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halynah's review
5.0
Really awesome book - a must-read for teenagers and their parents, and for those, who love to read quality, emotionally rich books. Geat style of writing, interesting characters and the plot involving very important problems and issues. This book is about finding yourself, understanding the right values and priorities, learning hard, which friendship and love relationships are real, and which are fake, what is the cost of fitting in and how dangerous bad decisions can be not only for yourself, but also for others. This book is about life - with all its difficulties, mistakes, good and bad moments. To sum it up - highly recommended!
brisbookreviews's review
5.0
Soon-to-be High School Senior, Paige Sheridan HAD a perfect popular life until one wild night of partying ends in a car crash, which involved her best friends. Although only one of her friends was seriously hurt, Paige found herself exiled to Paris and spent the summer as an Au pair. All Paige wants is her life to be back to normal, but upon returning from Paris everything seems very different.
This was a very interesting book to read. I found myself seriously wanting to smack all of Paige's snobby friends and Paige upside the head. Although annoyed, I find it to be a good thing..It means that I really got into this book. There were so many interesting characters in this book, some obviously I hated, but others I really loved. The Princesses of Iowa deals with a lot of issues from teen drinking to homophobia to self-discovery and growth. I really enjoyed this book and the writing style, from the unusual beginning to the end.
I would absolutely love to read a sequel especially if its more about the down-to earth characters Shanti, Ethan and Mr. Tremont , who in my opinion made the book even more fantastic!
I really loved that this was based in Iowa! I was born in Iowa, but moved to Texas when I was 6. I have many lovely memories of Iowa. It is a very beautiful state!
Special Thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review
This was a very interesting book to read. I found myself seriously wanting to smack all of Paige's snobby friends and Paige upside the head. Although annoyed, I find it to be a good thing..It means that I really got into this book. There were so many interesting characters in this book, some obviously I hated, but others I really loved. The Princesses of Iowa deals with a lot of issues from teen drinking to homophobia to self-discovery and growth. I really enjoyed this book and the writing style, from the unusual beginning to the end.
I would absolutely love to read a sequel especially if its more about the down-to earth characters Shanti, Ethan and Mr. Tremont , who in my opinion made the book even more fantastic!
I really loved that this was based in Iowa! I was born in Iowa, but moved to Texas when I was 6. I have many lovely memories of Iowa. It is a very beautiful state!
Special Thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review
elena_gilbert's review
4.0
A beautiful, popular high school senior returns from a summer in France to maintain her social status at least long enough to become Homecoming Queen, all the while feeling out of place among her friends, who include a super bitchy best friend, a sprightly second best friend, and a bunch of football team assholes including one named Tyler? The Creative Writing teacher is replaced by a hot grad student teacher? YES, PLEASE!
Minus a star for what felt to me like insufficient character growth, although for taking place over the course of only a month, the main character did kind of turn her whole world upside down and start questioning everything about it. This book could possibly have benefited from multiple POVs, because it was hard to understand other characters' motivation and there were still unanswered questions by the end.
Also, the homophobia story line was lacking somehow, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
Minus a star for what felt to me like insufficient character growth, although for taking place over the course of only a month, the main character did kind of turn her whole world upside down and start questioning everything about it. This book could possibly have benefited from multiple POVs, because it was hard to understand other characters' motivation and there were still unanswered questions by the end.
Also, the homophobia story line was lacking somehow, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
maryanne6828's review
4.0
I really liked this one. Lots of REAL situations that teens have to deal with. Not only do they have to deal with the situations, but the consequences too. The main character,Paige, was in a drunk driving accident before the story takes place and she must deal with the anger, guilt and the change that takes place in herself after the accident. I also really liked the descriptive writing the author used to describe Paige's feelings. It's interesting the way the author uses her own writing to show the characters development in her writing skills. I will definitely recommend this one to teens.
katharinem's review
1.0
I so WANTED to like this book. But it just didn't do it for me. In fact, a few chapters in, I considered abandoning it and never finishing it. But I hung in there. I was glad to finish the book, but not in a "I can't wait to see what happens here" kind of way, in more of a "thank goodness that's over" way...
Being from Iowa (and very few books being set here), I was excited to read about the places I know and love. That was definitely a redeeming factor.
To some extent, I did feel Backes nailed the Iowa high school experience, so I have to give her credit for that.
I did, however, agree with many previous reviewers that Paige was an incredibly irritating main character. The majority of the book was Paige whining. She complained about anything and everything. She had no concept of dealing with things. And that's even part of her epiphany - that it's not really her fault because her mom just dealt with everything for her all of her life.
I think the characters in this book ended up being parodies of real life characters. Everyone was a stereotype. I.E. Jake...Jake was every single "jock" stereotype rolled up into one.
Again, I wanted to like this - AND there were aspects that I did like! I just got way too irritated with the characters.
Being from Iowa (and very few books being set here), I was excited to read about the places I know and love. That was definitely a redeeming factor.
To some extent, I did feel Backes nailed the Iowa high school experience, so I have to give her credit for that.
I did, however, agree with many previous reviewers that Paige was an incredibly irritating main character. The majority of the book was Paige whining. She complained about anything and everything. She had no concept of dealing with things. And that's even part of her epiphany - that it's not really her fault because her mom just dealt with everything for her all of her life.
I think the characters in this book ended up being parodies of real life characters. Everyone was a stereotype. I.E. Jake...Jake was every single "jock" stereotype rolled up into one.
Again, I wanted to like this - AND there were aspects that I did like! I just got way too irritated with the characters.
andrea_heather's review
4.0
i liked this so much more than i wanted to at times, mostly because the unlikable characters are ~so excruciatingly unlikable~. but this book has more good than excruciating. it's refreshing to read a realistic and non-dystopic/magical/vampirical YA novel; especially one where the main character's voice is so strong. yeah, she fucks up and gets blinded by SO MUCH DRAMA but it serves the plot instead of feeling condescending. also, this does creative writing class and the whole magical english teacher thing (oh, not literally, see above) without making is too treacly and sappy. the characterization is much more grounded than the flowery precocious/precious john green stuff. (which i am fond of but it never feels entirely real.)
tmleblanc's review
3.0
I had the opportunity to meet and hear [a:M. Molly Backes|5136485|M. Molly Backes|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1315297726p2/5136485.jpg] speak back in July at the Iowa City Book Festival. After hearing her read two excerpts from her book, I was very excited to purchase and read her first novel.
Overall, I was disappointed. Personally for me, this was a tough read. As a person that floated on the fringes of my high school, I found it very difficult to relate to the main character, Paige. I also found it difficult get into Backes's writing style except in those rare moments when Paige was working on her creative writing assignments. I can see Backes's pontential to be a strong writer in those moments and it almost felt as if she was holding back in the main portions of the novel to make the plot accessible to teens.
I'll definitely keep an eye on Backes's future books, but if her future novels trend toward teen chick lit, I'll probably shy away. I'm just not a fan of that genre of books.
Overall, I was disappointed. Personally for me, this was a tough read. As a person that floated on the fringes of my high school, I found it very difficult to relate to the main character, Paige. I also found it difficult get into Backes's writing style except in those rare moments when Paige was working on her creative writing assignments. I can see Backes's pontential to be a strong writer in those moments and it almost felt as if she was holding back in the main portions of the novel to make the plot accessible to teens.
I'll definitely keep an eye on Backes's future books, but if her future novels trend toward teen chick lit, I'll probably shy away. I'm just not a fan of that genre of books.
maggiemaggio's review
5.0
Re-read February 2017. Still very much enjoyed it but I don't know if 2017 Maggie would give it 5 stars.
This book. I don’t even know why I finally decided to read this book. It had been sitting on my Kindle forever and I’ve been trying to read what’s sitting on there, but seriously, I do not know why I decided to pick this one up, all I know is that I’m so, so happy I did. I don’t know about anyone else, but there are books that I just love, books that if I had to only read one type of book for the rest of my life I would pick or, god help us, if I ever got an idea or the motivation to write a book, I’d want it to be like. This is absolutely one of those books.
The story completely snuck up on me. Not only did I have no expectations, I also wasn’t totally sold off the bat. I liked the story, but I wasn’t blown away. I did like Paige immediately, even though, frankly, she’s kind of a rhymes-with-witch. Paige is the popular girl who’s made a big mistake; after a party where she was supposed to be the designated driver, but ended up doing shots, she gets in a car with her two drunk friends and they crash. Paige isn’t driving, but her parents still ship her off to Paris for the summer. Rather than enjoying life is Paris Paige was pretty much a nanny-slave for a crazy-sounding family. The story picks up when Paige returns from Paris worrying about how her friends will react to her. Will her boyfriend Jake still be waiting for her? How are her best friends Nicki and Lacey doing with the crash?
The thing I love the most about this book was how real it was. Paige is the popular girl, but her life isn’t perfect and she’s more than just a pretty face or a nice personality. It’s not only Paige though, it’s all the other characters. From the description of the book I had expected Paige’s friends and boyfriend to ignore her upon her return, but they don’t. Jake waited for her and still wants to be with her, but he’s also caught up trying to comfort Lacey and be the son his parents want him to be. Lacey resents Paige for being able to escape to Paris and Nicki is trying to place peacekeeper between them. I thought this subtle tension and gradual growing apart was so realistic.
There’s a lot of realism in this book that’s very off-putting. A lot of the people in Paige’s small town are pretty close-minded. The jocks in her creative writing class tease and try to torment the new student by calling him “freshman” or using homophobic slurs and overall the town is pretty homophobic (something that comes into play later in the book). I won’t ruin anything, but honestly, I thought their homophobia, although difficult for me to read about, was really, sadly, true to life. I also thought that the character’s reactions to homophobia were very realistic. Paige has heard homophobic things her entire life and while she doesn’t agree with them she doesn’t speak out against them, either. Would it be nice if Paige stood up and tried to make a difference in her community? Sure, of course, but that’s just not something everyone can do. And, even though I wanted them to be different, I really liked the change/lack of change/reactions of many of the characters, especially Jake and Mr.Tremont.
Bottom Line: I just loved The Princesses of Iowa. It’s one of those things where I have a really difficult time putting it into words, but this is pretty much everything I look for in a book. I fell for Paige’s character, faults and all, and I appreciated how she evolved throughout the story. Even though many of the things the characters said and did left me uncomfortable I thought it was such an accurate portrayal of so many different types of people that I admire what M. Molly Backes did immensely.
This review first appeared on my blog.
This book. I don’t even know why I finally decided to read this book. It had been sitting on my Kindle forever and I’ve been trying to read what’s sitting on there, but seriously, I do not know why I decided to pick this one up, all I know is that I’m so, so happy I did. I don’t know about anyone else, but there are books that I just love, books that if I had to only read one type of book for the rest of my life I would pick or, god help us, if I ever got an idea or the motivation to write a book, I’d want it to be like. This is absolutely one of those books.
The story completely snuck up on me. Not only did I have no expectations, I also wasn’t totally sold off the bat. I liked the story, but I wasn’t blown away. I did like Paige immediately, even though, frankly, she’s kind of a rhymes-with-witch. Paige is the popular girl who’s made a big mistake; after a party where she was supposed to be the designated driver, but ended up doing shots, she gets in a car with her two drunk friends and they crash. Paige isn’t driving, but her parents still ship her off to Paris for the summer. Rather than enjoying life is Paris Paige was pretty much a nanny-slave for a crazy-sounding family. The story picks up when Paige returns from Paris worrying about how her friends will react to her. Will her boyfriend Jake still be waiting for her? How are her best friends Nicki and Lacey doing with the crash?
The thing I love the most about this book was how real it was. Paige is the popular girl, but her life isn’t perfect and she’s more than just a pretty face or a nice personality. It’s not only Paige though, it’s all the other characters. From the description of the book I had expected Paige’s friends and boyfriend to ignore her upon her return, but they don’t. Jake waited for her and still wants to be with her, but he’s also caught up trying to comfort Lacey and be the son his parents want him to be. Lacey resents Paige for being able to escape to Paris and Nicki is trying to place peacekeeper between them. I thought this subtle tension and gradual growing apart was so realistic.
There’s a lot of realism in this book that’s very off-putting. A lot of the people in Paige’s small town are pretty close-minded. The jocks in her creative writing class tease and try to torment the new student by calling him “freshman” or using homophobic slurs and overall the town is pretty homophobic (something that comes into play later in the book). I won’t ruin anything, but honestly, I thought their homophobia, although difficult for me to read about, was really, sadly, true to life. I also thought that the character’s reactions to homophobia were very realistic. Paige has heard homophobic things her entire life and while she doesn’t agree with them she doesn’t speak out against them, either. Would it be nice if Paige stood up and tried to make a difference in her community? Sure, of course, but that’s just not something everyone can do. And, even though I wanted them to be different, I really liked the change/lack of change/reactions of many of the characters, especially Jake and Mr.Tremont.
Bottom Line: I just loved The Princesses of Iowa. It’s one of those things where I have a really difficult time putting it into words, but this is pretty much everything I look for in a book. I fell for Paige’s character, faults and all, and I appreciated how she evolved throughout the story. Even though many of the things the characters said and did left me uncomfortable I thought it was such an accurate portrayal of so many different types of people that I admire what M. Molly Backes did immensely.
This review first appeared on my blog.
tatumreads's review
4.0
The cover and title originally caught my eye in the library and I'm glad I read it. I liked the themes and important messages about high school that were touched upon in this book. And of course I loved that it focused around creative writing.