I won a copy from Goodreads First Reads.The Princesses of Iowa reminds me of Dead Poets Society. Except that Mr. Keats is Mr. Tremont, who is possibly gay (rainbows) and very handsome. Like Mr. Keats (RIP Robin Williams), he teaches students about life. He teaches them to express their feelings through words and little journals. He teaches them to ignore the rules and go pass them to get the deepest and rawest piece of work, of that voice in the head. I seriously cried on that part. It was pretty good. Like "O Captain! My Captain" part from Dead Poets Society. Paige Sheridan is a bit whiny (okay, I'm being very nice to her), totally a princess (though not of real title, of course), and snobbish. However, her layers of character are exposed as the plot progresses, and she does change (yes, she is a dynamic character; thank you very much, English class). It is around the three fourths point when she starts changing for the better. She is a total idiot (who isn't?) and she ends up fixing her mistakes and finding where she belongs.The Princesses of Iowa touches very close to home. It reminds us that life isn't fair. It tells us to draw that passion and anger and emotion to write out your feelings (no, this doesn't sound "gay") and imagine a better world (thank you, John Lennon). (My subconscious just happens to feel so talkative today). And it makes me feel like I fail as a writer. Definitely not as a reviewer. Just as a student of English class. No emotion at all. Okay... This is getting a bit awkward.Ethan is the love interest, and he is awesome. No other words for him. And I'm not even going to be talking about him, because I really like him as a character.Jake, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated, and he is very dark. He has peer pressure coming from his friends, pressure from his parents, and even pressure... Oh, crap. I can't talk about that. That is crossing the line of spoiler. Anyway, I find him far more interesting than Ethan, but Jake is a huge bag of little Richards. Overall, The Princesses of Iowa belongs to the genre of contemporary, friendship, romance, love, DIEDD (drunk driving and its consequences; this is a reference to the book, by the way), and of course, YA. This book is recommended to anyone above the age of fourteen. There are some parts in here that are so vivid. Vivid. I'm so done today. Have a good day, everyone. Rating: Four out of Five-ofpaperandwords.blogspot.com rate: 4.5 out of 5 starsI've usually come to dislike contemporary novels written in the last decade. The characters are so cliched and make my generation worse than I perceive them to be. It's for this very reason that I liked The Princesses of Iowa. The main character, Paige, is not stupid. She's a brat, spoiled, and always willing to place blame on others, but she's smart enough to realize her shortcomings in a logical manner and actually wants to fix her problems in a manner that I could see myself fixing my problems. I could relate to Paige in ways I cannot relate to most contemporary characters these days. Sex seems to be authors go-to issue in most novels but it wasn't the focal point if this book and I really enjoyed that. The relationships Paige has is based on more than just sex, but they are based on her opinions of herself and others, the way I find most high school relationships to be. She chose Jake, not because he was good in bed, but because he made her more popular. And Ethan to her was a projection of the person she wanted to be, and she didn't want to jump his bones. Lastly, I haven't read a lot of contemporary novels about drunk driving accidents and what happens after and I enjoyed the authors interpretation. The accident affected the girls' lives, but it didn't damage them per say. Each girl was able to learn their lesson in a logical way but they weren't so affected that it ended their lives, like how it is usually portrayed. The "princesses," especially Nikki, were able to positively learn from it and help others from their mistake.
What do You think about The Princesses Of Iowa (2012)?
This book was so great! I loved all the detail that was put into it, and it had a strong message!
—denisi
Full of whiny rich teenage girls and their petty problems. -_-
—dania
