Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
This book is….
…going straight to the unhaul pile 😬
I had such high hopes for this book because I heard good things, I loved If This Gets Out, and it sounded like such a cute queer princess diaries like story.
But the writing just drove me absolutely insane!
As I said, the story is cute! a little bit of the princess diaries but make it queer… And the book started out good, but my God, the writing… It was so repetitive! I would literally find the same sentence twice within five lines of each other… during one scene it was mentioned three times that Jamie‘s parents had gone to bed… all on one page!!
and the chapters are short, which is something I absolutely love! But sometimes they would end so abruptly, which would make sense because we switch POV’s with each chapter, but the next chapter then would pick up days later and not connect to the abrupt ending at all!
urgh, i’m just sad now because i wanted to love it! 😫
…going straight to the unhaul pile 😬
I had such high hopes for this book because I heard good things, I loved If This Gets Out, and it sounded like such a cute queer princess diaries like story.
But the writing just drove me absolutely insane!
As I said, the story is cute! a little bit of the princess diaries but make it queer… And the book started out good, but my God, the writing… It was so repetitive! I would literally find the same sentence twice within five lines of each other… during one scene it was mentioned three times that Jamie‘s parents had gone to bed… all on one page!!
and the chapters are short, which is something I absolutely love! But sometimes they would end so abruptly, which would make sense because we switch POV’s with each chapter, but the next chapter then would pick up days later and not connect to the abrupt ending at all!
urgh, i’m just sad now because i wanted to love it! 😫
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
For what I wanted, a sweet not too serious read. It was good. The voices were a little to similar, I would have expected Erik's P.O.V to sound a little more refined based on the education and environment he was raised in. His Gran conceded way to quickly for her position and authority. Jamie's friends were not very memorable, only Max seemed like someone with dimension. The romance had no build up, but was cute. I wished there was more familiar interactions with Alexander and Maria.
I thought it was cute, but there was a lot of telling and not very much showing. The “panic attack” didn’t really feel real. The narration just said he had a panic attack, but it wasn’t described so it didn’t really feel important. Like Erik talked a lot about the pressure, but it wasn’t really felt.
I was listening to the audiobook, so I don’t know if it was the narrator, but some of the dialogue felt weird/ awkward/ jarring.
It also felt to easy. The only one who was properly against the relationship was the grandma and the motivation was unclear (like was it actually a test?!?). The character just knew exactly what the other one was feeling. That felt unrealistic.
Also, mixing made up countries with real countries felt jarring and made the world building weaker. It was harder to believe.
The relationship was cute though. I still found it engaging enough. Listening to it instead probably made it easy to finish.
I was listening to the audiobook, so I don’t know if it was the narrator, but some of the dialogue felt weird/ awkward/ jarring.
It also felt to easy. The only one who was properly against the relationship was the grandma and the motivation was unclear (like was it actually a test?!?). The character just knew exactly what the other one was feeling. That felt unrealistic.
Also, mixing made up countries with real countries felt jarring and made the world building weaker. It was harder to believe.
The relationship was cute though. I still found it engaging enough. Listening to it instead probably made it easy to finish.
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed the book. It has all of my favorite elements of romance: anticipation, tender moments, chemistry, vulnerability, and an unabashed belief in the power and necessity of love. Some might say that the lack of conflict and “bumps in the road” between Jamie and his new family, both his father (King Alexander) and his bio-mom’s (Emilia) family and his seamless inclusion into their world is unrealistic. To that I say this was actually one of my favorite elements of the book. Is it realistic? Probably not since humans are terribly imperfect and fail love’s wisdom all the time. Is it a bit of fantasy on the part of Dietrich? Sure, but some of the best fantasy isn’t about fairies, wizards, and dragons, but instead about the fantasy of a world or family we deserve and yearn for. Jamie and Erik’s teenage love is sweet and beautiful and a wonderful backdrop for the story of how each begins to come in to their own. My only wish is that we would have gotten more scenes of Jamie with Alexander, Maria, Tomas, his Grandma Ruth, and Octavio.
This is a sweet gay retelling of The Princess Diaries with a taste of Young Royals.
We follow Jamie - a 17-year-old American who goes from a regular school and a job at Cinnabon to finding out he's the prince of a small country between Spain and France. His father, the King, asks the gay prince of a nearby country - Erik - to teach his son etiquette and how to be a prince.
Erik's grandmother is the queen of his country and forbids him from pursuing anything beyond a platonic relationship with Jamie, wanting him to date another young man who will boost both of their public images. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest, and Jamie and Erik fall for each other.
This is a cute YA story, and I love that Jamie's newly mixed family of his adoptive mom/step-dad and the King, Queen, and half-brother all get along. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time, that there was fake niceness.
I will echo other readers who wished for more drama. Erik's PR boyfriend is too easygoing when Erik suggests they see other people. And the story is resolved too quickly at the end.
Still, it's a book I would have devoured when I was in high school! I think this book will do really well in high school libraries and in YA sections of stores like Barnes & Noble.
**I received an ARC for free from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily**
We follow Jamie - a 17-year-old American who goes from a regular school and a job at Cinnabon to finding out he's the prince of a small country between Spain and France. His father, the King, asks the gay prince of a nearby country - Erik - to teach his son etiquette and how to be a prince.
Erik's grandmother is the queen of his country and forbids him from pursuing anything beyond a platonic relationship with Jamie, wanting him to date another young man who will boost both of their public images. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest, and Jamie and Erik fall for each other.
This is a cute YA story, and I love that Jamie's newly mixed family of his adoptive mom/step-dad and the King, Queen, and half-brother all get along. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time, that there was fake niceness.
I will echo other readers who wished for more drama. Erik's PR boyfriend is too easygoing when Erik suggests they see other people. And the story is resolved too quickly at the end.
Still, it's a book I would have devoured when I was in high school! I think this book will do really well in high school libraries and in YA sections of stores like Barnes & Noble.
**I received an ARC for free from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily**
This is a very cute love story between Jaime, who just found out he is the prince of Mitonaur (side note, I keep thinking Minotaur) and Erik, the prince of a neighboring kingdom.
The story itself is really cute. I gave the book a 3 star rating because of character development. Only Jaime and Erik get any type of character development. Not even that, every other character is a flat character. You don't get the feeling that you know the characters. It just isn't there. The potential was for a five star book was there. I thought about saying that that because it is a young adult book, tons of teens will enjoy it more than I did, but I am not sure that is necessarily even the case. You can't give a pass to a book just because it falls in the YA category.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free kindle book. My review is voluntarily given and my opinions are my own.
The story itself is really cute. I gave the book a 3 star rating because of character development. Only Jaime and Erik get any type of character development. Not even that, every other character is a flat character. You don't get the feeling that you know the characters. It just isn't there. The potential was for a five star book was there. I thought about saying that that because it is a young adult book, tons of teens will enjoy it more than I did, but I am not sure that is necessarily even the case. You can't give a pass to a book just because it falls in the YA category.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free kindle book. My review is voluntarily given and my opinions are my own.