The Princess Diaries (The Princess Diaries Book 1) by Meg Cabot Review...

Hey ForeverBookers, 

I’ve just finished The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot and I surprisingly really enjoyed it! I originally though it was a middle grade contemporary book but it’s YA. 

I read it for the Read a book with a pink cover challenge for the Contemporary-a-thon, as well as the book that’s made into the movie for the Popsugar Challenge 2018.

5 Stars!!

The Princess Diaries tells the story of Mia Thermopolis, a school aged American girl who gets a shock when it’s revealed that her father, Philippe, Prince of Genovia can’t have any more children. She’s therefore, a princess in waiting. Mia is shocked about this. She really doesn’t want to be a future princess. We see all the trials and tribulations that Mia faces with being a future princess as well as her love life and friendships.

Spoilers Below...

When we start The Princess Diaries, we learn that Mia thinks she’s just an ordinary American teen. 

“He’s not so cool if he calls your mother in for a parent/teacher conference to talk about how you’re flunking Algebra, then ASKS HER OUT”

shows this because she’s more worried that her mom is dating her Algebra teacher than the Algebra itself and how she’s failing it, like an ordinary teenager would be, I think. 

She has a best friend, Lilly, who is very dedicated to different causes. She has a web show called Lilly Tells It Like It Is where she goes on about those causes. She has a show about the Blair Witch Project but called it the Green Witch Project, instead. 

“Lilly says after the show is aired no one will ever think of MetroCards the same way”

The video is meant to represent how people use money for the wrong things in life, I think. Lilly doesn’t stop until her point is proven, either. This is seen when she breaks off her friendship with Mia because she’s suddenly famous.

“The other thing you have to say about Lilly: When she’s mad, she stays mad. She is totally not speaking to me”

Lilly is mad because Mia didn’t tell her, her best friend about her being a princess. It’s pretty obvious throughout the book after it’s revealed that Mia doesn’t want to be a princess. She just wants to be an ordinary girl, doing ordinary things, like flunking algebra! 

Another significant character is Queen Clarice Renaldi. She’s obviously the Queen of Genovia, Philippe’s mother, and she comes into the story about half way through. She’s there to train Mia into becoming the perfect princess. As I said above, Mia really doesn’t WANT to be a princess so she doesn’t want the Princess lessons or the bodyguards. 

“Why did she have to come NOW? She’s going to ruin EVERYTHING. There’s no way I’m going to be able keep this a secret from everyone with HER around.

Why?

Why??

WHY???” 

This is Mia’s reaction to being told her Grandmother or Grandmère is coming to see her. It’s not positive, as you can see. All Mia wants is to be able to keep her secret, a secret. With Clarice around, that won’t happen.  

From there we see Mia go through lots of different, challenging trials, all to become the princess that she’s meant to be. But does she??? You’ll have to read to find out...

The movie reflects the book quite well, although the movie doesn’t have all of the parts the book has. In the movie for example, Mia’s father has died, whereas in the book he’s very much alive. This threw me off to begin with. 

What did I like about The Princess Diaries?  

I loved reading Mia’s thoughts and feelings and basically experiencing the events through her mind’s eye. The novel is written in her diary entries so we see the events the way she sees them. 

I liked how entertaining Mia was. She’s certainly one of my favourite protagonists, I’ve read in a looooong time! 

I liked the short chapters. The book seemed to fly by because of this. 

What didn’t I like about The Princess Diaries?  

There wasn’t really anything that I didn’t like about the book... 

Overall, I LOVED The Princess Diaries! I loved how all of the characters had a different thing going for them. That’s why I’m giving The Princess Diaries 5 Stars!  

Have you read The Princess Diaries? Did you like it? Did you have any problems with it?