Royal Crown: From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess

Royal Crown: From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot           AudioBook: 4 hours, 7 minutes       Hardback book:  224 pages           

Not since the War of the Roses between the House of Stewart and the House of Tudor has there been such royal intrigue!   Cousins fighting amongst themselves to be the next successor to the Genovian throne being abdicated Princess Olivia’s Dad.    Cousins are coming out of the woodwork trying to climb over each other to grab the crown when succession traditionally goes to the oldest child of the previous monarch which means Olivia’s older sister (Olivia is third in line for the crown).   The cousins are playing on their worthiness, their birthrights and their genetic makeup according to the genobe project detecting their DNA lines.   It is not pretty heading up to the coronation with all the snarky remarks, backstabbing and mayhem afoot.   Add to this that loads of royal relatives are coming in for the coronation from all over the globe with their children which begets a golden opportunity to make some pocket money for the young royals to babysit the uppercrust children.   It is also a marketing coup the royal princesses advertise that the incoming royal guests can have their royal darlings babysat by princesses of the realm who can also impart knowledge to the kinder on how to behave with royal etiquette.   When the princesses royal grandmother got wind of their ploy she wanted in and took on the job of being their manager for 10% of their earnings (Grandma is certainly savvy and rules the roost).    A fun read with lots of haught attitude on Princess Luisa’s part – she is a little jerk to everyone but Grandmama knows how to get her in line – seems she is the only one with any sway when it comes to Luisa.    There is royal romance afoot, too, as well as squalling twins, and Princess Purple Iris (her mother got the idea for her name from Beyonce who she named her daughter Blue Ivy).   Princess Purple Iris is a three year old with a yen to be a hairdresser and insists on brushing everyone’s including any royal pooches’ hair or bear the brunt of her disgruntled screams.   Its either that or bear the beating of her brush and comb set – kind of a toss up and Olivia keeps suggesting Purple Iris brush the dog who just loves it.   The dog gives Olivia a long look and ducks and runs when Purple Iris comes after it, salon products in hand.     It is a cute and funny story and gads the subject of a young lady’s menses even takes center stage!    A fun romp of a story that I think would make a particularly well received film.   I would recommend this story and Meg Cabot has always been a fun writer to read.    Well done.