The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine: Review Haiku

Smith is my new Meg Cabot:
all the books are the same,
but I can't stop.

The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series) by Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, 2015, 213 pages.

Royal Wedding: Review Haiku

The weirdest part was

reading the middle-school version

before this one.

Royal Wedding (Princess Diaries) by Meg Cabot. Morrow, 2015, 448 pages.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock: Review Haiku

Rock-star-turned-RA
has another teen-pop mystery
on her hands.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot. Morrow, 2012, 384 pages.

Blast from the Past: Review Haiku

Even on old-timey-
village field trips, mean girls

are total bitches.

Blast from the Past (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #6) by Meg Cabot. Scholastic, 2010, 240 pages.

Allie Finkle: Glitter Girls and the Great Fake-Out: Review Haiku

Is there any fourth-
grader as self-assured as
Allie? Mean girls suck.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #5: Glitter Girls and the Great Fake-Out by Meg Cabot. Scholastic, 2010, 192 pages.

Zombies vs. Unicorns: Review Haiku

The zombie ones rock,
but unicorns have sex and
fart rainbows. TEAM U.

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. McElderry, 2010, 432 pages.

Allie Finkle #4: Review Haiku

The dramarama
of fourth grade, now with extra
theatre-y goodness.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #4: Stage Fright by Meg Cabot. Scholastic, 2009, 224 pages.

Forever Princess: Review Haiku

Oh, Princess Mia:
at last you get your happily
ever after.

Forever Princess: A Princess Diaries Book by Meg Cabot. Harper, 2009, 383 pages.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #2: The New Girl: Review Haiku

Allie, meet bully.
Bully, meet Allie. Now go
learn big life lessons.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #2: The New Girl by Meg Cabot. Scholastic, 2008, 240 pages.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day: Review Haiku

Meet Allie Finkle:
what Meg Cabot sounded like
at nine, more or less.

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #1: Moving Day by Meg Cabot. Scholastic, 2008, 228 pages.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched and Big Boned: Review Haiku

Two women, one voice:
One solves crimes, one makes dresses.
Oh, Meg, I heart you.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot. Avon, 2008, 288 pages (read as ARC).
Big Boned by Meg Cabot. Avon, 2007, 280 pages.

Princess Mia: Review Haiku

Mia. Open your
goddamn EYES. Grow up. Move on.
Oh, wait -- you did. Good!

Princess Mia by Meg Cabot. Harper, 2008, 274 pages.

P.S. Munchkin: That says "princess!"
Me: Yes. Yes, it does. But you can't read it.

Queen of Babble in the Big City: Review Haiku

O dear Lord, thank you
that I am neither single
nor twenty-something.

Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot. Morrow, 2007, 307 pages.

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either: Review Haiku

Is this where we'll find
Britney: crime-solving dorm chief?
One can only hope.

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot. Avon, 2006, 344 pages.

Princess on the Brink: Review Haiku

Dear Ms. Meg Cabot:
Why, oh why can't I quit you?
Nice sex message, though.

Princess on the Brink: Princess Diaries, Volume 8. Harper, 2006, 256 pages.

Pants on Fire: Review Haiku

This one's earthy, chaste
(sort of). But after a while,
they all sound the same.

Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot. Harper, 2007, 260 pages.

Queen of Babble

Oh, Meg Cabot. How I love your girlish charm, your refreshingly blunt take on writing and so-called literature, your gap-toothed grin, and your stubborn refusal to accept the fact that you gotta be pushing 40. (And I do mean this in the nicest way: Meg seems like the kind of gal with whom I'd want to share pitcher upon pitcher of margaritas.)

But every time I read another of Meg's adult books, I'm struck by two things:
1) Wow, the narrator's voice sounds just like the one from [insert previous Cabot title here].
2) And hey, if it weren't for a couple adult situations (sex and travel, usually), this could be just like one of her YA titles.

Good beach read, fun and forgettable. (See? I barely even remember enough of the plot to summarize it here.)

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot. Morrow, 2006, 288 pages.

Party Princess

I like Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries books: they're fun and fluffy and don't pretend to be anything more than that, really. Cabot's characters have good moral centers (gaak, cannot believe just wrote that) -- but really, they do. These books are a decent antidote to the soulless Gossip Girls and Clique series: it's the same kind of name-dropping, trend-heavy contemporary setting, but focuses on the dorks and misfits of the high school social scene.

That's not to say the formula can't get a little tired, though, and this (the seventh in the series) is showing some signs of age. Now that Mia has her perfect boyfriend, the tension of feeling like a romantic loser has abated somewhat; now she frets about taking her relationship with Michael to the next level (S-E-X). I did enjoy the intriguing little J.P. subplot in Party Princess: Mia doesn't quite realize she's flirting with (and enjoying being flirted with in return) another great guy, but the reader (and Lilly) sure does. I'll be interested to see if the Michael/Mia pairing survives another book.

A good choice for summer or when you've got two or three hours to kill.

Party Princess by Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries, Volume VII). Harper, 2006, 304 pages.