Party Princess, Sweet Sixteen Princess

The title(s): Party Princess, Sweet Sixteen Princess
The author: Meg Cabot
Publication: Harper Collins, 2006
Got it from: Book Depot

Party Princess, aka Volume 7 is my favourite book so far in the series. Mostly because of J.P. but also because it's the most fun.

In this book, Grandmere is gloriously basking in being the manipulative monster she loves to be. She wants to buy the faux island of Genovia in Dubai but has to outbid John-Paul Reynolds Abernathy III for it. Meanwhile, Mia discovers her student government has spent all their money on recycling bins and can't afford the place they need for the senior's commencement ceremony.

So Grandmere steps in with a play she's written: Braid! The Musical. Of course it's all a ploy to give John Paul Reynolds Abernathy III's son the lead role. And the son turns out to be the Guy-Who-Hates-It-When-They-Put-Corn-in-the-Chili. Mia is mortified because she's written a story about him called "No More Corn!" in which he commits suicide at the end. She also discovers that besides being kind of cute, J.P. is actually really nice to her. Wink wink nudge nudge.

Meg Cabot is really in her glory here and Mia's chaotic existence is never funnier. Braid! The Musical is (loosely) based upon the life of Rosagunde, Mia's royal ancestress who strangled her enemy with her braid the night he forced her to marry him. Rosagunde is my heroine. J.P. plays Gustav, Rosagunde's peasant lover and a fictional creation of Grandmere.

Can we just get rid of Michael now and have J.P. instead? Please?

Sweet Sixteen Princess, which took me about 35 minutes to read, takes place on Mia's sixteenth birthday. Grandmere has some big idea of taking all of Mia's friends to Genovia and airing her party on MTV. Mia, of course, freaks. This mini-novel is interesting because it actually furthers the plot rather than being purely stand-alone. Lily is now dating J.P., whom she's crazy about, but it's clear that J.P. prefers a certain princess. Oh, what a tangled web. On to Book Eight, the book that right-wing zealots tried to get banned. Stay tuned to find out why...