Book Review: Queen of Babble in the Big City, by Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot has written dozens of books for kids, teens, and adults. Her most famous books are the Princess Diaries (they provided the basis for two Disney movies starring Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts). The thing that makes Cabot so popular is that she is reliable and fun. All of her books-or at least the many that I have read-provide about the same level of quality and entertainment. Yes, some are a bit better than others, but there are no obvious stars or flops. So if you pick up one of Meg Cabot's books, you know what you're going to get. She provides fun. Her books won't make you think too hard, or feel guilty, or anything like that. They are not trying to be high-brow literature. They are just plain good entertainment.

Queen of Babble in the Big City is no exception. It's the book equivalent of cute romantic comedy films like Sweet Home Alabama (Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas) , Hope Floats (Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr.), and Music From Another Room (Gretchen Mol and Jude Law). It could be read independently, but it is actually a sequel to Queen of Babble. In the first book, Lizzie has a very funny failed relationship with her long-distance English boyfriend, then seems to meet her prince charming when she goes to see friends in France. I recommend reading the first book before this one. To be honest, I had no idea that this was going to be a series. The first book seems complete in itself. I heard she wrote a sequel, so I read this one. It turns out that this is going to be a series (this shouldn't have surprised me-I think all of Cabot's books are in series), and so I will warn you that the book ends on a major cliff-hanger. You will be dying to get your hands on the third book and find out what happens. And the third book hasn't been published yet.