Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot | ARC Review

Posted June 1, 2015 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in ARCs, Books, Reviews / 17 Comments

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot | ARC ReviewRoyal Wedding by Meg Cabot
Also by this author: , The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, Remembrance (The Mediator, #7), Proposal: A Mediator Novella, The Boy Is Back (Boy, #4), From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess (From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, #1), Royal Wedding Disaster: From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, No Judgments (Little Bridge Island, #1)
Published by HarperCollins on June 2, 2015
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Royalty
Pages: 448 •Format: ARCSource: Publisher
Goodreads
five-stars

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?

My Review*Many thanks to HarperCollins for this review copy!

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2015.

There were literally squeals of happiness when I found out I was getting more of Mia’s story. And it did not disappoint. I was thrilled to have gotten an ARC of this at YALLWEST considering I was in the middle of an entire series re-read in preparation for the new installment. I was over the moon and rushed home and binge read the last few installments so I could get to this one. I had 100% faith in Meg Cabot that she’d do the transition from teen to adulthood for Mia flawlessly (unlike sometimes in tv shows when they try to jump ahead six years between seasons and it just feels chunky and disjointed). Royal Wedding had the charm of reading Mia’s journals from her teen years while showing a much more mature (if still stressed-out) heir to the Genovian throne.

Character development was on point.

One of my favorite parts of reading the novel was seeing how the characters progressed several years later. From page 3 I was already completely shocked about some of the fates of the characters (this is so hard to talk about without spoilers!) Yet while some of the character’s futures were shocking, they were also totally believable in a crazy Princess Diaries universe sort of way. Everyone’s overbearing personality traits from the series really blossomed into the perfect (if crazy) career choices for them. There were also some long-awaited couplings that happened, along with the introduction of some very central characters to the plot, but they felt like they fit right in. I felt like I was visiting old friends who I had grown up with while reading this, and it felt so, so good.

Mia & Micheal’s romance was swoon-worthy

I was probably the only person NOT sad when I first read Princess on the Brink to see Mia break up with Micheal and sever ties with a lot of toxic yet long standing relationships in her life. (Micheal was right, they both had a LOT of growing up to do). Now that I’m n my 20s, reading about Mia and Micheal’s relationship in their 20s feels so right, and I love how truly in love you can still tell they are (Mia’s occasional insecurities aside!) I love reading about their adult relationship, I love their inside jokes and Micheal’s complete desiring of Mia, and I love how you can tell they’re seamlessly a couple, truly with one ending where the other begins. To top it off, Michael is a mature, intelligent, responsible adult who is concerned with things like price per square footage and financial responsibility. I love YA but you never see guys like this deemed as the sexy love interests. It was so refreshing to have such a well-written swoon-inducing yet responsible and practical love interest.

I couldn’t stop laughing.

The great thing about rereading The Princess Diaries series is all of the early 2000’s pop culture references Meg Cabot is known for in her writing (and even pokes fun at herself by making Mia be criticized for doing the same thing by her English teacher). It’s so much fun, and so nostalgia-inducing to read all of Mia’s references to celebrity drama of the time, Lifetime movies, political scandals, etc. Royal Wedding had all sorts of pop culture references too, but the great thing is that they were current, and so, so funny.


Jet? He’s hired a private jet? Who does he think he is all of a sudden, Christian Grey? I am not okay with this. I’m not some shy virginal college student who only owns one shirt.”

You see why this book had me in stitches the whole time?

Plot twists…well, kind of.

This book wins the “novel that kept me up all night ” award for 2015. I could not stop reading! There were also some things that happened that I WAS NOT expecting going in (although I picked up on the clues pretty fast, but that may be because I’m so used to Mia’s narration style after binge reading the first ten books and four novellas). Some of the things that happened would be a great reason for sequels…(Please, please, please make there be sequels!)

It was FUN to read!

It was bottom line just a really fun read. It was so interesting to see Mia as a public figure, using her royal status to impact the world and help causes, like she was always saying she was going to in high school. I loved getting a more in-depth look at the aspects of how Genovia’s run, from the new democracy to the antics of the Royal Genovian Guard. I would LOVE a book set in Genovia from Mia’s perspective.

There was something that slightly let me down though…

I went to bed at 5AM because of this book. I am so, so tired writing this right now (although this post is being per-scheduled for closer to it’s release date, but still). There’s no doubt that it had me hooked and I’ll be sure to reread it. However, my one tiny complaint is that I wish some of the events had been described more in detail by Mia, rather than just the aftermath. That’s all I can say without spoilers!

Overall: It’s no secret that I grew up reading The Princess Diaries all though my pre-teen and teenage years, and the ability to continue Mia’s story with her in her twenties while I’m in my twenties is an amazing experience. I loved the more adult storylines that still manage to capture the zany charm of the previous books, and I think Cabot pulled off aging all of her characters gracefully and believably. I will be hoping against hope for a sequel to this installment, because now that I’ve had a taste of an adult Princess Diaries book I’m hooked. I’ll definitely be picking up Cabot’s middle grade series set in the Princess Diaries universe, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess. Until then, I’ll have to continue to rave over this installment!

verdictmustread

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • Goodreads Challenge

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17 responses to “Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot | ARC Review

  1. I didn’t even know that Ms. Cabot was writing something else! I haven’t finished The Princess Diaries yet but that Christian Grey quote is absolutely hilarious! I need to read this book!

    Laura @BlueEyeBooks

    Laura W recently posted: My Apologies
  2. I AM SO READY FOR THIS BOOK. I’m sad, because I don’t want it to end, but of course I thought book 10 was the last so I kind of accepted it a while back ;D Meg Cabot is my automatic-must-read-and-buy author and I have this one on my Kindle, so I shall definitely be starting this one soon. So glad you liked it and love your review! 😀

    • I’m holding out hope that maybe she’ll continue on with Mia’s story since so many people are excited about this installment! 😀 (Maybe that’s just me being in denial though!) I’m probably going to read her new middle grade series about Genovia too because I’m not ready to let go!

  3. Kim

    Great review! Can you dive into this even if you haven’t read the entire Princess Diaries series? I think I left off at #5. And

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