The Princess Diaries Book Club #4: Princess in Waiting

08:57 Cilla 0 Comments

The Princess Diaries Book Club is an ongoing collaboration with my friend Cam and her blog, Cammminbookland. We decided that we would reread this series, at our own pace, and always come back to our blogs and each other to discuss the story and how we feel about it now. If you are interested in joining us, please do!

Title: Princess in Waiting

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: HarperTrophy

Source: Gramedia Bookstore

Synopsis: Never before has the world seen such a princess.

Nor have her own subjects, for that matter. Mia's royal introduction to Genovia has mixed results: while her fashion sense is widely applauded, her position on the installation of public parking meters is met with resistance.

But the politics of bureaucracy are nothing next to Mia's real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long—sought—after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmère as a result of the Genovian parking—meter thing, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn't there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title?

Review: ⋆⋆⋆

'That is just it, Amelia,' Grandmere said, rolling her scary eyes. 'You are entirely too young to pledge your heart to anyone. I think it very unwise of you, at the age of fourteen, to decide with whom you are going to spend the rest of your life.'

Whereas my thought processes about the previous three books were all over the place, this time my feelings about this book are pretty clear. 

Mia is very much a fourteen year old in her contradictions. She's passionate about serious issues - animal welfare and, yes, Genovia's parking meters - and she's intelligent about it. At the same time, she can spend forever obsessing over whether her boyfriend loves her as a friend or is genuinely in love with her. I caught myself rolling my eyes as she continued to fixate over this, when Michael has shown himself to be nothing short of a fantastic boyfriend. At the same time, I understood it. I'd never been in the same exact position, but I am prone to rumination. I know what it's like to worry so much about something others dismiss as nothing.

I think my exasperation with her may stem from the fact that I am now ten years older than she is, and I know that there is truth to the relationship advice Mia received (and mostly ignored) from her mother and grandmother. (I never thought I'd be agreeing with Grandmere again, by the way, but I did when she said what I quoted above.) At the same time, her insecurities about herself still strike a chord with me; that feeling of inferiority when you're surrounded by brilliant people and not knowing if you have any genuine talent are things I've felt even as a twenty-something. 

I think this book came out after the first Princess Diaries movie happened, and I love the references to it. I don't understand why no one pointed out to Lilly that she's very much a hypocrite in her claim that the movie portrayed her wrongly. I can see why Mia wouldn't, but I wish Michael or Tina had; it seems rather unfair that she was awarded for that hypocrisy. 

There is a line in the book where Mia berated herself for believing winning over a boy she loved would equal self-actualisation. I hope she remembers this in the next book and works on her talent with as much energy as she does worrying about Michael.