Review: Remembrance (The Mediator #7) – Meg Cabot

You can take the boy out of the darkness.
But you can’t take the darkness out of the boy.

All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva). But when she’s hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn’t all that’s coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn’t only because she’s a mediator, gifted with second sight.

What happens when old ghosts come back to haunt you?
If you’re a mediator, you might have to kick a little ass.

From a sophomore haunted by the murderous specter of a child to ghosts of a very different kind—including Paul Slater, Suze’s ex, who shows up to make a bargain Suze is certain must have come from the Devil himself—Suze isn’t sure she’ll make it through the semester, let alone to her wedding night. Suze is used to striking first and asking questions later. But what happens when ghosts from her past—including one she found nearly impossible to resist—strike first?

Rating: 3/5

The main problem with this book is that neither the writing nor the characters has matured – while Suze is now in her mid twenties, the narration still feels like that of a teenager using extremely colloquial style. Maybe Cabot’s flippant tone just doesn’t work for me anymore.

But I read this with a sense of nostalgia – how many times haven’t we wished to encounter our childhood faves as adults and see what and how they’re doing now?

It was a fast and fairly fun read – Suze is as flippant as ever, Jesse is as gorgeous and wholesome, and we encounter most of the familiar characters from the previous books, like old school nemesis and extended family.

The case that Suze tackles is slightly more serious, involving abused children, while her ex-mediator-colleague from school, Paul, adds a dose of sleaze that made me want to scrub myself in the shower. Despite these more serious additions, the tone still remains fairly light hearted, although our MC ends up making some rather serious life decisions in this novel.

All in all, fans of the series will get a kick out of this instalment, but I wouldn’t recommend to new readers.

ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Royal Wedding (Princess Diaries #11) – Meg Cabot

For Princess Mia, the past five years since college graduation have been a whirlwind of activity, what with living in New York City, running her new teen community center, being madly in love, and attending royal engagements. And speaking of engagements. Mia’s gorgeous longtime boyfriend Michael managed to clear both their schedules just long enough for an exotic (and very private) Caribbean island interlude where he popped the question! Of course Mia didn’t need to consult her diary to know that her answer was a royal oui.

But now Mia has a scandal of majestic proportions to contend with: Her grandmother’s leaked “fake” wedding plans to the press that could cause even normally calm Michael to become a runaway groom. Worse, a scheming politico is trying to force Mia’s father from the throne, all because of a royal secret that could leave Genovia without a monarch. Can Mia prove to everyone–especially herself–that she’s not only ready to wed, but ready to rule as well?

Rating: 3.5/5

D’awww. ❤

Pretty sure that all of us reading this book are those who were rabid fangirls of the Princess Diaries in our teenage years – and now we get the closure we were looking for!

I’ve enjoyed some of Meg Cabot’s adult contemporary reads as well – so I kind of knew what to expect – sweet, funny, some fluff, some dramatics, and the much-desired HEA.

It did take me a little while to get into this, in that Mia’s voice initially grated on me until I got used to it – what worked for me at 14 is not necessarily what rocks for me a decade later.

But Royal Wedding contained a number of *surprise revelations* (although the thing with her parents was super cheesy), and of course, plenty of Mia-related mishaps.

A number of our favourite characters are also featured, from relatives to old school friends – and Michael, of course, is just awesome.

A must-read if you were a fan of the series!

ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.