I've read all the PD books and love them. They are in general hilarious and full of fun characters from Mia herself to her crazy/wise/infuriating Grandmere to her adorable boyfriend Michael to her controlling, outrageous best friend Lily to probably my favorite of her friends, the enabling, overly-romantic Tina Hakeem Baba, and all were here in this volume. However, this volume does something none of the prior seven plus interim books have done to date: it leaves us on a cliffhanger.

Meg Cabot, you WENCH!

I read these things for the fun and fluff and hilarity, but Mia is getting older and reality is starting to have more sting and consequences for her, which makes for good reading... but upsets my wanting the perfect ending.

Now, of course, I can't wait for volume IX. I don't want to give anything away (this is highly recommended YA fluff), but the story revolves this time around a major change in Mia and Michael's relationship. Mia is often in the wrong about how she reacts the changes, but she works hard to make amends once she realizes the error of her ways; she's also amazingly clueless about how people perceive her and react to her (a recurring and actually believable aspect of her character -- she's used to being a misfit so she never presumes anyone is going to treat her otherwise in spite of her being a princess and all that this entails), but there are a few really moving moments in the story: her true pain over the problems she's facing; a revelation by her father; and a real mess of a cliffhanger which will have ramifications into at least the next installment if not beyond.