The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink

The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, released in the United Kingdom as The Princess Diaries: After Eight, is a young adult book in the critically acclaimed Princess Diaries series. Written by Meg Cabot, it was released in 2007 by Harper Collins Publishers and is the eighth novel in the series.

Plot summary

Mia is now a junior. She is no longer student president (with Lilly taking her place) but more problems come along as she passes through the school year. First, Michael tells Mia that he needs to spend a year (or more) in Japan. She is extremely upset about this and starts trying to find a way to get him to stay. Grandmere plants this idea in her head that if Mia sleeps with Michael, he won't want to leave. Mia and Michael get into an argument before they can sleep together, and he says nothing about not leaving to Japan. Then to make matters worse, she learns that Michael had a friends with benefits relationship with Judith Gershner that he had never mentioned (he mentioned the friendship, but did not mention the benefits), which she believes constitutes him having lied to or misled her. This leads Mia to break up with Michael.

Michael catches Mia (in a rather upset and confused state) kissing J.P. when he later comes to apologize to her. J.P. has just broken up with Lilly, and Kenny tells Lilly about the kiss. Now, her former best friend and her former boyfriend no longer are speaking to her. When Mia goes to explain what happened to Michael, his plane to Japan has already taken off. J.P. asks if Mia would like to see Beauty and the Beast with him, and she says yes. But before she goes, she emails Michael and writes "Michael, I'm sorry," the only thing she can think of to say.