by Meg Cabot
REVIEWED BY SUE CORBETT
FICTION
A familiarity with the film versions is all one needs to enjoy the 10th and final volume of The Princess Diaries, which began with 14-year-old Mia Thermopolis learning she was heir to the throne of a European principality. As always, Cabot delivers angst-ridden musings that will make teens laugh—and remind moms why they couldn't wait to grow up. Mia turns 18 (the Obamas attend her party), agonizes over college and freaks out when her first love returns just as she commits to current squeeze J.P. Reynolds Abernathy IV. Writing helps Mia cope, and as her senior project she's completed a medieval romance. It's no spoiler to say that Ransom My Heart gets published, since it's being released for real. Grandmère is horrified, but Mia insists, "It's a very humorous and moving romance about a young girl's sexual awakening in the year 1291." Indeed it is. A delightful book to fill the gap as Princess Mia bids her diary years goodbye.
