A review by theodarling
Princess in Training by Meg Cabot

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Giving this one 4 stars because I snort-laughed my way through it, but I can't give it 5 because of the way Michael exasperatedly pressuring Mia to have sex (ok well, if not now, then when? You don't know? When WILL you know? Let's discuss this once a month until I wear you down. Ok FINE, every 3 months. It better happen before the decade's over though or I'm out.) was just presented as a reasonable matter of course. Now, this is not a book about Age Gap Crimes. The age difference between these characters is 3 years — both are teenagers — which is not unusual or particularly egregious. Still though, 15 is YOUNG, and I also could not help but remember some conversations with my own high school boyfriend where I felt like his physical expectations were suffocating me, and having grown up the way I did, I felt like I was not allowed to say no. Grown-up me felt a lot of protective empathy for Mia in this subplot and, as much as I generally like Michael and am rooting for them, the vibes were off this time. 

Something else that stuck out to me from this one: there is a minor subplot wherein Mia and her friends gleefully fantasize about
hazing a new student, Perin, whose gender is ambiguous. This all comes to a head when a teacher mistakenly misgenders Perin, emboldening Mia's arch nemesis Lana to start slinging slurs at her. Mia steps in to defend Perin, and subsequently absorbs her into her own friend group. When this subplot was introduced, I was initially a bit taken aback — yes, it was 2005, the YA I read as a teen seems somehow edgier than what's being published now, but I generally read Mia and her friends as being pretty accepting and open-minded about personal expression. In the end I felt sad for Perin that although she was finally accepted into a diverse group of friends, this didn't happen until the ~mystery~ of her gender was solved. It was as if Mia needed Lana's cruelty to provide a foil and remind her of her own personal values and you know what, maybe she did. And maybe that's not entirely unrealistic! And while Mia and her friends can sometimes be misguided or make questionable decisions, I think they are characters who want to be good people who learn from their mistakes and try to make the world a better, more inclusive place, so I am hoping for good things for Perin and other future weird kids who may appear later in the series.