Queen of Babble (#1) by Meg Cabot
Originally published on Just A Girl High On Books
Rating: 3/5Goodreads Rating: 3.69/5 (as of September 30, 2018)
Genre: Contemporary/Romance/ChickLit
Series: Queen of Babble #1
Publishers: HarperCollins
Amazon.in: https://amzn.to/2E5ZLkc
Blurb
What's an American girl with a big mouth, but an equally big heart, to do?
Lizzie Nichols has a problem, and it isn't that she doesn't have the slightest idea what she's going to do with her life, or that she's blowing what should be her down payment on a cute little Manhattan apartment on a trip to London to visit her long-distance boyfriend, Andrew. But what's the point of planning for the future when she's done it again? 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 Andrew in major hot water. So now Lizzie's stuck in London with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date written 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 château. One call and Lizzie's on a train to Souillac. Who cares if she's never traveled alone in her life and only speaks rudimentary French? One glimpse of gorgeous Château Mirac - not to mention gorgeous Luke, the son of Château Mirac's owner - and she's smitten.
But while most caterers can be trusted to keep a secret, Lizzie's the exception. And no sooner has the first cork been popped than Luke hates her, the bride is in tears, and it looks like Château 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, especially Lizzie's chance at ever finding real love...
Unless she can figure out a way to use that big mouth of hers to save the day.
My Review
Queen of Babble was an okay-ish read. I guess I’ll start off by stating the obvious – that it isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. It isn’t like there was something wrong with it, but there wasn’t something amazing either. I mean, one can say the sort of love triangle was hefty, but that was all. Besides, the protagonist wasn’t likely to be the reader’s best friend either. (Perhaps, that was the major reason why the book has an average of 3.7 – although I won’t give it much above than 3.5 myself.
Now, let’s start off with the cons.
Starting with our main character – Lizzie. To be honest, I found her to be a little annoying and not someone I could relate with. Despite being a graduate, or rather an almost graduate with a good for nothing degree, she seemed to have the mind of a five year old. (Whoever feels guilty about not lending money to an ex boyfriend who lies to you on the face, seeks you for a pity you-know-what and then also demands you for money? I mean, the guy literally crossed Europe for her only because he wanted the money. Where was the love in it?)
Now I understand that the book was written from Lizzie’s perspective, but her constant blabbering made it seem too irritating, so much that there were more than one points during my reading when I wanted to throw the book away and simply start another one. I mean, no matter how much she babbles, no one could be that stupid and that huge a pushover, could anyone?
The first evening together with Andy and she says she’s in love. And then she travels half the world away just to meet him, which was another thing stupid because she hadn’t met him for three whole months. Then again, how could she not know he wasn’t the love of her life? Considering how she met him only once, made out with him the whole night, realized he had told his family about her in a way she didn’t appreciate, told his mother how much she loved tomatoes despite her hating them so badly, and not only that but sent the picture of his naked butt instead of his face, and finally, when she didn’t even remember his face. I mean, how can you simply forget the face of the love of your life? Unless, of course, he isn’t the love of your life. Sounds better?
Not only that, but there was also everything that happened with Luke. Initially, she came off as a rather good character, considering how she didn’t want to advance at the hot and handsome Luke because he had a girlfriend. But did anyone notice the completely different thing here? That she had only known him two days and already thinking how she loved him? That she wanted him to break up with his girlfriend for her. That within less than a week the two end up saying I Love You to each other, despite being on the rebound?
Then there was Blaise. Whoever does what he did to his sister? I mean, no matter how convincing Dominique might have sounded, and no matter how much he would have been on the rebound, he did not have a right to do what he did to his sister. Even though that made Lizzie look like an even bigger hero than she had already become by the end.
And finally there was Andy – the character I despised the most. I mean, think about it, who did he think he was that Lizzie would simply give away her money to him?
Lastly, the blurb disappointed me by a great deal. I won’t disclose how, but most of what is written there, either didn’t happen when I expected it to, or didn’t happen the way it is written.
But I think that’s enough of the cons. Let’s focus on the pros, too now.
– I liked how Cabot pulled off the story despite it being written in first person and present tense – even though the style was not at all what favored me. Besides, not many books can pull that off and still be called good (or rather, get a 3.7/5).
– I adored the little snippets from Lizzie’s thesis. Honestly, I had never seen history only from the view point of a fashion. It made me think over a lot of stuff. Seriously.
– I liked Luke. He was, after Shari and Chaz (but they didn’t have much big roles since she was rarely ever with them) the only character I liked. He was the typical guy – confused about what to do in his primes – whether to follow his dreams or the money. Who to trust, and who to not. Nothing made sense to him, and honestly, it was okay.
– I appreciated the fact that Andy returned – that his story hadn’t been left back in England and that he came for her to get closure, or maybe for Luke and Lizzie to realize they loved each other. I also liked the way she stood up for herself. Finally. That made me like her a little more.
Thus, all in all, Queen of Babble was okay-ish, not exactly compelling that it pushes you in, but not exactly the kind that makes you wish you had left it altogether.
But to recommend it to anyone? I highly doubt it.
If you liked this review, follow me for more. 
