Finn may be a seventeen-year-old tomboy, but even when head-over-heels in love, she knows better than to compromise herself or her family over some guy. Likewise, it's super-refreshing to have a hero and heroine who have lives and dreams outside of each other. I read this book years and years and years ago. I remember thinking I'd start it as a silly read and ... being pleasantly surprised. I had fond memories of this book so when it showed up on my library's app feed as an available audiobook... and I saw that it was narrated by Anne Hathaway, I was feeling nostalgic. I borrowed it.

If you're going into this book thinking it will be exactly like the movie version starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, I am sorry to say that you will be sorely disappointed as they share very little in common besides names, and even then they can be changed slightly. If you've seen the movie version, this book takes up about the first third or maybe half of the movie (from what I remember), but don't let that fool you into thinking nothing much happens in this book. Meg Cabot perfectly captures the giddiness and fragility of being a teenager … while reading this, all I could think of was the journals I kept as a teenager, always scribbling away during math class, in love with my creative soul and struggling to mature as a writer and actress :.. I loved following Mia’s maturity as she takes princess lessons with her Grandmere and slowly gains confidence in her beliefs and in her friendships …I wasn't expecting much of a plot. The plot is predictable, but it is comical and enjoyable. However, the plot only really appears in the last half of Ransom My Heart and it's extremely clear who the antagonists are. I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Avon Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a section of the diary of Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genovia fell into the hands of Meg Cabot, the Princess’s royal biographer.

It’s an all new school year for Princess Mia, with all new classes, all new challenges . . . and all new worries. With a baby brother at home who won’t stop crying and a potential eco-disaster in her native land that has all of Europe in an uproar, Mia’s got a lot more on her mind than just a case of the sophomore slumps: Phew, I’m exhausted. I don’t know how these princesses do it. I’m glad I’m only Princess Mia’s royal biographer. Anyway, thanks for supporting girls - and reading! And what I disliked, mainly- Mia's immaturity, the absence of any real conflict, half-handed plot points, the antagonists (JP AGAIN, REALLY?) Nostalgic value. I first read the Princess Diaries as a wee tweenager and the series still holds a special place in my heart. Mia has such a distinct voice and it's just comforting to dive into her world again (even midst the pandemic)Light and fluffy, but oh so so so enjoyable and with also some pretty well spot-on analyses and descriptions of modern American/Canadian middle and high school school culture and equally of the snobby and arrogant attitudes and philosophies that are unfortunately still rather prevalent and proliferating regarding the nobility, regarding the aristocracy in much of Western and Central Europe (and yes, even though the principality of Genovia has been invented by author Meg Cabot and thus does of course not exist), I have certainly and truly found Cabot’s The Princess Diaries (which is book one in a rather lengthy series) a delightful and wonderful reading break.