The Heather Wells Series: A Review

~Caitlin~

I'm finally ready to review my first book, or in this case, books. One of the things that frustrates me personally when I read a review is that I can't judge a person's rating system. Does an 8 out of 10 mean the same to you as it does to me? Because of this, I'm going to briefly explain my thoughts behind ratings. To rate books on this site, we are going to use a scale of 1-10 Scrolls. Here's how I make my decisions.
1-3 Scrolls
The book was so uninteresting to me/ difficult to read that I either didn't or barely finished it.
4-5 Scrolls
The book was average. It probably is not something I will read again, but I might recommend it to someone else.
6-8 Scrolls
I would definitely recommend this book to another person and would probably read it again in the future.
9-10 Scrolls
I loved the book. I rate it so highly I feel everyone should read it and enjoy it as much as me. I will heavily suggest this book, frequently, to anyone who knows me.

I should also let you know what kind of books I enjoy. I love chick lit, romance novels, and humor books. Between my job as a nurse and going to school, I like to read things that aren't too heavy and that I don't have to think about too much. This is not to say I don't enjoy heavier, more serious book, I just don't read them as often and humor is a definite plus. And now, the review:

The Heather Wells Series
By Meg Cabot
7 Scrolls
I was going to review Meg Cabot's "Size 12 is Not Fat" when I finished it last weekend, but I decided to hold off until I finished the whole series instead. Luckily, Ridgefield happened to have the last book in the series, so I was able to read them back to back. The series starts with "Size 12 is Not Fat" and continues with "Size 14 is Not Fat Either" and "Big Boned." This was a murder mystery series about a teenage pop star after she was famous and now has to lead a normal life. Her ex is a self involved boy band member who she left when she caught cheating on her, but he still pops up from time to time just to make things more complicated. She lives with the ex boyfriends black sheep brother, Cooper, who she is madly in love with but who doesn't seem to think she's anything more than a friend. She works at the fictional New York College as an Assistant Dormitory Director(based on Meg Cabot's actual job at NYU). When students start to mysteriously commit suicide in her building, she's the only one who believes it's foul play and sets out to prove it. Tragedy seems to follow her, as all three books are set in a less than 1 year span, and each book involves a different murder and a different mystery.
This was a light read that was funny, moved fast, and made me want to keep reading the series. I loved Heather's though process, which is just as twisted and tangled as mine. I often jump from one topic to another in my head that makes sense to me, but probably not to anyone else. This was my first Meg Cabot book, and since I started it, I have picked up a few more. I will be reading them and reviewing them, probably after finals!

On the Road, Part Deux

Just to add my two cents into Olia's wonderful blog, these were amazing "book takes," as we like to call them. Wilton is especially worth checking out over the weekend the next time that there is a sale if you can't get off during the week. The sale took place in the basement of the library and was pretty much wall to wall books. We'll both keep you updated as to when the next sale is, but bookfinder.com great resource for finding out as well. There are some excellent sales in May, June, and July coming up.
On an unrelated note, I plan on releasing my first book using bookcrossing.com in Monroe today.

On The Road: Wilton and Norwalk, Connecticut

One of the best aspects of shopping for used books is finding large-scale used book events. We use Book Sale Finder (http://www.booksalefinder.com/CT.html) and create an itinerary before heading out. Yesterday morning we were able to visit two Fairfield County book sales in Norwalk and in Wilton.

Norwalk, CT
www.NorwalkPublicLibrary.org
1 Belden Ave
203-899-2780 x 126
info@nplfriends.org

This is a wonderful library, but the sale area is small. Yesterday was the ‘free’ day; this is why we call it a ‘book take’ and not a ‘book sale.’ This branch has a small ongoing book sale consisting of one double-sided shelf available for sale year round. Yesterday several book carts were added to the sale. Even with the small selection, we were able to pick up 5-8 books apiece. We got mostly novels, including “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle, and “Hannibal Rising” by Thomas Harris. Norwalk Public Library’s next sale will be held in October, please look for more information in the fall.

Wilton, CT
www.WiltonLibrary.org
137 Old Ridgefield Rd
Wilton, CT 06897
(203) 762-3950

This is the second sale that we visited yesterday. This was also a ‘book-take,’ but we chose to donate $5 per box/canvas bag, because events like this are a library’s main fundraiser. This was a very large and varied book sale. We spent over an hour (believe me, this was not enough) gathering books; both of us acquired some ‘wish list’ books. This sale was incredibly well organized, with each book organized by genre and in the case of novels, by author.

Caitlin got many novels and short stories, including “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim” by David Sedaris and “A Good Year” by Peter Mayle, which adds nicely to her previously acquired copy of “A Year in Provence.” Olia got “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction” by Jon Stewart and The Writers of The Daily Show and “Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999” by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler.

Parents will enjoy this library’s future sales because there is a large section of children’s and young adult books organized upstairs, separately from the general sale.

NOTE: We used GPS directions to get here. If you don’t know Wilton you may have a difficult time finding this spot because GPS and Mapquest directions will take you to dead end which is technically Old Ridgefield Road but is blocked by train tracks. Actual access to the road is about 300 yards up the main road in the downtown area.