Review: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Hey all, Dani here.

I love going back and reading a book that I originally read years and years ago. In the case the book came out 19 years ago! That is such a long time ago, you guys. But, I found the first three books in the series on Book Outlet, and I had to get them so I can give them to my niece when she gets a little bit older (she’s turning 2 this year). Anyway, I never reviewed this book before, so let’s jump into all my thoughts and feels.

Summary

What? A princess??

Me??? Yeah, right.

Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there’s nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman, who also happens to be flunking Algebra.

Is she ever in for a surprise.

First Mom announces that she’s dating Mia’s Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of Genovia. And guess who still doesn’t have a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance?

My Thoughts

Rating:

Oh yeah, I should probably say that this book fulfilled the House Baratheon prompt for #AGameofBooksathon, as well as being a re-read for Jazzy June. Also, yeah, I knew it would be a quick read, which made it perfect. I read it in one day, and I forgot how much different it is from the movie. Both are great, even with all of the changes they made in the plot and such for the film.

I like that it is in a journal format. Getting to read from Mia’s personable–even if completely dramatic and biased–point of view is just really entertaining.

It is also interesting to see how different Mia’s life is in this. In the book series she lives in New York with her mom and her dad is alive, and she has spent summers and Christmases with her dad and her Grandmere. In this first book, she discovers that her father is Prince of Genovia and that she is his sole heir due to his sterilization after testicular cancer.

We all know that in the film Mia lives in San Francisco and her dad is deceased. I learned a few months ago that this change was made and approved of by the author because they wanted to bring Julie Andrews in to play Queen Clarisse. Honestly, I’m okay with this change. Yes, Mia learns different stuff from her dad and her grandma, but I honestly can’t imagine the movies without Julie Andrews in them.

Anyway, okay, yes, I think that Lily was a bit annoying in some of her interactions with Mia in this one, but then again, I did point out earlier how everything we read is filtered through Mia’s perspective, so perhaps Mia is exaggerating. We’ll never know.

I’m glad I went back and re-read this book. My hope is to buy and read the whole series before gifting them to my niece. Hopefully she ends up enjoying them as well.

Oh, and that’s right, I have seen numerous reports that they might actually be doing the third movie finally, so we’ll see what happens.

Where to Buy

You can pick up your own copy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore.