Rating: 
Summary: Bubbles A Broad...and smart, ingenious, and fun too!
Review: Bubbles A Broad in the fourth installment of the series featuring Bubbles, a community college drop out, hair dresser, aspiring newspaper reporter, and single mother to a teen-aged daughter. As always, Bubbles is flamboyant, tenacious, personable, and humorous while solving crimes, trying to secure a full time job on the local News-Times, and falling in love. The crime solving starts when convicted murderess Carol Weaver escapes from prison and arrives unannounced to ask Bubbles' for her help in finding who really killed Carol's husband. After a brief cat fight with a dissatisfied former hair dressing customer at a matronly charity lunch, Bubbles convinces her boss to let her focus on solving the crime. This effort includes run-ins with the local steel company, and the wives and ex-wives of steel executives, along with Bubbles' own ex-husband and his new society wife. If that isn't enough, Bubbles' daughter is interviewing for Princeton, her eccentric mother and equally eccentric friends are following Bubbles around town, and Bubbles is finally moving towards a serious relationship with Stiletto, her sexy and wealthy boyfriend. The Bubbles books are lighthearted, but well written mysteries with workable plot lines and developed characters. Bubbles A Broad is a delightful summer read both for the story and the effervescence of Bubbles herself.
Rating:
Summary: Bubbles A Broad...and smart, ingenious, and fun too!
Review: Bubbles A Broad in the fourth installment of the series featuring Bubbles, a community college drop out, hair dresser, aspiring newspaper reporter, and single mother to a teen-aged daughter. As always, Bubbles is flamboyant, tenacious, personable, and humorous while solving crimes, trying to secure a full time job on the local News-Times, and falling in love. The crime solving starts when convicted murderess Carol Weaver escapes from prison and arrives unannounced to ask Bubbles' for her help in finding who really killed Carol's husband. After a brief cat fight with a dissatisfied former hair dressing customer at a matronly charity lunch, Bubbles convinces her boss to let her focus on solving the crime. This effort includes run-ins with the local steel company, and the wives and ex-wives of steel executives, along with Bubbles' own ex-husband and his new society wife. If that isn't enough, Bubbles' daughter is interviewing for Princeton, her eccentric mother and equally eccentric friends are following Bubbles around town, and Bubbles is finally moving towards a serious relationship with Stiletto, her sexy and wealthy boyfriend. The Bubbles books are lighthearted, but well written mysteries with workable plot lines and developed characters. Bubbles A Broad is a delightful summer read both for the story and the effervescence of Bubbles herself.
Rating: 
Summary: Way over the top--but pure fun
Review: Bubbles Yablonsky has won a trial job at the local newspaper--only to get caught up in a cat-fight at the historical society and fired. But an escaped convict, proclaiming her innocence, gives Bubbles a story angle that just might win back her job. Somehow, she's got to track down the truth behind a cyanide murder, the powerful steel company that rules over Lehigh Pennsylvania, a possible underground railroad tunnel, and the mysterious M.R.S. program at Two Guys Community College. In the meantime, Bubbles has a noxious ex-husband, a Princeton-bound daughter, and super-sexy sometimes boyfriend/journalistic rival Steve Stiletto to deal with. Will Bubbles and Stiletto finally make it all the way to the bedroom, or will they again be kept from consumation by journalistic demands? The Bubbles series is completely over the top. From character names (Bubbles? Stiletto?), to attire (Bubbles agonizes about whether to wear her leapard-pattern blouse or her one-armed zebra dress to the fancy date with Stiletto), to Bubble's pride in being the biggest loser in Two Guys Community College history to the story itself, BUBBLES A BROAD is definitely not to be taken seriously. It's silly, a bit rediculous, and pure fun. Bubbles enjoys being tacky, worries that her failure to talk to Jon Bon Jovi has tainted her for life, and does the best she can to be a good mother for her teenaged daughter. Rediculous or not, though, Bubbles keeps her eye on the mystery, comes up with one theory after another, and intends to get her story if it kills her. Author Sarah Strohmeyer pulls off the difficult challenge of mixing mystery with farce and delivers a page-turning adventure. It's hard not to admire Bubbles--although any but the most courageous might want to take her fashion hints with a grain of salt. Still, if it's good enough to attract Steve Stiletto...
Rating:
Summary: Strohmeyer's many Bubbleheads will cheer this one
Review: Carol Weaver escapes from prison, where she was serving time for killing her husband, and runs straight to her former manicurist, Bubbles Yablonsky, for help. Thus the scene is set for the plotting and pacing of this wacky fourth novel in Sarah Strohmeyer's amusing series. But, strange as it may seem, Bubbles is not such a bizarre choice. Since our heroine is trying to earn a permanent slot writing for the News-Times, and has been doing some feature stories on the mysterious death of another Lehigh Steel Company executive, her determination to learn the truth could actually work in Carol's favor.
And, sure enough, the former beauty salon operator begins to search for clues that will help clear the former corporate wife. She could even bring to justice those responsible for other big business shenanigans that may even include murder, along with the customary cover-ups.
The story line is a bit complicated and would require many more compound and run-on sentences to summarize. But never mind. "Story" is not why we read Chick Lit. We read it to be transported out of our own everyday problems and into the dramas of someone else's life. And, with Bubbles around, drama abounds. Each of the many characters, well drawn and quirky, has a storyline that will somehow tie into the whole.
In addition, if you are from the East Coast, each character will remind you of someone you know as you nod your head and smile in recognition. I especially like Lulu Yablonsky, Bubbles's mother, who doles out pearls of wisdom. Lulu's take on Female Economics 101: "...men have needs which women manipulate in exchange for goods and services."
Pennsylvania's answer to Legally Blonde narrates as if she were telling this story to her best friend during a long weekend. Strohmeyer deftly captures the vernacular of the Lehigh Valley's blue-collar middle-class without resorting to vulgar expressions and never allows her players to slip out of character. And, of course, she leaves nothing out as she breaks her vow of chastity with Steve Stilleto, the hunk of her dreams. It gets pretty chaotic and a little Abbott and Costello-ish at times, but through it all Bubbles prevails and eventually sorts everything out.
To get the full impact of Bubbles's adventures, you may want to begin with BUBBLES UNBOUND, followed by BUBBLES IN TROUBLE, and then BUBBLES ABLAZE. Her style is more Donna Andrews (MURDER WITH PEACOCKS) than Janet Evanovich, but Strohmeyer has already gathered quite a following of "Bubbleheads" and is sure to keep her fans cheering through many future adventures.
--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Review: Everyone told you of the story in previous reviews so I will tell you about what I thought of it. When I began this was my first Bubbles book and having been an avid Janet Evanovich fan for years I thought the story was too similar for my taste. The wacky nature of the tale seemed like a sister series. However, I soon discovered that wasn't the case Bubbles was fun and funny! I was very wrong. Bubbles is outrageous and flamboyant in a fantastic way and her mother is absolutely hilarious. This book has me now addicted to another author Sarah Strohmeyer. The characters are well written and pop off the page, which is what I adore in fun books. To be able to see the characters in your head in these situation requires skill and Sarah Strohmeyer has both the talent and skill to do this.
From the beginning I couldn't wait for what was next! I can't recommend this series enough. Now, I can't wait to get the others and get on the band wagon of waiting for each new volume in Bubbles series. A comment now to the publishers "Get them on Audio by Recorded Books now" preferably read by C.J. Critt. I would love to be able to listen to Bubbles in the car or while doing things around the house!! Can't wait for the next ride with Bubbles!
Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Review: Everyone told you of the story in previous reviews so I will tell you about what I thought of it. When I began this was my first Bubbles book and having been an avid Janet Evanovich fan for years I thought the story was too similar for my taste. The wacky nature of the tale seemed like a sister series. However, I soon discovered that wasn't the case Bubbles was fun and funny! This book has me now addicted to another author Sarah Strohmeyer. The characters are well written and pop off the page, which is what I adore in fun books. To be able to see the characters in your head in these situation requires skill and Sarah Strohmeyer has both the talent and skill to do this.
From the beginning I couldn't wait for what was next! I can't recommend this series enough. Now, I can't wait to get the others and get on the band wagon of waiting for each new volume in Bubbles series. A comment now to the publishers "Get them on Audio by Recorded Books now" preferably read by C.J. Critt. I would love to be able to listen to Bubbles in the car or while doing things around the house!! Can't wait for the next ride with Bubbles!
Rating: 
Summary: Dated and Stereo-typical
Review: I was all set for a wonderful murder mystery with a gal as the lead character. Instead, I got a mystery that is strictly for "chicks" as any guy reading it wouldn't have a clue as to what was being said. It was written in all the chatter of a 60's "Bobbie-Sox-er". Since I haven't been in the 60's for 40 years, I felt it was a very dated novel.
The main character, Bubbles Yablonsky, is the stereo-typical dumb blonde, high heel wearing with hair piled a mile high. A former hairdresser (another stereo-typical characterization in that the only job a dumb blonde girl can hold is a hairdresser) turned newspaper reporter, Bubbles is on a case of Carol Weaver. Carol has been sent to prison for murdering her husband. Carol turns up at Bubbles home pleading she has been framed. That night, Bubbles finds someone shooting at her bed. In rushes, Bubbles wealthy, "hunk" of a boyfriend to rescue her. Does any of this remind anyone of when women were only thought of as having to have a man to take care of her?
I am guessing the author isn't one of those women who are as ditzy as Bubbles because she has published three other novels before this one. The characters are corny and the story something that I think of as writing of my teenage years. There is also slang, or I am guessing it is, that I have no understanding of. For example, "You still shook up from this morning, say?" What does the say mean? Slang, I hope as it does nothing for the sentence.
The only reason to finish reading this novel is to find out who done it and if Bubbles can actually do something adult in her life such as have a relationship with her boyfriend. Unless you have something better to do on a cold winter's night, this is the book to read to prevent boredom.
Rating:
Summary: amusing class warfare irreverent amateur sleuth tale
Review: In Lehigh, Pennsylvania, Bubbles Yablonsky balances (some would say haphazardly while others would say that is an optimists' opinion) her profession as a hairdresser with her vocation as a reporter at the News-Times. Of course she also crosses that with being a single mom, going to community college, and an occasional bit of mystery solving (some would say that she is the Murphy in that universal law while others would say that is optimistic). As labor and management strife rocks Lehigh Steel, former executive wife Carol Weaver, was convicted of illegal downsizing when she murdered her husband, Hal. Carol escapes from the State Correctional Institute in Jakeville to offer the story of a lifetime to Bubbles, if the tyro journalist with questionable sleuthing experience (see EVERYONE LOVES BUBBLES) helps her prove her innocence. Bubbles' latest adventure is an amusing class warfare that would make both major presidential party candidates hide as the contrast between working class wanting to become wealthy (aside to Mr. Gore) vs. Carol and the elite is very funny. Bubbles as usual makes the tale with her poignant caring and stubborn attitude sort of like The Train That Could driven by a blond parody. Though the assault on the upper crust becomes a bit tedious as the early eagles turn somewhat to bogies, fans of irreverent amateurs sleuth tales starring a delightful "loser" who always insures fans win will chuckle with bodacious Bubbles. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Great book, great free T-shirt offer!
Review: Okay, so I liked the book so much I wrote it! Just saying hello and inviting you to stop by our website, http://www.sarahstrohmeyer.com to check out our FREE BUBBLES OR BUST! T-shirt offer. We Bubblesheads have a blast all year long and even more fun on the road. Dress up as Bubbles, show up at a signing (maybe one's near you...see our EVENTS page) and get more free stuff! Serious literature, this ain't. Great story, lots of laughs and hot romance it is. Enjoy! Sarah
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Bubbles Book!!
Review: Once again Bubbles is back to entertain us with her zany exploits. I love Bubbles and eagerly await each new adventure!
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