Princess Of Iowa

The book that I chose to read for the first quarter is called “The Princess of Iowa”. This book was written by M. Molly Backes. I was really excited to read this book because it mentioned Iowa on the front cover. This book is about a teenage girl named Paige who is from Iowa. She is very popular and her life seems to be perfect. That all changes, when one day, she gets in a crash and her friends begin to treat her like an outsider. All of the sudden, her dreams of becoming homecoming queen change, and the crash changes Paige’s perspective on how she has been living her life.

“The Princess of Iowa” takes place in modern-day Iowa. Iowa is located in the middle of the United States and her hometown is close to Des Moines. This hints that her

Paige is a popular teenager who is dating the star football player named Jake. In the beginning of the story, she is a mean “princess” who doesn’t pay attention to the kids in other social groups, but as the story progresses, she shows her fun personality. The crash causes her boyfriend and best friend to change the way they treat her so her relationships with them change drastically. She is the main character and is also the narrator. Jake is Paige’s boyfriend who is a football player and is also alcoholic. He begins to show her best friend much more attention after the crash and this upsets Paige. His relationship is close with Lacey, but his relationship with Paige begins to fade. Lacey is Paige’s ex best friend and is also a popular teenager at their high school. She is competing against Paige for homecoming queen and she was also involved in the crash the previous spring. She is a horrible and manipulative person. An event the night of the crash affects the way Paige and Lacey treat each other for the rest of the book, but her relationship with Jake is closer than it was. Ethan is Paige’s new friend and he plays a big role in the way she changes her life. He is a kind person, who Paige can have fun and be herself around. They begin to grow really close throughout the story and he supports her

It showed that the pressure of always being perfect and beautiful was hard on her. I also liked that most students can relate to being pressured to be something they’re not. I disliked that I felt the length of the book on multiple occasions. I identified with Paige because I have also been pressured to be someone I don’t want to be. In the story, Paige is pressured to be perfect and make no mistakes and this often happens in real life. I was rooting for Paige because, she needed to step away from those who projected negativity and spend more time with those who made her happy. I think the night of the crash needed more explanation because sometimes you had to figure out if you read about a certain detail. I would recommend this book to any high school student because it opens your eyes to the fact that drinking and driving can change your life!

In the story, there were multiple characters that sounded like myself or someone I know. The popular misfit, the funny, the nerd, the stupid jock, or the mean, popular girl. If I was put into this story as Paige, I would have had a really hard time leaving my best friend and boyfriend, because for a long time they had been her lifelines. I would have stopped trying to hang out with them after the crash because they treated her completely different. Paige had to go through some tough situations in the