I’ve been a fan of this series since it debuted in 2006. The books tell the story of Heather Wells, one time teen pop star, now Assistant Dorm director at Fischer Hall in NYC. Heather has not had an easy time of it, her mom ran off with her money, her record company cheated her out of royalties, and her pop star boyfriend of ten years got caught with another singers head in his crotch. Heather is over Jordan Cartwright and has no anger toward Tania Trace, now a famous teen idol. One reason why is that she is unofficially engaged to Cooper Cartwright, Jordan’s brother and her landlord.
Unfortunately for Heather, the dorm she is in charge of is called “Death dorm” for a good reason and she has her hands full with assorted residents, the college president and his spoiled son. To her chagrin, she discovers that Cartwright Records is filming a reality show called Jordan Loves Tania in the dorm with the college administrations blessing. After the shooting of Tania’s body guard, the show which was supposed to end up at a camp setting, ends up in “Death Dorm” for the summer. Now Heather has to deal with TV producers, camera people, screaming teen age girls and stage mothers that would give piranhas a run for their money. Add to the mix that Cooper is Tania’s new bodyguard and it’s going to be a great summer for Heather. Did I mention that there is a new dorm director coming on board…..?
It has been 5 years since the third book in the series “Big Boned “and I thought that there would never be another one. I was excited when I saw that this one was coming and it was worth waiting for. Heather is a feisty woman who has dealt with the hard knocks life gave her and found happiness (mostly) in her job and love with Cooper. Cooper is a handsome, pragmatic private investigator who loves Heather and grudgingly puts up with her amateur detecting. Being the brother of her ex-boyfriend and the son of the owners of the record company that stiffed her has been difficult for Heather to work around but they have a great relationship with normal ups and downs.
In this book, Heather gets a chance to tie up loose ends and deal with Jordan and Tania’s betrayal for the last time. Jordan is a bratty jerk who starts to show a little maturity now that he is going to be a father. Tania is a talented singer who has some big secrets in her past and one of them is out to kill her. Heather really gets a chance to know Tania and realizes that there is a nice person behind the teen princess façade. There are elements of suspense and of humor in this book and the mystery is light but satisfying. New characters are introduced and are a good fit with the older ones. The whole inside look at the workings of a reality show and the show participants is also a successful plot device.
I hope that there will be more books in the series and not such a wait between them.