Queen of Babble

Queen of Babble
Meg Cabot
309 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
Source: Library
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Have I mentioned how much I love Meg Cabot's writing?  Her YA is special, but there's something great about her adult chick-lit novels, too.  After finishing what there is of the Heather Wells' mysteries, it was on to the first book in the Queen of Babble series, Queen of Babble.

Lizzie Nichols thinks she's got her life figured out.  She's just graduated (uh, well, almost, just as soon as she finishes her thesis...) and heads to England to meet up with her boyfriend whom she's sure she'll marry just as soon as he's graduated after one more semester and becomes a teacher.  But when she discovers her one-night-stand turned boyfriend isn't what she thinks he is... i.e. he's not independent, he's got a gambling problem, he still lives with his parents, and, worst of all, he's stealing from the government... she's off to France to meet her BFF and try and figure out what to do with her now open future.  There she meets Luke, who's pretty awesome and would make great boyfriend material, but the problem is he's already got a girlfriend.  Oh well...

This was a really cute novel.  You can't beat the scenery... first England (with their wacky advertisements) and then a gorgeous chateau/winery in France.  I mean, who doesn't quirky books that take place in Europe?

I definitely enjoyed Lizzie's character; she thought she knew what she wanted and then learned she was wrong, in the processes learning more about herself and what she wants out of her life.  It was a nice change from heroines in chick-lit who never experience any kind of mental growth in their novels.  With more novels in the series, there's sure to be more growth for Lizzie and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the rest someday.