Audio Review: Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

Queen of Babble
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Age Group: Adult
Source: Library
Good Reads  |  Amazon

Summary from GoodReads:

From “New York Times “bestselling author Meg Cabot comes the hilarious story of a lovable blabbermouth who can’t seem to stay out of trouble…

What’s an American girl with a big mouth but an equally big heart to do? Lizzie Nichols has a problem. See, Lizzie can’t keep her mouth shut. And it’s not just that she can’t keep her own secrets, she can’t keep “anything “to herself. This time when she opens her big mouth, her good intentions get her long-distance boyfriend Andrew in major hot water. So now Lizzie’s stuck in London with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date on her non-refundable airline ticket.
Fortunately, there’s Shari, Lizzie’s best friend and college roommate, who’s spending her summer in southern France, catering weddings with her boyfriend, Chaz, in a sixteenth-century chateau. One call and Lizzie’s on a train to Souillac. One glimpse of gorgeous Chateau Mirac-not to mention the gorgeous Luke, the son of Chateau Mirac’s owner-and she’s smitten.
But no sooner has the first cork been popped than Luke hates her, the bride is in tears, and it looks like Chateau Mirac is in danger of becoming a lipo-recovery spa. As if things aren’t bad enough, her ex-boyfriend Andrew shows up looking for “closure” (or at least a loan), threatening to ruin everything, including Lizzie’s chance at finding real love…

Unless she can figure out a way to use that big mouth of hers to save the day.

Rating

4 out of 5

My Thoughts

Do you guys have a palate-cleansing author for those times when you need something that you are pretty much guaranteed to love?  Well, Meg Cabot is definitely one of those authors for me.  Her books usually always have exactly what I love: a lovable main character, lots of humor, and a little bit of romance.  Who wouldn’t love that?  And Queen of Babble was exactly what I was expecting from a Cabot book.

I think Cabot’s books are very character driven (my favorite kind of story) and Queen of Babble is no exception.  Poor Lizzie is having a rough time after she discovers that her long-distance British boyfriend, Andy, isn’t exactly who she thought he was.  So, a little heartbroken, and on her way from the U.K. to France to stay with her BFF, she ends up sitting next to another American on the train.  And, before you know it, she’s telling him her whole story, thinking he’s some stranger she’ll never see again.  Of course, things don’t work out quite like she expected.  Here’s something that I love and appreciate about the majority of Meg Cabot’s books I’ve read.  Her heroines always seem to get into these really embarrassing situations, and , of course, they are flustered.  But they can get over it fairly quickly (but realistically).  Why do I like that so much?  Because I am someone who would not be able to get over such an embarrassment so quickly.  I hold it in, and keep criticizing myself.  In fact, I tend to be fairly controlled so that I can keep embarrassing moments to a minimum.  But it is sort of reassuring to see someone else kind of go with the flow.  It tells me that I can handle being embarrassed.  That everyone gets embarrassed and it certainly isn’t the end of the world.

Lizzie is your typical Meg Cabot main character, and I mean that in a very positive way.  She’s very likable and nice, but a little forgettable at times, too.  And she definitely has some flaws.  Cabot was able to really give Lizzie a strong personality right from page one.  I had so much fun following Lizzie in this story.  She’s everything that I love in a protagonist.

And can I just say that I L.O.V.E.D. Jean-Luc.  He’s generally a nice guy, and certainly very sweet and caring to Lizzie.  I particularly enjoyed reading the scenes that featured Jean-Luc and Lizzie together.  Their interactions were fantastic, and so much fun to read.  There is a little bit of insta-love going on in this book.  Honestly I don’t hate insta-love if I feel like the two characters really belong together.  I mean, I need to understand why these two characters would make a good couple, and I could tell that in Queen of Babble.

Surprisingly, I really loved the setting of Queen of Babble (south of France).  You are all probably wondering why I say “surprisingly” so let me explain.  I took French in high school and college.  And I had some teachers that I didn’t really care for, which made me hate the classes.  And so when I think of anything French related, I don’t really get all warm and fuzzy inside.  Anyway, the reason I’m telling you all this information is because I want you to understand what it means when I say that I liked the setting, and that it made me want to go to the South of France, French language and all.

A quick note on the audiobook production.  For the most part, I did like it, and was pleased with the end result.  However the music between each CD did get a little annoying.  Also, the narrator’s voice for Luc wasn’t my favorite.  Sometimes it made Luc sound a bit smarmy, even though he isn’t.  But these are very small quibbles, so don’t be put off from the audio.  It’s well done.

So, as you can see from my review, I really enjoyed the audiobook for Queen of Babble, and have even requested through Inter-Library Loan the second two audios.  I hope they come in soon, because Meg Cabot is perfect for Spring/Summer.  If you’re looking for something light, sweet, and funny, then be sure to look into Queen of Babble.  Or Meg Cabot in general, because, you know, she’s totally amazing!