The Quarantine Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries #12

by Meg Cabot

Mia Thermopolis knows just what to do in a crisis: Rule.

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.

As reported in media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, The Mary Sue, Refinery 29, Bustle, and more, from March until June of 2020, sixteen entries of the princess’s diary were leaked onto Ms. Cabot’s blog, to the delight of over a million fans.

In these entries, titled The Coronavirus Princess Diaries, the princess recorded her most heartfelt emotions while dealing with her husband’s quarantine after exposure to the virus; her personal (and political) battles while imposing health restrictions on her small European nation; life during lockdown (even in as idyllic a location as a palace on the Riviera); and of course, dealing with her demanding royal family, especially her grandmother.

Since then, readers have been clamoring for more chapters of Mia’s coronavirus diary . . . and here they are at last: The Quarantine Princess Diaries include not only the previously released entries (now edited and updated with new content), but two hundred more pages of entirely original, never-before-seen entries, including the princess’s worries over a possible royal affair; a showdown between Mia and Grandmère over the latter’s intended nuptials; the eventual development and distribution of a groundbreaking intranasal vaccine for every citizen in Genovia; and, as always, a royally happy ending.

After all we’ve been through, what could be more comforting for any lover of royal romance than snuggling up with a brand new installment of the diary of Mia Thermopolis, the princess who started it all

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult, Adult, Audiobook, Chick Lit

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 7, 2023

About the author

Librarian note: AKA Jenny Carroll (1-800-Where-R-You series), AKA Patricia Cabot (historical romance novels).

Meg Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately she grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse -- at least until Meg became a teenager, when she flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut her own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which she failed miserably, forcing her to turn to her favorite hobby--writing novels--for emotional succor. She worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position she still occasionally misses.

She is now the author of nearly fifty books for both adults and teens, selling fifteen million copies worldwide, many of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 38 countries, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You? series (on which the television series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Jinx, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either/Big Boned), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble.

Meg is now writing a new children's series called Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls. Her new paranormal series, Abandon, debuts in Summer of 2011.

Meg currently divides her time between Key West, Indiana, and New York City with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta), various back-up cats, and her husband, who doesn't know he married a fire horse. Please don't tell him.


Series:
* Airhead
* The Princess Diaries
* Mediator

Reviews

[Meg Cabot]

MegCabot: Hi! Like a lot of you, I never thought I’d want to read, let alone write, something set during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But when there was such a positive reaction to the few entries I posted on my blog from Princess Mia’s “Coronavirus Diaries” back in May of 2020, I thought, “Well, maybe this is something?”

Then around the same time, I was contacted by a representative of a real life royal - Princess Mabel van Oranje of the Netherlands, who is a human rights activist and the founder of https://vowforgirls.org. Vow for Girls aims to end the international child marriage crisis (over 12 million girls a year are married instead of finishing school before they turn 18. Covid-19 has only made this worse).

Their question: “Was there a way Princess Mia could help spread Princess Mabel’s message?”

My answer: “Yes!”

So a portion of the proceeds of this book will go to Vow for Girls. 100% of funds raised by Vow For Girls goes directly to local organizations advancing girls’ rights!

Oh, wait. You probably want to know about the book: Well, The Quarantine Princess Diaries is 300+ pages of not only Mia’s previously released entries (now edited and updated with completely new content), but more than 200 ADDITIONAL pages of entirely original, never-before-seen entries!

Get ready to read about Princess Mia’s personal (and political) battles while imposing health restrictions on her small European nation; life during lockdown (even in as idyllic a location such as a palace on the Riviera); a suspected royal affair; the invention (and implementation) of an intranasal vaccine by Michael Moscovitz that could change the course of the pandemic – or at least the lives of every citizen in Genovia; and one very demanding royal grandmother.

If you pre-order The Quarantine Princess Diaries from a certain independent bookstore in Key West owned by Judy Blume (https://shop.booksandbookskw.com/book...), you can get an autographed and/or personalized copy as soon as the book becomes available (March 28, 2023. E-book available March 7). Just write in the comments section (when you get to the information form) what royal inscription you’d like!

Honestly, after all we’ve been through, what could be more comforting for any lover of royal romance than snuggling up with a brand new installment of the diary of the princess who started it all? Look for it in March 2023!

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!

Love, Meg

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay! I feel like I’m hugging an old friend I haven’t seen for a long time! Mia Thermopolis is back! Older, mature, a queen, mother of twins, trapped in Genovian Palace with the entire family in the middle of pandemic!

Queen Mia is under a lot of pressure, doing anything in her power to run the country, following the protocols by closing Genova borders, dealing with the angry protestors who want their business reopen immediately. There’s so much in her plate! The same genuine voice talks with us through the blog: her narration is honest, captivating!

There are many cameos of the characters we’ve known from the previous books make us cheerful! ( I’m not gonna give their names not to spoil full experience)

Overall: this is absolutely quick, fun, engaging read! It was amazing to return back to Mia’s universe! I’m always to read more books of the series! They’re extremely addictive!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

[Sheyla ✎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that I'm disappointed. I mean the Princess Diaries' first book was refreshing and cute. This one not so much.

The novel is supposed to be about Princess Mia dealing with the pandemic arriving at her doorstep. In my opinion, the author had a great chance to give some substance to the characters instead the majority of the book is just fluff. No real conflict. Worse, Mia is still insecure about her husband Michael. She passes her time drinking wine in sweatpants. She says she is worried about her family and the people of Genova but she doesn't do much except a couple of indictments to mandate masks and social distancing. Worse, all the fun of reading it went away between how political the book was and Mia making fun of Americans.

No one is sadder that I didn't like it than myself.

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Avon Impulse via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

[Natalie Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in my final year of my PhD and my brain is basically mush now. It is being powered by a hamster running on a wheel and occasionally boosted with energy drinks. Therefore, I will present my review in the form of easily digestible bullet points of what I enjoyed and didn't enjoy about this book:

Pros:
-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)
-Michael is #boyfriendgoals
-Quarantine Princess Diaries doubles as an informative read about covid and what we can do to stop the pandemic

Cons:
-It's kinda cringe that Mia is still insecure about Judith Gershner after all these years. It's not like Michael and Judith ever had a long-term relationship; they hooked up once and that was it. I can understand teenage Mia freaking out about it, but adult Mia, wedded mother of two, whose husband had never given her reason to worry? Just comes off as silly
-We never got a resolution to the Lars-Lilly thing. Why was she so anti-men all of a sudden? We never found out
-It was way too easy to convince those protesters to back down. Covid deniers still exist today and they wouldn't back down even on a ventilator

I liked Quarantine Princess Diaries overall though. It was a chocolate biscuit for my brain.

[alexis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that they’re a time capsule of their own into the superficial privileged camaraderie of those first couple months, but I still get SUCH bad secondhand embarrassment from early pandemic-centric creative work. Remember when every celebrity alive sang Imagine by John Lennon to signal to the Poors that we’re all in this together, but we were only like, six days into lockdown? The point is: I ended up basically reading this twice, because of COURSE I had to use the internet archive wayback machine to compare and contrast the original, now-deleted March 2020 blog posts that would later become this book.

The Princess Diaries books were unbelievably influential in shaping my personality as a teenager, so it‘s weird coming back to them as an adult and feeling kind of like I’m reading a newspaper Cathy comic strip. It doesn’t help that this book ends up falling into the weird, feel-good liberal political fantasy wish fulfillment that you’ll occasionally see in like, Avengers fanfics where Captain America marches for women’s reproductive rights and then kisses Iron Man on the White House steps as a big fuck you to republicans or whatever. Or two guys from Supernatural watch the Black Lives Matter uprisings on tv and talk about how sad racism is. There’s a varying degree of taste and self-awareness, but in fanfic at least, the author is almost always clearly using this as a therapeutic creative outlet to grapple with despair over a lack of immediate power in real world crises. And while chick lit is, in itself, largely a genre of wish fulfillment, this was still a book that people pay money for, so I hold it to a slightly higher standard than depressed 20-somethings writing that Harry Potter threw the first brick at stonewall.

In between hashtag relatable stories about parenting and married life during quarantine, Princess Mia Thermopolis spends a lot of time thinking about how her country’s police are good actually because they have “more ample” training&pay and are often substituted by social workers and mental health services, and how Genovia’s gun laws are good because citizens are only allowed hunting rifles and they can only check them out for a couple hours at a time on club property, and how Genovia uses facial recognition software and satellite drone technology to monitor potential threats(??????) and keep the royalty safe, and how every pride month, Genovia hangs up rainbow flags in the capital because Mia is an ally. Her ex-frenemy’s Irish babysitter who’s only around for one scene and has maybe three lines even mentions she’s bisexual. It’s the kind of head empty political world-building of someone who’s read a lot of twitter threads and wants to self-congratulatorily summarize them for readers who have also read those same twitter threads. The big finale is Mia’s hunk scientist husband owning an anti-vaxxer with facts and logic And Then Everybody Clapped.

Idk. I knew going in that this wasn’t going to be for me, so realistically there’s only so much I should really hate on it. Meg Cabot used to be one of my favorite authors in my late teens, but at some point I obviously diverged politically from her characters. This book ends on an optimistic note after “over a year” in self-isolation, now that a vaccine has finally been invented, and things can hopefully, tentatively start looking towards normal: talks of a small wedding, being able to travel to other countries, going to restaurants with friends as long as you keep your mask on while you’re not eating. The book ends on day 256 of quarantine. November 2020.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, I think I’ve aged out of the Princess Diaries. Mia Thermopolis and I grew up together, we both had twins, but only one of us seemed to mature and it wasn’t Mia. The concept of the book is great and having read all the previous books I was ready to travel to Genovia once more and experience the pandemic with Mia and her family. Everyone it seemed made appearances but the spark of the characters and their relationships with each other seemed lack luster. A spark is missing with this book. The book read like Mia was still 16 but now a 16 year old married mom running a country. What used to be funny in previous books doesn’t have the same charm this time around.

There are a lot of political undertones throughout the book regarding covid, mask mandates and gun control that are exhausting to read. Reading about Princess Mia should make the reader laugh out loud and escape but instead this book ended up resembling a news report.

And a grown up Mia never makes mistakes. She’s perfect while everyone around her is childish. With the addition of the twins it would have been fun to read about parenting fails and relationship dynamics under quarantine but instead the story is all about what everyone else is doing wrong and how much Mia loves wine.

While it’s a light read and a nice hello with old friends, unfortunately it was too overly saturated with politics and social issues to be enjoyable.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back when I was in college—I think I've told this story on Goodreads before, but it bears repeating—a new Princess Diaries book came out. I bought it, obviously, and during a slow moment in my geology lab, I slipped it out and started reading it, furtively, under the table. Not furtively enough: "What are you reading?" asked one of my tablemates. And so I had to sheepishly drag out The Princess Diaries, Book Whichever while the table burst into (friendly) laughter. "I thought it would be Jane Austen or something!" the tablemate said.

How far we've come: I'm in my 30s now and can't be bothered to be sheepish about whatever I choose to read (and anyway...e-readers for the win). But some things haven't changed, and I knew the second I saw this book that I'd be reading it as soon as humanly possible. How could I not? One must keep up with the world news, after all, and that includes the goings-on in Genovia.

In The Quarantine Princess Diaries, Mia has settled into her role as Princess of Genovia, and everything is just ducky, from parenting her twins through their terrible twos to implementing a composting program in Genovia.

There's just one problem.

It's early 2020...and we all know what that means.

Now, Mia has grown a bit since the last book: she no longer compulsively checks the tabloids to see how she's faring in the tabloid sphere; she's relatively chill about the way she's raising her children; she understands that as a teenager she was "completely mentally unhinged" (loc. 153*). The last bit alone is a rather miraculous bit of self-awareness.

As the pandemic slides on, though, and Mia is separated from Michael (by which I mean: he is quarantining down the hall, and she sees him from the balcony at least three times a day), wine o'clock gets earlier and earlier and Mia faces pushback against border closures and mask mandates...mostly from directly within her own family.

This is a predictably fast read and also a predictably exhausting one. Grandmère is in her finest of fine forms (though, truly, I've never loved her more than when she quotes Jane Eyre), and between her and Mia's father and Mia herself, it seems a minor miracle that Genovia has yet to slide into anarchy. (This is, remember, a country with no income tax, minimal business taxes, and not a single bookstore(!), but lots of beaches and bars and yachts. I'm not sure how any public services are paid for.) Mia seems to think that as a princess—the princess—the most valuable thing she can do with her time is volunteer at a nonprofit to help the poor (please note that in Royal Wedding she claimed that poverty and unemployment were at zero percent, so either Mia is delusional or things have gotten worse since she's been in charge. Either seems possible. Although, again, a zero-percent unemployment rate isn't actually a good thing, because it indicates stagnation) rather than, say, working on policies that will help lift the poor out of poverty and/or make sure they have necessary services in the meantime—

I'll stop. (I'm worse than Mia sometimes.) I won't even go on a rant about how Michael somehow, despite having no experience with vaccines, manages to produce one that is 99.9% effective(!) and Mia doesn't so much as consider making the details available to other countries, or her claim that the police in Genovia are universally beloved. I won't.

Will I now go back and reread all of the Princess Diaries books? Well. About that I make no promises...either way. I cannot in good conscience give this anything higher than three stars, because (I say cheerfully) Mia remains completely exhausting, and kind of an idiot, but you can bet your last dollar that if there is another of these in a few years it will be going on my to-read shelf just as fast as I can update that shelf. And I'd still put it in my bag and take it to geology lab, if push came to shove.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*I read a review copy, so quotes may not be final.

[Hannah B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

For being centered around COVID, I really did have a fun time! I love the Princess Diaries series so I had to do it. That being said, I read Cabot’s other adult Princess Diaries book and truth be told they’re so weird. The humor fits so well in the middle grade genre, but feels so strange in an adult romance. These two adult books are literally a blend of adult and middle grade and they’re just so odd. Mia doesn’t sound like an adult no matter what she’s going through or how much she’s roleplaying firefighters and aliens with Michael. I enjoyed this one more than the previous one and I definitely don’t regret the quick read!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Princess Mia, never change! Because that is truly what makes these books so great. Cabot has created characters that are so charmingly real, that no matter what life/the plot throws at them, I know that they're going to react in character. Mia is still, after so many years and twelve books, passionate about her causes, loyal to her friends and family, loving and insecure. She doesn't want to care about her appearance, but she has to, and it stresses her out. She doesn't want to change her friends when they make mistakes, but she wants them to be happy, safe, better, whatever, and so she does her best to help them.

But honestly, honestly, seeing Mia go through what so many of us went through during the pandemic (plus more, since she is, of course, the ruler of a small but important country), has been balm to my soul. Not knowing what day it is, let alone what time. Struggling with kids being home from school, trying to get elderly relatives to take care of themselves. Weight gain from lounging around stress eating. Princess Mia is all of us!

I'm glad this book came out now. If it had come out earlier, it would have been too soon. But now, as there are still COVID cases, and still people acting like idiots, but you're almost starting to forget how bad and weird it was, this is the perfect time. And what she, and Michael, and Lilly say to a certain person at the end was truly cathartic.

Balm to my soul.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

We all know by the synopsis what this book is about. It's about Mia and her family and extended family living through the first year or so of Covid and being quarantined! This series has now been running for 22 years!

I thought this book was an adult novel, but I'm not sure. The character of Mia is so immature that I wondered if she had ever grown from her introduction to this series. When I looked this up to see how long this series had been running, I was amazed to see that the very first book was for kids 11 years old and up...it sure has changed since Mia is married. However, she still acts very immaturely, and I can't suspend my disbelief enough to envision her running a country.

The issues I had with this book are the massive amounts of politics, political correctness, wokeness, and anti-America/Americans are 'idiots' trope. This is from an author who was born in Indiana!

If you are totally left-wing, you will love this book-if you are very strongly right-wing, you may hate it. Hopefully, you are somewhere in the middle and will find you enjoy the messages you will receive from this novel.

These issues aside, it is a cute, fast-reading book for days when you don't want to overthink what you are reading.

*ARC supplied by the publisher, NetGalley, and the author.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mia is whiny & childish.

After all these years, Mia still sounds like she's a teenager that hasn't left high school. I couldn't get past page one of the ARC book. I get that it's a book about Covid Quarantine but I thought it was unnecessary for Meg Cabot to "explain" Covid and it coming from "China", after all Mia lives in a fictional country. I picked up the ARC out of nostalgia for the series but I could not get into the book at all. It annoyed me more than anything else. DNF

[Nasty Lady MJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mercifully done. That one extra star was purely for nostalgia.

I'll be blunt about it I was already kind grimacy about this one before I read it. I read the blog entries and they were entertaining enough, but to make a book about COVID in general is just a little eye roll worthy. I am still detoxing from those we're all in this together commercials that blared the first half of 2020 before the PPP loans dried up and greed went out the wazoo and inflation occurred as a result.

Spoiler alert, Mia has toilet paper int his book. Not that that should be brought up.

The book thought takes place in an era of time that I think most people would like to forget. The characters at best feel like caricatures of their usual selves. COVID is the plot line and the characters are mainly just there. Michael apparently now can make vaccines in additional to robotic arms, being a musical genius, and looking like a male model....Judith Gershner of fruit fly fame makes a cameo because...conflict, reasons?

Honestly, this book should not exist. Mia herself goes from feeling like she's fifteen to fifty. She doesn't feel her age, and doesn't even really interact with her own kids. Being dubbed a baby licker when Rocky was born you'd think she talk more about her crouch demons. But instead, she is making policy decisions (despite being a figure head) and complaining about Grandmere (who is beyond stale at this point). Oh, and we are told how she is totally grey now without hair dye even though she's probably not even 30 (and yes, I know some people are prematurely grey but come on). Worse though, this book was extremely preachy.

Cabot's always had the tendency. Ready or Not, for example, is essentially a sex ed book and a sex positive book and nothing much else. And I get it being from a very red state, she is probably beyond frustrated with some of the policies Florida has enacted now. However, I don't need it ham-fisted in a book that is suppose to get my mind off of the world. Also, if we were going to talk about current events why not have Mia address the elephant in the room-aka Grandmere invited Trump to her mother's wedding in book two.

Really, if you're a fan of this series I don't know if I can really recommend it to you. I thought Royal Wedding ended on such a strong note-there was an actual plot there and character development. This book is just about Mia being a lush, over eating, needing to get some Lady Clairol, and needing to put Grandmere in a home.

I sort of hope there's no more entries but at the same time I don't really want the series to end on this note.

It's really because Cabot can do better. Her book last year was a thousand times more readable than this slop. And yes, there was some preachiness there but it was tame compared to this.

[Dina · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Princess Diaries were a cornerstone of my childhood, and I saw myself in anxious, neurotic, awkward Mia, and wished I could be a teen in New York City training to be a princess (also, my first book crush was the one and only Michael, to whom my heart will always belong). Now in her early thirties, queen of a country, and mother of two, Mia is still indistinguishable from the self-centered, utterly unhinged 15 year old from her earlier high school years.

For all of my mental instability, I'd like to think I've grown a lot since high school, and I don't have the responsibility of a country to run.

She might have always been insufferable, but add that to her age, supposed experience, and recounting of the COVID pandemic, this made me want to gouge my eyes out. Her family is still awful, her friends are equally problematic, and no growth is seen anywhere. There were 9 pages of her and her friends detailing movies to watch during quarantine. I've already lived through 3 years of COVID stress, and I wasn't feeling it being read back to me by someone who wasn't the healthiest mentally.

I am always heartbroken when I see a series end in the height of it's popularity, but this one is long past it's expiration date. It's time to let these characters go.

[Michaela]

If the Princess Diaries books have a thousand fans, I am one of them. If they have one fan, that one is me. And if they have no fans, I am dead.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can always have more Mia and Michael in my life 😍😍

The Grandmere/Derek story was hilarious, oh Grandmere ❤️

So heartening and I loved catching up with everyone!! We got lil updates on so many people 😍

Meg... Please always write more!

[Abby Cozart · Rating 2 out of 5]

**2.5 stars
Mia Thermopolis is back, and she is quarantined with her friends and family in Genovia.
While I have not read all the books in the series, I was excited to receive this ARC of The Quarantine Princess Diaries.
I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this one that much. While I did enjoy seeing how Mia and the country of Genovia responded to COVID-19, I thought this installment was tedious and would have been better as a novella. I did love the cameos of the wide variety of characters we know and love from The Princess Diaries. Overall, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon US for the ARC!

[Emily Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quarantine Princess Diaries
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Meg Cabot
GR: 3.58

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Avon Books and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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.

As reported in media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, The Mary Sue, Refinery 29, Bustle, and more, from March until June of 2020, sixteen entries of the princess’s diary were leaked onto Ms. Cabot’s blog, to the delight of over a million fans.

In these entries, titled The Coronavirus Princess Diaries, the princess recorded her most heartfelt emotions while dealing with her husband’s quarantine after exposure to the virus; her personal (and political) battles while imposing health restrictions on her small European nation; life during lockdown (even in as idyllic a location as a palace on the Riviera); and of course, dealing with her demanding royal family, especially her grandmother.

Since then, readers have been clamoring for more chapters of Mia’s coronavirus diary . . . and here they are at last: The Quarantine Princess Diaries include not only the previously released entries (now edited and updated with new content), but two hundred more pages of entirely original, never-before-seen entries, including the princess’s worries over a possible royal affair; a showdown between Mia and Grandmère over the latter’s intended nuptials; the eventual development and distribution of a groundbreaking intranasal vaccine for every citizen in Genovia; and, as always, a royally happy ending.

My Thoughts: This is book No. 12 in The Princess Diaries. While this is an ongoing series, this book can be read as a standalone (it was the first of the series for me). While some of the other characters are expanded on in the previous books, I was able to catch on rather quickly. I have always had a fascination with royalty, whether it was on the TV or in book format. I also love the COVID spin this one portrays. COVID was hard for everyone, but I can see where other people might be affected differently. There will always be different views on anything happening in the World and COVID was no different, there are many people that do no believe on it, denies its existence, even if they have COVID on death’s door. I did like how the author dives into COVID. This storyline was a continuation to an older one, where it built upon the original story. This storyline has a bit of a political feel to it and I really dislike politics, which is why I think this was not a 5 star read for me. However, I know many readers will love this book, as an expansion of what they read as a teenager. Princess Mia just exhausted me. While I know this is a work of fiction, some of the stats/policies just did not seem probable. I just did not care for this book and it is likely the political angle it took. Again, I know some readers will love this book, it just was not for me.

[Angelika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm very shocked that I gave this book 4 stars. Because I have been the BIGGEST fan of this series for about ten years now. Mia inspired me to write and now I've written a book of my own. That's not a joke. That's serious fandom.


THE GOOD:

This book felt like a hug, the kind that comforts you when you don't know who you are and just need a familiar presence to hold you down. The revisit to this world was 100% worth the purchase of the physical copy AND an ebook. Worth every penny. If you grew up with Mia, there's no way this book won't slap you in the face with the most beautifully nostalgic feeling. Seeing Grandmere and Lilly and Lana felt AMAZING. Michael is still the most wonderful man in the world. Seeing who he is now makes me so proud that he was my first book boyfriend.
The manner in which Meg has shaped Mia herself, AMAZING. 10 years ago, Mia was who I wanted to be and even now she's (kinda) who I want to be when I grow up...

THE NOT-SO-GOOD:

Not remotely enough Michael Moscovitz content. Not remotely enough Rocky, Helen, Phillippe, Tina Hakim Baba, Boris Pelkowski, Elizabeth and Frank content. AND WHERE DID MY MAN LARS JUST DISAPPEAR!? He's in there but he's also like barely there? And Lilly and Lars? Why did Meg just forget that storyline in the middle of the book? WHERE'S MY ENDGAME MEG!?
And you gave me so much Fat Louie content but you don't even introduce me to Mia's babies!!!! What is up with that Meg!?
Also I genuinely love most of the book but somewhere, the "awareness" that it tries to reflect crosses the line into preachy... not so much that I'd give the book less than 4 stars, but definitely enough that I CANNOT in good conscience give it all 5. It's not fair to the OG books...

THE OVERALL:

If you grew up with this series, this is absolutely the return to the universe that you wanted. But it's not for people who aren't die-hard fans. If you liked this series in passing, this book may not be for you... but if Mia and Lilly and Tina were your best friends growing up, you will love this book, flaws and all.

Personally, I haven't been in the happiest place lately and desperately needed a comforting hug. Unfortunately I abhor hugs.
Thankfully this book, with it's perfectly timed release, injected the comfort I needed into my veins. So I'd say, if you need a moment to break away from your life and revisit the good old days, this is the book to read. Just know that Mia isn't the same, just like you are no longer the same.

[Arianna ✨]

I thought this would be an interesting take on the franchise I loved so much growing up. But I was instantly reminded of why I didn't read the books when I was younger. There's just something about the character's voice that I don't vibe with and never did.

I knew it would be *an experience* to read a book solely about someone's experience during the pandemic. But with the recent declaration of the official end to the pandemic, it just hits different & not in a good way.

I can definitely see the appeal for anyone who loved the books growing up, this one just wasn't for me. Thank you to Avon and Meg Cabot for sending me an ARC!

[Matyldzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

-1⭐️because the alcohol thread was unnecessary and wrong

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah.

[Phoebe (readandwright) Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Avon Harper Voyager, Avon Impulse for my advanced copy! All thoughts are my own.

I was very very excited to visit Genovia in this book. But ultimately, I think this is one piece of nostalgia I should have left in the past. Or at least just watched the movie. This book is fine, but I really didn’t enjoy reading it. I wasn’t charmed by the characters and felt annoyed and outraged more often than joyful. It does focus on the early days of the pandemic, but instead of being funny or endearing, I just found the characters insufferable.

Ultimately, the book is short and fun but I don’t think it was necessary for Princess Mia’s legacy.

Synopsis:

“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.

As reported in media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, The Mary Sue, Refinery 29, Bustle, and more, from March until June of 2020, sixteen entries of the princess’s diary were leaked onto Ms. Cabot’s blog, to the delight of over a million fans.

In these entries, titled The Coronavirus Princess Diaries, the princess recorded her most heartfelt emotions while dealing with her husband’s quarantine after exposure to the virus; her personal (and political) battles while imposing health restrictions on her small European nation; life during lockdown (even in as idyllic a location as a palace on the Riviera); and of course, dealing with her demanding royal family, especially her grandmother.

Since then, readers have been clamoring for more chapters of Mia’s coronavirus diary . . . and here they are at last: The Quarantine Princess Diaries include not only the previously released entries (now edited and updated with new content), but two hundred more pages of entirely original, never-before-seen entries, including the princess’s worries over a possible royal affair; a showdown between Mia and Grandmère over the latter’s intended nuptials; the eventual development and distribution of a groundbreaking intranasal vaccine for every citizen in Genovia; and, as always, a royally happy ending.

After all we’ve been through, what could be more comforting for any lover of royal romance than snuggling up with a brand new installment of the diary of Mia Thermopolis, the princess who started it all?” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Nostalgia—I loved Meg Cabot when I was younger. She was absolutely part of my foundation as a reader. I was really excited to revisit Mia and her friends and family for this reason. But I think I remembered the books wildly differently…

What Didn’t Work:

The Overall Tone—The tone is pretty irreverent, which I wasn’t expecting. I will admit I didn’t read the blog posts Meg Cabot released early on in 2020 when everyone was joking about how Mia would handle the Pandemic in Genovia, so maybe this is what they were like. But I found it pretty two dimensional and frankly, annoying. There were also some words and phrases that made me cringe.

Immature Characters—I read The Princess Diaries: The Royal Wedding when it came out and really enjoyed it! I guess I thought that this would feel more like that…but I don’t think it did. Mia felt like she hadn’t grown up at all.

Lack of Plot—It felt like there was no direction in this book. Maybe that was the point, since we were all a little directionless in 2020, but from a reading perspective, it didn’t work.

Character Authenticity: 1/5 Spice Rating: N/A Overall Rating: 2/5

Content Warnings:

excessive alcohol use, Covid-19 pandemic

[idiomatic · Rating 2 out of 5]

what an insane cultural artifact. that said, s/o to meg cabot for having unmatched digestible candy prose even when creating the world's most cringe AP Millennial DBQ

[Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

In March 2020, Meg Cabot shared 16 delightful diary entries from Princess Mia on her blog, calling them “Corona Princess Diaries.” These blog posts have since been expanded into a full-length novel in The Princess Diaries series.

I have been following Princess Mia since I was a pre-teen and have read every single book in this series. While I was excited to see a new novel in the series was being released, part of me wondered if I was ready to relive the early days of the pandemic. Let’s face it, we all remember it vividly while at the same time are trying to forget it, right? Luckily The Quarantine Princess is a light-hearted take on a very serious time in our collective history. Readers reunite with their old friend Mia while she tries to navigate her way through the same unknown territory we all were experiencing in 2020 – isolation, social distancing, taking care of her family, the covid 15, (maybe too much) wine, and not remembering what day it was. Granted, she was also worrying about the health and safety of an entire principality but somehow she still felt very relatable – and isn't that part of her charm?

Some things were a little over the top – can someone tell me how Rommel and Fat Louie are still alive? – but it’s nice to reunite with Lilly, and Tina, and even Lana (that’s right, the gang’s all here!). At times I was frustrated by how Mia still sounds like her sixteen year old self (I struggle with this in a lot of Cabot’s adult fiction; she tends to write characters who can come off sounding immature) but I like to think that Mia has grown up and the only reason she sounds the same is a testament to how well Cabot knows her princess. The Quarantine Princess is like visiting your best friend from childhood and ultimately that is a very comforting thing. A fun and quick read for grown-up fans of The Princess Diaries series. 3.5 stars rounded up for nostalgia purposes

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Avon Impulse for the advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Living My Best Book Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

Princess Mia Thermopolis is back and ready to tackle the pandemic. Meg Cabot's The Quarantine Princess Diaries brings back so many memories and yet gives fans a look into the life of Mia in her adulthood. It's nostalgic and another fun adventure for 'The Princess Diaries' fans to enjoy!

The book is a bunch of diary entries by Princess Mia. She is a grown-up now and ruling Genovia like a boss. She is now a mother of twins and married to Michael. From the outside looking in, she has a perfect life. But then the coronavirus starts hitting the news and she is about to face another challenging task; trying to keep the people of Genovia safe while raising her family.

I loved this so much because it felt like reuniting with an old friend. Mia has come into her own and started a beautiful family with Michael. I always knew they were endgame. It's also really cool to see her in boss mode. When the pandemic arises, you see Mia want to close borders and find a vaccine all in hopes of keeping the people of Genovia safe. You'd think everyone would want to follow the orders and stay safe, but there is opposition. What's most annoying is that it's coming from people in her own family.

There are many light moments that will help readers stop getting stressed from reading about the pandemic. I loved getting some steamy scenes between Mia and Michael! And you can't help but love Grandmere and her antics.

I give The Quarantine Princess Diaries 4 stars. It's a nostalgic read that makes you appreciate Mia Thermopolis for the strong woman she has become. Readers can expect to laugh and swoon at her diary entries throughout the pandemic.

[Anjali · Rating 2 out of 5]

It truly pains me to give a "Princess Diaries" book this low of a rating, but this book is just not up to Cabot's usual standards. I had read quite a few of these lockdown entries during our actual lockdown in the U.S., when Cabot was posting them on her website, and I enjoyed them as casual blog posts. But grouped together into a novel, with new material added, they just don't make for a fun read. Every other page has Cabot hammering home, through her characters, the stupid arguments of anti-vaxxers and those individuals refusing to believe in the science behind the restrictions and proper COVID behavior. It comes across as unceasingly strident and belabored, and doesn't age well past the period of lockdown. I'm assuming that the majority of Cabot's fans already know and believe these things, and since I know and agree with the points she was trying to make, it got old really quickly. Mia and the palace are in lockdown in Genovia! Michael has to isolate so Mia is deprived of his physical presence for 14 days! The whole family is nutso as usual! Grandmere gets engaged to a college student partying in Genovia over spring break right before lockdown! Everyone is angry at Mia for the restrictions and mask mandates! If you want fun and enjoyable adult Mia, go read Royal Wedding. In fact, I might go reread it just to feel less annoyed. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Avon Impulse for a digital review copy.

[anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

An unfun book that worldbuilds the pandemic through the liberal lens, as if we hadn't all lived through it. I was hoping for relatable commiseration and nostalgia, but it's mostly Mia touting policies used to stop the spread of COVID, plus other polarizing issues, while belittling any opposing viewpoints. Sadly there is no nuance, no middle ground, none of the irony of the original series to balance this out. It's patronizing and propagandistic. I don't necessarily disagree with the ideology; I just hate blatant politics in fictional books that have no reason to be so partisan. I mean, the book cover is frickin pink with a sparkly crown on it. Who could blame me for thinking this would be a frivolous escapist read?

And politics aside, the plot, storytelling, and characters sucked in the same fashion as the 11th book. I really hope Meg Cabot doesn't write anymore "adult" Princess Diaries books.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I did it. I finished the Princess Diaries. There’s hardly any character development across these books, but that’s not really what anyone’s reading them for anyways is it? It’s a fun dose of nostalgia and a comforting group of characters to revisit from time to time. Weird to be reading a pandemic set fiction in the five years later now that seems like it was both a lifetime away and just moments ago at the same time. Fun to see how the fictional Genovia handled the situation, and I’d continue to read future installments of Mia’s diaries. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another global crisis to get us there.

[LittleRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, at first I thought…too soon. But then I started reading and fell back into enjoying hearing things from Mia’s perspective. It’s not too soon…and it seems royals handled lockdown pretty much the same way we all did…its of wine, desserts and comfy clothes! A fun and quick read!

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Who is the audience for this book? All the characters are insufferable and have not matured since the first couple of books, especially Mia, and no young readers who started the series recently will want to read about this parent in her 30s, even though she behaves like a teen.