Before Ann Hathaway was Mia Thermopolis, Meg Cabot created her. The first "Princess Diaries" movie came out in 2001, but the books have come out consistently since 2000. In June of 2015, Meg Cabot came out with the ultimate book for Princess Diary lovers, an adult book titled Royal Wedding.
It has been eleven years since "Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" came out, but the creator of Mia Thermopolis and crew have decided it's time to write how to royal wedding should ACTUALLY go. For that, I am eternally grateful. As someone who read the Princess Diaries books religiously, the movies were great, but did not accurately reflect the Mia Thermopolis written in the pages.
There are some major differences between the real Mia (in the books) and the silver screen Mia. In the books, Mia has a long-term boyfriend, Michael Moscovitz, who she is set to royally wed. Surprise! Neither the wedding nor the engagement is meant to be a surprise, as you can tell from the title that clearly gives away a major detail. Unlike the movie, there is an actual royal wedding this time, involving Mia Thermopolis, which I am so grateful for.
If you love the "Princess Diaries" movies, you won’t be disappointed with The Royal Wedding book. It is a book full of humor, pop culture references (HGTV, English Royal Family) and a Clarisse Renaldo we cannot help but love. Arguably one of the best parts of the book is the reference to Grandmother Clarisse (Julie Andrews in the movie) having a brief affair with James Franco.
The book has all the trappings of a great, adult book. There are weddings, babies, secret children, arrests, International crises, and stalkers. I had so much anticipation going into this, but then I remembered I was reading a Meg Cabot book. I love Meg Cabot, I really do, but she is not the type of writer to actually address international crises that she mentions in her books. The book’s solution to harboring refugees from Qalif (based off an array of Middle Eastern countries with horrendous human rights violation) is to put them on a cruise ship. Then, they are forgotten about so we can focus on what really matters: marriage.
If you are expecting a book version of the second Princess Diaries movie, you’re in for a rude awakening. This book is pretty original in comparison to the movies, though it is full of “surprises” that we TOTALLY saw coming. Also, it is an adult Meg Cabot book, so there are way more sex references than we should have to deal with when thinking about a Princess we grew up loving.
If you are looking for a good, quick read that won’t test your mind too much but will leave you smiling, this is the book for you. If you love books written like diaries, you won’t want to miss getting inside the head of the Princess of Genovia.
