M. Molly BackesRezensionen

This young adult book was just OK for me - I was uncomfortable with certain language used around disability. The inappropriateness of the language is never addressed at all. Maybe this book is just a product of its time.

I swear there is some formula out there that goes like this for some of these YA books.

1. Girl is popular
2. Girl does something stupid, friends get mad at her
3. Girl sees life as an unpopular person
4. Girl discovers what a bitch she was
5. Girl starts to fall for "nerd"
6. Girl's friends/boyfriend start accusing her of changing
7. Girl discovers life on the other side isn't bad
8. Girl messes up and alienates "nerd"
9. Girl realizes she is in love with "nerd" and chases after him, in the rain, kissing him and ending the book

Bleh...

Paige Sheridan seems to have it all- a picture-perfect boyfriend, the adoration of her high school, and the likelihood of being the homecoming queen. However, a drunk-driving accident with her two best friends gets her sent to Paris for the summer before her senior year and when she comes back, everything seems to have changed. The Princesses of Iowa has more substance than many teen novels do, while still being a fun, engaging read. Paige shows realistic growth, moving from refusing all responsibility for her actions to taking the blame for the actions of others, before taking only the responsibility that she should. The fairy tale ending is a little neat, but overall shows the painful process of deciding who you want to be- and shows a popular girl in a light that doesn’t make her life seem charmed. The book includes descriptions of the main character kissing, and other characters going a little further, but nothing too graphic; there is a lot of underage drinking and a little marijuana use, but no harder drugs. Drunk driving is shown as having real consequences, and characters are shown dealing with the fallout of their decisions throughout the novel. All in all, a good book for readers who want a teen girl novel with a little heft to it. Recommended.

Paige Sheridan and her two best friends Lacey and Nikki have always dreamed of being Homecoming royalty -- but now that their senior year has finally arrived, it seems that too many things may have changed. At the end of their junior year, there was a party -- and then the was a car accident. While it could have been much worse, it left Lacey injured, Nikki riddled with guilt, and Paige isolated -- first, by distance (her mother hustled her off to Paris to be an unpaid au pair for the summer) and then by a complex web of secrets, resentments, and misunderstandings. As the school year begins, Paige finds that she is not as close to Lacey and Nikki as she had been in the past, but as she explores new relationships and starts to reinvent herself, she may unwittingly cause a great deal of pain to friends both old and new.

This book had more depth than I was expecting: Paige is surprisingly easy to relate to, and her character development is well-written and believable. Even Lacey and Nikki are more than superficial Mean Girls, and the supporting characters are all fully realized and interesting in their own rights. The plot is sprawling and would not have been hurt by a little judicious pruning here and there, but all in all this is an enjoyable and well-written book.½

Paige Sheridan is ready to start her senior year of high school with her long-time best friends Lacey and Nikki. Since middle school, the three queen bees have dreamed about becoming princesses, members of the homecoming royalty. And while plans are well in place, the climate has drastically changed. Paige spent the summer exiled in Paris following a drunk-driving accident that could've cost all three friends their lives. Paige returns to find Lacey is crippled and has attached herself to Jake, Paige's boyfriend, and Nikki has plans to create DieDD (don't let friends drive drunk), a student group where she can air her guilt over the accident. A charming new teacher, Mr. Tremont, inspires Paige in creative writing class, where she meets two friends (Ethan and Shanti) she would've considered social outcasts before. But while Paige is uncovering truths about herself, she begins to make the same mistakes again at great cost to those around her.

Author M. Molly Backes' Princesses of Iowa is a novel with more depth than the age-old high-school mean-girls drama seems to suggest. Teen readers will relate to Paige's struggles to find who she really is as she navigates numerous sub-plots. Paige's mother, a former Princess herself, is still a social-climber who has Paige's near future carefully mapped. Rumors that Mr. Tremont is gay prompt homophobic grafitti and an outcry that has a realistic, but subtle, resolution. Ultimately, Paige asks herself who she really is, and whether she has the power to change for the better. The novel has a few minor flaws, most notably several subplots that come and go and ultimately might've been better left out to trim down the 442 page novel.
But the setting is lush and realistic, and even urban teens who've never thought about Iowa will relate to Paige's struggle to figure out if she's more than the shallow social-climber her mother wants her to be, and whether it's too late to change who she thought she was. The story has been told many times through the ages, but this is an especially well-written version that should have wide young adult appeal. I'll be adding a couple extra copies for my library.

This book. Is. So. GOOD. Honestly. At the beginning, I was a bit confused, and it went a bit slow, but once I got into it, man, I was into it. Paige, the main character, is awesome. I was afraid that I wouldn't like her because of the description in the book description, but I loved her and related to her. I felt everything that she did, with such an emotionally intensity, I almost felt like I was her. (But thank God, I'm not.) I loved all of the supporting characters; Ethan, Shanti, and her sister, Mirror/Miranda were all so great. I liked how we did get to see how Lacey and Nikki were actually likeable people and weren't just scum. The ending was good, but I wanted more.

Anyway, I loved this book. Even though I have this thing where I'm pretty sure I am never going to live in an I state, Iowa was somehow endearing. Even though I still don't want to live there. The whole Mr. Tremont story line went in a completely different direction than I expected, but it was still a nice addition to the book.

A must read! I give it 4.5 because I wanted more to the ending.

Soon-to-be High School Senior, Paige Sheridan HAD a perfect popular life until one wild night of partying ends in a car crash, which involved her best friends. Although only one of her friends was seriously hurt, Paige found herself exiled to Paris and spent the summer as an Au pair. All Paige wants is her life to be back to normal, but upon returning from Paris everything seems very different.

This was a very interesting book to read. I found myself seriously wanting to smack all of Paige's snobby friends and Paige upside the head. Although annoyed, I find it to be a good thing..It means that I really got into this book. There were so many interesting characters in this book, some obviously I hated, but others I really loved. The Princesses of Iowa deals with a lot of issues from teen drinking to homophobia to self-discovery and growth. I really enjoyed this book and the writing style, from the unusual beginning to the end.

I would absolutely love to read a sequel especially if its more about the down-to earth characters Shanti, Ethan and Mr. Tremont , who in my opinion made the book even more fantastic!

I really loved that this was based in Iowa! I was born in Iowa, but moved to Texas when I was 6. I have many lovely memories of Iowa. It is a very beautiful state!

Special Thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review

Every time I think of this book, my heart breaks. This is one of those books that you read and will always stick with you. Even now, after weeks of reading it, my heart still clenches of what this girl went through.

The plot line of this book is what drives the reader. The reader is introduced to Paige who learned a life lesson the hard way. They drank, got in a crash and while everyone was okay, they were still dealing with the repercussions of the accident. Paige gets ships away to work while her parents cleans up her mess. And her friends, well lets just say that they stay behind helping each other. And when she comes back its all different,

What made my heart ache the most was the boyfriend deal. All of a sudden, her boyfriend is always hanging out with her other friend "helping her" deal with the accident. She hurt her leg and needs help. UGH! Do I have to mention how many times I wanted to slap the boyfriend and the friend! I can't tell you how angry I got with these parts!!! Literally. Her friend was just using any excuse to use against her. And there comes my second point, the friend blaming her. I'm sorry, but if you drink and force her to drive when you are just as drunk, it is just as much fault your fault as it is hers. In my book, you were all stupid. Not to mention the jawdropper at the end. That ticked me off even more.

Ok, I think I am done ranting! LOL. Back to the review...

What I did enjoy is despite what is going on, Paige finds strength to deal with all of the issues without her "friends" help. Cause what is a friend anyway? One that helps you. Paige finds new friends who help her see things differently than before. She grows and learns so much about herself. In the end, the truth is out and Paige no longer lives in the past caring all of the guilt. She is not a princess cause of some crown. She is a princess cause what she went through and still is strong,

The love interest really felt good. When Paige got ignored, he is there. He helps her stands strong and helps see clearly. Sigh. He is one amazing guy.

The Princesses of Iowa changes everything in what you think. It's not about popularity, jealousy or even beauty. It's about who you are inside. A perfect romance formed in the midst of chaos, The Princesses of Iowa is brilliant!

REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED http://hobbitsies.net/wordpress/2012/04/the-princesses-of-iowa-by-m-molly-backes...

I have such COMPLICATED feelings on The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes. For some reason, even after reading the summary, I didn’t expect The Princesses of Iowa to be as heavy and emotional as it was.

I read the prologue of The Princesses of Iowa and immediately connected to it. M. Molly Backes writing style – kind of rambly and flowy like the narrator is saying it all in one breath is so ME. That is how I think. So I loved connecting to The Princesses of Iowa on that level.

But MAN what an emotionally draining book. I was tense from the get-go – car accidents, suspected cheating boyfriend, psycho parents, and then BAM all this even more intense stuff happened and I literally could not catch my breath while reading The Princesses of Iowa. I had to keep reading and more stuff kept happening and nothing was going right and even after I put it down, I was super tense and down in the dumps.

The ending to The Princesses of Iowa was uplifting and hopeful, which I approved of, but even after finishing it, I just couldn’t shake the feelings from my mind.

But the issues discussed in The Princesses of Iowa are SO IMPORTANT. Drunk driving, cheating boyfriends, verbally and otherwise abusive parents, rampaging homophobia – it ALL goes down in this book.

What I guess I’m trying to say is – The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes does not shy away from the tough topics. It’s tough to take and you’ll be holding your breath through parts of it, so definitely have a lighter book ready to read next. But don’t skip The Princesses of Iowa. Definitely worth a read.

(Also, I would just like to point out that since writing this review, I’ve read a couple of reviews describing The Princesses of Iowa as being uplifting and etc. SO even though it was so emotionally draining to me, you could totally have the opposite reaction.)

**Review to be posted on the blog on April 7th, 2012 (one month prior to the release date)**I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley and Candlewick Press.What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.This book was a love at first sight as well as at first read for me, meaning it is as good as it looks! I was hooked from the very first page where Paige talks about last spring and the accident that changed everything in her life. It's told in such an honest clarity that I fell in love with the voice of Paige Sheridan aka Princess Paige or Perfect Paige.After the accident, Paige is exiled to Paris. Her mother cleans up the mess that was the accident during her absence. When Paige comes back to Iowa, she expects to see her two best friends, Lacey and Nikki, and her boyfriend Jake, waiting to welcome her back at the airport, but they don't show up. She meets them all later at Jake's barbecue party (if I'm not mistaken), that's when she realizes things aren't exactly the way they were before. Lacey, now crippled from the accident last spring, is mean to her and avoids her. Nikki spends all her time trailing after Lacey and sucking up to her. And Jake doesn't even have time for Paige anymore, always saying something like Lacey's going through a tough time right now and he has to be there for her. Apparently Paige and Lacey are having a fallout. You'd think that if Lacey's s having it so tough she'd turn to her best friend and tell her what was wrong. But no, that's not what she does. She, in fact, barely says a word to Paige at all since she got back, if not a sarcasm or something mean. That annoys Paige. And the fact that her other best friend and her boyfriend are practically taken away from her by Lacey also annoys her even more. I totally felt for Paige. I hate people like Lacey. I hate it when best friends turn their backs on each other. I hated Lacey so much. I wanted to smack her head on a goddamn stone. I wanted tattoo "bitch" on her friggin forehead. I wanted to run a car over her. Using her own private misfortunes to manipulate people like that disgusted the hell out of me. It was also no excuse to be a bitch. You know the feeling when you hate someone so much you want to scream and break things? Yep. My hatred for this character was so strong I thought my head was playing tricks on me, but then I realized it was the book. It could make you feel so much. Good job, Backes!I think the greatest thing in The Princesses of Iowa is the Creative Writing class. I've never had a creative writing class before. High schools where I live don't have this class, which sucks, because it's the one I want to take most, rather than stupid math and frustrating Thai I could never ace. Anyway. Paige takes Creative Writing (which is an elective Jake was supposed to take with her but he changed to Film Appreciation or something because "Lacey needs a friend". Yeah right.). There is a new teacher, Mr. Tremont, who's totally gorgeous and also a great teacher. In this class, they interview a partner, do free writing starting with "I remember...", and do a workshop where the selected few write something for the whole class to analyze and criticize. This is so cool, guys. I never knew what a Creative Writing class is like, 'cause apparently I've never taken one, so it's nice to read about it. Mr. Tremont is awesome. Through this class, Paige slowly discovers things about herself and about other people. She realizes that she's happy when she's with Shanti and Ethan, two new friends she makes in the class, as well as feelings about certain things she never knew she feels that way about before until the free writing. It dawns on her that maybe Princess Paige isn't who she really is, but who she wanted to be, who everyone expects her to be. And maybe she doesn't want to be a princess anymore.I love that The Princesses of Iowa starts out with the day the accident happened last spring which leaves some questions in our heads, like who was driving, and what happened exactly. I thought the author would leave it at that, and I was prepared to say that I didn't like it that way. But this book goes on to surprise me when near the end, things are finally revealed. Memories start coming back to Paige in vivid details. Love it!Now, as I already mentioned my hatred for Lacey, let's talk about other characters. I really really do like Paige for her down-to-earth-ness and her honesty. She might seem kind of snobby at first, being the perfect girl everyone looks up to and all, but her character develops and she evolves to become a very likable character indeed. I also like Shanti and Ethan very much. Shanti is this opinionated person who isn't afraid to say just what she's thinking, no matter how unvarnished it is, and takes no crap from no one. Ethan is a funny and sweet guy. A total cutie! He likes to joke and every time he does, I felt myself falling a little bit more for him. At first, Paige is slightly held back with them, but then she relaxes and then she's happy when she's with them. Awww. They really have fun together.Paige's family is a little bit weird. She rarely ever mentions her father who's actually there. I often found myself convinced that she has no dad or something. Her dad's really nice, from little information we have about him. However, Paige's mom is such a pain in the butt. I mean, what kind of mom insists that her daughter wears only a tiny dress and no sweater although the day is cold as hell, just because the sweater doesn't look good with the dress and that Paige has to make a good first impression because she only has that one chance? Please. She's trying too hard to keep Paige's image perfect that she doesn't really have time to care about the real Paige. I understand why Paige's little sister, Miranda aka Mirror, is so against her in the beginning of the story. Paige is her mom's favorite daughter, I guess, because she's pretty and has a shot at becoming Homecoming Queen. Mirror was practically a bitch to Paige, but then it changes when she sees that Paige has changed. The sisterly love is between them is cute.Paige's boyfriend Jake and the other best friend Nikki are okay characters to me. Jake seems very endearing at first, but when the Lacey thing happens again and again, he started to bug me. However, he does some really sweet things for Paige, like writing her poems. That's extremely sweet, okay. Another part I like is when Jake accepts it when Paige says it's over, and graciously steps back. Although he's a bit of a jerk, you can't say he's that bad a boyfriend. Clean-cut ending, yay! Nikki similarly bugs me too. She's like a dog trailing after Lacey, always trying to please her. She's also kind of dumb. She hasn't been a great friend to Paige after her return to Iowa, so I can't really say I like Nikki much.Mr. Tremont = fantastic. Enough said, really. I hope my to-be Creative Writing teacher will be like him.I didn't have any problem with the length. I didn't think it's too long or much longer than it needs to be. The characters and the story both need time to develop. Honestly I think it's good the way it is, although it really is long. It's so fun to read and so addictive that time just flies by. I really did enjoy Backes' writing. There are some parts where she created fast-paced narrations using no full stops. She just let Paige talk. It's these parts that I really enjoyed reading, because it gave me such excitement and the feeling like I was on top of the roller-coaster going down as my eyes quickly followed the words. She did a great job with both the characters and the storytelling here. Fantastic.The Princesses of Iowa deals with teen problems such as drinking and driving, friendship falling apart, and self-discovery. Told in a clear and honest voice, it's the kind of book you want to read again. At least for me. I'm definitely going to pick up a copy when it hits bookstores on May 8, 2012.

* Hardcover: 464 pages
* Publisher: Candlewick (May 8, 2012)
* ISBN-10: 0763653128
* Author: M. Molly Backes
* Cover Art: I really like it, it's different then anything I've seen before.
* Overall rating: **** out of 5 stars
* Obtained: Sent to me by the publisher in exchange for a review.

The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes
Review by Moirae the fates book reviews.

What does it mean to do wrong, when no one punishes you? A smart and unflinching look at friendship, the nature of entitlement, and growing up in the heartland.

Paige Sheridan has the perfect life. She's pretty, rich, and popular, and her spot on the homecoming court is practically guaranteed. But when a night of partying ends in an it-could-have-been-so-much worse crash , everything changes. Her best friends start ignoring her, her boyfriend grows cold and distant, and her once-adoring younger sister now views her with contempt. The only bright spot is
her creative writing class, led by a charismatic new teacher who encourages students to be true to themselves. But who is Paige, if not the homecoming princess everyone expects her to be? In this arresting and witty debut, a girl who was once high-school royalty must face a truth that money and status can't fix, and choose between living the privileged life of a princess, or owning up to her mistakes and giving up everything she once held dear. (Synopsis provided by goodreads)

When I first heard about this book I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I was so excited when I got a review copy. At first I had a hard time getting into this book as it started off slow for me. However, once I got past the slow bits the book really took off.

I really enjoyed the book and I would highly recommend it. I would say it's one for older teens though just due to it's content. The book has a powerful message at it's core and the delivery was strong, yet not heavy handed.

It's a book that will make the reader think once they have finished reading it, it makes you stop and really reflect on your life and reflect on society as a whole. I thought the characters meshed very well together and Backes did a wonderful job in grabbing the readers attention. I am looking forward to reading more of her work in the future.

This title vaguely reminded me of Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard, it could be more the cover art that makes me draw that comparison though. I really enjoyed this book and would encourage everyone to pick up a copy when it comes out May 8th.

review soon :)