[description from goodreads]
After one summer at the Little Tykes Theatre, Mia Fullerton is meek no more, but that doesn t make her life any easier not in her sophomore year at St. Hilary's, when her best friend Lisa forces her into a dangerously big part in The Music Man. Not when her ex-boyfriend, Tim, is teaching her little brother Chris to treat women like objects. And not when she learns to drive with serious repercussions. Who is Mia? Is she an independent girl like Zoe, her acerbic goth friend from Little Tykes? She d like to be that s why she's volunteering to be onstage for the first time, in a show populated by her first ex and childhood crush Jake, her arch-nemesis Cassie, and new girl in town Alyssa. That s why it's so important she overcome the bizarre driving instruction of St. Hilary's janitor Mr. Corrigan to earn her driver s license, and therefore her freedom. Or is she the girl who misses Tim, even after the way he betrayed her? Tim is smart, funny, and likeable in a distinctly obnoxious way, and he s determined to win Mia back even if he has a funny way of doing so, dating both Cassie and Alyssa at the same time, behind both their backs. Can Mia forgive Tim? Should she instead choose Eric, Zoe's cousin, a nicer and more respectful choice in every way? Or would either choice defeat her goals of independence? And when the worst-case scenarios rear their heads when Mia is forced into the lead in The Music Man, when her first night out on the road goes horribly, when Chris appears headed entirely to the dark side does Mia on her own have what it takes to set things right? Between dog costumes and stage costumes, big embarrassments and bigger chickens, bad singing and worse crashes, and everything else that could possibly go wrong, Mia the Magnificent is a hilarious, clever, and endlessly fun novel, and the best installment yet of the Mia Fullerton series.
Review:
I have to admit, I was mostly interested in this book because there's a musical in it. And even though the musical wasn't in it that much, I still really enjoyed Mia the Magnificent and totally want to go pick up the prequels.*
Even though I haven't read the prequels, I easily followed Mia's story in this installment. There was enough background information given that I knew what was going on and why, but there was just enough so that it didn't get repetitive or boring; I was able to quickly get into the story. I didn't question how anything came about because Mia's interactions with the supporting characters, especially her ex-boyfriends and brother, were done so realistically that I never wondered about why she acted so annoyed/competitive/etc. This made her easy to relate to, and I was always interested in seeing how her story turned out.
I loved the humor in this book. Some lines and situations were laugh-out-loud funny, which just made the drama that much more fun to read about. However, some scenes were just...I don't even know. A few cliches found their way in, and on top of that there were some unrealistic pieces of dialogue. For example, I'm still not sure if Jake, one of Mia's ex-boyfriend's, is supposed to be a caricature of a person or what, because he spoke and acted like one of those cringe-worthy white guys who think it's cool to talk and act like a stereotypical "gangsta."** Whenever he showed up I would hope that he would soon go away and the actually funny stuff would return.
Mia the Magnificent is a fun, entertaining book with a delightfully realistic and flawed main character, even though it does have a few cringe-worthy bits.
*Even though I'm not sure how reading a series backward would work out for me.
** "Khy, did you really just say that?" You know it.
Book details: Bancroft Press/Hardcover/$19.95
Links: Eileen's website
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