The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Mia Thermopolis is an awkward nobody who's failing algebra even though her mom is dating her algebra teacher. Her father is in and out, only seen during the summers. She's teased by everyone and can't even find a date to the biggest dance of the semester. That is, until her dad drops a bombshell on her that she cannot even begin to believe to be true. Her father is the Crown Prince of Genovia, making her a princess.

I wish I'd read this book sooner. I was laughing through the entire thing. Meg Cabot does an excellent job making this seem like an actual diary, with to-do lists and class notes throughout the book. Mia is a lovable character and is so very 14 years old. Her biggest problems in life until the whole princess thing are that she has never been asked out and she is oh-so-unfairly flat chested. You can see her change throughout the span of the novel. All I know is as soon as I put this book down, I wanted to pick up the next one in the series. 

These are the books that the 2001 Anne Hathaway movie is based off of. The feel is very similar, but the story line does has many significant differences, like her father is still alive and her parents were never married in the book. I would recommend the book even more if you enjoyed the movies. These make Princess Mia even more lovable and somehow easy to relate to (even though I'm pretty sure my parents aren't going to tell me I'm a princess). 



Content Warnings:
-Mild sexual innuendos

Age Recommendation: 13 and up.