"Lilly says I have an overactive imagination and a pathological need to invent drama in my life."
This series makes me so nostalgic!
The Princess Diaries was my first Meg Cabot novel and is one of my favourite contemporary series. I'm rereading The Princess Diaries series because my reading tastes have changed and I want to see whether I still love this series and also because I need to read Royal Wedding.
In The Princess Diaries, Mia Thermopolis is flunking algebra, her algebra teacher is dating her mother and to make matters worse, Mia finds out from her father that she is a princess and the sole heir of the kingdom of Genovia.
When I read The Princess Diaries years ago, I loved Mia's voice and personality. She's dramatic, funny, insightful, intuitive - with the exception of Mia not realising that Michael likes her. He even wrote a song called "Tall Drink of Water" about a tall, pretty girl (i.e. Mia) who doesn't know that a boy (i.e. Michael) is in love with her -, annoying at times, but overall delightful.
The secondary characters are quite stereotypical. Lilly is the outspoken best friend, Lana is the popular mean girl, Josh is the popular jock who is dating the popular mean girl and Mia's grandmother, Grandmère is the scary grandmother who has problematic ideas and a sympathetic side. However, although the characters are stereotypical, I still enjoy reading about them because there's some small aspect that makes them unstereotypical. Also, it's interesting to see what the characters started off as, because knowing what I know now after reading 10 books in The Princess Diaries series, the characters experience a lot of change and growth. Lily goes from being Mia's best friend to Mia's enemy. Lana goes from being Mia's enemy to Mia's friend. Michael ends up becoming Mia's primary love interest.
The Princess Diaries purpose isn't to make one think about the world or challenge one's ideals. It's lighthearted, hilarious and entertaining. The Princess Diaries makes me happy!
"Friday is my favorite day, besides Saturday and Sunday."