Customer Reviews

Big Boned (Heather Wells Mysteries)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Heather Wells is back in the 3rd book of the series. (Size 12 Is Not Fat, and Size 14 is Not Fat Either) A very fast read, you find yourself at the end before you even realize it. The ending is very unrealistic, everything all of the sudden just being resolved and everyone getting their happily ever after. I wanted at least a few more chapters. After the first two I was expecting a lot more from Ms. Cabot! Fans of hers will enjoy this for the trademark wit and sarcasm, but I for one feel let down. The mystery was easy to solve, and the Cooper character didn't get enough page time. It was okay, but not great by a long shot. I would read it to complete the story from the series, but be forewarned, you will be dissapointed.

I was a bit disappointed in how this book turned out. There wasn't much a of mystery, compared to the previous book in this series, and the ending wasn't realistic at all. If this is the last in the Heather Wells mysteries, then ending may make some sense, but it still seemed so forced and hurried.

It seems each new release of Meg Cabot's gets a little more sloppy and less fulfilling than the previous books. If this continues, her books wont be on my priority list of books to buy.

This is the 3rd book in the Heather Wells mystery series. This book definitely builds on the prior two so one needs to read them in order. In typical Cabot style, the book is full of laugh out loud moments. The characters are vivid and fun and after 3 books, I really felt like I got to know them well.

The only downside to this book (and hence the 4 stars) is that it's too short and it wraps up way too fast. After 2 great books of build up, everything is wrapped up in only a matter of pages. I was left not only wanting more, but feeling like the ending was just a bit unrealistic and forced. Still, the book was a joy to read. I just wish it was longer.

Let me start by saying that I am a huge Meg Cabot fan. I think that she is an absolute genius when it comes to chick lit, and I love all of the books that she's written (excluding the Princess Diaries series, which is odd because they are the books the rocketed her to superstardom). Anyway, back to the point.

This book is my favorite of the series (they're all pretty closely tied), mostly because of the ending. I'm not going to reiterate the summary of the book, because if you are truly a Heather Wells fan, you don't care what the book is about, as long as Heather makes an appearance.

I am just here to let everyone (who is freaking out about how the series is over and how the book was too short and the ending seemed like it needed a few more chapters) that the series IS NOT OVER!!!!! I know that 2 years have passed since Big Boned was released, but have no fear! Meg Cabot fully intends to write more sequels, 2 to be exact. If you don't believe me just check her website and read the FAQs.

Like the rest of us, I wish she would get a move on with the Heather Wells series, but I understand that she also needs to release new books for the teenage (Airhead, Being Nikki, etc) and young children (Allie Finkle) audiences. She has said that she just needs to find time to write the books (which should be out around 2009 to 2010, though I'm sure that now it will probably 2010 to 2011 as it has been a while since she has updated that part of her FAQs. (I know, because I check weekly.)

*Big Boned Spoilers Below*

I read somewhere that the fourth book would be about Heather helping at a camp with Jordan's wife Tania Trace and then the fifth would most likely be Heather and Cooper's elopement. I can't recall where I read that at, but I'm sure that I read it somewhere.

*End of Big Boned Spoilers*

Okay, I found it, sort of. I searched through her blog, because I suddenly had a stroke of genius and remembered where it was I read it, and it appears that:

1) In March of 2008 Meg posted the following: "Quick update: It's official....There will be two more Heather Wells books! No titles to announce yet for the new books. The books themselves won't be out until next year. The fourth one will take up soon after Big Boned (Size Doesn't Matter in the UK) left off. It will probably take place over summer break and be about Tania Trace Rock Camp. The fifth one will be about Heather and Cooper's you-know-what and take place the following fall."

2) In April of 2008 she said: "...I'm far too busy writing new Heather Wells books..."

3) In March of 2009 she updated, saying: "Oh, and I'm working on Allie Finkle #5, too (for the scoop on #4, go here) as well as more Heather Wells...."

And finally...

4) In April of 2009 she said: "Wow, it's weird how things change. But New York isn't all that different! I mean, Washington Square Park is all cleaned up and spiffy (I had to check it out as research for the next Heather Wells novel, coming soon! And by soon I mean next year because I haven't turned it in yet, or finished writing it)."

So, rest assured, more Heather Wells books are on the way and should be here by next year, 2010. Hooray! Hope that helped some of you in your Heather Wells distress!

I can't believe I actually gave up half way through a Meg Cabot book--and I love her books! At first I thought I'd already read it, but then I realized that the only funny part--the uterus falling out due to a 5-yard jog--had been previewed in the previous book in the series. Everything else felt like Cabot did a 'save-as' then some minor rewriting. Weirdly, almost like plagiarising herself! Even the voice got old--or maybe I did in the few months it'd been since I read Size 14... Heather Wells certainly isn't growing up. She's, what, 30-ish and still acting like an 18 year old! (If that!) Aren't characters supposed to change for the better in order for the readers to feel satisfied? What's cute and charming in the first book turns retarded and sickly by the third. I'm not asking for Sex in the City stuff here, just that for someone as talented as Cabot, you'd think the characters--if not the writing--would mature a bit.

Although I loved the other two books in the series, Big Boned does not live up to its predecessors. First, its ending is a little too "Scooby Doo" for my liking, i.e., everything is wrapped up in the last few pages of the book. Second, it is poorly edited. I found several simple editorial mistakes such as missing or incorrect words. The book reads like Cabot was rushed to get it to print. Big disappointment!

This book was a very quick read. However it was probably my least favorite of the three.

While Heather is up to her usual shenanigans, it really doesn't heat up till the end of the book (the last 1/4 or so). Maybe this was because I didn't get into Tad and their relationship, maybe because Cooper doesn't have such a large role or maybe because it was all very breif. Gavin however still makes me giggle like a school girl( a reminder of my miss spent youth?)

One of the story lines start at the beginning when Heather is running (yes running) and she says "Also, I think I felt something come loose back there. I'm not trying to overact or anything, but I think it was my uterus. Honest. I think my uterus jiggled free". And while the inital line is a bit out of the blue (I don't even know what she means by this), it did make me giggle everytime it was mentioned along the way, sometimes once again out of the blue.

From the ending of the book I think it will be the last of the Heather Wells series and for me it just finished a little bit "tidy". I mean really they only kissed and are talking about eloping - don't really see it occuring with his personality

I bought the omnibus (such a weird word that...makes me think of a really big bus) of the first two books for $5.00 at a book sale figuring it would be good light and fluffy reading for a long haul plane journey and it was! I'm not a big fan of "chick lit" and technically these books don't fall into that genre, but they are certainly light and fluffy, with a mystery twist. Heather Wells is an ex-pop star (think a flash in the pan teen pop tart who sang in shopping malls a lot) whose label and boyfriend dropped her when she said she wanted to sing her own songs and her Mom ran off to Argentina with all her money. Heather is endearing, and I really enjoyed reading about a girl who battles weight issues and isn't afraid to order double whipped cream on her coffee. I also admit that I stayed with the books mainly because of Heather's sexy yet distant room mate Cooper. Anyway, I had to leave the omnibus in Scotland as a donation to the library at the Cathedral of the Isles as it was just too heavy to bring home. When I got back I checked into whether or not there were any other Heather Wells books and found "Size Doesn't Matter" (aka "Big Boned" in the USA. I have never understood why publishers change titles from country to country. Did you know that the book entitled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA is actually titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK and Australia? Why?).

Anyway, I finished up "Size Doesn't Matter" this morning. It was probably the weakest of the three books and the ending was sort of bizarre. Without giving too much away, I would have settled for a kiss between Cooper and Heather, instead of the whole enchilada. I half expected to read "And then Heather woke up" it was all so picture perfect and out of place. Anyway, I read on Meg Cabot's official website there will be 2 more Heather Wells books next year so we'll see what happens. I don't know that I'd rush out and buy them in hardcover, but I'd definitely pick them up at the library.

If you are looking for a hard-hitting mystery with multiple twists and turns, Big Boned by Meg Cabot isn't it. This third entry in the Heather Wells series is light and fluffy, and fun brain candy; you'll see the ending coming a mile off, but it's still entertaining while it lasts.

After two books of Heather pining for housemate Cooper while working at the "Death Dorm" of New York College, this entry opens with Heather dating Tad, her math professor, and hoping that things will finally quieten down in the disturbed Fischer Hall. Sadly, all that goes south when her new boss Owen is found murdered in his office. While Heather balances her love life, friendships, educational assistants, and unrequited feelings for Cooper, she once again finds herself trying to solve a murder mystery.

While this is an engaging, funny read, it's definitely not the strongest entry in the series and as others have said, things get wrapped up quickly and easily. Still, fans of our beloved Heather will enjoy this one and will find many instances for laughing out loud at her antics and sarcasm. Good, silly fun.

Heather Wells is my kind of girl--she's funny, a little ditzy and smart all at once, and she's got great appeal without realizing it. Meg Cabot, on the other hand, is getting pretty predictable with her story lines.

Heather is facing another mysterious murder at Death Dorm. She finds her boss dead in his office, shot in the head through an open window. And one of her students is taking the fall. With the help of all of the old cast--over-the-top Magda, sexy Cooper and annoying yet endearing Sarah--Heather will break the case once again.

Let's see, the third novel should be about the same as the first two--check (The Princess Diaries Box Set, Volumes I-III (Princess Diaries)). The main character should have to totally relearn the lessons she learned in the first two novels--check (Shadowland (The Mediator, Book 1)). And she should get proposed to--check (Queen of Babble Gets Hitched (Queen of Babble)). Oh yes, and don't forget the unrequited love for the boy-next-door--double check (Boy Next Door and Jinx). Then again, this is a Meg Cabot book, so we have to forgive her for the mindlessness because her dialogue is never failing and her characters are hysterical.

A little action, a little mystery and a lot of chick-lit, this book is a fluffy read for those waiting for the new Stephanie Plum novel (Fearless Fourteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel (Stephanie Plum Novels)) or any big-boned Cabot fan.