Princess Mia
by Meg Cabot

The main character in this story was once a normal fifteen-year-old girl who became princess of Genovia. Sadly, she never gets to be the queen and neither does anyone else. This is a story about the struggles of Mia Thermopolis when she goes from ‘pure princess’ to ‘pure lies’. “He hasn’t called. I just checked with Mom. I don’t think it’s completely fair of her to accuse me of believing the entire world revolves around my breakup with Michael.” Reading along with this book was like watching a movie. Mia is the main character in this series by Meg Cabot and is dealing with basically all of the normal things teenage girls in high school deal with. An “end of the world” break up, friendship you thought would last forever, didn’t, one difference, she’s a princess.
She tells the story of her life through a diary, which means the story jumps around a lot, but in the end it all ends up making sense. The book is predictable but unpredictable; you know what’s going to happen in the end but you don’t know how she’s going to get there.
Mia was crazy about her boyfriend, Michael. Right before Michael moves to China, to build a robotic arm to prove his worthiness to date a princess, they get in a fight. The fight, caused by careless words, leads to a break-up. While Michael is gone, a series of events mislead by her friends and paparazzi lead to even more drama and adds to the stress Mia already has on her.
Michael happens to be Mia’s best friend Lilli’s brother, who soon unfriends Mia for ‘stealing her boyfriend’ and has a bunch of hate for her. All Mia is really left with is Lilli’s ex boyfriend, J.P., which definitely doesn’t make her problems any better. J.P. has a few secrets of his own. Mia also has Tina, who she was friends with before and after all heck broke out. When I say ‘all heck’, I mean all. Along the way, Mia uncovers huge secrets from her past, unrevealed feelings about Michael... and J.P. So what happens in the end? Does Mia get the one that got away back? Do Lilli and Mia become friends again? Does someone special finally get his chance with someone special?
The plot is engaging, the dialogue is fascinating and the setting is very clear. But there is one thing that isn’t exactly in the book’s favor, it’s flow. A book has to make sense to a reader and we should be able to follow it, but in this book that becomes a little difficult. Maybe it’s because Princess Mia is a diary. Granted diary’s aren’t always the easiest to follow but it could’ve been a little bit more apparent.
The characters are so well described along with everything that happens in the book. Princess Mia is the last of many in the series. If you’ve seen the movie, the book might be a little confusing unless you have read the rest of the series because the book and the movie are very different. Meg Cabot focuses in on one main part of the movie that you will just have to read to find out what part this one is about. Reading Princess Mia is like “opening a box of chocolates”. In my opinion, you never know what you are going to get. If you like drama, truth, and a little mystery than this book is a have-to read for you.