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A review by maggiemaggio
The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes
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.