Size 12 and Ready to Rock

Size 12 and Ready to Rock, by Meg Cabot.

I shoot him a dirty look since he's spoiled my plan, but he only frowns at me. Cooper doesn't like it when I "diminish my extraordinary accomplishments," as he puts it, by not introducing myself as the Heather Wells, youngest artist ever to top the Billboard charts with a debut album, and the first female to have both an album and a single simultaneously at number one (Sugar Rush).

Honestly, though, what person who is practically thirty goes around reminding people of something they did when they were fifteen? That's like using a picture of yourself as your high school's quarterback or homecoming queen as your Facebook photo.

I am a huge fan of Meg Cabot's, as you can probably tell since I've reviewed a few of her books here, so I was happy when I was offered the chance to review her newest novel, book #4 in the Heather Wells series. I've read all of the previous Heather Wells books but it's been a while; luckily, you don't need to know her backstory in order to enjoy this installment, as Cabot gently reminds her readers of salient details throughout.

Heather is again working at "Death Dorm," aka Fischer Hall, over the summer, along with a few student employees that work twenty hours a week for room and board. It's relatively peaceful there, until Tania Trace, famous pop diva and the wife of Heather's ex, Jordan Cartwright, decides to move her Rock Camp for teenagers there, as their previous location in the Catskills didn't work out. Heather is currently engaged to Jordan's brother, Cooper, but they're keeping it a secret for now - the Cartwright family doesn't even know they were dating, actually - but this all changes when Cooper is hired to be Tania's bodyguard, and Heather must find out who sent Tania some poisoned cupcakes that one of Tania's crew ate and died soon thereafter.

Tania technically stole Jordan from Heather, and this novel provides Tania with a more "human" face, as she's pregnant with Jordan's child and wanting to find the (spoiler) man she used to be married to, as he's now extorting her for money to keep that secret out of the press. Cabot's writing is always hilarious, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the lines, a la The Princess Diaries, another series of hers. The Heather Wells series will appeal to mystery lovers as well as fans of smart writing and snappy dialogue, and although it can be read as a stand-alone novel I recommend starting the series at the beginning, since the other books in the series are very good too.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock will be in stores on July 10, 2012. 4 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-galley of this book to review. However, the opinions expressed here are my own.