Since November 2009Book Review: Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
July 20th, 2009 by Leah
Lizzie Nichols has a problem, and it isn’t that she’s blowing her college graduation money on a trip to visit her long-distance boyfriend Andy in London.
She just can’t keep anything to herself, including her indignation at finding out her beloved boyfriend wasn’t completely faithful to her during their separation. She’s now out on the streets with no money and a non-changeable airline ticket home for exactly a month away.
Fortunately, Lizzie’s best friend, Shari, comes to the rescue. She’s spending the summer in the South of France catering weddings in a romantic sixteenth century chateau, and she’s able to sort Lizzie out with a job. One glimpse of the gorgeous Chateau Mirac, not to mention the equally gorgeous son of the owner, and Lizzie is hooked.
Queen of Babble is the first in the Queen of Babble trilogy starring Lizzie Nichols. When we meet her she’s just about to fly to London to be with her long-distance boyfriend Andrew. Trouble is, he hasn’t been totally honest with Lizzie and she ends up with nowhere to go. Her friend Shari offers her the chance to stay at Chateau Mirac where Shari and her boyfriend Chaz are working for the summer. Whilst on her way to France she meets Jean-Luc (Luke - another one!)… could Lizzie be falling for him?
I have never read a Meg Cabot book before but know she’s the author of The Princess Diaries (which I’ve seen the film of starring Anne Hathaway)! However I saw Queen of Babble and loved the sound of it and decided to give it a read. I wasn’t disappointed.
I loved Lizzie - she speaks before she thinks, like me, and she was just hilarious. I loved how when she arrived in London she was worried a homeless person was staring at her so went to the Meet Your Party booth and had the attendant call out for Andrew. Trouble was, he was the person staring at her. Funny moments like that were really well done and were laugh-out-loud.
The book was mainly about Lizzie and was written in the first-person to help that so we only got to know Lizzie’s friends through her - which is no bad thing. I liked Shari, Lizzie’s best friend, and liked how she and Chaz were with each other, they seemed so comfortable in each others company. Luke (or Jean-Luc) was also a really great character and I loved how his and Lizzie’s friendship started on the train and then Lizzie’s shock when she learnt who he actually was. Again, another comedy moment!
Another stand-out character for me was Lizzie’s Grandma - she was only in the first few pages but I LOVED her! She spoke her mind - worse than Lizzie! - and was hilariously funny.
I didn’t like Andrew, obviously, and couldn’t stand Dominique but that’s how they were meant to be portrayed - we were meant to dislike them!
The writing was great and there were only a few errors I noticed. That, and the fact Shari is referred to as Sheryl on the blurb on the back was all that was wrong with it. And to be honest, I generally ignore small errors or just correct the sentence myself and re-read it!
The book was realy enjoyable, highly amusing and Meg Cabot has another fan in me. I’ll be looking for the two sequels now to follow Lizzie on more of her adventures!
Rating: 5/5
Posted in 2006 releases, Book Reviews, Rating: 5/5 | 3 Comments »
The cover looks like a child’s book to me!! Sounds like a good read though.
I love this entire series. It’s such a great fun read and Lizzie’s grandma is great!
A brilliant book! It definetly keeps you entertained, as does all of Meg Cabot’s books. Her type of writing is usually dedicated to the “Princess Diaries” age group, but this one is certainly different! One of my favourites.