Princess Mia by Meg Cabot

Title: Princess Mia
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: The Princess Diaries v. 9
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 9780060724610
Date Finished: January 8
Pages: 274

What led me to read this book? I started reading this series last year for the Young Adult Challenge. At that time, I didn't think I would read the entire series. . . then I discovered the audio books read by Clea Lewis and was immediately hooked. Ms. Lewis does a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life.

So, what's it about? Princess Mia immediately begins where volume 8, Princess on the Brink, leaves off. Mia is obsessed with hearing back from Michael, her one true love, as he just left NYC for a year in Japan. Mia said (and did) harsh things to him before he left and she wanted to take it all back and try to make their relationship work. He finally contacts her, only to tell her the dreaded words no woman wants to hear: "Maybe we should just be friends." Mia is devastated by this and begins a downward spiral.

Her parents are concerned for her and make an appointment (against her will) to see a therapist. Not only does she have to deal with the breakup of her first real relationship, her best friend accuses her of stealing her boyfriend and is not speaking to her and someone has created a website to torture her: www.ihatemiathermopolis.com. Just when things start to go from bad to worse, her nemesis wants to be friends with her. Are her intentions real or is there a secret agenda?

My thoughts: Overall, I thought Princess Mia was a good installment for the series, however it wasn't my favorite. Mia does a lot of self-reflecting during her therapy sessions. She's starting to understand her role in her friendships (and just maybe not having Lilly as her best friend isn't such a bad thing after all) and realizes that life can still be good after experiencing a loss.

Do you recommend any other books by this author? Well, because this is a young adult novel, I will list other young adult books to read:

• Teen Idol
• How to Be Popular
• Pants on Fire

More about Meg Cabot: The first book I read of hers was The Boy Next Door. I loved it! It was written in e-mails and I thought it was different. Not only does she write for teens, she's also famous for her chick lit books (Queen of Babble Series, The Boy Series) and cozy mysteries (Heather Wells series). If you haven't read anything by her, I think it's time that you did. . . don't you think?