Sonderbooks Book Review of Princess in Love

Reviewed June 1, 2002.
HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. 229 pages. Available at Sembach Library (JF CAB).

I confess, these books are a lot of fun. I’m afraid this one kept me a bit long on my lunch hour.

First, I want to warn you that unlike the movie, the books are not rated “G.” This one is fairly tame, but Princess Mia does seem a little overly obsessed with whether and how to French kiss. Mothers, you might not want your 4th or 5th grade daughters thinking about this just yet.

Despite the fact that she slams my favorite book, Anne of Green Gables, I just can’t help liking Princess Mia Thermopolis. I’ve decided that it is the characters in these books that make them so much fun. Start with a princess who can be bribed with donations to Greenpeace and who believes that cutting down Christmas trees contributes to the breakdown of the ozone layer. Give her a Best Friend who has her own cable TV show and psychologist parents and another Friend who is a romance novel addict. Make her Mom be an artist who every year at Christmas paints pieces of tin with the likenesses of celebrities who have died that year, rather than using regular ornaments. Marry the Mom to the Princess’s Algebra Teacher. Now give the Princess a Boyfriend, but have her be in love with her Best Friend’s Brother.

Meg Cabot is an author who knows how to have fun with a story. She writes beautifully as a self-absorbed adolescent, and yet keeps us laughing and interested. This one goes back to the classic plot of no one being in love with quite the right person. Great fun.

Reviews of other books by Meg Cabot:
Princess in the Spotlight (Volume II)
Princess in Waiting (Volume IV)
Princess in Pink (Volume V)
Princess Lessons
All-American Girl

For Adults:
The Boy Next Door
Size 12 Is Not Fat
Every Boy's Got One

Reader comment: Stephanie gives this book 5 stars, with the comment: I think this is a really great book. I love the romance/fairy-tale clinge to the book. This book is not like either one of the the movies (princess diaries). When you read a book and watch a movie, of course they are going to be different. (thats the great thing about them!!!) -I jus wanted to say *pretty much* this book was GREAT!

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

****Princess in Love*

The Princess Diaries, Volume III

by Meg Cabot