but..but...

I always seem to be on the cusp of giving up on Mia. I didn't even want to read this one that much. Whatever character development (please don't hate me Meg Cabot if for some bizarro reason you ever read this, I love you, really I do) that Mia was heading for in the first three-ish books has been abandoned. I actually find Mia and most of her cohorts far less interesting and individual the further we go along in this series. Mia has devolved into angsty whining. Now, perhaps she did this in the books that I actually liked as well, and I might have been less annoyed because the series was fresh or she was angsty about something worthwhile or something. I don't actually remember. I just feel that she's now just a hollow caricature of herself. And that makes me sad. And bored. What makes me keep reading these books is that I know, between the parts that make me hate Mia, both for her annoying whining and for her ability to do horrible, embarrassing, cringe-inducing acts, there is some genuine funny in everything Cabot writes. And, I do have to remember that while in reality 6 years have gone by, and in Mia-land a mere year and a half (?) has passed. Oh, and that Mia is 15. And fifteen-year-olds whine and do stupid things. Hell, even 25-year-olds do. But seriously, if I were Michael, I SO would have broken up with her by now. Please, Meg Cabot, please give Michael a better reason to stay with her -or at least help me understand why he does...