"Queen of Babble" Review

"Queen of Babble"

by Meg Cabot

8/10

My Synopsis:

"Queen of Babble" by Meg Cabot is the story of Lizzie.  Lizzie has a good job, a nice boyfriend, and is about to get her degree.  What she doesn't realize is that her job is small time in a small town, her boyfriend lives across the ocean with his parents, and she has to complete a thesis to get her degree.  But Lizzie has a plan to fix all that if she could just keep her big mouth shut and figure out the details instead of being stranded in a remote French train station with a strange man who may be about to kill her.  Will she end up with the man of her dreams or a dud?  Will she finish her thesis before her family and friends find out?  Will she have the self-confidence to step out of her comfort zone, spread her wings, and soar?

My Review:

"Queen of Babble" by Meg Cabot is an amusing, light-hearted book that reads naturally and flows well.  If you like Sophie Kinsella/Madeleine Wickham, you'll love Ms. Cabot's tale of a spunky, sweet, relatable girl named Lizzie.  Although sometimes flighty and sometimes without a verbal filter, I was a fan of Lizzie's from the beginning.  The transformation of her self-esteem and self- confidence is inspiring and uplifting.  I loved the message that there is hope for the normal, middle class, weight struggling gal.  Ms. Cabot is very good at conveying emotion through her words.  She did almost lose me about half way through when I thought the book was going nowhere.  But I was very happy that I didn't give up as it.  The conversations flowed well and the pace of the book was good.  I was genuinely surprised by one of the happenings in the book that I totally did not see coming and the fallout was awesome.  The one problem I has with this book was the repeated reference to a sexual act.  Ms. Cabot wrote many young adult novels of which I'm unaware of the contents but I feel that maybe these references were included to make it a more "grown up" book.  There was also a sexual scene that was ok I guess but it was a little excessive in details.  Maybe I'm a prude but I like leaving some details to the imagination.  Imply what happened.  Don't shove it in my face.  Other than that aspect, the book was very enjoyable.  Some people like to read about explicit "romance" so I'll step off  my moral high horse and give this book an 8 out of 10.