Book Review: "Size 12 is Not Fat" & "Patty Jane's House of Curls"

Ok... Ok... I'm on self-denial mode & it goes to show from my choice of reading... :-p
I'm a Size 10/11 (Japan standard - not UK / America), so by the book's standard, I'm relatively "slim"! ;-)
And... I've just got my curls done (not really just lar... it was last year Oct, but still quite recent lar)

The first book "Size 12 is Not Fat" by Meg Cabot is a teenage-chick-flick type of book actually... & the attitude of the characters can be quite childish to be honest (or maybe I'm just too mature even when I was in my 20s).

It's about Heather a once popular teenage pop-star who caught her then boyfriend (who's a member of a hearthrob boy band & whose father is the owner of a record company) getting a BJ fr another up & coming teen pop-star. So she broke off with her then b/f, got kicked out from the house they were sharing, got fired by her record company because she insisted on singing her own written songs & cheated by her mum who took all her money & ran away with some guy to South America. She started to increase in size till Size 12 & is now:
1. working in a dormitory (excuse me... the book insisted it should be called "Residence Hall"... snort...)
2. staying in her ex-boyfriend's estranged brother (estranged because the brother is so different. As different as an apple vs. a pineapple... i.e. the similarities ends beyond the last name). This ex-bf brother is a Private Eye.
While working in the dorm, there were 2 incidences of girls falling off the elevator shaft & everyone including the police & the ex-bf brother (forgot his name so have to refer him as such) belief the case's closed.

However Heather insisted it was a murder & not death due to some silly games such as elevator surfing. Naturally no one believed her, so she went snooping around & nearly got killed several times as the murderer starts to feel the heat of her investigation. Finally with the help of her ex-bf's brother, they managed to deduce the murderer & caught her (i.e. the murderer - who happens to be her boss) just before Heather gets herself killed.

Verdict: Fun light reading but the unreal childish views of Heather can sometimes be quite grating

Second book - Patty Jane's House of Curls is even more interesting in story line but can sometimes be quite draggy. It's about Patty Jane who got married to a 2nd generation Norwegian immigrant in the US named Thor. They got married & lived happily but all changed when Patty Jane found tht she was pregnant. Thor is not ready to be a dad & started to shun her. A few days before she's due, he finally came to terms with the pregnancy & was rushing back to see Patty Jane to reconcile, but along the way he slipped & fell on the slippery frozen lake. After months of pining after Thor & filing a missing person report, Patty Jane finally gave up in finding Thor & wrote-him-off. She delivered a baby girl & set up a Hair & Beauty Salon called "Patty Jan's House of Curls".

The whole story revolved around her trials & tribulations at the Salon. Her effort to forget about Thor. Her sister - Heather's love life - who almost got married to a super rich man but her future husband was killed in an air crash. Patty Jane's daughter's feelings & actions when Thor came back into their lives as a man who lost all memory. Patty Jane's new love - Clyde Chuka - a native American. Heather's struggle with cancer just when she thought she found happiness by marrying a policeman who helped her kick her alchoholism.

Verdict: A dark story filled with sadness, but also full of life & laughter as the characters struggle through their "lives". Not a brainless read. An emotional roller-coaster ride, but still not as touching as P/S I Love You.