Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

Title: Forever Princess
Author: Meg Cabot
Series: The Princess Diaries v. 10
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-123292-3
Pages: 383
Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Series)
Year Published: 2009
Date Finished: February 28

From the dust jacket: It's Mia's senior year, and things seem great. She aced her senior project, got accepted to her dream college(s), and has her birthday gala coming up. . .not to mention prom, graduation, and Genovia's first-ever elections.

What's not to love about her life? Well. . .

• Her senior project? It's a romance novel she secretly wrote, and no one wants to publish it.
• Prince Phillipe's campaign in the Genovian elections isn't going well, thanks to her totally loathsome cousin René, who decided to run against him.
• Her boyfriend, J.P., is so sweet and seemingly perfect. But is he the one?
• And her first love, Michael, is back from Japan. . .and back in her life.

With Genovia's and her own future hanging in the balance, Mia's got some decisions to make: Which college? Which guy? How can she choose? Especially when what she decides might determine not just the next four years, but. . .forever!

My thoughts: Princess Mia and her friends are back for their senior year. Finals, prom and graduation are days away and everyone has senioritis. As everyone is excited to leave AEHS and start college, Mia is struggling with being honest with herself and her friends. She's been dishonest about her college acceptance and her senior project. Michael's return from Japan sets in motion a chain of events that forces Mia to finally be honest and see what has been in front of her all these years.

Thoughts about the series: Overall, I enjoyed this book and the entire series. When I read The Princess Diaries for the Young Adult reading challenge last year, I didn't intend to read the entire series. However, the more I read, the more I liked the characters and wanted to know more about Mia's life. After finishing Forever Princess, I was sad to see the series end! Hopefully, Ms. Cabot will allow the readers a glimpse into Mia's life at college. We'll see. . . I highly recommend this series.

Flawless by Sara Shepard

Title: Flawless
Author: Sara Shepard
Series: Pretty Little Liars #2
ISBN-13: 9780060887353
Pages: 330
Year Published: 2007
Genre: Young Adult (Mystery)
Date Finished: January 13

Flawless immediately begins where Pretty Little Liars ends: the afternoon of Ali's funeral service. Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna are still stunned that their former friend's body was found. The police have reopened the case and now consider it as homicide. Each girl admits to receiving texts and e-mails from "A" and agree to disclose if any more are received. All four have secrets that they have kept from each other and the only other person who knows is Ali. Now Ali is dead and that leaves no explanation for how "A" knows all about these secrets.

Flawless goes more in depth with each character and her back story. Spencer constantly feels inferior to her older sister, Melissa. When Melissa catches Spencer with her boyfriend, her parents shun her and barely speak to her. They are nonchalant about Ali's death and hardly acknowledge Spencer's grief. Feeling ousted by her family, Spencer resumes her relationship with Wren and soon her perfect facade begins to crack. Spencer also feels guilty about what really happened the night the Jenna thing occurred, but remains silent. Her silence may eventually put her friends in harm's way.

Hanna is desperately trying to hold it together. She no longer feels like the "confident, popular" Hanna, but more like the "insecure, overweight " Hanna of years ago. Hanna continues to make poor decisions and tries to live with the consequences. Her dad is back in her life, but he comes with his soon-to-be bride and Hanna's nemesis, step-sister Kate.

Emily is trying to understand her feelings for the new girl, Maya. She begins to avoid Maya and soon finds herself on a date with someone she never considered dating potential. She's also dealing with her ex-boyfriend's hatred after he caught Emily kissing Maya.

Aria is trying to get over her feelings for her teacher. She finds a new love interest, but isn't quite sure what to expect. In the meantime, she's also carrying the burden of the real reason why her dad moved her family to Iceland and realized the problem hasn't gone away at all.

So, you think each girl has enough to deal with, right? Well, apparently "A" doesn't think so. "A" not only continues to send texts and e-mails, no, he/she has upped the ante and begins leaving notes on their car windshields, in their textbooks and at school. "A" is carrying out his/her threats and forces the girls to do the unspeakable to protect their secrets.

Honestly, I can't believe how much I like this series! It's very quick reading and the more I learn about each girl and their secret, the more I want to know "A's" identity. I've narrowed it down to two people, so we'll see if I'm right. "A" definitely turned up the heat at the end of Flawless, so I can't wait to see what happens in book 3, Perfect.