Customer Reviews

The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having been disappointed by Princess Diaries 4 and 5-though I loved 6-I approached Party Princess with some trepidation.

I was pleasantly surprised! The story is interesting and funny, and Mia as a character shows some new maturity that I found very refreshing!

Now, I didn't want to post any spoilers, but I realize that a lot of parents will be reading the reviews of this book to see if it is appropriate for their children.

The last book, Princess in Training, dealt very famously and controversially with sex. This did not bother me, but it did bother a lot of parents.

Party Princess does make a few off-hand references to the topic of Mia and Michael's-somewhat non-existent-love-life, but nothing graphic and nothing disturbing at all.

What I think is going to make some parents edgy is a scene where Mia, at age 15 (and 10 months) has a beer at a party. PLEASE do not stop your children from reading Party Princess because of this. Meg Cabot portrays Mia's experience with alcohol VERY negatively-I'm 17, and this scene doubled my resolution to never touch liquour. Sometimes embarassment is scarier to teenagers than injury.

Party Princess is a funny, edgy, and sweet book. I truly enjoyed it.

I've bought all the Princess Diaries books, and am normally a big fan of Meg Cabot, But this one fell flat for me. I Found parts of it rather boring, and Parts of the plot seemed extra unrealistic (I expect a certain degree, but it just went too far). Halfway through I stopped bothering to read the Jung letters, since they felt just like page filler to me... There was too much stress in this storyline and not enough fun...It was kind of depressing to read. The resolution was hurried and unfullfilling.

That said, It did have some good things. I loved everything about the guy who doesn't like corn in his chili! He's a great character to bring forward into the spotlight.

Girls - or in Mia's case - Princesses just want to have fun. But that is somewhat of a hard situation when you're Mia Thermopolis - Princess of a small principality known as Genovia, as well as one of the biggest over-analyzing worriers on the face of the earth. So while Mia would love to be thinking only about her boyfriend's upcoming college party, Mia is sitting around worrying about having her face pummeled in by short, strong-as-an-ape, Amber Cheeseman - senior valedictorian - who is totally going to freak out once she finds out that Mia - class president - has already used all of the money in the student government budget for high-tech recycling bins, and has no money left to rent Alice Tully Hall for the senior dinner. As if that weren't bad enough, Mia is freaking out over the prospect of being at a party with a bunch of college girls. College girls who talk about intellectual things - like books - as opposed to the latest rerun of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and who smoke cigarettes and drink beer. Mia is nothing like these girls, so she knows that she won't fit in with the other party guests. That is, unless she tries to become one of these "college" types - with a little help from...Lana Weinberger! Now, Mia has bitten off more than she can chew, and is making a fool of herself left and right - first with Michael, her boyfriend; then with the entire student population at Albert Einstein High School; and now, thanks to Grandmere's bright idea to raise some money for the student government, in front of a bunch of celebrities. The life of a princess is, obviously, not as easy as it looks. At least not if you're Mia Thermopolis - sophomore failing Geometry.

Wow! I was amazed with Meg Cabot's newest addition to THE PRINCESS DIARIES series, for I highly doubted that she would ever be able to outdo the previous novels in the series. I will admit: I was wrong. PARTY PRINCESS has become, quite possibly, my favorite novel in the entire series, due in large part to the fact that Mia is finally growing up a bit. She is no longer the shy, soft-spoken girl she used to be; she is forming into a wonderful Princess who will, undoubtedly, rule her country someday with pride. She has finally begun standing up to some of her friends, and taking charge of situations that affect her directly. She is becoming an adult - that is, when she's not watching the Lifetime Channel for Women. As the longest book in the series thus far, Cabot has made each page delectable, and hard to put down. PARTY PRINCESS bubbles like champagne, and will leave you with the same effect: giggling from beginning to end.

Erika Sorocco

Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

As mentioned before, the last Princess Diaries book was sort of a disappointment, in which Mia spend most of the book thinking of sex. There was almost too much of her whining about sex to handle. However, thankfully, in this book, she now has another problem to worry about, just as with the other books in the Princess Diaries series.

During this book, Mia's main conflict is that the student body government at her high school has spent all their money, thus they are now broke. This can be quite a problem, because now Mia worries how they are about to raise five-thousand dollars so that the senior class can graduate at Alice Tully hall in June and the senior valedictorian, Amber Cheeseman, won't rip her head off. However, once she explains her problem to Grandmere, her grandmother comes up with the idea of hosting a play based on the life of one of Mia's ancestors, with most of the roles going to Mia's friends.

The other conflict that goes on through this book is something relating to her boyfriend, Michael, as usual. This time, Mia worries that Michael will want to break up with her when he realizes she's not a "party girl" like Paris Hilton once Michael announces he will be hosting a party for all of his college friends. I'm starting to think that Mia and Michael should re-think their romance, because in every book, Mia has some kind of issue going on with him, and yet by the end of the book it's usually resolved in a stupid way. However, once the next book comes around, she starts worrying about something inferior relating to Michael, as well.

This book definitely had its fair share of funny and well-written parts. I enjoyed the fact that The Guy Who Hates When They Put Corn In The Chili was introduced as a more important character, and we were able to find out more about him. Hopefully, the next book will be even better than this one, but "Party Princess" is a definite improvement than "Princess in Training."

I'm well out of my tweens and teens, but The Princess Diaries series is of one of my guilty pleasures (along with John Travolta musicals and Celine Dion). A friend of mine, who's 28 and recently married, lets me borrow her Princess Diaries books when she's finished reading them. But these books aren't fluffy, adolescent, "I wish I was a princess" books. These books are chocked full of social commentary, pop culture references, and humor. I had more than one belly laugh while reading Mia's minute-by-minute replay of her daily grind, painstakingly recorded in her "Princess" diaries.

Mia befriends a loner who was the inspiration for her short story about a boy who refused to eat corn in his chili (and it all went slippery slope from there). It just so happens that this boy's father wants to buy the manufactured island version of Genovia, the very same man-made island Grandmere has her heart set on. I definitely prefer the Julie Andrews' sweet Grandmere to the off-screen, book version, but coping with Grandmere is one of the many "princess lessons" Mia must learn.

One of my favorite things about this series is that it glorifies unpopularity. The unpopular kids are actually the cool kids, and we see life from their perspective. Mia jokes that despite being princess of a small European principality and the student body president at Albert Einstein High School, she is still one of the most unpopular girls in her sophomore class. Lilly, her outspoken best friend, is likewise lower than alpha or beta social status, but she's so funny and smart (though at times inconsiderate), that to know her is to love her. Lilly's older brother is Mia's requited love interest.

This book says that it's okay not to be A-crowd and that the A-crowd is hardly worth changing yourself in order to join or please. Unlike the horrible "Gossip Girl" books that endorse popularity at all costs (okay, I haven't actually read GG, but have seen them in bookstores and read Amazon reviews about them), these books validate the awesomeness of the peripheral and the unpopular.

One reason why I liked "Party Princess" is because of J.P.

Meg Cabot brings the reader closer to the mysterious guy who doesn't like when they put corn in his chili ("they" being the school cafeteria workers). While his reason for disliking chili is kind of lame, he proves to be much more interesting than Mia's boyfriend Michael.

Although Michael goes through some personal problems in this book, he still proves to be a sap. He is half of the reason WHY Mia is such a basketcase. Time after time she goes overboard for him, but he is either clueless or too much of a jerk to fill her in on what he wants. He invites her to a party but acts mysterious when she offers to make dip, and his aloofness in their relationship only increases Mia's frenzy.

J.P., on the other hand, is sweet, funny and a writer, like Mia. Lily is a bit more tame in this novel, which is a relief, because her craziness is always a headache. Grandmere is as nutty as ever.

I think "Party Princess" was a big improvement over books 4-6, which consisted of mostly whining. Mia DOES whine and worry a bit in this book but not as much, thank GOD. I thought "Party Princess" was similar to "Princess in Love," and you will like it if you love the gooey love mush of this series.

I do have to mention, however, that I think Cabot went overboard with the IM conversations and note passing between Mia and her friends. Dialogue in that form obviously fills pages faster than regular diary entries. It almost makes the reader wonder whether Cabot is trying to take shortcuts in her writing. The usual celebrity references were cute, sometimes funny, but I think they also were overused this time. "Us Weekly" magazine was referenced over six times in the novel!

This is probably the weakest book in the series so far. I am not expecting these books to bring about world peace, mind you, however as far as the usual Princess Diaries standard goes--this one was just okay.

Mia is her same old paranoid, panicky self. Its sort of becoming painfully obvious in this book though, that Michael is getting too mature for her. (I love him for her, but come on, she's 15 and he's a college freshman--its gross) I don't want them to break up because I find him a great influence on her, but on the other hand I find myself feeling awkward during some of their scenes together because the contrast in maturity is SO great.

The plot of this is sort of weak, and Mia is going to worry herself into a coma one day because she is neurotic, and all the energy she wastes on worry--its amazing. Of course, that is half the amusement, but I would love to see her confident in a little more than what she has been so far, it seems like she is becoming even more paranoid as the series goes on, like Cabot has the Mia schtick down and that's it.

I do think the guy who doesn't like corn in his chili is a great addition, and that is one of Cabot's strength's in this series, writing great supporting characters that are at once fully fleshed and fully caracitures.

Enjoyable, but its a good thing this isn't the first book in the series because I don't know if I would have read as far otherwise.

Mia is back as our loveable, panicky Princess of Genovia, who happens to be President of the Student Body, an organization that has spent all its money on recycling bins without thought for senior graduation. So Mia's fixated on raising the funds to rent the Alice Tully Hall while balancing her already chaotic life of Michael, school, baby brother, Grandmere, and writing. Enter Grandmere's solution: she'll write and produce a play--excuse me, a musical-- about historical Genovia that will involve Mia and all of her friends.

This chapter in the story of Mia is actually very well done: light, if a bit frantic; funny; touching. A bit of seriousness is also thrown in with a family crisis for Lilly's family, and Mia also manages an identity crisis of her own when Michael throws a party for his college friends. I also found Michael to be less than attentive to Mia's problems throughout, though the reasons for this are given later. Overall, the book has its funny,if predictable, moments. The cast of supporting characters is expanding and they add to the fun mix. The ending is rushed and unbelievable, but believability has never been the selling point of these novels. This is a good next installment in the series.

In this book, Mia's 'government' of the Albert Einstein High School goes broke, and her grandmother has yet another outrageous idea to make up the money. Of course, aside from all drama at school, there are the guys. Mia does some of the wrong things at the wrong time, putting a bit of a rift between her and her boyfriend, Michael. Lilly ends up with a crush on a guy she never considered going out with before, let alone talking to. In this book, the whole group makes a new friend, wind up in a play, Lilly finds a new boyfriend, and Mia and Michael get closer than ever.

I have always been a fan of the Princess Diaries, and I had to pick up the book as soon as I could. I finished it within a few hours, and I was laughing from beginning to end. Meg Cabot writes this the same way that teenagers think, making the idea of a princess living an almost-faerie tale life realistic. The way everything is described is highly entertaining, and it is just impossible to set the book down. The relationship between Mia and Michael makes my heart melt, every time they fight they end up closer. The book is adorable and hilarious, romantic and actually dramatic-- it's just a fun, easy read!

I've had my fair share of teen books. I try to keep a balance between my books. Some are intense, some are depressing, some are just mindless fluff, some are controversial, etc. etc.

This book definitely belongs to the mindless fluff category. The plot was subpar and the ending was even worse. It was unsatisfactory and hurried. However, as far as the comic relief and the occasional laugh-out-loud moments, Cabot succeeeds.

Plus, many of the pages were just...fillers. The Carl Jung letters, Mia's notes from her economy class, even the notes between her and Tina (even though these are the only times we actually get to "interact" with Tina...since she is rarely seen in actual conversation). Plus the lists...I have always enjoyed Lilly's/Mia's lists, with the exception of the ones in this particular book.

Please. "Women who are too beautiful to live?" And Paris Hilton CAN discuss foreign affairs?

That is crossing the line.