It is insane to me how normalised these kinds of relatioships were, teen girls dating guys in their 20s. The amount of grown men who thought having relationships with minors is okay is baffling thinking back...
i know right. I remember that happening in the Georgia Nicholson books too when I think back on it. How she was I think 14/15 and dating an 18/19 year old.
@@Jen-fantasyandfiction Yeah I remember revisiting that series and realizing that Robby is I think 17/18, basically a high school senior, and I think Georgia is 14 for most of the story. Still love the film and stuff, but that age gap in school is crazy.
@@turnipcrazyi remember back in high school in like '08 and '09 our school was brand new and added a new grade every year. so the first year it just had one class. the second year it now had sophomores and added freshman. the next year juniors, sophomores, and freshman, etc. and the first year we had boys turning 18 one of our teachers sat them down and talked to them about needing to be careful because a lot of them their girlfriends were still 15-16. it was such a weird time.
These were some of my favorite books growing up and I straight up didn't remember how big the age gap was until this video. I thought it was more like 15-16 & 18 which is still iffy but not nearly as bad. It's legitimately scary how normal it was to me as a young teenager.
In the movie, Mia and Lilly are sophomores and Mia turns 16 in the movie. Since Michael is older, he’s either a junior or senior so like 17-18. I feel like that’s a reasonable age gap. ALOT better than the book imo EDIT: Actually scratch that, he’s a junior I’m pretty sure because it’s the end of the school year in the movie and there’s no mention of him graduating. So just one year age gap.
I remember reading this series as a teen about Mia's age and being APPALLED by how Michael was pressuring Mia for sex. It genuinely made me think that maybe all boys wanted that as the "end game". I wish Meg Cabot had written a more positive message where Michael respected Mia's boundaries and feelings more. It's fine to tell your partner if you are ready to be more intimate, but when Mia says she's not reqdy, Michael should have respected that boundary. That woukd have been a much better narrative for teens to read about, especially with this series being as popular as it was, it should have been the author's duty to portray a healthy repect between them both.
absolutely, I could not finish the series because I heard they got back together... I thought FINALLY when they broke up. I do wonder what happened between her and the friend, JP, she starts kissing on the rebound... and now I get to find out w/out having to read the book. did you find Mia's reason for abstaining odd? I could understand if the writer went with "not giving too much of your heart" as a secular version of the "purity pledge" but even the totally religious crowd I spent my teens and tweens with never decided that the blood/hymen snap was a "precious gift" ... but I could be remembering that part wrong.
When I was about 13 or 14, I remember excitingly picking up book 1 after I watched the movies. I was heart broken and shocked over how terrible the characters were. They were so mean! 😭 I didn't continue the series, and this vlog validated little me's decision.
Omg the princess diaries!! So many flashbacks lol. My mom took us to a book signing for the author when she was in town. I was young but don't remember my exact age. The author signed it "To the little Princess" and i was distraught because I was a tomboy and did NOT want to be a princess 😂
I get that XD Someone called me princess in a message and I stopped right in my tracks and felt so disgusted. I don't want to be called princess. It also did not help that I barely knew the guy and was not interested in him at all.
I remember reading this book series when I was 10 or so but in the Portuguese translation and loving it. I re-read the first a few years later when I started reading in English because it was an easier read and my reading skills were not great. Imagine my surprise when I was reading it and I didn't remember certain parts! I thought to myself: am I just not remembering right? So I grabbed my copy in PT and hold and behold WHOLE PARAGRAPHS WERE MISSING!! Guess our translators also were appalled with the book. I never got passed the 1st one in English really after that.
i was listening to this while level grinding in a game and the way my jaw DROPPED so many times and i had to pause playing and just stare at you in disbelief, i cannot believe how different from the movies these books truly are 😭😭
Wow, didn't realise the books were so toxic! 😭 I remember reading the first few books as a teen and thinking they were alright. I even remember that scene you mentioned about Lily's Southern cousin who wanted to be a model, but had to wipe his personality clean to be an all city-boy 😂. I think those were the years of America's Next Top Model, so I was really unsympathetic to his plight and just went, "umm, duh you need to change to be an elite model 🙄 ??" One thing that always confused me was how nonchalant everyone was about Mia's Dad getting testicular cancer. Like it only served as a plot point, and noone was worried about it at all?? Like hell if my Dad had testicular cancer I would still be freaking out even if it had been successfully treated! I loved how you were on the verge of stopping to read to gain a bit of sanity, but then had to endure most of it since you wanted to be fair 😆
From what I remember reading Meg Cabot initially wrote these books as somewhat a parody of herself as a teenage girl and the princess aspect was added in later for it to be sold as a ya book. I'm also pretty sure she said she wishes she'd made Michael younger and regrets their age gap being as wide as it is. I definitely prefer the earlier books to the later ones myself and try to remember they're a product of their time and likely would be written differently today, I much prefer Avalon High from Meg Cabot's other work and do love her as a writer. Princess Diaries is problematic for sure but tbh I read them for the first time when I was around 20 and didn't take the seriously at all. I love the first movie a lot though and do think it's the best thing within the franchise, wasn't a fan of the second the gaping plot hole annoys me as does the changing love interest (sorry Chris Pine) but yeah I wouldn't recommend these books for teenagers nowadays 😅.
Your comment is the only one I appreciate. While the video was silly, it felt to harsh and did kinda hurt me. Yes, he's allowed his opinion and didn't read the OG 10 when they were coming out. But I LOVE these books, including 11 and 12! These are zany books and I would love my kids to read them, fully understanding that they are a lark and just to have fun, light, entertainment. I felt the same way reading the Pretty Little Liars series. I was laughing my head off and getting hooked on teenaged angst and just wanting them to tell an adult! LMAO 🤣 and I read that too about Meg, and I love her writing! I enjoyed her 1 800 5book series (though I only own the last 2). Thank you for this comment, it made me feel better after watching this video.
“I assume she regretted the predation” why? If it’s just because it makes you feel better that isn’t media critique. Assuming she wants things to be less evil because it’s easier to handle isn’t valid :/
@@Krystalle17you shouldn’t think the dangerous things in this media targeted at teen girls is normal or appropriate just because you personally weren’t further harmed from accepting the same things as normal.
I am sure someone else in the comments pointed this out by now, but "we oppose the racist Hos" was about how Lilly went to the Asian-owned convenience store to buy herbal supplements and was charged 10 cents more than her Asian friend and decided the Ho family was racist against white people, so that's probably why Mia said it was a stupid protest. I've just been carrying around that nugget of pointless Princess Diaries trivia in my head for like 15 years so I immediately remembered it when I was watching this. anyway I'm probably gonna finish watching this some other time but thank you for providing a trip down memory lane for me, I'm enjoying this watch so far
I picked up on this as well when I read this book. Mia wasn't turning a blind eye to the plight of people of color due to systemic racism, but rather Lilly's mischaracterization of the Hos as racists because they overcharged a white person. Essentially, it seemed like Lilly was being a Karen, and Mia wanted no part in that.
Really refreshing to hear another adult that hasn't been in a relationship; it shouldn't be something to be ashamed of! I'm a 34 year old who hasn't had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Sometimes it just happens.
Turning 36 this year and never been in a relationship. While I would love to have a slightly larger social circle and one that includes someone to be in a romantic relationship with, I also like my life as it is now. It's hard to meet new people as a homebody introvert, especially when I am not miserable with my life as it is.
True it is not talked about a lot :) I have only had two school boyfriends. I have two older sisters whom are 5 and 10 years older then me, so it got into my head that I had to have a boyfriend. So I asked someone out, and in the four years we dated we have maybe played together 2 times, holding hands and I listed to him complaining that "you cannot be boyfriend-girlfriends if you have not kissed on the mouth" which I responded "then lets do it", which he then declined, probably because he was hoping for something more romantic, Which I do get, but did not feel. The second boyfriend was my "rebound" which was really because it felt wrong not to "have a boyfriend" so I had a school friend set me up with someone whom I dated over the phone for one month and this is where my dating life stopped XD I have not dated anyone since I was 16 and have not even had the wish to do so. I am 31 now.
01:47:00 writing a story about someone in your school who YOU bully ending their lives and then publishing it and distributing it around school has got to be one of the most horrendous things I've ever heard for a YA novel.
Wait, I haven't read the books in a hot minute, when did she ever bully PJ? Like yeah, she refers to him as "the guy who doesn't like it when they put corn in the chili" in her diary since she doesn't know her name. She privately thinks he's weird because of this fact but like... before she wrote that short story, she literally never interacted with this kid? Am I forgetting something? And she later feels bad when she does meet him and is like, "oh, he's a normal human being, I feel bad for thinking he was weird and not getting to know him sooner" and then she tries to pull the short stories after that, going so far as to steal all the magazines. Like it's fair to think it's messed up that she wrote the short story with him as inspiration, but she admits what she did to him and before then, I can't think of any actual bullying she did? Edit: I reached that part of the video, okay, I get it now, talking behind someone's back is still bad, I was just getting hung up on the word bully because in my mind to bully someone, you have to be doing something to them or trying to elicit a reaction from them or intend to do harm to them, which Mia never intended anything she said to get back to JP. It's still not nice to talk behind his back and she should know there always a risk of the things she says getting back to him, but I'm not sure I'd call it "bullying" exactly, but I can't think of what word I would use.
It’s amazing how unaware you are as a teenage girl. A lot of romance in teen books is with older guys. And it’s not until you’re older you realise how manipulative ALL those guys are 💀
If I remember correctly, Mia was an illegitimate child, everyone expected her dad to get married and have more children, so she was never in the running for the throne. But when her dad became infertile from the cancer, suddenly she became the only option available. So the problem wasn’t so much that she didn’t REALIZE she was a princess, being a princess wasn’t supposed to be on the table at all so she was being kept out of the loop. You could say it would’ve made more sense for her to know all of that and the twist with infertility would still work, but she was a kid, it makes sense for her to not know shit about what her parents really do. Although I read those books like 15 years ago so it’s possible I’m misremembering. Also, Grandmére is an ICON of awfulness.
Haven’t finished the video yet, so I don’t know if you comment on this. If you do, then feel free to ignore this :) Something that always bothered me about the books is the character Ronnie. She’s Mia’s very sweet neighbor who just so happens to be a trans woman. Without fail, whenever Mia mentions her, she calls Ronnie, “My neighbor who used to be a man.” She never deadnames Ronnie or directly misgenders her, but as somebody who is trans-nonbinary-it doesn’t sit well with me. It reminds me strongly of when I was having a first meeting with my professors about accessibility in class-see username-and I had expressed to all school staff that I wanted to be referred to strictly as my preferred name and they/them pronouns. While opening up the meeting, the specific woman helping with my particular accessibility case said to the professors, “On your screen, it may say [Deadname]. [Deadname] goes by [Preferred name].” Like, I understand what she was saying and that she was trying to help, but it still felt like being deadnamed and I think would have been better if she’d just let me introduce myself instead. Where I’m going with this is that the constant referencing to Ronnie as, “My neighbor who used to be a man,” is harmful. If Meg wanted to make it clear that Ronnie is trans, then saying something like that when she was first introduced would be in character for Mia in the first book when she’s still only fourteen. Clarisse also misgenders Ronnie at one point by calling her sir or mister or something to that effect. That also is understandable because of who she is as a character and would have been a fine way of reminding the audience that Ronnie is trans without having Mia constantly misgendering her whenever her name is brought up in a scene.
@@GavinReadsItAllgiven how this video started and how unamused these books left you during the recent sprints, I think you're gonna provide all the Tea I need!😆
Omg I just remembered the Asperger's thing. As an autistic person, looking back at this?? Oh my gosh. To be fair, it was still a diagnosis when the books first came out but wow
It’s so strange to watch someone else experience these books because, well… they were really, really true to the time. They’re kind of time capsules now, I think. Especially the early ones. The rampant homophobia, the obsession with heroin chic that hadn’t left the cultural consciousness yet (the early 00’s were a terrible time to have a body at all, tbh), the obsessive ways that girls policed each others sexuality and how they performed it, the WILD levels of clique and bullying, casual racism, the intense ableism, the enormous number of girls who were being dated by older men and how that wasn’t so tightly observed for being awful yet (me! I did that! It sucked! Date people in your own age range until you’re a proper adult and can make informed choices about the power dynamics in your life), shitty teachers who everyone knew were creeps but did nothing about, all of it feels so real. I remember reading these books and thinking about how awful everyone was, but how true to life they also were. I don’t want to know any of these people, but I had met someone like all of them at one point or another. The 00’s sucked in so many ways and these books were true to that. But I also feel like there’s a lot of things I miss, too. The unabashed sexuality that’s being vigorously strangled out in teenagers to their severe long term detriment due to the increased levels of Christian fundamentalism pushing purity culture harder than ever, the space for being forgiven for the things you did wrong without being completely ripped to shreds, just the fact that EMAILS were a common way to communicate and allowed you the kind of depth of conversation you got from letters… I don’t know. It’s just very strange to have been a person who lived through the time period and watched how people have reduced down a truly wild time in history to aesthetics and ignored the political movements, the cultural changes, and the ways that the teens of that time period kept and rejected certain things they were taught. What a time. What a book series. So excited to never, ever experience them again.
When I look back at my fifteen-year-old self, I can FEEL the pressure of the whole LOSE-YOUR-PRECIOUS-GIFT-RIGHT-THE-F***-NOW and the romanticizing/getting bad advice thing. I want to go back to that girl and hug her, because it was awfull. And the blame-game is still going on in my head, so thank YOU for pointing out what's so wrong about that in this bookseries, its kind of giving me a healther perspective on that matter for myself. And its truth to so many teen's out there right now as well as adults looking back on their experience. And thank you for putting the series down!
ok listen if you do ever give ms cabot a second chance - you should read the mediator series. i have reread that and it lives up for the most part! but i am also nostalgic so i could be very wrong lol
This series is a great example of why parents should be reading (or looking up good reviews) of the books their teens are reading, so they can have conversations about the topics discussed in these books!!
My Mom liked to read books before/with us, but couldn’t keep up; but, she did read the first Princess Diaries book and told us that she didn’t want us to read it.
First, you look fantastic in that tiara! Second, I cannot believe I'm about to start this nearly 3hr odyssey when I was otherwise just about to go to bed lol. Your reading blogs are always worth staying up for thought! ;) Just wanted to edit to add that I absolutely LOVE the way you approach these kinds of books by digging into the harmful stereotypes and social narratives that so many of them portray. But in a way that's very compassionate to people who may have struggled with those topics, acted toxicly in the past because of harmful messaging, etc. It's nuanced and so important, and I just genuinely appreciate you putting so much thought and time into it.
Aw thanks I really do appreciate you saying that as I was worried I was just going to come across as overtly negative and just a hater, but I did want to talk about everything because there really is a lack of discussion online and some people even coming to the wrong conclusions about it all, especially in regards to Mia and her relationship to Michael, but hopefully my point came across 😊
Read these in my teens. I think a lot of people gloss over in their head the big age difference between Mia and Michael. I know I did, I just remembered he was older not how much older. I do think most of the books are for 12-14 I mean a 17 year old reading it would be very annoyed at the characters. Unless you are a fan of the series. I remember finishing the series when I was 16 but more of commitment was not like yeayy more princess diaries books. I love The mediator by meg Cabot the MC is much more mature in that one. Fun fact. Meg based the series on her own journals from when she was a teen. Her mom also dated her teacher.
Have you read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? I feel like that series falls in the same category of books that I loved when I was a teen, but would probably be highly problematic and entertaining to reread now. 😂
*yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes* 100% YES!!! couldn;t stand those books as a girl, and couldn't figure out *why* (still love the movies to bits, though)
@@covergirlbooks what about those books could be problematic? I remember reading them, but can't even tell now what was it about, other than magical jeans that fit 4 different girls (seen the movie just once also...). but I'm so curious now what the hell I read as a 13 year old 😀
@@heymarlie I think they miiiight have some of the same body image, or toxic relationships themes that Gavin found in the Princess Diaries books. tbh, I devoured both those series as a teen and don’t remember enough to tell you 😂
OKAY, I have a free night, my dinner is ready... I'm finally ready to watch this rollercoaster. (also when I worry that my videos are too long when I'm editing them, I remember these almost-3-hour masterpieces and how I still watch every single minute, and I don't feel so bad)
Oooffff…this series has that one trope I absolutely hate. You know…the one where if you take off a girl’s glasses and straighten her hair she’s suddenly a super model. As someone with glasses and curly hair…it didn’t help with my own self acceptance that’s for sure.
I remember reading Mia talking about how she thought the two movies weren't good, and how could they think she wouldn't be with Michael in the second movie. That's when I really checked out because Miss Ma'am!! That's Chris Pine!! Also, Ransom My Heart is an actual published book you can read. It's by Mia Thermopolis with help from Meg Cabot.
I got the first movie as a birthday present when I turned 8 and this series helped me a lot in some ways as a young teen girl (12-15) but I also talked to the adults in my life about parts of the book (because my step parent read the books with me and made sure to discuss certain parts with me) and thats what really helped me in high school.
Did they rename all these books? I swear to god book 3 was Princess in Love and 4 was Princess in Waiting. I also remember a 4 1/2 novella and two activity books. Just started though maybe this will be cleared up haha
I just remembered that Mia's book Ransom my Heart - Meg Cabot actually published it XD. I remember attempting to read it from the library and it not being my thing 😂
speaking as someone who *did* rent Ransom My heart from the library once, and *did* read it cover to cover: I admit, that I *am* grateful that I read it...onlly b/c it sparked a new interst in finding more (cough better-written cough) smut online to read instead 🤣
My ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIE SERIES EVER!!!! I have watched both movies probably hundreds of times. I made my family watch it tons, I made all my babysitters watch it tons. They will never get old for me. My whole childhood, I’m so in love with them!
Such a great video Gavin, thank you! From the POV of someone who grew up reading the Princess Diaries as they came out, I think it's worth noting that it wasn't originally meant to be a 10 book series. It was meant to be a trilogy, then a quartet, then a sextet, then 10 books, so if you consider how characters change weirdly between those books (e.g. Tina's inconsistencies) it might make sense? Also how weird is the Michael thing looking back?! I think Meg might've wanted Mia to end with JP but the voices of the fangirls were pretty loud about how much we loved Michael back in the day, and she might have felt pressured into making them end up together. The benefits of hindsight ....
Every time you said something nice about character relationships or plot points that devolved in later books, I was like, “Honey, you’ve got a big storm comin’” 😂 I read these books over the period of a couple months in the lead up to the Quarantine one (I got a review copy), and I definitely noticed a lot of the issues. But I think not binging them back to back made me a bit less critical. Edit: The “time jumps” between some books are covered in novellas in between books. There’s a sweet sixteen one, for example. No idea why that got relegated to a novella, since that is considered so important for teen girls, at least Americans, but 🤷🏻♀️
Thank you for reviewing the series. And thank you for holding Michael accountable - growing up when I read what happened I felt alone when not liking him for Mia. I also didn't like how dismissive he was of her feelings when she discovered he and Judith had sex. The responsibility of disclosing his history was on him and yet people thought Mia was overreacting (and this is coming from someone who also prefers Movie Mia than book Mia). I have a feeling Meg Cabot wanted to stick to a typical "True Love" ending and I didn't know why I wasn't satisfied with the ending until watching this video. I think the last book was as long as it was because it was to promote the Ransom my Heart book which was a separate book. And also thank you so much for pointing out how Mia had little to no good influence around her, especially on a friendship level. I remember wanting to write a fanfic of Mia coming to my school and becoming a part of my friend group so she will know what it's like to have good friends. I will admit this isn't one of Meg Cabot's best works. I prefer her Abandoned series which is an adaptation of the Hades and Persephone love story. It's not the best adaptation of the story, but I consider it as the best among her work. I also prefer her Mediator series. I love Susannah over Mia and the character growth there is much more evident. With every book she transitions to calling her stepbrothers by their actual names instead of the nicknames she gave them upon first impression.
As someone who mostly grew up around the late 2000s to the 2010's that experienced the hype phases for the different YA novels of those times it's always so interesting to see what were the big YA novels before that. YA novels have existed for quite a while but in my personal perception they always composed of the Hunger Games or Twilight or even ACOTAR, it's interesting that before that there were different types of novels with different sets of tropes or "styles" that were reminiscent of the time they were from.
I remember reading these as a teenager and being so horrified by Michael, and the age gap 😅 I hated him, and it destroyed my image of the Michael in the movie, who I had such a crush on lol
I love you so much Gavin. This was one of my FAVORITE, maybe #1 fave, of all of these reading past YA series thay you have done. The conversations around consent in this video was so well articulated. So appreciate you for speaking out about this.
I bought the final book at a used book sale, not knowing anything about the series, not realizing that it was part of a bigger universe. I was very confused about the plot, and I was way to young for the contents. I'm so excited to learn about what was really going on in this series and what lead to this traumatic experience for me ;)
Yes her dad is dead in the movies. Meg's talked about how the production team wanted to kill the dad because they got a really great actress for the grandmother and they wanted a bigger role for her. She found out it was Julie Andrews and said to kill the dad, it's Julie Andrews.
I read these as a teenager and they frustrated me even then. The obsession and drama was so annoying. I still read most of them though so I think I had a higher tolerance back then. Tried to read the quarantine one recently from the library. I couldn't reach 20 pages in.
Books/shows like this gave me so much anxiety as a kid. It did the opposite of what they probably intended. I never felt like it was speaking to me and my experience, I felt like an adult was telling me that “boys only want one thing” and I was going to be a loser if I said no. It took years before I felt comfortable with my sexuality and I wish I hadn’t been so ashamed about that. By the way, I remember being so relieved the Michael character was dropped in the second movie (I saw it in theaters! 😂) But then I spent the whole movie rooting for the kind, handsome, mature British guy and couldn’t understand why she was going for the edgy obnoxious “sexy” guy! I love an enemies-to-lovers as much as the next, but even as a teen I knew I was going to end up with someone kind, who never “negs,” is mature enough to trust my feelings with, is respectful and treats me like a queen. 😂❤
1:28:20 best part 😂 Julie Andrew would never 😂😂 Alternatively this could've been titled "I read the Princess Diaries series so that you don't have to" 😂 poor Gavin had to drink to survive reading reading this.
OH MY GOSH FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS! When I was, like, 10 or 11 I picked up the first book. It was fine at first, I didn't enjoy the writing or the way the main character talked about herself. BUT THEN I GOT TO THE SCENE WHERE SHE WAS THINKING ABOUT BEING GROPED??? And like she was felt up by an old man or something. It made me SUPER uncomfortable and so I didn't read any more of it
14 and 18. 🤢 Yes a 4 year age gap when your both adults with fully formed frontal lobes sure wouldn't even bat an eye. But when one is a literal child. 😳However looking back I had a sibling in an age gap very similar and while a few adults raised eye brows there weren't many. As a parent now it just doesn't sit right at all. Hell as an older sibling it didn't sit right at the time.
Hi, Gavinxx. Noughties teen, now 30-something scriptwriter herexx. Your mentioning Mia fretting about her chest brought back so many memories for me. I was so insecure about my figure (or lack thereof) that I begged my mother to take me to the GP to get checked out if my chest hadn't "grown in" by a certain point.
Halfway through!! When I started watching smallville later on (didn't finish it tho) I distinctly remembered it being mentioned in the books but I was never able to find that quote again!! Thank you for mentioning it omg
Gavin, I enjoyed this video SO much. I loved the first Princess Diaries movie. Julie Andrews is always a queen, I also loved her in The Sound of Music.
I'm only a few of mins into watching this video and I already love your take on the first book--especially the bit about teenage girls "wanting sexual harassment" and not understanding what it is they say they want. Also, I agree that young boys could learn a lot from reading books written for a girl audience, and vice versa too. I'd love to hear your opinion of "The Handmaid's Tale," which is what I'm reading right now. Can't wait to watch the rest of this video! :) Keep up the good work!
Gavin holy shit! You’ve awoken memories that were long buried, I read the crap out of these books as a preteen along with the mediator series which is also probably batshit, scratch that Meg Cabot was my jam as a kid and thinking back I think they were all kind of terrible ‘I’m not like other girls’ protags… thanks for bringing back this nugget from my youth, I’m probably going to go to the library and read some of her books to see how they hit now 😂
This was WILD. I loved these books when I was a teenager but I only owned book 10, so I reread that one heaps and clearly forgot the rest of them lol. I do love Meg Cabot's writing (including her adult romances) but most of them have aged pretty badly and have some very questionable things in them :/ But I can't believe you read all of these back to back! Thank you for your sacrifice, Gavin 😅🙏
I love love love these series vlogs because I always throw them on the tv for background and get to laugh while still being productive! Also the shot at 2:18:46 is just stunning!!! I'm not sure if its the angle or the lighting or just the background but you're GLOWING there ❤
I was actually trying to google where to buy the books so I can read them and your video popped up 😂 well you changed my mind now I’m not reading anymore 🤣
The 2000s were trippy it was completely plausible for mia not to know she was a princess the world was so much more secretive. Ugh I read all these as they came out. Meg Cabot use to be one of my favorite authors regrettably.
I may be the only one, but I didn't know there were books. I probably saw a crown and pink while looking for dragons. I was drawn to this video when I saw a book lover cutting out the ending. Few things are as calming as a man talking about books. Thank you so much for this new favorite channel. I love this so much!
Ooof these books are incredibly problematic looking back on them as an adult. The Mia/Michael stuff was very icky to me as a teenager but so much other stuff just flew over my head. I’m not planning to ever reread but I will always be a little grateful to the series because Mia helped me realize that I could talk to someone about the level of anxiety I was feeling all the time and that not getting out of bed for weeks at a time was possibly a sign of depression. Mia is the reason I talked to someone and started treatment for Bipolar 2 and OCD. That will always be an important part of my story but there is no need to no need to dive back into this problematic, toxic hot mess.
I'm about an hour in and I love the "gossip"-y type vibe of your commentary! Do you ever talk about one piece on your channel? Seems like you're a huge fan!
You know when you read books as a kid you miss a LOT of context, this makes me want to revisit the boxcar kids and Shiloh and other series I loved as a kid to see if they hold up, or if they aged like milk.
I watched the films first when i was a kid then started reading some of the books i totally agree that some parts in the series haven't aged well im an adult now i don't think i would reread this series
Just started the video, just came to say I listened to the audio book of the first one as a kid before I saw the movies, was so disappointed in the portrayal of the grandma
It would have made the Michael/Mia relationship much better if Michael was younger age-wise but was a senior because he skipped a grade or two. And that would have fit with Michael's character as well.
"way more problematic than you remember" finally someone says it, i guess because the film is so wholesome, people forget that the books were kinda problematic at times I mean I only read some of the books once YEARS ago and don't get me wrong, they were pretty funny and entertaining and relatable in some ways; self-conscious moments and keeping a diary itself, but even as a tween back then (wasn't even 13 wow) I was like "wtf why is she romanticising sexual harrassment", "why is she judging people's looks?" and that's barely the tip of the iceberg obviously she does have character growth and also just... grows up I guess, and the books themselves change since its over so many years, and society changes... but it was still disconcerting to read at times? i mean i also sucked as a person at ~14 but sometimes i was like "what am i reading" (also i did enjoy her standing up for herself to Josh)
Honestly, I think a big part of the reason why so many reviewers were/are okay with the Michael and Mia relationship is because they had similar relationships, or saw similar relationships, in high school themselves.
I'm gonna cross my fingers, and pray that there's nothing wrong that I've forgotten about Tina or Boris in these books... for what I remember, they were absolute cinnamon rolls (prediction: I will regret this decision)
Adulthood is too much abt trying to explain to people who grew up with this shit being normalized to teen girls in our generation that this was always wrong and always incredibly dangerous to show to teen girls, and them being like “NoOoOoOo”
I wonder what you would think of Meg cabots model series… I remember reading it when I was like 13 and thinking it was criticizing the beauty industry, but I think I might have a different perspective nowadays
![OsamaSon - ik what you did last summer [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4DIQDnu3mr4/mqdefault.jpg)
The way my jaw DROPPED when the video opened to the book cutting
Gotta hook the viewers from the first second
IKR SAME😂😂😂
@GavinReadsItAll It worked I wasn't head not expecting that for the first few seconds of the video 😂😂😂
Gavin, book 1: I'm not going to be tearing these books apart.
Gavin, book 10: CUT THIS BOOK INTO PIECES. THIS IS MY LAST RESORT.
Just adding to the poetry of the video ❤️
hahah love this reference as well !
😂😂
🤣🤣
ha! best comment ive seen this week.
Roses are red,
Cacti are prickly,
Holy hell,
That escalated quickly
You write better than Mia 👏🏼
@@GavinReadsItAll it's not mine, this honor goes to an unknown genius from the internet )
😂
Now that is pure poetry
"I dont know if its worse than being a homophobe..... but shes got tattooed eyeliner on her eyelids" 😂😂😂😂😂 that took me out, ngl
It is insane to me how normalised these kinds of relatioships were, teen girls dating guys in their 20s. The amount of grown men who thought having relationships with minors is okay is baffling thinking back...
i know right. I remember that happening in the Georgia Nicholson books too when I think back on it. How she was I think 14/15 and dating an 18/19 year old.
@@Jen-fantasyandfiction Yeah I remember revisiting that series and realizing that Robby is I think 17/18, basically a high school senior, and I think Georgia is 14 for most of the story. Still love the film and stuff, but that age gap in school is crazy.
@@turnipcrazyi remember back in high school in like '08 and '09 our school was brand new and added a new grade every year. so the first year it just had one class. the second year it now had sophomores and added freshman. the next year juniors, sophomores, and freshman, etc. and the first year we had boys turning 18 one of our teachers sat them down and talked to them about needing to be careful because a lot of them their girlfriends were still 15-16. it was such a weird time.
These were some of my favorite books growing up and I straight up didn't remember how big the age gap was until this video. I thought it was more like 15-16 & 18 which is still iffy but not nearly as bad. It's legitimately scary how normal it was to me as a young teenager.
Not a minor, but I recently realised that a lot of the books I read were 19/20 year olds dating 35 year olds which is also a bit weird.
The disjointed logic and intentions of a teenager is way too realistic.
I agree, a lot of it hit close to home
In the movie, Mia and Lilly are sophomores and Mia turns 16 in the movie. Since Michael is older, he’s either a junior or senior so like 17-18. I feel like that’s a reasonable age gap. ALOT better than the book imo
EDIT: Actually scratch that, he’s a junior I’m pretty sure because it’s the end of the school year in the movie and there’s no mention of him graduating. So just one year age gap.
The movie definitely improves that situation, so glad they changed it
I remember reading this series as a teen about Mia's age and being APPALLED by how Michael was pressuring Mia for sex. It genuinely made me think that maybe all boys wanted that as the "end game". I wish Meg Cabot had written a more positive message where Michael respected Mia's boundaries and feelings more. It's fine to tell your partner if you are ready to be more intimate, but when Mia says she's not reqdy, Michael should have respected that boundary. That woukd have been a much better narrative for teens to read about, especially with this series being as popular as it was, it should have been the author's duty to portray a healthy repect between them both.
absolutely, I could not finish the series because I heard they got back together... I thought FINALLY when they broke up. I do wonder what happened between her and the friend, JP, she starts kissing on the rebound... and now I get to find out w/out having to read the book. did you find Mia's reason for abstaining odd? I could understand if the writer went with "not giving too much of your heart" as a secular version of the "purity pledge" but even the totally religious crowd I spent my teens and tweens with never decided that the blood/hymen snap was a "precious gift" ... but I could be remembering that part wrong.
😊
True, I also pick up on the idea that men/boys only wanted sex and that it was almost a crime not to sleep with them if you where dating.
When I was about 13 or 14, I remember excitingly picking up book 1 after I watched the movies. I was heart broken and shocked over how terrible the characters were. They were so mean! 😭 I didn't continue the series, and this vlog validated little me's decision.
You were absolutely right in not continuing the series 👏🏼
Omg the princess diaries!! So many flashbacks lol. My mom took us to a book signing for the author when she was in town. I was young but don't remember my exact age. The author signed it "To the little Princess" and i was distraught because I was a tomboy and did NOT want to be a princess 😂
Haha omg I love that! 😂
I get that XD
Someone called me princess in a message and I stopped right in my tracks and felt so disgusted. I don't want to be called princess. It also did not help that I barely knew the guy and was not interested in him at all.
Have I ever read these books? Nope. Will i watch this entire video enthralled with the content? Absolutely!
Eek hope you enjoy ❤️
I remember reading this book series when I was 10 or so but in the Portuguese translation and loving it. I re-read the first a few years later when I started reading in English because it was an easier read and my reading skills were not great. Imagine my surprise when I was reading it and I didn't remember certain parts! I thought to myself: am I just not remembering right? So I grabbed my copy in PT and hold and behold WHOLE PARAGRAPHS WERE MISSING!! Guess our translators also were appalled with the book. I never got passed the 1st one in English really after that.
i was listening to this while level grinding in a game and the way my jaw DROPPED so many times and i had to pause playing and just stare at you in disbelief, i cannot believe how different from the movies these books truly are 😭😭
I’m so stunned like why was no one discussing all of this when they were doing their re-reads of it 😭
Wow, didn't realise the books were so toxic! 😭
I remember reading the first few books as a teen and thinking they were alright. I even remember that scene you mentioned about Lily's Southern cousin who wanted to be a model, but had to wipe his personality clean to be an all city-boy 😂. I think those were the years of America's Next Top Model, so I was really unsympathetic to his plight and just went, "umm, duh you need to change to be an elite model 🙄 ??"
One thing that always confused me was how nonchalant everyone was about Mia's Dad getting testicular cancer. Like it only served as a plot point, and noone was worried about it at all?? Like hell if my Dad had testicular cancer I would still be freaking out even if it had been successfully treated!
I loved how you were on the verge of stopping to read to gain a bit of sanity, but then had to endure most of it since you wanted to be fair 😆
From what I remember reading Meg Cabot initially wrote these books as somewhat a parody of herself as a teenage girl and the princess aspect was added in later for it to be sold as a ya book. I'm also pretty sure she said she wishes she'd made Michael younger and regrets their age gap being as wide as it is. I definitely prefer the earlier books to the later ones myself and try to remember they're a product of their time and likely would be written differently today, I much prefer Avalon High from Meg Cabot's other work and do love her as a writer. Princess Diaries is problematic for sure but tbh I read them for the first time when I was around 20 and didn't take the seriously at all. I love the first movie a lot though and do think it's the best thing within the franchise, wasn't a fan of the second the gaping plot hole annoys me as does the changing love interest (sorry Chris Pine) but yeah I wouldn't recommend these books for teenagers nowadays 😅.
Your comment is the only one I appreciate. While the video was silly, it felt to harsh and did kinda hurt me. Yes, he's allowed his opinion and didn't read the OG 10 when they were coming out. But I LOVE these books, including 11 and 12! These are zany books and I would love my kids to read them, fully understanding that they are a lark and just to have fun, light, entertainment. I felt the same way reading the Pretty Little Liars series. I was laughing my head off and getting hooked on teenaged angst and just wanting them to tell an adult! LMAO 🤣 and I read that too about Meg, and I love her writing! I enjoyed her 1 800 5book series (though I only own the last 2).
Thank you for this comment, it made me feel better after watching this video.
“I assume she regretted the predation” why? If it’s just because it makes you feel better that isn’t media critique. Assuming she wants things to be less evil because it’s easier to handle isn’t valid :/
@@Krystalle17you shouldn’t think the dangerous things in this media targeted at teen girls is normal or appropriate just because you personally weren’t further harmed from accepting the same things as normal.
I am sure someone else in the comments pointed this out by now, but "we oppose the racist Hos" was about how Lilly went to the Asian-owned convenience store to buy herbal supplements and was charged 10 cents more than her Asian friend and decided the Ho family was racist against white people, so that's probably why Mia said it was a stupid protest. I've just been carrying around that nugget of pointless Princess Diaries trivia in my head for like 15 years so I immediately remembered it when I was watching this. anyway I'm probably gonna finish watching this some other time but thank you for providing a trip down memory lane for me, I'm enjoying this watch so far
I picked up on this as well when I read this book. Mia wasn't turning a blind eye to the plight of people of color due to systemic racism, but rather Lilly's mischaracterization of the Hos as racists because they overcharged a white person. Essentially, it seemed like Lilly was being a Karen, and Mia wanted no part in that.
Really refreshing to hear another adult that hasn't been in a relationship; it shouldn't be something to be ashamed of! I'm a 34 year old who hasn't had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Sometimes it just happens.
Same. I'm 32
Turning 36 this year and never been in a relationship. While I would love to have a slightly larger social circle and one that includes someone to be in a romantic relationship with, I also like my life as it is now. It's hard to meet new people as a homebody introvert, especially when I am not miserable with my life as it is.
True it is not talked about a lot :)
I have only had two school boyfriends. I have two older sisters whom are 5 and 10 years older then me, so it got into my head that I had to have a boyfriend. So I asked someone out, and in the four years we dated we have maybe played together 2 times, holding hands and I listed to him complaining that "you cannot be boyfriend-girlfriends if you have not kissed on the mouth" which I responded "then lets do it", which he then declined, probably because he was hoping for something more romantic, Which I do get, but did not feel. The second boyfriend was my "rebound" which was really because it felt wrong not to "have a boyfriend" so I had a school friend set me up with someone whom I dated over the phone for one month and this is where my dating life stopped XD I have not dated anyone since I was 16 and have not even had the wish to do so. I am 31 now.
You had me at “The Quarantined Princess”
What?!🤣
Did I just witness Gav cutting a book in half?!?!?! When I say my jaw dropped, my jaw DROPPED
I could have done worse to be fair haha
01:47:00 writing a story about someone in your school who YOU bully ending their lives and then publishing it and distributing it around school has got to be one of the most horrendous things I've ever heard for a YA novel.
Wait, I haven't read the books in a hot minute, when did she ever bully PJ? Like yeah, she refers to him as "the guy who doesn't like it when they put corn in the chili" in her diary since she doesn't know her name. She privately thinks he's weird because of this fact but like... before she wrote that short story, she literally never interacted with this kid? Am I forgetting something? And she later feels bad when she does meet him and is like, "oh, he's a normal human being, I feel bad for thinking he was weird and not getting to know him sooner" and then she tries to pull the short stories after that, going so far as to steal all the magazines. Like it's fair to think it's messed up that she wrote the short story with him as inspiration, but she admits what she did to him and before then, I can't think of any actual bullying she did?
Edit: I reached that part of the video, okay, I get it now, talking behind someone's back is still bad, I was just getting hung up on the word bully because in my mind to bully someone, you have to be doing something to them or trying to elicit a reaction from them or intend to do harm to them, which Mia never intended anything she said to get back to JP. It's still not nice to talk behind his back and she should know there always a risk of the things she says getting back to him, but I'm not sure I'd call it "bullying" exactly, but I can't think of what word I would use.
This comment made me realize I’m 2 hours into the video, I thought it’s just been like 30 max
It’s amazing how unaware you are as a teenage girl. A lot of romance in teen books is with older guys. And it’s not until you’re older you realise how manipulative ALL those guys are 💀
And sadly the horrible men in books don't stop with these, especially with how books are now.
If I remember correctly, Mia was an illegitimate child, everyone expected her dad to get married and have more children, so she was never in the running for the throne. But when her dad became infertile from the cancer, suddenly she became the only option available. So the problem wasn’t so much that she didn’t REALIZE she was a princess, being a princess wasn’t supposed to be on the table at all so she was being kept out of the loop. You could say it would’ve made more sense for her to know all of that and the twist with infertility would still work, but she was a kid, it makes sense for her to not know shit about what her parents really do. Although I read those books like 15 years ago so it’s possible I’m misremembering.
Also, Grandmére is an ICON of awfulness.
Haven’t finished the video yet, so I don’t know if you comment on this. If you do, then feel free to ignore this :)
Something that always bothered me about the books is the character Ronnie. She’s Mia’s very sweet neighbor who just so happens to be a trans woman. Without fail, whenever Mia mentions her, she calls Ronnie, “My neighbor who used to be a man.” She never deadnames Ronnie or directly misgenders her, but as somebody who is trans-nonbinary-it doesn’t sit well with me. It reminds me strongly of when I was having a first meeting with my professors about accessibility in class-see username-and I had expressed to all school staff that I wanted to be referred to strictly as my preferred name and they/them pronouns. While opening up the meeting, the specific woman helping with my particular accessibility case said to the professors, “On your screen, it may say [Deadname]. [Deadname] goes by [Preferred name].” Like, I understand what she was saying and that she was trying to help, but it still felt like being deadnamed and I think would have been better if she’d just let me introduce myself instead.
Where I’m going with this is that the constant referencing to Ronnie as, “My neighbor who used to be a man,” is harmful. If Meg wanted to make it clear that Ronnie is trans, then saying something like that when she was first introduced would be in character for Mia in the first book when she’s still only fourteen. Clarisse also misgenders Ronnie at one point by calling her sir or mister or something to that effect. That also is understandable because of who she is as a character and would have been a fine way of reminding the audience that Ronnie is trans without having Mia constantly misgendering her whenever her name is brought up in a scene.
Me: _sees Gavin upload_
Me: _looks at the clock_ - it's 3am.
Me: sleep is overrated, lemme get some tea and we're ON!
Get that tea ☕️ hehe
@@GavinReadsItAllgiven how this video started and how unamused these books left you during the recent sprints, I think you're gonna provide all the Tea I need!😆
Omg I just remembered the Asperger's thing. As an autistic person, looking back at this?? Oh my gosh. To be fair, it was still a diagnosis when the books first came out but wow
It’s so strange to watch someone else experience these books because, well… they were really, really true to the time. They’re kind of time capsules now, I think. Especially the early ones. The rampant homophobia, the obsession with heroin chic that hadn’t left the cultural consciousness yet (the early 00’s were a terrible time to have a body at all, tbh), the obsessive ways that girls policed each others sexuality and how they performed it, the WILD levels of clique and bullying, casual racism, the intense ableism, the enormous number of girls who were being dated by older men and how that wasn’t so tightly observed for being awful yet (me! I did that! It sucked! Date people in your own age range until you’re a proper adult and can make informed choices about the power dynamics in your life), shitty teachers who everyone knew were creeps but did nothing about, all of it feels so real. I remember reading these books and thinking about how awful everyone was, but how true to life they also were. I don’t want to know any of these people, but I had met someone like all of them at one point or another. The 00’s sucked in so many ways and these books were true to that.
But I also feel like there’s a lot of things I miss, too. The unabashed sexuality that’s being vigorously strangled out in teenagers to their severe long term detriment due to the increased levels of Christian fundamentalism pushing purity culture harder than ever, the space for being forgiven for the things you did wrong without being completely ripped to shreds, just the fact that EMAILS were a common way to communicate and allowed you the kind of depth of conversation you got from letters… I don’t know. It’s just very strange to have been a person who lived through the time period and watched how people have reduced down a truly wild time in history to aesthetics and ignored the political movements, the cultural changes, and the ways that the teens of that time period kept and rejected certain things they were taught.
What a time. What a book series. So excited to never, ever experience them again.
+ spot on
The best comment.
When I look back at my fifteen-year-old self, I can FEEL the pressure of the whole LOSE-YOUR-PRECIOUS-GIFT-RIGHT-THE-F***-NOW and the romanticizing/getting bad advice thing.
I want to go back to that girl and hug her, because it was awfull. And the blame-game is still going on in my head, so thank YOU for pointing out what's so wrong about that in this bookseries, its kind of giving me a healther perspective on that matter for myself. And its truth to so many teen's out there right now as well as adults looking back on their experience.
And thank you for putting the series down!
My heart dropped when he cut the book up lol
Snip snip ✂️
I applauded!😂
Obsessed with the fact that Charmed is one of your fav tv shows. I grew up binging it, one of my all time favourites!
ok listen if you do ever give ms cabot a second chance - you should read the mediator series. i have reread that and it lives up for the most part! but i am also nostalgic so i could be very wrong lol
That and the 1-800-Where-R-U but that was written with a pen name, Jenny Carroll.
@@Liamliayaum906I second both of these series. I read them so many times and even re-read as an adult and they do hold up pretty well.
+1 Vote for the Mediator series!
This series is a great example of why parents should be reading (or looking up good reviews) of the books their teens are reading, so they can have conversations about the topics discussed in these books!!
My Mom liked to read books before/with us, but couldn’t keep up; but, she did read the first Princess Diaries book and told us that she didn’t want us to read it.
Then I wouldn't have been able to read Animorphs from back in middle school by my Mom yet she hated to read. LOL
First, you look fantastic in that tiara! Second, I cannot believe I'm about to start this nearly 3hr odyssey when I was otherwise just about to go to bed lol. Your reading blogs are always worth staying up for thought! ;)
Just wanted to edit to add that I absolutely LOVE the way you approach these kinds of books by digging into the harmful stereotypes and social narratives that so many of them portray. But in a way that's very compassionate to people who may have struggled with those topics, acted toxicly in the past because of harmful messaging, etc. It's nuanced and so important, and I just genuinely appreciate you putting so much thought and time into it.
Aw thanks I really do appreciate you saying that as I was worried I was just going to come across as overtly negative and just a hater, but I did want to talk about everything because there really is a lack of discussion online and some people even coming to the wrong conclusions about it all, especially in regards to Mia and her relationship to Michael, but hopefully my point came across 😊
The intro 😂🫢
Also I adore you in a tiara 👑
Why thank you kindly ❤
Read these in my teens. I think a lot of people gloss over in their head the big age difference between Mia and Michael. I know I did, I just remembered he was older not how much older.
I do think most of the books are for 12-14 I mean a 17 year old reading it would be very annoyed at the characters. Unless you are a fan of the series. I remember finishing the series when I was 16 but more of commitment was not like yeayy more princess diaries books.
I love The mediator by meg Cabot the MC is much more mature in that one.
Fun fact. Meg based the series on her own journals from when she was a teen. Her mom also dated her teacher.
her mom dated her daughter's/meg's teacher or her own teacher???
@@KawaiiStars Meg Cabot mom dated Meg Cabots math teacher.
You really got me with that intro. I always stay until the end but that gave me an extra incentive 😂
Haha excellent 😈
Have you read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? I feel like that series falls in the same category of books that I loved when I was a teen, but would probably be highly problematic and entertaining to reread now. 😂
*yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes* 100% YES!!!
couldn;t stand those books as a girl, and couldn't figure out *why* (still love the movies to bits, though)
@@covergirlbooks what about those books could be problematic? I remember reading them, but can't even tell now what was it about, other than magical jeans that fit 4 different girls (seen the movie just once also...). but I'm so curious now what the hell I read as a 13 year old 😀
@@heymarlie I think they miiiight have some of the same body image, or toxic relationships themes that Gavin found in the Princess Diaries books. tbh, I devoured both those series as a teen and don’t remember enough to tell you 😂
@@thesewinggeekmiri9029 I wanted to beeee every one of those girls 😂 what a movie.
OKAY, I have a free night, my dinner is ready... I'm finally ready to watch this rollercoaster.
(also when I worry that my videos are too long when I'm editing them, I remember these almost-3-hour masterpieces and how I still watch every single minute, and I don't feel so bad)
Oooffff…this series has that one trope I absolutely hate. You know…the one where if you take off a girl’s glasses and straighten her hair she’s suddenly a super model. As someone with glasses and curly hair…it didn’t help with my own self acceptance that’s for sure.
I remember reading Mia talking about how she thought the two movies weren't good, and how could they think she wouldn't be with Michael in the second movie. That's when I really checked out because Miss Ma'am!! That's Chris Pine!!
Also, Ransom My Heart is an actual published book you can read. It's by Mia Thermopolis with help from Meg Cabot.
I got the first movie as a birthday present when I turned 8 and this series helped me a lot in some ways as a young teen girl (12-15) but I also talked to the adults in my life about parts of the book (because my step parent read the books with me and made sure to discuss certain parts with me) and thats what really helped me in high school.
Did they rename all these books? I swear to god book 3 was Princess in Love and 4 was Princess in Waiting. I also remember a 4 1/2 novella and two activity books. Just started though maybe this will be cleared up haha
They must have because I definitely wrote a book report on Princess in the Spotlight when I was in the 7th grade.
His books are the british version. Pretty sure that's why they also changed the Diana thing in his version
I just remembered that Mia's book Ransom my Heart - Meg Cabot actually published it XD. I remember attempting to read it from the library and it not being my thing 😂
speaking as someone who *did* rent Ransom My heart from the library once, and *did* read it cover to cover: I admit, that I *am* grateful that I read it...onlly b/c it sparked a new interst in finding more (cough better-written cough) smut online to read instead 🤣
My ALL TIME FAVORITE MOVIE SERIES EVER!!!! I have watched both movies probably hundreds of times. I made my family watch it tons, I made all my babysitters watch it tons. They will never get old for me. My whole childhood, I’m so in love with them!
I completely understand the love for the movies 🫶🏼
Such a great video Gavin, thank you!
From the POV of someone who grew up reading the Princess Diaries as they came out, I think it's worth noting that it wasn't originally meant to be a 10 book series. It was meant to be a trilogy, then a quartet, then a sextet, then 10 books, so if you consider how characters change weirdly between those books (e.g. Tina's inconsistencies) it might make sense?
Also how weird is the Michael thing looking back?! I think Meg might've wanted Mia to end with JP but the voices of the fangirls were pretty loud about how much we loved Michael back in the day, and she might have felt pressured into making them end up together. The benefits of hindsight ....
Every time you said something nice about character relationships or plot points that devolved in later books, I was like, “Honey, you’ve got a big storm comin’” 😂 I read these books over the period of a couple months in the lead up to the Quarantine one (I got a review copy), and I definitely noticed a lot of the issues. But I think not binging them back to back made me a bit less critical.
Edit: The “time jumps” between some books are covered in novellas in between books. There’s a sweet sixteen one, for example. No idea why that got relegated to a novella, since that is considered so important for teen girls, at least Americans, but 🤷🏻♀️
... *cutting up the book* 😱😂 Gavin, you never disappoint!! this vlog was amazing ... thank you!
Thank you for reviewing the series. And thank you for holding Michael accountable - growing up when I read what happened I felt alone when not liking him for Mia. I also didn't like how dismissive he was of her feelings when she discovered he and Judith had sex. The responsibility of disclosing his history was on him and yet people thought Mia was overreacting (and this is coming from someone who also prefers Movie Mia than book Mia). I have a feeling Meg Cabot wanted to stick to a typical "True Love" ending and I didn't know why I wasn't satisfied with the ending until watching this video. I think the last book was as long as it was because it was to promote the Ransom my Heart book which was a separate book. And also thank you so much for pointing out how Mia had little to no good influence around her, especially on a friendship level. I remember wanting to write a fanfic of Mia coming to my school and becoming a part of my friend group so she will know what it's like to have good friends.
I will admit this isn't one of Meg Cabot's best works. I prefer her Abandoned series which is an adaptation of the Hades and Persephone love story. It's not the best adaptation of the story, but I consider it as the best among her work.
I also prefer her Mediator series. I love Susannah over Mia and the character growth there is much more evident. With every book she transitions to calling her stepbrothers by their actual names instead of the nicknames she gave them upon first impression.
As someone who mostly grew up around the late 2000s to the 2010's that experienced the hype phases for the different YA novels of those times it's always so interesting to see what were the big YA novels before that. YA novels have existed for quite a while but in my personal perception they always composed of the Hunger Games or Twilight or even ACOTAR, it's interesting that before that there were different types of novels with different sets of tropes or "styles" that were reminiscent of the time they were from.
The thumbnail 😭😂 “racist and homophobic” pointing to Miss Julie Andrews is diabolical
She’s a national treasure 😭 book Clarisse on the other hand… 😂
I remember reading these as a teenager and being so horrified by Michael, and the age gap 😅 I hated him, and it destroyed my image of the Michael in the movie, who I had such a crush on lol
I love you so much Gavin. This was one of my FAVORITE, maybe #1 fave, of all of these reading past YA series thay you have done. The conversations around consent in this video was so well articulated. So appreciate you for speaking out about this.
The Airhead Tilogy and Heather Wells mysteries are amazing if you want to give Meg Cabot another try.
2:55 says after opening the vid with him literally tearing the book apart 😭😭
the way you say book tingles my brain in such a nice way, no idea what accent that is but it sounds so comforting to me
Omg just found this channel! So excited for this video I had no idea there were so many books
What kind of accent do you have? I love it!
Thanks for finding my channel!! And I’m a Geordie 😄
"Queen Clitorice"... 🤣🤣🤣
I bought the final book at a used book sale, not knowing anything about the series, not realizing that it was part of a bigger universe. I was very confused about the plot, and I was way to young for the contents. I'm so excited to learn about what was really going on in this series and what lead to this traumatic experience for me ;)
Yes her dad is dead in the movies. Meg's talked about how the production team wanted to kill the dad because they got a really great actress for the grandmother and they wanted a bigger role for her. She found out it was Julie Andrews and said to kill the dad, it's Julie Andrews.
Loved this vlog! I can’t get over how problematic the relationship was!!!
I read these as a teenager and they frustrated me even then. The obsession and drama was so annoying. I still read most of them though so I think I had a higher tolerance back then. Tried to read the quarantine one recently from the library. I couldn't reach 20 pages in.
The abandoned hotel room sounds like your next haunted location! Not quite the romantic setting I would want.. haha.
Omg I listened to books on tape because Anne Hathaway narrated some... I shouldn't have been at 11/12
Books/shows like this gave me so much anxiety as a kid. It did the opposite of what they probably intended. I never felt like it was speaking to me and my experience, I felt like an adult was telling me that “boys only want one thing” and I was going to be a loser if I said no. It took years before I felt comfortable with my sexuality and I wish I hadn’t been so ashamed about that.
By the way, I remember being so relieved the Michael character was dropped in the second movie (I saw it in theaters! 😂) But then I spent the whole movie rooting for the kind, handsome, mature British guy and couldn’t understand why she was going for the edgy obnoxious “sexy” guy! I love an enemies-to-lovers as much as the next, but even as a teen I knew I was going to end up with someone kind, who never “negs,” is mature enough to trust my feelings with, is respectful and treats me like a queen. 😂❤
14:09 I hollered 😭😭😭 + I'm 20 minutes in and loving the video thus far! This is first time watching your video, I'm subscribing!
1:28:20 best part 😂 Julie Andrew would never 😂😂
Alternatively this could've been titled "I read the Princess Diaries series so that you don't have to" 😂 poor Gavin had to drink to survive reading reading this.
OH MY GOSH FINALLY SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS! When I was, like, 10 or 11 I picked up the first book. It was fine at first, I didn't enjoy the writing or the way the main character talked about herself. BUT THEN I GOT TO THE SCENE WHERE SHE WAS THINKING ABOUT BEING GROPED??? And like she was felt up by an old man or something. It made me SUPER uncomfortable and so I didn't read any more of it
Thank god I was never subjected to this series as a child.
Im awake with horrible pain, thank you so much for this distraction ❤
Oh I hope you feel better soon ❤
@@GavinReadsItAll Thank you! Thank goodness painkillers worked u.u
14 and 18. 🤢 Yes a 4 year age gap when your both adults with fully formed frontal lobes sure wouldn't even bat an eye. But when one is a literal child. 😳However looking back I had a sibling in an age gap very similar and while a few adults raised eye brows there weren't many. As a parent now it just doesn't sit right at all. Hell as an older sibling it didn't sit right at the time.
Hi, Gavinxx. Noughties teen, now 30-something scriptwriter herexx. Your mentioning Mia fretting about her chest brought back so many memories for me. I was so insecure about my figure (or lack thereof) that I begged my mother to take me to the GP to get checked out if my chest hadn't "grown in" by a certain point.
Halfway through!! When I started watching smallville later on (didn't finish it tho) I distinctly remembered it being mentioned in the books but I was never able to find that quote again!! Thank you for mentioning it omg
Gavin, I enjoyed this video SO much. I loved the first Princess Diaries movie. Julie Andrews is always a queen, I also loved her in The Sound of Music.
Aw thank you, and I LOVE Julie Andrews, she is a treasure, great films
I'm only a few of mins into watching this video and I already love your take on the first book--especially the bit about teenage girls "wanting sexual harassment" and not understanding what it is they say they want. Also, I agree that young boys could learn a lot from reading books written for a girl audience, and vice versa too. I'd love to hear your opinion of "The Handmaid's Tale," which is what I'm reading right now. Can't wait to watch the rest of this video! :) Keep up the good work!
1:27 I love these covers. It’s so cute and comforting
Gavin holy shit! You’ve awoken memories that were long buried, I read the crap out of these books as a preteen along with the mediator series which is also probably batshit, scratch that Meg Cabot was my jam as a kid and thinking back I think they were all kind of terrible ‘I’m not like other girls’ protags… thanks for bringing back this nugget from my youth, I’m probably going to go to the library and read some of her books to see how they hit now 😂
This was WILD. I loved these books when I was a teenager but I only owned book 10, so I reread that one heaps and clearly forgot the rest of them lol. I do love Meg Cabot's writing (including her adult romances) but most of them have aged pretty badly and have some very questionable things in them :/ But I can't believe you read all of these back to back! Thank you for your sacrifice, Gavin 😅🙏
2:36:24 “that’s the police right now” ☠️☠️🤣
I am so here for this!!! Wow what an opener 🫢
Thank you ❤️
@@GavinReadsItAll okay I super super appreciate your commentary on all of this. The age gap power imbalance is big yikes 😳
I love love love these series vlogs because I always throw them on the tv for background and get to laugh while still being productive! Also the shot at 2:18:46 is just stunning!!! I'm not sure if its the angle or the lighting or just the background but you're GLOWING there ❤
I was actually trying to google where to buy the books so I can read them and your video popped up 😂 well you changed my mind now I’m not reading anymore 🤣
Loved the snip snip of the book! 😂
Wish I could do that with certain moments of my life tbh 😂
Thanks for making me feel old-I was 16 when the first book came out!
I’m so sorry 🫶🏼
The 2000s were trippy it was completely plausible for mia not to know she was a princess the world was so much more secretive. Ugh I read all these as they came out. Meg Cabot use to be one of my favorite authors regrettably.
I may be the only one, but I didn't know there were books. I probably saw a crown and pink while looking for dragons. I was drawn to this video when I saw a book lover cutting out the ending. Few things are as calming as a man talking about books. Thank you so much for this new favorite channel. I love this so much!
These books had me in a chokehold as a child, reading them as an adult is terrifying.
Ooof these books are incredibly problematic looking back on them as an adult. The Mia/Michael stuff was very icky to me as a teenager but so much other stuff just flew over my head.
I’m not planning to ever reread but I will always be a little grateful to the series because Mia helped me realize that I could talk to someone about the level of anxiety I was feeling all the time and that not getting out of bed for weeks at a time was possibly a sign of depression. Mia is the reason I talked to someone and started treatment for Bipolar 2 and OCD. That will always be an important part of my story but there is no need to no need to dive back into this problematic, toxic hot mess.
I'm about an hour in and I love the "gossip"-y type vibe of your commentary! Do you ever talk about one piece on your channel? Seems like you're a huge fan!
You know when you read books as a kid you miss a LOT of context, this makes me want to revisit the boxcar kids and Shiloh and other series I loved as a kid to see if they hold up, or if they aged like milk.
I reread these books last year and I still love how absolutely unhinged they are
I watched the films first when i was a kid then started reading some of the books i totally agree that some parts in the series haven't aged well im an adult now i don't think i would reread this series
The films still hold up 👌🏼
My eyes went so wide once I realized Gavin was taking a pair of scissors to a book
It was almost a lit match 🔥
Just started the video, just came to say I listened to the audio book of the first one as a kid before I saw the movies, was so disappointed in the portrayal of the grandma
It would have made the Michael/Mia relationship much better if Michael was younger age-wise but was a senior because he skipped a grade or two. And that would have fit with Michael's character as well.
Violence was the only choice here 😂
"way more problematic than you remember" finally someone says it, i guess because the film is so wholesome, people forget that the books were kinda problematic at times
I mean I only read some of the books once YEARS ago and don't get me wrong, they were pretty funny and entertaining and relatable in some ways; self-conscious moments and keeping a diary itself, but even as a tween back then (wasn't even 13 wow) I was like "wtf why is she romanticising sexual harrassment", "why is she judging people's looks?" and that's barely the tip of the iceberg
obviously she does have character growth and also just... grows up I guess, and the books themselves change since its over so many years, and society changes... but it was still disconcerting to read at times? i mean i also sucked as a person at ~14 but sometimes i was like "what am i reading"
(also i did enjoy her standing up for herself to Josh)
I would love for you to read Jacqueline Wilson books 😂
Honestly, I think a big part of the reason why so many reviewers were/are okay with the Michael and Mia relationship is because they had similar relationships, or saw similar relationships, in high school themselves.
Yeah possibly! And hopefully they realise that it isn’t okay because it was even mentioned in the book that it’s illegal.
@@GavinReadsItAll Fully agree, I hope they can see through the nostalgia to the reality of it, especially if they have kids themselves.
I'm gonna cross my fingers, and pray that there's nothing wrong that I've forgotten about Tina or Boris in these books... for what I remember, they were absolute cinnamon rolls
(prediction: I will regret this decision)
Adulthood is too much abt trying to explain to people who grew up with this shit being normalized to teen girls in our generation that this was always wrong and always incredibly dangerous to show to teen girls, and them being like “NoOoOoOo”
I wonder what you would think of Meg cabots model series… I remember reading it when I was like 13 and thinking it was criticizing the beauty industry, but I think I might have a different perspective nowadays