
in a sentence or so: Mia is your typical tall, awkward, and social outcast high school freshman. typical, that is, until she finds out she's a princess.
Mia lives with her artist mom in Manhattan. her best friend, Lilly, is a smart and socially conscious spirit with her own public access show that takes on the "tough" issues called "Lilly Tells it Like it is". mostly Mia is doing the best she can with being super tall, having huge feet, awkward hair, and surviving algebra. just when she feels like things couldn't get worse...she finds out from her dad that she is the heir to the throne of Genovia.
Mia is then expected to take Princess lessons (in exchange for daily donations to Greenpeace on behalf of her dad), while still doing homework and going to tutoring for her awful Algebra grade. turns out, being a princess doesn't make all your problems go away - it just piles more problems on top. in no time flat she's gotten into a huge fight with Lilly, had all her hair chopped off, humiliated the most popular girl in school, and is constantly swarmed by the paparazzi. yeesh!
Mia's voice was one that i easily related to and adored. she's self-conscious (constantly referring to her flat chest) but sarcastic and witty. she truly cherishes her best friend Lilly. she's wrapped up in the mysteries of boyfriends, crushes, first kisses...typical high school stuff.
i, as well as a majority of the people who would ever consider reading this book, have seen the movie before reading it. the two renditions are really similar, but the main differences are her grandmother, the fact that her dad is very much alive, and we get to have a deeper look into who Mia really is. i truly enjoyed reading her diary and experiencing the storytelling from her point of view. she's pretty clueless, but the reader is definitely able to read in between the lines to gain advantage of what the other characters are like in an honest portrayal.
at about 300 pages, i was still able to pound through this book in less than a week. i'm only sorry i didn't read it sooner! i'll be sure to pick up the next princess diaries novel asap.
fave quote: hard to say - i truly enjoyed so much of what she said and how she said it!
fix er up: having seen the movie, there were no "surprises" in there for me. that was a bit of a bummer, but not enough to have spoiled the read.
title: The Princess Diaries (The Princess Diaries, Book One)
author: Meg Cabot
genre: Chick Lit, Diary format, Romance, Humor