Retro Friday (25) - The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! 

For this week I felt the urge to go WAY back to the first Princess Diaries Book by Meg Cabot. 

At First Sight: Mia is a regular New York City girl. She's not popular but she has good friends. She shares a nice appartment with her artist mother and spends the Summers with her diplomat father and her grandmother in France. Even if she's on the brink of flunking algebra and - to her own mind - she's the biggest freak of Albert Einstein's freshman class; she's doing all right.

But her regular life is disrupted when her dad shows up with HUGE news. It turns out he's not just any rich diplomat, he's in fact the ruling Prince of Genovia and since he recently discovered he can't have any more children, Mia is his only heir.

Mia doesn't know anything about being a princess, being one has never been her dream, all she wants is to pass the ninth grade. But now she's stuck at Princess Lessons with her tyranical grandmother and unable to tell anyone... until all hell breaks loose.


Second Glance: The Princess Diaries is the first of the series - that eventually included 10 books and a few novelas. Personally, I think this is one of those books that helped put YA in the map.

It's funny and chatty, and fast paced. Mia was such a teenager: a little whinny, self-depricant, funny, obsessive, but I liked her all the way through. I liked her 10 years ago and I liked her last week when I re-read this book.

Even if the pop culture references are getting a little dated, the spirit behind it remians so I don't mind it. Also, I don't always agree with Mia -in the things she does and believes in - but it was fun to visit her again.

I still hate Lily, love Michael and think Tina is the awesomest friend ever. Grandemere is her own brand of evil and she's always fun to read about - she's one of those people you love to hate.

This was my first time reading the book in English but it was awesomely fun.


Bottom Line: If your looking for a quick read that will make you laugh and have a great time, look no further - this is it!