Valentine Princess (Princess Diaries Series) »

Keeping up with Meg Cabot is tricky: the Princess Diaries author turns out light entertaining novels for teens and adults at a furious pace. Which is good news for her fans, who snap them up as fast as she can write them!

That is, it usually means those things. But when you're Princess Mia, nothing happens the way it's supposed to. For one thing, Grandmère seems determined to prove that boy (or Michael, as he is commonly known) isn't the right one for the crown princess of Genovia. And Mia isn't having much luck proving otherwise, since Michael has a history of being decidedly against any kind of exploitative commercialization (Valentine's Day, as it is commonly known).

Boris can declare his love openly to Lilly, and even Kenny comes through with a paltry Whitman's Sampler. So why can't Michael give in to Cupid and tell Mia he loves her—preferably with something wrapped in red or pink and accompanied by roses—in time to prove he's Mia's true prince?

Children's Literature

There is so much going on in Meg Cabot's Valentine Princess, the latest in her "Princess Diaries Book" series, that the reader cannot possibly become bored. From the beginning pages when Mia's mother finds a lost notebook from Mia's freshman year in high school, the story is hard to put down. First there's the discovery of the notebook, then Grandmere's infatuation with her astrologist, Dr. Steve, whose predictions about Mia's love life are unsettling, followed by the experience of her first Valentine's Day with Michael, who feels that it's a crass commercial ritual that he refuses to participate in. And it keeps getting better. The fun escalates when Mia speaks of the holiday to her friend, Tina, who is surprised and shocked that Mia and Michael have made no plans for Valentine's Day. The plot thickens when Mia decides to give Michael a gift anyway, despite his feelings. But that opens another can of worms. Will she look like a fool? Will it seem to Michael that she is expecting a gift from him also? Valentine Princess is a cute book, filled with clever quips, and it's a breeze to read.