I just want to state that I do more in life than just trawl the sale piles in Borders. Queen of the Big Time was another one of these finds, although I had read good reviews about this author before.

Queen of the Big Time follows the life of Nella Castelluca, an Italian-American girl in small town America. I like books that cover all about the character- Nella is charming, thought provoking and witty. However, what I didn’t like was that the book covered small sections of her life and then jumped several years without warning.

I think the title is also a bit of a misnomer- the Big Time is a festival held in Nella’s hometown, but it’s only described a couple of times and I felt that Nella didn’t play that big a role in the Big Time (no pun intended).

The characters are what makes this book- they are interesting with many quirks (some revealed, some hidden). There is also soap-worthy drama here aplenty- what happens to Nella in the first hundred or so pages will make you wonder what made her fate so awful! But of course she raises about it all to become a respected community member.

This is a good light read, suitable for a beach or holiday or just when you don’t want something too taxing. The language is easy and descriptive. Plus I’ve also found another book by the same author on the discount pile at Target…