BOOK REVIEW: "Size 12 is not Fat" by Meg Cabot

I have a fair share of reading chic lit novels when I was younger. And I would have to say that Meg Cabot's books have always attracted my attention. The writer of "The Princess Diaries" saga (now a major motion picture in collaboration with Disney Studios) tells her stories as it is; honest yet witty. Most of the stories and details are straight to the point, which to me is a good thing because I tend to get bored easily with over-flowery words.

When I first saw the cover of "Size 12 is not Fat", I was thinking: "Oh, it must be about a super skinny gal who is all weight-crazy and watching every detail in her meals and exercise regime."

But I was wrong. I judged a book by its cover. And I just made a bad pun. Sorry!

Anyway, it's not at all what I thought it is. In fact, it was a mystery with a chic-lit atmosphere so it's not too intense.

Heather Wells was a teen pop-star but she hadn't been too happy with the songs that they made her sing. So after she quit showbiz and grew older, she found a job in a New York college dorm and rented a brownstone with Cooper Cartwright (Heather's ex-boyfriend Jordan Cartwright's older brother).

Although Cooper and Heather lived in the same place, they weren't romantically involved (even though Heather sometimes wished that they do). And to make things more complicated, Jordan - also a big star and still was - had been constantly trying to get Heather back.

But she could see through Jordan's lies that he was just trying to get back at her and his older brother Cooper.

Then one day, there was an emergency at the college dorm where Heather worked at. A girl was found dead, suspected by elevator surfing. However soon, when another similar case was reported, Heather began to think that it could not be an accident that killed those two girls - "because girls generally don't elevator surf", Heather Wells - but it could be a murder.

This novel had a balanced combination of thrills and suspense as well as drama. Oh, and by the way the title of the book is actually Heather Wells' quote as she was convincing the people around her that "size 12 is not fat"!

Guess what size she is?