The Princess Diaries, Vol. III: Princess in Love

**The Princess Diaries, Vol. III: Princess in Love** is the third volume of the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.

It was released in 2002.

## Book Description

Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo may seem the luckiest girl ever.

She's a princess, for starters. She also lives in New York City. And while she's no supermodel, mirrors do not crack at her reflection. Best of all, she finally has a boyfriend.

The truth is, however, that Mia spends all her time doing one of three things: preparing for her nervewracking entrée into Genovian society under the slave-driving but elegant Grandmère, slogging through congestion unique to Manhattan in December, and avoiding further smooches from her hapless boyfriend Kenny.

All she wants is a little peace and quiet. and a certain someone else to be her boyfriend. For Mia, being a princess in love is not the fairy-tale it's supposed to be. or is it?

## Opening Quote

*"One of Sara's 'pretends' is that she is a princess," said Jessie. "She plays it all the time - even in school. She wants Ermengarde to be one, too, but Ermengarde says she is too fat."*

*"She* is *too fat," said Lavinia. "And Sara is too thin."*

*"Sara says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you* think *of, and what you* do*," Jessie explained.*

A Little Princess*, Francis Hodgson Burnett*

## Timeline

Begins on Satuday, December 6, 2003 and concludes on Saturday, December 20, 2003, also contains details from Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 27, 2003. It occurs during Mia's freshman year.

## Plot Summary

Mia does two Thanksgivings in one day, one with her mom and Mr. G and Mr. and Mrs. Gianini's house (Mr. G's parents) and one with Grandmère and her father and foreign dignitaries. Mia has been dating Kenny since Halloween, but she doesn't really like him and still harbors feelings for Michael. Mia, Kenny, Tina, Dave, Lilly, and Boris go ice skating where they are joined by Michael and Judith Gershner, who Mia believes are dating. After being inspired by Michael skating backwards in front of Judith Kenny tries the same and falls, pulling Mia down with him and she bites through her tongue. Lars rushes her off to see Dr. Fung.

Mia goes to the Plaza where Grandmère has her itinerary for her time in Genovia, as well as a guest, Sebastiano, a fashion designer from Genovia who will be designing her gown for her formal introduction. Sebastiano is next in line for the throne after Mia and she believes he may be secretly plotting to kill her. Mia escapes to the balcony with her father and asks him for advice on how to tell Michael that she likes him. He tells her she has to show him how she feels. Phillipe also tells her that he highly doubts Sebastiano is trying to kill her. Later that evening Kenny calls to apologize and tells Mia that he loves her, Mia panics and says "uh, ok, well see you tomorrow" before hanging up.

The next day in the limo Mia tells Lilly what Kenny said and Lilly does not believe her, though she reveals that Kenny has talked to Boris about the fact that Mia won't let Kenny kiss her. In class Lana passes Mia a note saying Kenny will have to wait a bit longer for frenching (due to the hole in Mia's tongue) which upsets Mia. Mia tells Tina about everything with Kenny and admits to her crush on Michael and Tina is supportive, though she reveals that Kenny also talked to Dave about the kissing issue. Kenny apologizes for making Mia uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Lilly proposes a walkout due to the fact that Mrs. Spears rejected her term paper topic (though Mrs. Spears loved Mia's topic on Christmas trees).

Grandmère asks Mia what's bothering her and Mia lies to her about it, but Grandmère reveals that she always knows when Mia is lying as her nostrils flare. Mia tells her about her situation with Kenny and Michael. Grandmère tells her not to break up with Kenny until she has someone better, and when Mia objects as that is cruel Grandmère points out that it would be more cruel to break Kenny's heart right before finals, which could potentially ruin his grades.

The next day Kenny shouts in the hallway "I don't care if you don't feel the same way, Mia! I will always love you!" Shameeka passes notes with Mia about the incident and tells Mia that Michael saw the whole thing but he didn't laugh. Lilly apologizes to Mia for not believing her about Kenny but chastises her for not being more in touch with her feelings. Michael defends Mia saying that she doesn't have to yell them in the hall to be in touch with her feelings. Lilly suggests that maybe Mia just has a fear of commitment, which prompts Mia to make her list of Guys Mia Thermopolis Could See Herself Committing to for All Eternity. Lilly points out that 8 of the 10 are fictional characters, with half of those being fictional, another a vampire, and another an X-Man. Kenny apologizes for embarrassing Mia and asks her to lunch later in the week. Meanwhile, Lilly sends out a mass e-mail inviting everyone to join her in her walkout.

Grandmère talks about how genius Kenny was to send his anonymous love letters as it lead to Mia dating him, which gives Mia the idea to do the same to Michael. She enlists Lars and Tina's help, having Tina write the card in her handwriting and slip it into Michael's locker. Lana teases Mia, asking if "[she's] going to walk out with [her] fat friend," in regards to the walkout. Mia asks Mr. G for the hall pass and she and Lars go out in the hall where Lars won't stop laughing. Mia devises a plan to pull the fire alarm to stop the walkout. Justin Baxendale passes them in the hall. Lars offers to pull the alarm for her, but Mia says she has to be the one to do it, because she couldn't have him take the fall if they get caught. Lilly is upset, believing that the administration scheduled a fire drill at the exact time of her walkout to silence her.

At Princess Lessons Mia tries on every dress that Sebastiano has designed and he takes pictures of her in them to document it. They decide on a white ballgown with a pale blue sash, as those are the royal colors of Genovia. Mia and Sebastiano get to talking and she tells him about her problems with Michael and how he only sees her as his little sister's best friend and that she has no date to the Nondenominational Winter Carnival and Dance. Sebastiano offers to design a dress for her for the dance that will cause Michael to think of her as more than just his little sister's best friend.

Mia sends Michael another anonymous love letter and Lilly starts a new group - Students Against the Corporatization of Albert Einstein High School (SACAEHS), making Mia secretary. Principal Gupta calls an assembly urging whomever pulled the fire alarm to turn themselves in. Kenny and Mia go to lunch and Mia begins to believe he is getting over her as he orders dumplings with meat in them, after giving it up when they first started dating. Mia has Tina slip Michael another anonymous card.

The next day in Algebra Lana slaps down an article declaring Mia the third most popular Royal (after Prince William and Prince Harry) and asks Mia if she'd be as popular if everyone knew she had pulled the fire alarm. Due to a combination of stresses Mia grabs Lana's cell phone and smashes it on the ground, stomping on it. She is sent to Principal Gupta's office and given a one day suspension. Mia returns home to her mother who declares that she needs a vacation, so they order take out and watch movies in Helen's bed - just like they used to before everything changed with the pregnancy and the princess situation. Mr. G brings home a Christmas tree, which thrills Helen and which Mia pretends to be happy about. Tina calls and lets Mia know that she saw Michael get her second card and he slipped it into his backpack, though it was probably crushed by his laptop about 3 seconds later.

Mia attends the first meeting of SACAEHS but Lilly and Boris are the only other two to show up, which upsets Lilly. Mia goes to find Maya, who is in Michael's room - where Mia sees one of the cards she had Tina slip to Michael. The Drs. Moscovitz return home and reveal to Mia that she has been published in a fashion supplement in the Sunday Times. Mia is upset and rushes to the Plaza where her father is also upset and bans Sebastiano. When Sebastiano returns he is confused, as he had permission from Grandmère to publish them. Helen draws devil horns on all the little Mia's and hangs the supplement on the fridge back at the loft.

Lilly, Tina, Boris, and Kenny come over to study for finals but it quickly dissolves and they agree to get Chinese food. Mia sits next to Boris and realizes he isn't too bad and is pretty funny. 2 little girls at the restaurant ask for Mia's autograph on the supplement. While she is out Sebastiano calls multiple times and has the dress that he designed for the Nondenominational Winter Dance delivered.

At school she gets lots of comments from other students and finds a yellow rose hanging out of her locker. As the Monday of finals week is Reading Day she spends all day in homeroom studying, with Kenny passing her notes. The next 3 days Mia continues to find roses sticking out of her locker and assumes that either Kenny is lying and is using it as a buildup to ask her to the dance or someone has mistaken her locker for someone else's, such as Lana who is always waiting there for Josh.

Mia gets help from Tina, Lilly, Lars, and the concierge from the Plaza to call a press conference, declaring that all of the proceeds from the dresses that Mia modeled will be going to Greenpeace, which upsets Sebastiano but gathers praise from her parents and peers. Tina reminds Mia that they signed up for Secret Snowflake and Mia realizes that this is who her yellow roses are coming from. She feels bad for forgetting that Tina was her Secret Snowflake and quickly signs her up for a Romance Novel of the Month club. Tina asks her when she is going to tell Michael that she is the one that has been leaving the notes and Mia says she never plans on telling him, but Tina makes her promise that she will tell him at the Carnival.

Mia doesn't want to check her grades and rushes to her locker after they are handed out, where Justin Baxendale is waiting for Josh, and Michael is waiting holding a yellow rose. Michael tells her it fell out of her locker and the note attached reveals Boris as her Secret Snowflake. Michael is there to see if Mia passed Algebra. When Mia sees that she get a B- she squeals and hugs Michael - right as Kenny comes around the corner.

At the Carnival Tina drags Mia to the Computer Club booth where Michael pulls her to the front of the line and shows her a different program than anyone else sees. A castle appears and the screen goes over the wall into a rose garden where a poem similar to the ones Mia wrote appears, acknowledging Michael's love for Mia. Mia screams and jumps back before grabbing Tina and running away as Michael calls after her. Kenny stops her and breaks up with her, saying he knows she likes someone else and that he believes that person to be Boris. Mia wants to correct him but Tina stops her, telling her that it doesn't matter now.

Mia locks herself in her room at home and decides to move to Genovia but won't explain anything to her parents, who have Lars remove her bedroom door, forcing her to retreat to the fire escape where she talks with Ronnie. Grandmère eventually comes and apologizes for publishing her pictures, but tells Mia she believes that she needs to be more confident. When Grandmère realizes that Mia is trying to run away from her situation by moving to Genovia she forces Mia to put on the dress Sebastiano made for her and go to the dance.

Mia arrives at the dance and is greeted by Boris, Lilly, Dave, and Tina, who assures Mia that she has already told everyone that Mia and Kenny broke up. Mia sees Judith and her boyfriend and asks Lilly, who is using a payphone, where Michael is. Lilly again reminds Mia that Michael and Judith are not dating. Just a Mia is about to leave Michael rushes in. He apologizes for upsetting her and Mia tells him she thought he was mocking her. He says he would never do that and he kisses her and they spend the dance together. Lilly tells them that she knew they liked each other the whole time and didn't reveal it as a social experiment. Mia flies to Genovia for her winter break the next day, excited about all the change.