Title: The Princess Diaries
Series: The Princess Diaries #1
Author: Meg Cabot
Genre: YA - Contemporary
Publication: 06.14.2001 by HarperTrophy
Pages: 283
Source: Library
Summary: She's just a New York City girl living with her artist mom...
News Flash: Dad is prince of Genovia. (So that's why a limo meets her at the airport!)
Downer: Dad can't have any more kids. (So no heir to the throne.)
Shock of the Century: Like it or not, Mia Thermopolis is prime princess material.
Mia must take princess lessons from her dreaded grandmére, the dowager princess of Genovia, who thinks Mia has a thing or two to learn before she steps up to the throne.
Well, her father can lecture her until he's royal-blue in the face about her princessly duty—no way is she moving to Genovia and leaving Manhattan behind. But what's a girl to do when her name is Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo?
Cover: Fun, simple and very pink...I like :)
Thoughts: To be honest, I wasn't too interested in reading The Princess Diaries series, well...ever. I did watch the movie years ago and I thought it was funny and really cute. I picked this up at the library one day because it was an audiobook and there wasn't too much of a selection. I'm glad I did because I loved it! It was such a fun, quirky and laugh-out-loud book that I couldn't stop listening to!
Mia finds out that her dad isn't just "in politics" but is a Prince! He just found out that he can no longer have children, something that he wasn't counting on, so Mia is the next to take the throne. She's already a freak as it is, and now she has to be a princess too? And not only that, but she's failing Algebra and her mom is dating her Algebra teacher and now she has to take Princess Lessons from her Grandmere! Mia is not happy.
I loved Mia from the start. She's your average 14 year old girl just trying to fit in a school, hanging out with her best friend and hoping the hottest guy around will notice her. She's smart, just a little strange and sooo funny! I was laughing out loud at practically everything she said. I thought it was pretty awesome that Anne Hathaway is the narrator of the book on the audio version, because she's totally who I imagined Mia to be like (since I saw the movie first, duh,) and is a great reader, really acting out her role as Mia which made listening to it a hundred times better.
The Princess Diaries is written in diary form of course, so we only get to find out what happens throughout the day when Mia writes about it. Each entry is a little longer than any "real" diary would be because Mia writes lots of details about her day and dialogue with the characters. I thought the author was able to accomplish this quite smoothly and was really satisfied with the overall pace of the story. It is so cleverly written that it pulled me into the story rather quickly and I just wanted to read more to find out what happens next.
If you've watched the movie, this book is about a third of what the movie shows. It's also pretty different and I thought, a lot funnier. Lots happens in just a few short days, so I was really happy with how the story ended. Of course, it doesn't conclude and there are lots more books to go through, which I might read one day or not. I am really glad that I at least read this first one though, I thought it was great. I definitely recommend The Princess Diaries to anyone looking for something fun, fluffy, girly and quick.
Favorite Quote: “Lilly says I have an overactive imagination and a pathological need to invent drama in my life.”
2 comments
One of my favorite series of all time! I cried when I finished the last book because it was all over. I hope you read the rest of the series. :)
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear you loved this! A little while ago I bought the Princess Diaries Collection - the first 3 books of the series in one volume - and it's on my stack for the readathon tomorrow :)
ReplyDelete