Anyway, how much do you love Meg Cabot? Reading one of her books is like laughing with your best friend until your stomach hurts. Also, you should totally check out the advice videos that she is doing with Michele Jaffe? They're chock full of good advice. (Like, don't trip boys to get them to notice you) Also, hysterical.
I recently read Cabot's upcoming book, Being Nikki, the sequel to Airhead. I'll review it around the time it comes out (May 5th) but I'm telling you now, it's crazy good and I liked it a lot more than Airhead and that if you haven't read the first one yet, you should go do it now, so it's all nice and read by May 5th.
Also, if you've already read Being Nikki, email me, because I want to talk about it. Especially the ending. OMFG.
So, here are two other Meg Cabot books that I've read and haven't reviewed yet.
It's the VERY LAST Princess Diaries book!
About 2 and half years have passed since we last saw Mia, and not much has changed. For some reason, she's still with icky JP. She's not friends with Lilly, and Michael's still in Japan. After her "wait, Genovia is a democracy" bombshell, her dad's running for Prime Minister, but Prince Rene might beat him!
Graduation is coming and Mia got into every one of the schools she applied for. She's certain that this has less to do with her merits and more to do with her royal status. None of her friends got into their top choice schools, so she's told EVERYONE that she didn't get in anywhere. She also told everyone that her senior project is a history of Genovian Olive Pressing. Which it's not. It's a romance novel. A lot of the story centers around Mia trying to publish her romance novel under a pen name, so she knows it will be published because the book is good, not because it was written by a princess.
OH! And then, to make matters even more complicated? Michael's back from Japan. And even hotter than ever. But Mia's still totally in love with JP, right?
Cabot's own publishing career started in romance. I have to wonder how much of Mia's tribulations mirror Cabot's experiences, especially the crap people give Mia once they find out she's written a romance. JP's a total jerk about it (SURPRISE) and tells her she shouldn't be wasting her talents writing such trash and she should be writing literary fiction that will change the world blah blah blah.
I spent most of the book wanting to put corn in JP's chili and then pushing him. And then wanting to smack Mia for being so totally clueless that she doesn't see that JP is evil and slimy and gross.
When I was reading the book, I had to stop and write the following:
Why do I love this series so much when I have such a love/hate relationship with Mia? When will she get a spine? Why JP? and why for 2 years? Ew... I just cannot forgive [Mia for dating] JP. To the point where Mia, for choosing him and STAYING WITH HIM [that was underlined 4 times] is no longer funny, if mildly annoying, but just DUMB [also heavily underlined.]
So why do I love this series? Because Mia, as annoying as she is, is funny:
When I go to college the first thing I'm going to do is pick out all new friends. Because the friends I currently have are psychotic.
Also, because of how it ended.
See, where Mia annoys me, I love Allie. Because Allie has spunk and a spine is a lot less neurotic than Mia. I'm sure when Allie hits puberty, she'll get a little more neurotic, because that's what happens when you hit puberty--YOU GO INSANE but she'll keep her spine and kick a little more ass. Because that's what Allie is--KICK ASS.
But I shouldn't say that, because this is a Middle Grade book, and so I shouldn't use swear words when describing it. (Too bad, KICK ASS)
There's a new girl at school and she comes all the way from Canada! Too bad Cheyenne thinks that playing pretend is babyish. And she has high heel zip-up boots like Allie wanted, but her mom wouldn't let her have. But Cheyenne's also not that nice. She starts the kissing game, where packs of girls chase down unsuspecting boys on the playground and then kiss them. (Ok, so we totally played that in my elementary school, too. But if a pack of guys did that to a girl, it would be BAD NEWS. Why is it ok for girls to do to guys? I mean, they eventually get in trouble, but we never did.) She also starts "going with" boys and wants EVERY GIRL to go with a boy.
Allie doesn't want to go with a boy. And Caroline and Sophie aren't talking to each other to talk about. When Allie stands up to Cheyenne, she has to face her full wrath.
I love that Allie doesn't know how to handle situations but not in a "I'm so helpless!" type of way. I love that she knows some things--she doesn't want to "go with" anyone but doesn't know others--how to tell a boy that without being mean.
This is an excellent series for middle grade girls. It's funny and affirming without being cheesy or message-y. I think Allie might be my favorite Meg Cabot character.
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