Rainy Day Reading

September wasn’t a particularly rainy month. But the way I was curled up inside with these books, you would have thought it was to treacherous outside to do anything else! I ended this month with Meg Cabot sandwich, fitting in one YA book and one adult literary fiction novel in between the last three installments in the Heather Wells Mysteries series. For October, I am carefully selecting some scary stories for spooky season. So, in the meantime, enjoy this very random reading list that I just happened to pull from my shelf.

As always, Trigger Warnings are provided at the end of this post. I use the Trigger Warning Database for reference on many books and can’t praise this site enough!

Big Boned by Meg Cabot (2007)

Pages: 280

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Mystery

Plot: Ex-pop star Heather Wells is met with another murder mystery as the Assistant Residence Hall Director of New York College’s “Death Dorm.” This time the vic is her boss, and Heather finds herself on the shortlist of prime suspects along with other members of the eccentric staff at NYC.

Thoughts: I am legally-obligated to read one Meg Cabot per year. Returning to her writing is like wrapping up in a big comfort blanket! With that being said, it’s hard not to cringe at some of the problematic humor Cabot weaves randomly into the story. But it’s fun to read as I’m winding down for the evening, like a re-run of Friends, The Mindy Project, or Ugly Betty. People who’ve worked in student life on college campuses will find the references funny and relatable from the frequent corrections of “dorm” to “residence hall” to the abundance of team-building exercises Heather and her coworkers must grudgingly complete together.

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith (2021)🌟

Pages: 400

Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Supernatural Thriller

Plot: “1986: The teenage daughter of a wealthy Vietnamese family loses her way in an abandoned rubber plantation while fleeing her angry father and is forever changed. 2011: A young, unhappy Vietnamese American woman disappears from her new home in Saigon without a trace. The fates of these two women are inescapably linked, bound together by past generations, by ghosts and ancestors, by the history of possessed bodies and possessed lands.” Book summary from Goodreads

Thoughts: This book is not what I’d call “beautiful.” It is very ugly, depressing, and borderline horrifying in many parts. It is sometimes violent and always haunting, yet there is an unexpected tenderness by the very end that for me earned it a 🌟. I am still collecting my thoughts to this day because I am seeking a map, character chart, timeline, and series of author talks on YouTube to consider everything. I know I loved this story and spending time with it, as did my book club buddies. You’ll need to prepare your mind, stomach, and soul for the twists. I recommend the audio book, which helped me keep track of the 50 years worth of time traveling and plot lines as well as pronunciation of Vietnamese names and vocabulary. Not a single word is wasted in this book. I don’t think I’ve ever read one, particularly a mystery novel, like it before!

Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot (2012)

Pages: 360

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Mystery

Plot: “Heather’s got her hands full when a pop star and her reality TV camera crew invade the dorm—bringing with them a summer camp full of adoring teen admirers—only to have an inconvenient homicide spoil the fun. There’s romance, treachery, merry mayhem and music.” Book summary from Goodreads

Thoughts: I said I was legally bound to read one Meg Cabot book per year, so to be on the safe side I read two more. I don’t have much more to say about this one as I did Big Boned, but the opening up of reality TV show setting is different and funny for sure. You know when you watch Friends and realize so many of the jokes are problematic and that the characters have probably never been introduced to intersectional feminism? That is how I feel reading Meg Cabot. Despite this, her books are my still my go-to “recovery” reads when the other books I’ve been working on get too serious or scary. Overall, this was slow-built but intriguing and fun mystery. I do wish there had been more focus on the stalker/blackmailing plot and less on the camp drama as well as a more drawn-out conclusion.

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman (2021) 🌟

Pages: 400

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Plot: “Mateo Garcia and his younger sister, Sophie, have been taught to fear one word for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade. Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors. When Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken by ICE, he realizes that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality.” Book summary from Goodreads

Thoughts: I had the honor and pleasure of hearing Daniel Aleman speak about his debut novel Indivisible during the Summer Publishing Institute I attended virtually through NYU. He was so bright and passionate about not only writing and advocacy, I simply had to order his book the minute I could. And, as one of the best YA books I’ve ever read, it did not disappoint. I am so grateful this book exists for teens today, those who identify with Mateo’s story and interweaving identities (gay, Mexican-American, and the child of immigrants) and also those who are on the outside looking in the complex and cruel immigration system we have in the United States.

The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot (2013)

Pages: 392

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Mystery

Plot: “With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather’s already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather’s sure things can’t get worse—until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather’s long-lost mother shows up.” Book summary by Goodreads

Thoughts: I read another book by Meg Cabot because, what else am I supposed to do, start reading to better myself? I am actually obligated to read a book on my bookshelf instead of renting the entire Heather Wells series from the library? At the end of the day, these books are the literary version of candy: you keep consuming one after the other but gain no nutritional value. But they are good for the soul, and I appreciate Meg Cabot for wrapping this series off with a giant and glamourous wedding for Heather, who had seen enough tragedy and trauma to last her a lifetime. All hail Meg Cabot, Queen of Comfort Fiction and Bringer of Happily Ever Afters!

Trigger/Adult Content warnings (CONTAINS SPOILERS!) below

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Big Boned: gun violence, grooming, body shaming and general commentary about body types and eating (internal and external)

Build Your House Around My Body: racism, se*ual assault, drugging, animal cruelty, xenophobia, verbal abuse, murder, depression, mentions of eating disorder

Size 12 and Ready to Rock: blackmail, gun violence, suggested partying and sexualization of young teenage girls who are on a college campus, domestic abuse, grooming, body shaming and general commentary about body types and eating (internal and external)

Indivisible: deportation, racism, panic attacks, alcohol consumption (teens), a child runaway

The Bride Wore Size 12: suffocation, autopsy description, knife violence, gun violence and handling, description of a series of patriarchal and violent laws including capital punishment that exists in a made-up country, body shaming and general commentary about body types and eating (internal and external)

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