Review: Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot

Publication Date: July 2^nd 2015 (UK)
Publisher: Macmillan
Length: 400 pages

Huge thanks to Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

From Meg Cabot, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Diaries series, comes the very first new adult instalment, featuring the now grown-up Princess Mia!
Royal Wedding follows Princess Mia and her Prince Charming as they plan their fairy tale wedding - but a few poisoned apples could turn this happily-ever-after into a royal nightmare.
For Princess Mia, the past five years since college graduation have been a whirlwind of activity, what with living in New York City, running her new teen community centre, being madly in love, and attending royal engagements. And speaking of engagements, Mia's gorgeous longtime boyfriend Michael managed to clear both their schedules just long enough for an exotic (and very private) Caribbean island interlude where he popped the question! Of course Mia didn't need to consult her diary to know that her answer was a royal oui.
But now Mia has a scandal of majestic proportions to contend with: Her grandmother's leaked "fake" wedding plans to the press that could cause even normally calm Michael to become a runaway groom. Worse, a scheming politico is trying to force Mia's father from the throne, all because of a royal secret that could leave Genovia without a monarch. Can Mia prove to everyone - especially herself - that she's not only ready to wed, but ready to rule as well?

I loved the Princess Diaries books when I was growing up (and the first film, but don’t talk to me about the second, even Chris Pine can’t make that one good for me…) so I was incredibly excited to hear that Mia was making a comeback in the form of her first adult diary.

Fear not those of you who either a) haven’t read the books but have seen the film, b) have read the books but haven’t read them for a long time or c) have only read some of the books – you will keep up just fine. I was nervous going in because I haven’t read any of the rest of the series in a very long time and I wasn’t sure how much I’d remember, but there is a genius article at the start of the book which gives a set up for the events of this book plus a handy re-cap of the important points of the rest of the books so that if like me you’ve forgotten a lot, you’ll still be up to speed enough to enjoy this.

Meg Cabot is a genius. She wrote a truly brilliant and accurate fourteen year old, and now leaped to write a truly brilliant and accurate twenty six year old without compromising and losing any of Mia’s identity. Mia is all grown up but still the brilliant girl she was. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed her until I started reading and was laughing within the first few pages.

"Is Michael Moscovitz the world's greatest lover? 'YES!' says sex-mad Princess Mia, declares the cover of this week's InTouch.
Michael's dad thought this was so hilarious, he bought dozens of copies to give to his friends and even his patients. Michael's asked him to stop, but his dad won't listen. 
"You really expect me not to buy this?" Dr. Moscovitz asked. "My son is the world's greatest lover! It says so right here. Of course I'm going to buy this!"

The book is brilliant, the perfect summer read. It’s full of humour, snark and some truly insane moments. Some steamier moments – be warned this is not a book you want your princess diaries loving teen to read, save it for when they’re a little bit older. And the whole character cast are back for a fast paced, fantastic encore. I had forgotten just how terrible Grandmére could be, how sweet and wonderful Michael could be, and how much of a hypochondriac Mia is. It reminded me of everything I loved whilst giving a fantastic look on life as a twenty something juggling life, boyfriends and family – even if we aren’t all royalty as well…
Told through the traditional diary entries as well as a whole host of amazing texts (Grandmére I am looking at you and your sidecar) as well as emails, forms and Mia’s obsessive consultations of her Rate the Royals rating, this is a book that fairly comes alive and drags you into the hilarious romp of a story.

The only thing I really struggled with was the Wedding Stress, and yes that does warrant capitals. Having gone through W.S. this time last year, it is still a little too close to home and I found my palms sweating and my heart racing and the utter indignation and rage swelling every time Grandmére told Mia that of course she couldn’t have what she wanted at her wedding. Rage inducing. I felt so awful for Mia, even though it was all being made light of, that this incredibly important day was being ripped out of her control.

This is everything old fans could wish for and more, it is a perfect continuation for Mia’s story as well as tying in brilliantly to the newly released "From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess”. And I think Mia will be earning a whole new host of fans with her first adult diary. I just really hope that this isn’t a one off, given the ending of this book I would love to see what happens next for Mia and Michael.