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Former pop star Heather Wells is back for the third installment of Meg Cabot's mystery series. Heather works as an Assistant Residence Hall Director at the fictional New York College, where people keep being murdered. This time, it is Heather's new boss who winds up with a bullet in his head. And even though Heather fully intends to stay out of it this time, she ends up once again in danger.
Yeah, they are formulaic, and yes, they are predictable, but I do so enjoy Cabot's sense of humor. Heather is an agreeably flawed character. And the cast of characters in the stories are a hoot, from Cooper, the hot roommate that Heather lusts for, to Magda, the dyed, polished, and shellacked cafeteria worker who is secretly in love with the security guard, Pete.
Definitely light reading, but always enjoyable.
I got this as an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) from Random House. For some reason they send me all of E. Lockhart's new books. Not that I mind, I really like her. This one, How to Be Bad is actually a collaborative effort between E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski. They all decided to write alternating chapters from alternating points of view (3 girls). All three girls live in Niceville, FL and work at the Waffle House.
Jesse starts the story. She is almost a senior in high school (which will be starting shortly) and she has just found out that her Mom has breast cancer. This terrifies her so much that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Vicks. But Vicks has enough on her mind - her boyfriend just left for the University of Miami to start school as a freshman and play football. Before he left they were inseperable, but he has only sent her one text message in two weeks. Finally, there is Mel, a girl who is obviously way too well off to be hostessing at the Waffle House. Mel has $400 jeans and diamond earrings. Jesse, who lives in a trailer park, chafes at the sight of her.
So when Jesse suggests a road trip for her and Vicks to go see her boyfriend in Miami, Mel offers to foot the bill as long as she can come. And so the three set off in Jesse's mother's old station wagon, and the adventure begins. They run into several alligators, cute boys, a house party, Disneyworld, and lots of other unexpected stops along the way. And even though their plans are thrown off course, this makes for a more interesting trip. Jesse, Vicks and Mel learn more about each other than they ever dreamed, and cemented all three friendships.
I did like the story. It was never dull and the three points of view melded well together. Although I did feel like sometimes they might have been trying to outdo each other with their plot twists. But the characters were fun and well developed.
