The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting [Audiobook, Ungekürzte Ausgabe] [Englisch] [Hörkassette]

I've read some of the reviews here and it seems most readers don't seem to like this book as much as the other ones. However, I personally liked this book but maybe I'm just easy to please.
The book starts off with Mia being in Genovia during her Christmas break and her formal introduction to the Genovian populace. After a disastrous televised address where Mia inadvertently starts a debate over whether or not to install parking meters in Genovia, Mia attends all the political/royal activities planned by Grandmere and gets lectured by her grandmother for having veered off course from her prepared speech. Between acting like a princess and being tortured by Grandmere, Mia obsesses over her newly acquired boyfriend Michael (whom she has had a crush on forever), recording the days since she last saw him and then the days when she will see him again. Finally Mia returns to New York to more princess lessons from Grandmere on account of the whole parking-meter thing, more Algebra, and finally gets to see all her friends again, but best of all, her boyfriend. Just when Mia thought she was to finally have a date with Michael (seeing Star Wars at a screening room), she finds out her grandmother had other plans in mind: She wants Mia to attend a black and white ball hosted by one of Grandmere's old rivals, Countess Trevanni. Mia does not know what to do. Fancy shmancy ball or corny date with boyfriend (no offense but star wars??)? In the end, everything turns out fine and I think the end is probably the best part!!!
Cabot's writing matches the other Princess Diaries books portraying Mia as a witty, sarcastic, anxious, misfit teen who is out to conquer and change the world, whether they are ready for her or not. What I really liked about this book was that everybody seemed to have a goal in this book. Lilly is determined to meet with the produces of the movie based on Mia's life (and she does and gets a very exciting offer), Michael has decided to start a band (along with Boris), Tina has to get over her boyfriend Dave, and Mia... well Mia has a bunch: achieve self-actualization, find out her secret talent, and learn how to be a princess etc... It was a little disappointing to see some favorite characters fading out such as Mr. Giannini and Mia's mom and dad and Lana. I understand not all characters can be present in a book but Mia's mom is sort of more important than Prince Rene, no offense. But I liked the introduction of Prince Rene, hopefully he'll show up in future books (including with Sebastiano, Rene made up for Sebastiano's total exclusion from the book... heck i wish Hank would show up too lol)
For those of you who found Mia to be repulsive and too self-centered with her own life, guess what??? That is completely normal!!! EVERYBODY is like that when they are a teenager!! I'm like that too, sometimes I don't think about others and yes I may act like the world revolves around me!!! It's how we are (i'm a teenager!), we kind of forget about our parents as we start leading our own lives complete with romance, friends, school, work, and other activities. I mean come on, give me a break. Mia is here to show us none of can be perfect, even though she tries to be. Do you expect her to be selfless and always think of other people??? I like her the way she is, it's good to know that I'm not alone in thinking the world seems to be against me sometimes!!

I loved Meg Cabot's first two Princess Mia books, enjoyed the third one, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the fourth one. So I read Princess in Waiting with a feeling I must reluctantly call "disappointment." It simply seems that these books are running out of steam.

The coverage of Mia's time in Genovia (learning to be a proper princess) was amusing, and there were some wonderful inside jokes about a TV movie of her life that were clearly directed at the Disney movie version of the first book in the series.

The characters were all there, doing what they always do -- Mia making witty, mildly angst-ridden comments on life and high school, Grandmere chewing up the scene whenever she appears, Lily being upset about something, Tina being romantic and mildly drippy, Boris playing the violin and tucking his sweater into his pants, and Michael being utterly too good to be true. The elements were all there -- the diary device (though how Mia gets as much writen is bathrooms, during classes, and standing around in hallways as she does is beyond me), the lists she makes with Lily, the inserted IM conversations. But compared to the others in the series, this book just seemed flat.

Perhaps Ms. Cabot is streching herself too thin (with this series, the Mediator series, All Americal Girl, and the romance novels she writes for both teens and adults.) If she truly, as she says on her website, hopes to follow Mia though all four years of high school, she may want to pick up the pace a bit. Because at the current rate, readers may lose interest in Mia long before she goes to college, joins Greenpeace, or takes over the governing of a small European principality.

Princess in Waiting began with Mia in Genovia, the small but important country that she is princess of. She is to be there for a bit less than a month. In the last book, Princess in Love, she aquired a boyfriend, her best friend's brother, Michael, who is on vacation in Florida. Mia keeps thinking that he is going to fall in love with someone like Kate Bosworth and keeps comparing herself to her. Than she accidentally forgets his birthday because she is so busy in Genovia and starts stressing out about that. This girl is a DRAMA PRINCESS!!! When school starts again, she is still worried about her relationship with Michael, and is even more stressed out when she has to cancel their first real date because she had to go to her grandmother's ball and is afraid that she is going to get dumped for sure. The ending is very sweet and mushy, but good all the same.

Princess in Waiting started out kind of slow and whiny, but got a lot better as the storyline progressed. To tell the truth, most of the first part of this book is pretty boring, and the book doesn't really get going until about halfway through. The first three were a little better, and I was able to get into them a lot easier. In this book though, she was a little too concerned with her relationship with Michael, to be honest, like he was her soul mate or something, but I really did like the ending. I just think that she was REALLY whiny and put herself down way too much.