (who also later stars in a sequel, Size 14 is Not Fat Either). Heather is a washed-out pop star - robbed by her mother, cheated on by her famous boyfriend,  dropped by a label owned by the aforementioned boyfriend's father, living with (and quite in love with) her boyfriend's elder brother...and of course, size 12. Heather is plagued by problems like whether or not walking ten minutes is exercise, how people keep recognizing her randomly without having any idea who she is (or being told 'you look just like Heather Wells')  or whether or not her landlord likes her, and by 'vanity sizing' in stores...until, of course, some girls in the dorm she works in start falling down elevator shafts (believed to be doing something called 'elevator surfing') and Heather smells a rat...and then goes straight into the investigation.

As a chick-flick, this book is fine. Cooper makes an adorable hero and Heather makes a heroine who is slightly less annoying than the majority of the heroines of romance books these days, and the entire premise of being a washed up pop-star (while completely unbelievable in so many issues - like how she still talks to her mom who robbed her and fled the country) is fairly interesting to work with. In fact, the book might have been quite passable if this had just been a regular love story of the guy and girl who have issues (like the fact that she's his little brother's ex-girlfriend) falling in love and having a happily ever after somehow. However, this gets mucked up (spectacularly) by the introduction of the so called 'mystery'.

The 'mystery' of the book - of the dying girls - is ridiculously done. Not only is there no suspense built up or any sort of feeling built for the girls who die but the resolution of the mystery is also terrible. The major part of the mystery lasts on a single point that no one even thinks about mentioning until the author suddenly puts it in to explain how in the world her heroine came to a conclusion about the identity of the killer. Also, the motivations of everyone, including the so called 'bad-guy' killer, are absolutely crazy, illogical, and based on some kind of weird perception of the world. In fact, the entire mystery is poorly plotted and seems tacked on rather than a natural evolution from the plot, and in fact it spoils the book completely.

Final thoughts: Reach it for chick-flick value if you like such books. If you're reading for mystery, or really for anything other than passing some time, give it a miss.

Other thoughts: I recently finished American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Its amazing. Expect a review sometime in the next week. Until then, happy reading. :) 

Wedding Season by Katie Fforde

Wedding Season is a sweet, funny, human book.

Wedding Season is the story of a disillusioned wedding planner, Sarah; a multi-faceted make-up artist who must get away from her controlling boyfriend, Bron; a dress-maker who can make ethereal dresses but doesn't believe in her own beauty, Elsie; and two very frantic brides - Sarah's infuriating little sister, and Carrie Condy, starlet, who have happen to choose the same date, less than a few months away, and expect their perfect, fairytale weddings in this short period of time. And Sarah, of course, is given the delicate task of making all this work - from satisfying her own sister's huge demands on an almost non-existent budget to Carrie's own unrealistic demands and erratic moods - and give them both the wedding of this dreams. Add in a few hunky guys and a lot of romance, and you've got Wedding Season. While the book does fail a bit in the originality of plot or conflicts department, the story does manage to hold you interest due to the following factors.

The first is that the writing quality is good. Fforde writes a tight narrative with little or no crazy coincidences (the fact that both weddings are on the same day is clearly a plot convenience, but I guess we can overlook it for purposes of drama) and though the guys in the novel come across as pretty much jobless and helping the ladies for random stuff (and people do end up having a lot of surprising abilities) the story manage to flow along without becoming too unbelievable. The author writes at a fast pace that manages to tide over any plot issues and leaves the reader constantly turning the pages. She manages to avoid the crazy description and purple prose that often destroys such chick-flicks, and adds in just enough of each character to keep the reader entertained for a longer-than-average book as compared to other books in the same genre.

The second is that the characters, especially the three main ones, are very lovable. One can easily sympathise with Sarah, Elsie and Bron, and one or the other of their problems is sure to touch women everywhere. The supporting cast, especially the male characters, is slightly under-developed, as I pointed out above, but this fits in with the 'chick-flick' atmosphere the author is clearly going for. Highly secondary characters, like Sasha, the stylist, come of as highly-cliched and flat, mostly because the author spends little or no time with them and is moreover seeing them through the eyes of characters who don't have any reason to like these particular characters. Some, random characters, like the mother of Bron's boyfriend, are surprisingly touching and show a certain amount of depth that really adds to the beauty of the book as a whole.

Final thoughts: This book is a certified chick-flick, but within that it has an interesting (if somewhat cliched) plot, lovable characters, and tight-writing. Definitely readable.

Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

Chasing Harry Winston, by Lauren Weisberger, is what chick-flicks are made up of.

(No, its just one book, I just like the different covers of the book. A note: I read this book in a third version that was different from the two above. So far I like the second picture above the best.)

Anyway, as far as the book itself is concerned. I'll use the words the author herself (in describing another book inside the book which one of the characters, Leigh, reads) has used - "Sure its not got many lofty intellectual themes, but its witty, and fun, and I liked it." (paraphrased) Its actually ironic how the author describes her own book, but anyway, this is as accurate as it gets. It's a fun book for girls to read, to laugh over, to gush over, and then forget about in a few days. I don't mean this in a bad sense. I absolutely think that it was an enjoyable book (if it wasn't I would have bothered to finish it in a day) but I just didn't think it was brilliant the way Devil Wears Prada was (now that's a book and movie that just worked).

The basic premise of the book: There are three friends, bombshell, brazilian beauty Adriana, who is turning thirty and wondering if she's still got the appeal, Leigh, an editor, who has a seemingly perfect life with a great boyfriend (whom she finds repulsive) and a great job, and Emmy, sweet and innocent and naive, who finds out that her long-term boyfriend is cheating on her with an cheerleader cum trainer whom she actually hired for him. One day, soon after Emmy's boyfriend breaks up with her, the three make a pact (actually its only Adi and Emmy who decide to make a deal) and prepare for the year of their lives.

An exciting premise, and author Weisberger executes this with skill and finesse. Her characters don't have revolutionary turn-arounds, but they change in subtle ways that makes them more real and sympathetic. I really enjoyed the way that Weisberger writes (and the hilarious title-names that she comes up with). The fast pace was perfect for the kind of story it was. At parts the story became really, really funny, and at times it actually became sad. I cared about what happened to most of the characters, and even the minor characters, like a hairdresser, came across as unique and interesting.

My favorite character was undoubtedly Leigh - a neurotic loner who loves her job and who everyone believes has the most amazing life ever. I mostly liked her because she was the most like me, what with the love for reading and the tendency to panic. Leigh's life is on the edge at the start of this book, and she's ready to fall down the valley of adventure or come back on to the safe-but-boring plateau that is her boyfriend, and this makes for a highly interesting read. Emmy, the sweet naive girl who decides to have some 'fun' as the book progresses to get over her horrible boyfriend, is another great character. The problem according to me was Adriana, who was too-perfect and far, far too shallow for me to like her or care one whit what happened about her. However, her parts were at least fun enough for me to read through them, so the book did progress.

Final thoughts: Overall, I'd repeat my earlier statement: This isn't a masterpiece. It's not even this author's best work. Its a chick-flick to pass away some time. I would recommend borrowing it from a library (like I did), because I don't think it'd stand up to a re-read.