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This was... this was...

Oh god, no I can't even sugarcoat it. This was terrible.

I was only mildly disappointed up until 2/3 of the way through, at which point something happened rather similar to what you might find occurring on a highway in rush-hour traffic. Something not so terrible in itself (well...) but acting like that wanker texting while driving who doesn't notice everyone has stopped and then BAM crashes into the guy in front and then causes a whole ten-car pile up*.

Just for clarity: The wanker text-driving = the "big reveal" that
- this is an actual spoiler btw -
Mia is pregnant with twins.


The cars piling up behind = everything else in the book, ranging from how damn spoiled Mia actually is, the hideousness of reading about her sex-life in detail yet finding all swear words literally [REDACTED], the diabolically cringe-worthy attempts to address current affairs, the even more diabolically painful attempts to address racial politics... Alltogether added up to more of a trainwreck than a car crash to be honest.

And I loved these books as a kid. All of them, everything Meg Cabot wrote. This was the worst possible ending. I regret everything.

*No, I have not actually been in this situation but in Auckland it's a pretty plausible scenario.
funny lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5 stars - I loved being part of Mia's world again and I loved reading her diary and her remarks and wit as much as ever but the story was a bit of a letdown for me, sadly.

Meh.

LOVE.
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*sighs with happiness* This book is wish fulfillment in all its glory. LOVE LOVE LOVED IT. Review coming on my blog soon :)

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You should all know that The Princess Diaries books were the first YA books I ever read.

That was before I even knew YA was a genre. I’d already seen the movies, and I think maybe they re-released the books, because when I was about twelve I bought all ten and read them over and over.

I absolutely loved Mia.

She was my absolute role model and hero. SO IMAGINE MY ABSOLUTE PLEASURE THAT NOT ONLY WERE THEY PUBLISHING A NEW BOOK, BUT THAT IT LANDED ON MY DOORSTEP.

So anyway, let’s get to the reasons why you need this book in your life.

1. Because I said.

That’s reason enough, right?

2. Feminism

I LOVED the way Mia absolutely slammed any kind of misogyny. It was totally awesome, and something I love about this whole series.

3. On a related note, Lilly.

She’s just as sassy as before! If you’re not familiar with the series (and you have some catching up to do, believe me!) you’ll appreciate her wit and even more feministical feminism.

4. On another related note, the return of Mia’s other friends!

Like Tina Hakim Baba, for example, the romance book lover. She’s just as dramatic and funny as before, and I’m SO glad they’re still friends.

Oh, also, Boris comes back. Except now he’s practically Justin Bieber.

5. GRANDMERE.

Book Grandmere is NOT like this. In fact she’s the opposite. She smokes and she drinks and she’s completely a nightmare and also hilarious.

6. Wish fulfillment, let’s be honest.

Even more so in this one than in the rest. I mean, for goodness’ sake, Mia is a PRINCESS and Michael is a MILLIONAIRE and she gets proposed to on an ISLAND and also there are lots of other squee-worthy surprises.

Which, come to think of it…

7. THE SQUEE-WORTHY SURPRISES.

THERE WAS A LOT OF SQUEEING, BELIEVE ME. AND YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT YOU’LL LOVE IT.

8. Have I mentioned Michael yet?

Well, not that Michael. He wasn’t very exciting (and how DARE they break up my ship in the second movie??? How dare Nicholas steal Mia away from MICHAEL??).

But BOOK MICHAEL…he is impressive. And this time Meg Cabot doesn’t have to censor the innuendos.

9. THE TEXT MESSAGES

Quite a chunk of the book is written in text messages back and forth between Mia and others. They are HILARIOUS and broke it up a bit. I do love non-traditional writing formats.

10. The Nostalgia

I mean, come on, people, I LOVE Princess Diaries. And even though this installment is adult (which I don’t usually read) I’m so invested in these characters that of COURSE I made an exception.

11. The HUMOUR.

These books – ALL of them – are just so funny. In part that’s because of Mia’s fantastic voice, which sounds very similar to her teenage voice but I didn’t mind at all. If you’re a writer trying to discover how to write voice, this is how you do it.

And just the situations that she gets into…I mean, Meg Cabot is a genius for humour.

12. OH OH AND THE LITTLE SISTER PLOTLINE

IN FACT, Meg Cabot actually wrote a book about her as well. This little girl (Olivia) is the most adorable thing in the world and I loved her to pieces.

13. How to cope with the media 101.

Mia’s gotten a LITTLE better with it over the years. She’s not as nervous. In fact, she’s grown into a butt-kicking woman, and the butts she’s kicking (the media) kind of deserve it. Despite paparazzi every which way, and several scandals threatening to ruin everything, Mia keeps her head above water and deals with it (mostly) in the best possible way.

14. The HILARIOUS innuendos.

For an adult book it was still pretty clean. I mean, all the swear words were [REDACTED] (except for the excellent hybrid insult “twunt”) and there were no actual bedroom scenes – only references to the Fireman game and…other things.

Which were hilarious, because we started off with Mia as an awkward 14-year-old.

15. Excellent pop culture references, as per usual.

And I actually UNDERSTOOD these ones! A lot of the references in the original books are from the nineties, when I was either 1) not born or 2) crawling around on the floor somewhere. So that was nice.

16. Some interesting developments with Mia’s parents.

Also – *weeps* – we find out on page 1 that Frank Gianini (aka Mia’s step-father) has died. Which is very sad.

I won’t say anymore but it’s very INTRIGUING.

17. Just such a nice fluffy read, you know?

Which is GOOD every now and then.

18. Let’s end by saying how much of an awesome character Mia is. Again. Because I cannot say it enough.

I’M JUST SO HAPPY WITH THIS BOOK.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

loved this series <3

I liked this book, I'm just not sure it was necessary. I love Mia, but I was hoping she would make some more adult decisions, seeing as how she's actually an adult now. Even through it was great to catch up with all the characters (Can Lily be my best friend too?), it wasn't really enough to carry the whole book. The redeeming part was all the Mia/Michael moments, aka my favorite couple ever, so it was worth reading for that.

Nostalgia + millenial wish fulfillment + nerdy funnies = fluffy happy-place popcorn perfection.

3.75