Rating: 
Summary: What the heck? This book won the Agatha Award!
Review: It's no wonder this book won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery. It's fun, fast-paced, well written and even has a deeper message that gives the book some depth. I'm looking forward to her next one, Bubbles In Trouble. If you like Grafton and Evanovich, like I do, you'll like Bubbles Yablonsky.
Rating:
Summary: Evanovich re-visited
Review: J. Evanovich doesn't write fast enough to quench my book hunger, but hurray, Sarah Strohmeyer's, Bubbles Unbound, has the same style. I love this book and find myself laughing out loud at the antics of the characters. Hurry, please, more, more, more!
Rating:
Summary: **wondahful**
Review: lol...i found this book both charming and hilarious! SO READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: Bubbles is frothy fun
Review: Recommended as "sort of like Janet Evanovich, but funnier", I read and enjoyed this debut novel about sometime hairdresser [come] journalist, Bubbles Yablonsky.While Ms. Evanovich's novels tend to focus more on Stephanie Plum's various boyfriends and neglect the mystery, Ms. Strohmeyer's novels pay plenty of attention to the mystery. She weaves a wonderful story and even tosses in some plot twists! Bubbles Yablonsky is a divorced single mom, living on the "wrong" side of Lehigh, PA (based loosely on Bethlehem, PA). Her husband, "Dan the Man", divorced her to marry up and now lives in a snooty neighborhood with his new wife, though he can't seem to escape the fact that the law firm he works for advertises on cardboard inserts in the telephone book. Her daughter, Jane, is bright and gets along great with Bubbles, though she looks every bit the part of of the rebellious teenager with her Kool-Aid colored hair and black lipstick. Bubbles, armed with a degree in journalism from Two Guys Community College (so-called because it is located in the former Two Guys Department Store) is struggling to make a better life for herself and her daughter. As a freelance reporter for the local newspaper, she gets a call to cover the story of a bridge-jumper and that's where the adventures begin. After covering the possible suicide, Bubbles and AP photog Steve Stiletto take off to rescue Bubbles' mom from jail (long story). The trouble they run into along the way is what really begins the mystery. Ms. Strohmeyer has interspersed some really neat beauty recipes throughout the story. While some might consider this gimmicky and extraneous, I thought it was cute and I kept trying to figure out which of the beauty treatments mentioned in the story would be in a recipe at the end of the chapter. Bubbles is perky, fun and bubbly and I will read more of her novels!
Rating:
Summary: Fun With Bubbles
Review: Start reading and discover the fun, down to earth Bubbles Yablonsky! Quirky, adventurous, real and fantastic beauty tips to boot,say?
This is the first in the Series. I'm now reading the 2nd book, Bubbles in Trouble, and it promises to be just as fun.
Rating:
Summary: A humerous cozy
Review: Ten years ago in Lehigh, Pennsylvania, hair stylist Bubbles Yablonsky did the hair of cheerleader Laura Buchman on the day the police allege the latter committed suicide. Unhinged by the event, just ask her customers whose scalps turned beet red, her boss sent Bubbles home early where she saw her "Dan the Man" with another woman. Dan left Bubbles and their daughter behind to marry an heiress. Bubbles has attended almost every course offered at the community college so that Dan can pay the bill even if she flunked everything she has taken. Now Bubbles tries journalism, a word she never heard of before, and likes the class and her on-the-job training at the News-Times. When no reporter is available to cover a story about a school teaching father apparently about to commit suicide, Bubbles gets the assignment. Working with photographer Steve Stiletto, Bubbles investigates a murder that includes much of the local elite as suspects. If she succeeds and lives, maybe she no longer will have to do blue dye jobs, but then again this is Bubbles and she better not give up her day job. BUBBLES UNBOUND is a humorous cozy starring a plum of a character whose philosophy on life will keep readers wanting to know more about her. The story line centers on Bubbles' first major investigation while struggling with ways to torture Dan and dealing with her gun carrying mom's great escape from the senior citizen crowd. Cozy mystery fans will bubble over the lead character's amateur investigative skills (or lack of) along with the Kool Aid hair dye and other home remedies. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: A fun summer read!
Review: The book was easy to read and a real page turner, lots of action from one page to the next. The Beauty tips were cute, sort of like the recipes you get from a Diane Mott Davidson book. I really enjoyed the characters, especially the Mother and her friend. It is nice that Bubbles has a daughter as that adds some dimension as well. Bubbles is sort of an Erin Brockovich and a Stephanie Plum all rolled into one person. Now if we could just add a little Anita Blake to her character, that would be a treat. Only problem, I wish that Bubbles would leave her high heels at home when she is chasing the bad guys...I wish she were tougher. I loved the book Barbie Unbound and this is a great start to a new series....
Rating: 
Summary: Not even a good Summer reading
Review: The characters and plot were very weak. I found the name "Bubbles" to be very annoying and made the character hard to like and the story even harder to believe. Strohmeyer's characters was obviously very similar to Evanovich's (love interest, crazy family, etc.) -- which could be a good thing. But it wasn't even as remotely entertaining in it's own right.
Rating:
Summary: Another Chick with Sass!
Review: The first book in the Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series by Sarah Strohmeyer introduces the reader to a 34-year-old single mother that wants more for herself than working in a beauty salon all of her life. She attends the local community college (courtesy of her divorce decree) and flunks out of almost every class that they have. However, when she takes the journalism class, she is a natural. Writing freelance articles to gain some exposure, Bubbles dreams of catching her "big break". Unfortunately for her, the big break comes from a hit-and-run case that has Lehigh, Pennsylvania in denial, and this breaks open a ten-year-old case. Bubbles writes an article for the paper exposing the town's most powerful couple and finds herself in some hot water as a result. To try to regain her reputation, Bubbles sets out on an investigation to prove that the wife of former steel chairman, Henry Metzger, is not the innocent drug-fighter that she claims to be. Using her street smarts and connections in the town, Bubbles proves herself as the person that she has always dreamed of being. I enjoyed this first look at Bubbles and the town of Lehigh, PA. I found that things got a bit muddled toward the end of the book (I thought there were a lot of twists) but all the information easily came together for a somewhat surprising ending. Bubbles is a surprising heroine, and I was laughing aloud at the description of some of her clothes and hair. Like Evanovich, this book is filled with zany characters, and the action is both intense and hilarious. If you like Stephanie Plum, give Bubbles a try! Enjoy! A Cozy Mystery Lover
Rating: 
Summary: Wannabe Plum
Review: This book is entertaining, but what takes away from it is the fact that the entire time that I was reading it I kept thinking of Stephanie Plum. Bubbles' mom reminds me of Stephanie's grandma - Stilleto is obviously a copy of Joe. Even Mr. Salvo has similarities to Vinnie... same story line. Not perfect Jersey girl finds herself in trouble that she's not cut out for, in love (or lust) with men she shouldn't be, and surrounded by kooky characters. It's worth reading for the fact that it is an easy read. However, I would suggest if you're looking for a good book of this nature, read Janet. If you've read them all already, read them again.
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