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The Princesses of Iowa

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 982 ratings · 223 reviews

What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash, e...more

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published May 8th 2012 by Candlewick

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Jul 19, 2012 Mitch rated it 1 of 5 stars

Congratulations, Paige Sheridan, you're officially one of the most repulsive literary main characters I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I mean, I don't have a problem reading about shallow, self-absorbed characters who desperately need to be knocked down a peg or ten, but what you say and do is just unreal. There's being clueless and obnoxious, and then there's you. Unbelievable. And your sudden epiphany ten pages before the end when you finally realize how awful you've been, all so you c...more Congratulations, Paige Sheridan, you're officially one of the most repulsive literary main characters I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I mean, I don't have a problem reading about shallow, self-absorbed characters who desperately need to be knocked down a peg or ten, but what you say and do is just unreal. There's being clueless and obnoxious, and then there's you. Unbelievable. And your sudden epiphany ten pages before the end when you finally realize how awful you've been, all so you can apologize to the forgiving guy? No, just no.

Forget the summary - it's a lie. Paige is NOT dealing with the aftermath of a drunk driving accident. I know, I was fooled too, and by the prologue as well - she totally tricked me with her contrite tone, I genuinely thought I'd be reading about a girl trying to atone for her mistakes. Nope, prepare to read chapter after chapter of bitching about being exiled to Paris while her friend's a cripple thanks to the accident and ranting about how her boyfriend's ignoring her to spend more time with the crippled friend, because HER parents are getting a divorce. Totally unfair, amirite? (And why isn't this in the summary?) Oh, and let's not forget to mention the massive hypocrisy, because Paige goes after other guys even while she's being paranoid about her boyfriend possibly cheating (emotionally only) with the crippled friend. Insane.

So how do you redeem an unredeemable character? By making Lacey and Jake, the cripple friend and the boyfriend, the characters I actually sympathized with, even more unlikable than her. Yes, let's turn them into homophobic bigots halfway through the story, just so Paige can stand on her moral high horse and lecture about how wrong homophobia is. It almost worked - except isn't Paige almost as judgmental as they are? Should it really matter whether Mr. Tremont is gay or not? So why does she keep thinking about it, and looking for signs like how well dressed he is? He's an excellent creative writing teacher, he shouldn't have been fired because of the gay rumors, why don't we focus on that? But instead, Paige tells us how 'relieved' she is when she sees him with a woman and sees that as evidence the gay rumors are untrue.

And then, Backes finally remembers there's supposed to be a girl dealing with a drunk driving accident plot, and has Nikki, Paige's other friend who's basically done nothing for most of the book, stage a mock accident to raise awareness for drunk driving. The entire thing was just hair brained and weird, and without going into details somehow Paige gets an epiphany that she's been a horrible person this whole time. Umm, I've been reading about her horrible behavior for ninety percent of this book at this point, and she's just realizing it? Now? Because of a guy? No way. (Very convenient character development though.)

It's been a long time since I've read a book where all I felt was utter revulsion. Unfortunately, The Princesses of Iowa qualifies as that rare book. I couldn't understand, sympathize, feel anything for, any of its characters - well I liked Shanti, but only because I hated everyone else. There's just nothing redeeming to any these characters, nobody to root for, nothing to enjoy.(less)

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May 14, 2012 Giselle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, own, contemporary

No matter what happens in life, use it!

Ultimately, The Princesses of Iowa is a book about life; it's about nothing, and everything. I was really taken by surprise at how much I became absorbed in this story. It's filled with reality. Real people, real emotions, raw moments, hard decisions, and true consequences.

Paige is dealing with the aftermath of a drinking and driving accident. She's changed, her friends have changed; everything is different, especially her plans for her long anticipated sen...more No matter what happens in life, use it!

Ultimately, The Princesses of Iowa is a book about life; it's about nothing, and everything. I was really taken by surprise at how much I became absorbed in this story. It's filled with reality. Real people, real emotions, raw moments, hard decisions, and true consequences.

Paige is dealing with the aftermath of a drinking and driving accident. She's changed, her friends have changed; everything is different, especially her plans for her long anticipated senior year. Right from the beginning I loved the writing. Paige's narrative is easy to get drawn into. Her thoughts and emotions resonate throughout her story. It's not a fast paced book, however, it's effortless. The way you get immersed inside this girl's mind, you don't even notice you've already read half the book. I loved her intelligent way of thinking; she isn't afraid to break out of her box. She even got me to become fascinated in her creative writing exercises which I usually would have no interest in. To the point where I wish our school would have had a teacher like hers. Someone who could make it so interesting. She's good - really good. She made me feel her passion for it. Plus, it was a great way to get her unfiltered thoughts.

Besides Paige, all the supporting characters had just as much push inside this novel. Nikki, Lacey, Shanti, Ethan, Jake, even Mr. Tremont, the parents - there's a whole lot of them and it's as much a story about them, than about Paige herself. When is life only about you? Any story encompasses a whole lot of people that will be directly, or indirectly affected by the commotions in your life. Inevitably, there will be characters you love, others you hate, some you will applaud, and maybe even one who will surprise you. Overall, I loved the big diverse cast. It kept things moving along nicely.

This story touches on a whole slew of consequences that all stem from the accident. Some of these are trivial, while others are significant; no matter how big or small, they all come together, making Paige question who she is and who she's supposed to become. This is what I mean when I say it's both about nothing, and everything - there isn't one main theme or plot. It's really a story about life. About living through changes until we find ourselves. This gives us a lot of internal dialogue which can seem a bit long after a while, but I never found it tedious.

I wouldn't call this a light read, but it's not extremely intense either. It's thought-provoking and enlightening. There's some sweet romance, heartwarming moments, and dramatic emotions - an altogether beautiful contemporary novel.

I remember...

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For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

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Apr 09, 2012 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review originally appeared on Clear Eyes, Full Shelves

Every now and then, a young adult book reminds me that I am not the target audience for YA authors.

The Princesses of Iowa is one of those books.

However, for the target audience of teen girls and their parents (you know, the people who pay for the books that their teenage daughters read), I’d say that The Princesses of Iowa is the perfect book. Except for ONE MAJOR ISSUE that I address at the end of this review for the sake of emphasis.

I...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Best rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, netgalley, ebook, young-adult, reviewed, wishlist, 5-stars, young-adult-contemporary, favorite, arc

THIS REVIEW ON B'S BOOK BLOG!

I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley and Candlewick Press.

What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.

This book was a love at first sight as well as at first read for me, meaning it is as good as it looks! I was hooked from the very first page where Paige talks about last spring and the accident that changed everything in her life. It's told...more

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Feb 10, 2013 LoudVal rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fya-bookclub, rhc-book

Up to the last chapter, I was going to give this book a 3.5, but it squeaked by with a lackluster 3 stars right at the end.

Paige has a small spark that keeps me reading but for the most part she won't stand up for herself, except to say she's going to Northwestern, and it's killing me. What's with this Seniors as princesses bullshit anyway?

(view spoiler)...more

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May 10, 2012 Bookish♥Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: singles-fic, read-in-2012

♥ Find my reviews on Blogger ~ Reviews by Bookish Sarah

- - -

2.5 stars

The Princesses of Iowa is the story of Paige - high school senior, rich kid, popular gal, “princess”, shallow, etc. She and her two best friends, Nikki and Lacey, were in a car accident during the spring. A car accident in which all three of them were drunk - Nikki was driving, Lacey was “crippled”, and Paige walked away with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises.

Paige's mother decides shipping her off to Paris is the best...more

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Feb 22, 2013 Karen (Book Light Graveyard) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I finished this book yesterday, but for some reason, despite the time I’ve had to think about it, I’m having a hard time gathering my thoughts on it. I think it’s maybe because this book deals with some hard issues—and gave me so much to think about—that even now I'm still processing it all. But anyway . . .

Paige is a bit of a difficult character. And I mean that in the best possible way. She feels so real, for better or worse. While I never disliked her, some of her decisions made me cringe big...more I finished this book yesterday, but for some reason, despite the time I’ve had to think about it, I’m having a hard time gathering my thoughts on it. I think it’s maybe because this book deals with some hard issues—and gave me so much to think about—that even now I'm still processing it all. But anyway . . .

Paige is a bit of a difficult character. And I mean that in the best possible way. She feels so real, for better or worse. While I never disliked her, some of her decisions made me cringe big time, since she does some pretty unkind, thoughtless, petty things. But where Paige redeems herself is in her slow evolution from a popular, flawless, one-dimensional girl into someone who starts to see that maybe being perfect isn’t everything and that there’s more to life than being homecoming queen. The process is slow and painful, and she backslides quite a bit, but still, she moves forward and gradually becomes someone I can admire.

Somewhat perversely, I really liked the deteriorating relationship between Paige and Jake. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like Jake and I was rooting for Ethan the whole time, but still . . . I really thought Paige and Jake’s relationship was well written. The author made it so easy to understand why Paige is clinging so hard to her relationship with Jake, even when it’s clear to her and everyone that it’s just not working. To Paige, Jake represents an idyllic time when everything seemed perfect in her life, and I can’t blame her for finding it hard to let go of that, even when I got frustrated with Paige for letting herself stay in a toxic relationship for so long.

This book tackles quite a few issues: drinking and driving, homophobia, the beginning and ending of friendships and romantic relationships, parental pressures, popularity, taking responsibility, and a few others. Before I started this book I wondered why it was so long for a contemporary YA (464 pages), and now that I’ve finished it, I can see that the book needed to be that long just to deal with all the issues. And I appreciated the way that the author wrote about all these topics—I didn’t feel preached to or condescended to, and I liked that she took the realistic route and didn’t tie everything up with a nice little bow. Some stuff doesn’t get resolved, or it doesn’t get resolved the way I, or the characters, would have liked, but that’s how it goes in the real world. The book ends happily, but not everything is perfect, which is a valuable lesson, I think—that things don’t have to be perfect to find happiness.

Overall, a well-done issues-centered book. Recommended for fans of Lauren Oliver’s “Before I Fall” and Courtney Summers’s “Some Girls Are.”

Original review at Book Light Graveyard (less)

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Feb 20, 2013 Shoshana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: female-friendship, realistic, ya

I've been recommending this one. Wow, I had a good first couple weeks of January in terms of reading! I wish February had been as strong.

Anyway, the main character is not particularly likable at first - and her family and friends DEFINITELY aren't - and that is totally a strength of the book. I thought I might put it down for the first few chapters... and then it kept me. It starts out like the kind of privileged "realistic" high school YA that drives me up the wall with its blind spots and fals...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Elisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read the book for the FYA book club and would probably have stopped reading after the first few chapters if I had picked it up on my own. The characters were horrible people. Especially the parents. That being said, I do live in Iowa and I am aware that here (and probably every state in the US) has people like this living there. So, if you can get past not really liking who the characters are as people then Paiges story of self discovery is compelling.

Plot:
Paige is going to be a princess. This...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Claire Nichols rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was good, but not one of my favorites. The main character was not very likeable. As she struggles with readjusting to being back home, she becomes a jerk to her friends. After a terrible car accident, her parents ship her off to Paris for the summer while her friends have to live with the harsh criticism and changes in lives and one of her friends is even crippled because of the accident. When she arrives, all of them have changed, even herself. She starts to notice that her crippled f...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Sandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite, library, ya

I truly enjoyed the book as it dealt with the issues in an honest and open manner. Paige has her senior year all planned out for herself but at the end of her junior year, a drunk driving accident occurs and her plans are trashed. As a reader, you don’t find out the whole details of the incident until the end of the book but small details are scattered throughout the story and as a reader you piece the puzzle together. Paige, Lacey and Nikki dreams were to be homecoming queens together and these...more I truly enjoyed the book as it dealt with the issues in an honest and open manner. Paige has her senior year all planned out for herself but at the end of her junior year, a drunk driving accident occurs and her plans are trashed. As a reader, you don’t find out the whole details of the incident until the end of the book but small details are scattered throughout the story and as a reader you piece the puzzle together. Paige, Lacey and Nikki dreams were to be homecoming queens together and these dreams had been planned for years. Their senior year was going to be the best! After the accident, Paige is carted away to Paris to be a nanny for the summer, Lacey undergoes therapy at the hospital and Nikki, well her life is shrinking away, literally. When Paige returns, the threesome is not what they used to be. Paige seems so confused at this part in her life. Where does she fit in? Her mother has always had this mold for her as the perfect person that makes you want to scream and this mold continues upon her return back to Iowa. Her friends have been living the summer without her and think her time in Paris was a vacation and Paige just wants to pretend that nothing major has happened. Add to the drama of Paige’s boyfriend Jake, who has been taking care of Lacey and you have more drama than this book can hold. As school starts, a creative class helps Paige but she must learn to let go and be herself. What the future holds for this group of seniors depends on what’s inside each of them.

Living in Iowa, I enjoyed reading about the references to places in Iowa and reminisced with some of the events that the individuals did. The truck stop scavenger hunt was comical and just like every tourist stop you see around the U.S., you find quite a variety of unique items that highlight your state. The characters emotions and drama felt real and although the book was a long one, the pages flew by. There were times that I had to put the book down as I felt so overcome with emotions that I just had to stop. I felt there was some promiscuous activities taking place in the book and hoped that someone would put a stop to that. I would hope that with the information that is available out in society, something would be done to curb that behavior. This is a wonderful coming of age story.

“I thought too much: that was my problem. What I needed to do was relax, take a deep breath, maybe get another drink, and kick it with the people around me, people who, if not true friends, were at least a comfortable and easy group to be a part of: High school was for having fun, after all.”
This book contains sexual content and explicit language.
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Jan 22, 2013 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

All right, so I don't think this book is perfect. It's true that the characters we're supposed to hate are painted in a REALLY bad light, and also that the main character herself can be tough to hang with. It's true that the book is quite long and there is an oddly fairy-tale ending that kind of pops up out of nowhere but is still predictable. Issues of homosexuality and gay rights are brought up, but not dealt with all that well. And my biggest qualm by far: there is an almost-rape scene in the...more All right, so I don't think this book is perfect. It's true that the characters we're supposed to hate are painted in a REALLY bad light, and also that the main character herself can be tough to hang with. It's true that the book is quite long and there is an oddly fairy-tale ending that kind of pops up out of nowhere but is still predictable. Issues of homosexuality and gay rights are brought up, but not dealt with all that well. And my biggest qualm by far: there is an almost-rape scene in the book that seems to evaporate into thin air and is never mentioned past the end of the chapter in which it happens. Really??!?

So it might sound like I didn't like the book, but I actually did. It's an incredibly honest book for young people that isn't written in the language of an out-of-touch adult imagining how teens think. Relief! It takes on many issues that teens deal with and treats them with the gravity that one might feel at 17 (so heavy!) And even all the terrible things the characters do (including Main Princess) are set in contexts that make them more sympathetic (and I think pretty real. People are really like this!). Plus, there are some great characters who are really intelligent conscientious young people, and people are really like that, too. The point is, I cared about the characters and what happened to them, and I think they each had more depth than people are often willing to grant each other in real life. Lastly, everything Iowa about this book is true and well done. It's really like that, for better and for worse.

And now, IOWA RANT: I think it's brave for this author to write a book set in Iowa with Iowa in the title and then not sugarcoat what it is like to live/grow up there. Folks really love to hate on Iowa and feel superior for it (full disclosure I grew up there, albeit not in a small town, and I have experienced this strange loathing for the state and its people in great abundance in my own life.) Here's what I'll say about it - it can be pretty messed up, and I have found it a difficult place to live myself. But it is also a real place with real people who are mostly experts in humility and have the courage to be honest about their own successes and shortcomings. So to all those who might express disdain or outright contempt or, at best, condolences to the poor souls who have really experienced it first hand, your energy might be better focused on your own backyard.(less)

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Jan 06, 2013 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm inflating the rating on this one a little bit because it surprised me by its substance. I was expecting more of a "pink" book full of typical high school machinations and characters with more obvious plot and character movement. Heavier than but not hitting me over the head seems worth four.

Princess is what Paige had always wanted to be with her two best friends Lacy and Nikki when senior year homecoming rolled around. Instead she returns after a horrific summer of being an unpaid au pair fo...more I'm inflating the rating on this one a little bit because it surprised me by its substance. I was expecting more of a "pink" book full of typical high school machinations and characters with more obvious plot and character movement. Heavier than but not hitting me over the head seems worth four.

Princess is what Paige had always wanted to be with her two best friends Lacy and Nikki when senior year homecoming rolled around. Instead she returns after a horrific summer of being an unpaid au pair for a miserable couple and their baby in Paris, coming home to resentment and a strange new dynamic with her boyfriend Jake. Everything changed when the girls got into a drunk driving accident at a college party the spring before. Now Lacey walks with a limp after surgeries and a grueling summer of physical therapy, and she has a close, maybe too close, bond with Jake forged throughout her ordeals. Nikki's strange manic nature has turned dangerously daffy, but her boy craziness is still strong.

No one is acting the same, so it's hard for Paige to feel the thrill of being young, beautiful, and popular in their Iowa town, even more so when her easy Creative Writing teacher is replaced by Mr. Tremont, a substitute fresh from the university's graduate writing program, one who knows how to write, how to teach, and how to get writers looking inside themselves to get at the real stuff. Real isn't exactly what Paige has specialized in, so it's fairly uncomfortable, even more so when some of her classmates from Creative Writing, ones she shouldn't really have deigned to notice, start to show her friendship in three dimensions. Shanti is exotic and real; Jeremy is funny and smart and intensely interested in her.

Paige has to struggle through this new version of her life, deciding what she can keep from what she has known for so long and what she is willing to become, facing resistance from boyfriend, BFFs, and even her homecoming queen mother.

I see some pretty good YA appeal here. Need to test it out on some willing victims.(less)

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Dec 18, 2012 Elizabeth Fragala rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

At least read the Prologue - worth reading in itself.
I also recommend the book to any high school kids interested in creative writing. Mr. Tremont's class reads like a Natalie Goldberg seminar.
I had never heard of the singer Dar Williams or Ovid's poem Metamorphosos.
Examples of Jill Alexander's writing: "It was like prom, where the same kids you see every single day put on tuxes and ball gowns and suddenly become something more, and the people they'll be as adults cling to them like shadows all...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Treasure rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-books

High School Senior Paige appears to have it all-- popularity, good looks, money, and a hot boyfriend. But the pressure for her to maintain this high level of perfection that her mother demands wears on her, and it quickly wears on the reader as well-- every time her mother showed up, I found myself feeling suffocated, pressured, and panicky! Paige struggles to continue caring about the goal she and her mother have worked for-- to be a princess on homecoming court along with her "friends" Lacey a...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: drunk-driving, teenagers, high-school, mean-girls, realistic, spoiled-kids, young-adult-fiction, writers, writing, writing-exercises, friendship, growing-apart, borrowed-from-the-library, relationships, relationship-problems, mother-daughter-relationships, mothers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 08, 2012 Tjode rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nook-books-library

As I sat at a high school football game, I could pick the kids in the stands who were in this book. (I taught middle school and knew many of the kids.) There was Paige - the girl who had spent middle school and high school working for the title of Homecoming Queen. Her mother, in fact, had been Homecoming Queen in high school AND college and wanted the same for her daughter. (Mom enjoyed it when people thought she was Paige's sister. Don't we all know THOSE mothers!) Paige dates a football playe...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a solid four for me and one of those books that I really enjoyed but also felt it was perhaps a bit too long. I read an article awhile back about how so many YA books are longer than they need to be. I couldn't agree more! I see this especially as a school librarian who struggles to find shorter but still well-written and highly engaging books for my less enthusiastic readers. The first time this book was checked out this year, the student brought it back unread because she "couldn't ge...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

3.5 stars. This contemporary YA set in a small-town Iowa high school digs deep into the psychology underneath the clichéd top popular kids. While some students are easier to root for than others in this story, there aren't simple divides of good and evil by clique. No teen queen bees, even those of the pink princess Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture generation, are as simply shallow and mean as they appear. Backes shows some of the ugly fa...more 3.5 stars. This contemporary YA set in a small-town Iowa high school digs deep into the psychology underneath the clichéd top popular kids. While some students are easier to root for than others in this story, there aren't simple divides of good and evil by clique. No teen queen bees, even those of the pink princess Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture generation, are as simply shallow and mean as they appear. Backes shows some of the ugly family situations and pressures that mar the shine of the golden girls and boys; I could believe why these kids drank to excess. However what Backes does is much more important than simply humanizing the high school a-holes. As Backes sucks us in to Paige's point of view, she deftly shows how teens can be struggling to be moral and loyal, yet entirely self-absorbed at the same time. Paige's (and other characters') lack of empathy and failure to learn from mistakes look like psychopathy. Some reviewers reject Paige in disgust because of this; I'd argue that this is what it's like to be a teenager. If we're honest we can probably all remember times when obsession with our own thoughts and emotions, crushes and fears, got in the way of how caring we were for friends. We can probably all remember lashing out or being cruel out of fear. It's easy to be nice to your friends when life is good; it's much harder to put others first when you're in crisis, a black hole of need yourself. Teen brains aren't fully mature, it's the high point of caring what others think of you, and emotions overwhelm decision-making as you face all kinds of hard situations for the first time (see this article on teenaged brains for one example of evidence). It's hard work learning how to be a good person, and Backes shows that it's something everyone can work at. No matter how far some kids have to go, she doesn't throw anyone under the bus as hopeless. I only wish she held out the same hope for growth and change for her novel's adults.

My objections to the novel are mostly about problems raised but not addressed. I think it's realistic that Paige and friends can't change too much at once, but still, it was hard seeing violence and sexual violence being shrugged off and ignored so quickly. (Hello, juvie? Or at least suspension? And aren't some of these kids 18 - too old for juvie and responsible for their criminal actions?) Homophobic rumourmongering was resisted strongly at first, but the kids were somewhat let off the hook (cringe). And the ending left me a bit sour - it's the most trope-y scene in the whole novel, and diminishes the book's impact somewhat. These feel like significant problems to me, but a novel supporting self-evaluation and learning how to care deeply for others is so important for teens that I can't down-star too much. If you read contemporary YA at all, nudge this one toward the top of your to-read pile.(less)

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Aug 09, 2012 dontouchmychocolate rated it 2 of 5 stars

*some spoilers!

It would have been so easy to not bother with this story because of the protagonist who seems to have it all - hot, popular, smart.
However, a few pages in, I understood why Paige Sheridan was what she was: with the mother she had, I could see why this girl had been moulded into what she was, an unlikeable, bratty girl who could be rather bitchy.

I did get a bit lost during some conversations/banter, and I thought that the story carried on for far too long. I suppose writing a book...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Paige does everything right, until one day she starts wondering if maybe she's been wrong all along.

Good grades, smooth hair, perfect eyeliner, just the right extracurriculars, the most popular and put-together friends. She's her mother's dream of perfection, bound -- inevitably, it seems -- for a spot on the senior home-coming court.

But now she's questioning it all. Just before "The Princesses of Iowa" opens, Paige and friends attend a cool-kids party where even the designated driver has a few...more Paige does everything right, until one day she starts wondering if maybe she's been wrong all along.

Good grades, smooth hair, perfect eyeliner, just the right extracurriculars, the most popular and put-together friends. She's her mother's dream of perfection, bound -- inevitably, it seems -- for a spot on the senior home-coming court.

But now she's questioning it all. Just before "The Princesses of Iowa" opens, Paige and friends attend a cool-kids party where even the designated driver has a few drinks. Nobody's killed, but everyone involved in the crash that follows is changed by the experience.

I have to confess that I was afraid to start reading this book. I know the author, don't read a lot of YA fiction -- especially books about popular kids -- and was terrified by the possibility that the book would not be good.

But Paige's journey is a universal one, and her process of self-exploration is one that I've lived through many times. We all should periodically stop to look at our lives and how well they align with who we want to be. What is important to me? Who is important to me? Why do I care about these people? How can I support them? How do they support me? How do they fail me, and how can I overcome their shortcomings? How do I overcome my own? When have conformity and the desire to please others trumped my own values? What can I do to change my life, my self, my priorities, so that I live more true to who I want to be?

Of course, a young adult book about self-exploration and philosophy would probably be a big of a slog if that's all that was going on. But Molly Backes is subtler than all that. Self-exploration is the subtext here, but the plot deals in the concrete truths of friendships, boyfriends, mothers, teachers, the pain of abandoning the familiar when it holds you back, and the fear, loss and joy that can come with being brave.

I stayed up five hours past my bedtime when I started reading this book, and then picked it up immediately when I woke up the next day and couldn't put it down until it was done. I can't wait to see what Molly Backes has next in store.(less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Eleanor rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book. Is. So. GOOD. Honestly. At the beginning, I was a bit confused, and it went a bit slow, but once I got into it, man, I was into it. Paige, the main character, is awesome. I was afraid that I wouldn't like her because of the description in the book description, but I loved her and related to her. I felt everything that she did, with such an emotionally intensity, I almost felt like I was her. (But thank God, I'm not.) I loved all of the supporting characters; Ethan, Shanti, and her sis...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bullies, community, eating-disorders, families, friendship, romance, school, self-esteem, writing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. When they were younger and watched other, older girls in the homecoming parade waving from the royal court's float, Paige Sheridan and her best friends Nikki and Lacey dreamed of one day becoming members of their own Iowa high school homecoming court. But after being involved in a drunk-driving accident, Paige’s priorities change. No longer is she content with being popular and having a good-looking boyfriend after the accident and a summer exiled in Paris. As she examines her own goals, Paige m...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Rachel Mikkay rated it 1 of 5 stars

I will say I enjoyed the writing--I'm a sucker for nice, poetic description dispersed here and there--and there were a few moments that caught me by surprise, in a good way.

But overall, it's just not my kind of story. Maybe I just can't get into petty high school drama, as this book was that and then some. Then, on top of that, reading about Iowa City and creative writing teachers from the workshop--a setting and situation I am very, very familiar with--it just didn't work for me. It's awkward t...more I will say I enjoyed the writing--I'm a sucker for nice, poetic description dispersed here and there--and there were a few moments that caught me by surprise, in a good way.

But overall, it's just not my kind of story. Maybe I just can't get into petty high school drama, as this book was that and then some. Then, on top of that, reading about Iowa City and creative writing teachers from the workshop--a setting and situation I am very, very familiar with--it just didn't work for me. It's awkward to write about writing and writers in fiction, and then you pile drunk driving and LGBT issues on top, plus a narrator that really doesn't have anything going for her and a premise about "What if being perfect doesn't make you happy?"

The main character Paige took over four hundred pages to resolve all her problems. And there were a lot of them, except you didn't really even care about her because she couldn't get over herself. That was supposed to be the point of her character development, obviously: she "found herself" in writing and learned to love herself and stand up for herself, but really, in the end, she got the boy, so yay!

I would go on, but this spoiler sums up the bulk of my one-star review:

(view spoiler)

If I got anything original out of this book, something I haven't heard or seen or learned in fiction before, it's that now I fully understand why all my writing professors and TAs say, "Don't write about parties. No one cares, and they're not interesting--they're all the same party, repeated a thousand times." It's so true. Every party scene dragged this story down, and while the morals were there and everything was appropriately, emotionally poignant and whatnot, it just wasn't my thing. Meh.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Liana rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of some of the wittiest dialogue I've ever read. It felt very true to life. There was a lot of lovely writing. I was very intrigued by Paige and her struggles. They always felt real and not just put on rich people problems. Paige was a fully realized character who had so much going for her and so much to discover about herself through others and ultimately through being honest with herself. I really enjoyed Shanti, who was a very strong POC character in th...more

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May 28, 2012 Majibookshelf Juhina & Farah rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Princesses of Iowa is a book about a high society girl who gets into an ‘accident’ with a bunch of her friends during her last days of her spring semester and ends up being exiled to work as a nanny in Paris. Now you might think this is glamorous, but in fact the time she spent there was of her wearing the baby’s food on her clothes and passed out on her very uncomfortable bed. When she returns to her senior year at school, she finds out that one of her friends, Lacey, is crippled from the a...more The Princesses of Iowa is a book about a high society girl who gets into an ‘accident’ with a bunch of her friends during her last days of her spring semester and ends up being exiled to work as a nanny in Paris. Now you might think this is glamorous, but in fact the time she spent there was of her wearing the baby’s food on her clothes and passed out on her very uncomfortable bed. When she returns to her senior year at school, she finds out that one of her friends, Lacey, is crippled from the accident, and the other one, Nikki is on the verge of becoming anorexic. Her boyfriend, Jake has become a bit distant and has been spending too much time with Lacey because of her crippled leg and her needing all the help and moral support she can get. This is where the problems start.
Now, I really didn’t like how Paige, the female protagonist, at the beginning, stays quiet with the way Lacey was treating her, if a friend did this to me I would instantly confront her and try to understand WHY she is acting like this. Also Jake was a bit of a jerk and I couldn’t stand him. He is a jock and for some reason books always have this stereotype where jocks are all jerks who take fun in making fun of anyone who doesn’t conform to their ideas of ‘normal’, one of the victims was Ethan, a new student; they all call him a ‘fag’ and try to make fun of him any chance they get. Again, I really didn’t like how Paige just stood there and let them ridicule him while at the same time, later on she started to hang out with him and his friend Shanti ‘secretly’ and ignore them when she’s hanging out with the popular kids. Isn’t that just being a bit two-faced?
I really liked Ethan and Shanti; they were the only two likable characters in this whole book. They were funny, totally amusing, and true to themselves. While Paige does start off as unlikable, I did like her character development and they way she handled things towards the end. The plot of the story was interesting, it is a contemporary novel that might relate to thousands of girls out there who have been a victim of having to follow the popular kids and maybe unresolved problems with friends. This book teaches you to stand up for yourself no matter the situation and in the end to do the right thing, which is something that many people run and cope out from. All in all, while The Princesses of Iowa might have gotten on my nerves at the first half of the book, the last half made up for it (less)

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May 16, 2012 Sara Marie added it

For as long as she could remember, Paige Sheridan had always been rich, popular, and destined to be homecoming queen like her mother. She's always been pressured, even by her mother, to be the most beautiful and popular. She lived a perfect life with perfect friends and the perfect boyfriend but one night everything changes and Paige's world is flipped upside down. After a night of partying and drinking, Paige is in an accident. From that point on, Paige can see her hopes of homecoming queen fa...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Paige struggles between being who she is expected to be- by her mother, her friends, her boyfriend- and being the new person she is becoming. Also looks at issues such as drinking (don't get me started, oh lord, they all nearly died in an accident due to drunk driving and they keep on drinking regularly?) and homophobia. Overall it was well written. It is very much a coming of age novel rather than the chick lit I was expecting; instead of being the focus, romance was a minor detail.

It doesn't e...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to read this because my friend Molly wrote this, and I wanted to see the results of six years of hard work and thought and heart. At the same time, I was unsure because I'm not much of a YA reader, and I don't love re-litigating high school drama from a safe distance of 20 years. But I decided to go for it...if I could't make it to page 100, I wasn't meant to be a Princess of Iowa. That was the escape valve I gave to myself.

Well, here we are a few days later, and I rushed so breathlessl...more I wanted to read this because my friend Molly wrote this, and I wanted to see the results of six years of hard work and thought and heart. At the same time, I was unsure because I'm not much of a YA reader, and I don't love re-litigating high school drama from a safe distance of 20 years. But I decided to go for it...if I could't make it to page 100, I wasn't meant to be a Princess of Iowa. That was the escape valve I gave to myself.

Well, here we are a few days later, and I rushed so breathlessly through the second half of the book that I stayed up late to finish it, inhaling 240+ pages in a single night. "Princesses" is a really great, painful, brutally truthful book. The unreliable narrator goes through layers of self-realization, and unlike scripted TV dramas (or lesser books on similar topics), it never happens cleanly, but lurches back and forth, pushing into new and dangerous places, and then shrinking back into the comfortable. Paige (the protagonist) makes bad decisions regularly, and those decisions affect everyone around her, often disastrously. I've seen some reviews saying that Paige is unlikable, but I disagree. I think she causes discomfort (not the same thing) because she makes the mistakes we wish we hadn't also made. That's a hard yoke for a protagonist to wear, the mantle of our failures.

All the characters are beautifully rendered, slightly snappier and smarter than people we went to school with, but appropriately so. In fact, they were realistic enough that I found myself wanting to ask Molly to introduce me to Shanti and Ethan sometime before realizing, duh, they're fictional characters, dipshit. Part of my mind just assumed she was telling me about some friends of hers, rather than make-em-up creations.

Also, the stuff about creative writing works in real life! Watching Paige struggle with writing the truth can help you struggle with your own truth, a testament to Ms. Backes' background as a writing teacher.

Mighty good. If you dig good, mature YA, I can't imagine you not loving this. Even if you don't usually read YA, I still bet you'll like this. (less)

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Jan 31, 2013 Miranda rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is written in the first person voice of a senior high school student named Paige. Paige and her two other friends have been destined to take the Homecoming crown since they were toddlers; however, a devastating event happened over the summer to undo the masked seams of their friendship.

In the beginning, I felt like I saw every point of view but Paige's. Each person in her life was suffering, but she showed the more infuriating indifference while everything about her existence seemed ef...more

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About M. Molly Backes

M. Molly Backes is an exciting new talent in the world of young adult novels. After graduating from Grinnell College in Iowa, she moved to New Mexico, where she taught middle school and got 150 of her students to write novels for National Novel Writing Month. She now lives in Chicago, where she works at StoryStudio, Chicago's center for writing and the related arts.

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Quotes from The Princesses of Iowa

“I've never felt a connection like this with anyone else... I don't even know how to explain it. I feel like I already knew you before I met you, and the first time I saw you, the first time I talked to you, was incidental, because the connection was already there --.” — 7 people liked it

“None of us is delicate enough to touch anyone else without hurting them a little bit.” — 4 people liked it

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