PRINCESS MIA: The Princess Diaries, Volume IX
Meg Cabot
HarperTeen
Fiction
ISBN: 9780060724610
288 pages

• Read an Excerpt

The ninth Princess Diaries book contains as many surprises as ever in this fun series, and fans of Mia Thermopolis will not want to miss this newest installment. Meg Cabot has stated that the series will end when Mia turns 18, and it’s clear from Mia’s decisions in PRINCESS MIA that she is growing up and getting ready to take on the throne of Genovia. But first she has to recover from her breakup with Michael. And Lily still is not speaking to her.

J.P. is all-too ready to be friendly with Mia and takes her to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway to try to cheer her up. The problem is that when you roll with a Princess, chances are you will be photographed in the newspapers with her and listed as her new man --- even in the papers of Japan, where Michael sees them.

Although Mia emailed Michael after he left for his new job in Japan, she is not hopeful about that relationship returning to normal. In fact, he decides that they should be just friends. This is not what Mia wants, but she knows that it’s better than nothing. The thing is, she can’t quite make herself respond to his now-friendly email; it just hurts too much.

In fact, it all hurts too much for Mia to even get out of bed. She pretends to smile when her friend Tina and her boyfriend Boris try to make her feel better, but she doesn’t leave her bedroom or even shower and change for several days. Finally, her father forces her to go to therapy.

Mia’s new therapist is from the American West and uses a lot of horse analogies, but he does seem to understand her problems and helps her work through her depression. At least it gives her a brief break from Princess lessons.

Lana gets Mia an invitation to speak at a very exclusive women’s organization in front of hundreds of ladies. She even asks Mia to go shopping and joins her for lunch with other popular girls. Everything is turned around in her life, but Mia tries to find her way.

A new hate-filled blog begins showing Mia at her worst, and she very much dreads finding out that her former best friend may be involved.

While preparing for her speech, Mia learns about a teen queen of Genovia who made some radical rules during her very brief reign. These rules may impact the future of Genovia, if Mia can get anyone to listen to her discuss these ideas. Mia strives to find the courage to think for herself in the midst of her sadness and her opposition from Lily, her father and her grandmother.

Being a teen princess in New York was never so complicated or so interesting. While Cabot’s trademark humor pulls readers in to Mia’s thoughts, the plot threads that begin to tie up this series will keep fans wanting more.

    --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

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