Size 12 Is Not Fat Book 18

"Or, at least, she did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained a dress size or two — and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's perfectly happy with her new size 12 shape (the average for the American woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

The cops and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls . . . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen — not the police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives — even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career: as spunky girl detective! 

But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong . . ."

So this is a cozy (a mystery aimed at women) and I've never read/reviewed a mystery before. I enjoyed this book which makes reviewing it hard, because it will never make my faves list.

For me, it didn't have enough romance to really suck me in. Yes, I'm a romance girl. I bought this book on the recommendation of such a good friend that I didn't even read the blurb first. If I had, I would have known this isn't really my thing.

But it was still a great book. I love Heather Wells as a main character. She has a strong voice (sometimes too strong, more on that later), and she's secure with herself. The book starts with Heather rebuilding her life after her music career has ended, her fiance has been caught cheating on her, and her mother left the country with her manager and her money. She's aware her life is in shambles and doesn't like it, but she's not wallowing in it either. And I love that she's okay with her weight gain.

The plot is interesting and well written, and I was surprised at some of the twists. The book was funny, and I will read the sequels. Although, because it doesn't keep me up at night like my romances do, it took me too long to read, so I won't be reading the sequels until after the new year when P-52 has concluded.


The one thing I didn't like (other than the lack of romance, which isn't fair since this isn't a romance) was that in some places it almost has too much voice. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of first pov. I rarely read a 3rd person pov that I can sit through, and I even like conversative narrators, but in some places the way narrator talked was too conversational, especially early on. It was awkward. I definitely give this book a 3 star review. If I were into cozys, I'd probably give it more.