Princess on the Brink (Princess Diaries, #8)

by Meg Cabot

In Royal Scandal, Michael tells Mia that he's leaving for Japan for a year and Mia has to worry about whether Michael will still love her when he goes to Japan, whether a long distance relationship will work and she also has figure out ways to get Michael to stay.

♛ I enjoyed Royal Scandal more than the last four Princess Diaries books that I've read. The first three books and the last three books in The Princess Diaries series are good, but the rest of the series is made up of insubstantial and repetitive 'filler' books.
♛ Royal Scandal deals with more serious and real issues than previous books in The Princess Diaries series.
♛ Mia's really annoying and immature in Royal Scandal.
♛ Mia is too trusting and naive towards J.P. His crush on Mia is so obvious and he's such a jerk for leading Lily on.
♛ Royal Scandal deals with the topic of sex and if I see or hear the words "Precious Gift" one more time, I'm going to scream or throw something.
♛ My love for Michael Moscovitz faded after I read Royal Rebel, because Michael behaves out of character, becomes sex-obsessed and makes Mia feel bad for not having sex with him. I started liking Michael Moscovitz again in Royal Scandal. It's sweet that he wants to prove to Mia that he's worthy of her.
♛ The overall effect of Michael and Mia's relationship issues i.e. their break-up is necessary for the rest of Princess Diaries series, but I didn't like how the issues in their relationship were handled. There are two ways that Mia's reason for breaking-up with Michael can be interpreted:

1) Michael had sex with Judith Greshner and lied to Mia about it by saying that Judith was just a friend. However, Michael and Judith had sex before he started dating Mia and also, Michael having sex with someone who has a boyfriend seems out of character. Though, I can kind of understand Mia's anger and this reason for their break-up.

2) What is made to seem like the main reason for the break-up in Royal Scandal, is that Michael lost his virginity to someone else and didn't save his "Precious Gift" (*rolls eyes*) for Mia.