I so WANTED to like this book. But it just didn't do it for me. In fact, a few chapters in, I considered abandoning it and never finishing it. But I hung in there. I was glad to finish the book, but not in a "I can't wait to see what happens here" kind of way, in more of a "thank goodness that's over" way... Being from Iowa (and very few books being set here), I was excited to read about the places I know and love. That was definitely a redeeming factor.To some extent, I did feel Backes nailed the Iowa high school experience, so I have to give her credit for that. I did, however, agree with many previous reviewers that Paige was an incredibly irritating main character. The majority of the book was Paige whining. She complained about anything and everything. She had no concept of dealing with things. And that's even part of her epiphany - that it's not really her fault because her mom just dealt with everything for her all of her life. I think the characters in this book ended up being parodies of real life characters. Everyone was a stereotype. I.E. Jake...Jake was every single "jock" stereotype rolled up into one. Again, I wanted to like this - AND there were aspects that I did like! I just got way too irritated with the characters. Paige was a confusing character. She was wishy-washy and inconsistent. She had "friends" she didn't talk to at all and then wondered why they got mad at her. I didn't like her, even after her journey through this novel. My take away from this novel:1) Glad I wasn't popular in high-school2) Glad I was oblivious to what actually went on with the popular kids on the weekends. Watching Dr. Quinn, Early Edition or Walker Texas Ranger with my parents on Saturday night seems like a lot more fun.
Do You like book Princesses Of Iowa, The (2012)?
this book tries oh-so-hard to be "progressive." Unfortunately, it fails miserably.
—Gifted2212
A really good story, one that I plane to read many more times
—Eric
