Queen of Babble Re-Reads

Queen of Babble
by Meg Cabot

Are books always different the second time through? Having read the entire series, it just makes the first book stick out like a sore thumb. While the writing seems somehow fresher, the plot doesn't seem planned out--makes me wonder if the two books that came after really were just an afterthought. There was no foreshadowing about Lizzie's eventual love, none at all. Just a vicious cycle of "ooh! perfect (cute) boy!" ending with "ooh! perfect cute boy = not so perfect after all!". I remember certainly liking Chaz as a character, but never would have seen him as a potential love interest for Lizzie at all. So very random. It would have done well as a stand-alone...or should have had more hints along the way. The way it worked out led to little continuity, which results in much confusion and a general feeling of blah. The characters are somewhat flat in the first book. They get their much needed development in the next two, but at a cost of less page-time, with all the new characters that are later introduced.
As for the second book, like I said before, the hints begin to show up. To understand the Sherri thing (and see the hint dropping begin), I would read the first book, as it is a total shock in the second one. But then, the Chaz thing...you can see it coming. Maybe it's not a sure thing, but there are some subtle hints here and there, the biggest one being the fact that he is mentioned and discussed at length at all, as opposed to simply being the background character he was in the first book. The pattern of break-ups is painfully annoying, and feels like Andrew (and by extension, Luke) should never have even been mentioned, that maybe the story should have just been about Lizzie, Sherri, and Chaz to start from, instead of complicating things and as a result, making it repetitive and boring.
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, however, seems to take all those missteps and leads the reader simply to forget them, as none of it seems to matter. The drama in this one is just addicting, leading to a fully satisfying ending, although I wish we had an actual wedding, or rather, an elopement, as opposed to just a certificate. Chaz and Lizzie together are so much better than her and Luke. Chaz's character seems more developed, and Luke (much like Andrew) comes out the flat character here. And speaking of annoying & flat characters, the character of Ava Geck was the most annoying thing in the universe. Gran's death, although sad, was rather predictable. I just think that with all this stuff about marriage, she at least deserved a wedding. I suppose Meg might have done it like this for the irony, but I don't think it worked all that well. Lizzie needed her own wedding, darn it! It is because of this that I dislike the title. She DOESN'T get hitched, at least not through the course of the book. Meg really should have picked a more fitting title, more about choice than marriage. Nevertheless, loved this one overall, and I definitely think the least it deserved was an epilogue to see what marriage was like for Lizzie and Chaz, and more importantly, to see if this one lasted.

Ratings:
#1: 3.5/5
#2: 4/5
#3: 5/5