We’re prepping for the new ‘Princess Diaries’ book

When I was a young teenager, my god was Meg Cabot. I, of course, like every girl in 2001, saw and fell in love with the film adaptation of The Princess Diaries. And while I would never insult that movie (it is and will always be perfection!), it’s just the tip of the iceberg. I remember ravenously reading every installment throughout my teen years. The last book, Forever Princess, came out in my senior year of high school and I remember being sad that there would never be another installment.

Last year, Meg Cabot made my teenage wishes come true. She announced that a new non-YA Princess Diaries installment was on the way. I think it’s pretty safe to say, I was more than a little excited. If you never read the books, now is the perfect time to jump on the bandwagon. Here are just a few things you need to know to be caught up for Royal Wedding, the first adult installment which is set to be released June 2nd (yes, that’s tomorrow!).

Mia Thermopolis is a wonderfully relatable protagonist.

Alright, yes, she’s a Princess. She also sucks at math – all kinds of math. She makes a lot of mistakes throughout the series, but they’re all mistakes you could see yourself making too. She’s funny, she loves to write, and she’s very strong-minded.

The second Princess Diaries film has nothing to do with the books.

While the second installment in the film series had its moments, it in no way represented the storyline in the books – mostly because producers couldn’t expect an audience to believe that Anne Hathaway was still a teenager. The main reason I mention this is because there’s a certain brother of a certain best friend to one Mia Thermopolis: a little heartthrob named Michael Moscovitz. In this new adult addition to the series, Mia is getting ready to marry Michael! The second film had Mia ending up with someone else entirely. I mean, yeah, he was Chris Pine, but no one should replace Michael Moscovitz!

Meg Cabot’s series is really all about friendship.

One of my favorite things about the book series is that there are no stereotypical characters. Lana, the character played by Mandy Moore in the 2001 adaptation, is more than Mia’s nemesis. In the book series, Lana actually grows and develops, becoming a dependable friend to Mia. The series also showed me that BFFs go through rough patches sometimes and that’s OK. In one of the installments, Mia and her true bestie, Lily Moscovitz, are on the outs. Mia begins a friendship with another young romantic, Tina Hakim Baba. When Lily and Mia reconcile, Cabot addresses the question: Is it possible to have more than one BFF? Um, yes!

Michael and Mia have a thing about Star Wars.

Michael and Mia’s romance was always legendary. What I loved about their relationship is that their common ground was based on both of them being huge nerds! They would watch Star Wars together and even repeat Han and Leia’s seminal dialogue to one another. Mia compares her life to Leia’s a LOT. (“I wish I were Princess Leia instead of me, Princess Mia. I’d so rather take on the Death Star than a black-and-white ball.”)

Mia’s grandma is far from the angel Julie Andrews portrayed.

The wonderful Julie Andrews does an amazing job playing Mia’s grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, in the 2001 film adaptation. I was shocked to find that in the books, Mia’s Grandmere (no, that’s not a typo) is more than a little different. One, she’s a chain smoker. Two, she’s incredibly annoying. She’s still wise but she drives Mia crazy constantly.

The new book surrounds a Royal Wedding. 

This is a bit of an obvious one, but believe me, it’s necessary information. In the last book which came out in 2009, Forever Princess, Michael and Mia finally worked out all their issues and got together – cue happily ever after music! Well, now that we have our new installment, I’m sure there will be drama between the now successful inventor and our Princess Mia surrounding their pending nuptials. Meg Cabot said she may have been inspired by a certain royal wedding that took place a few years ago. . .

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