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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
When Jamie discovers he's actually a prince from a distant country, his life changes forever. Whisked away to meet the father he never knew and his family, Jamie is thrown into a world of politics and royalty. When fellow prince, Erik, is tasked with tutoring him on all things princely, the two develop a close friendship and soon deeper feelings emerge. Between Jamie set to return to America and Erik's life being tightly controlled by his family, will they ever actually be able to be together?
I've seen this advertised as The Princess Diaries meets Red White and Royal Blue, and honestly, that is an apt comparison. Overall this was a cute story about two boys adjusting to what life throws at them and learning to stand up and fight for themselves. Both Jamie and Erik are sweet, and I even got a little teary at some points. I also LOVED that all of the adults in Jamie's life were active and supportive and kind. It was refreshing to see in a young adult book.
At the end of the day I think my rating stems from a case of not really being for me. While there is kissing and references to previous hookups (both characters are 17-18), something about the book and writing felt younger. I think a lot of people will enjoy this and connect with the characters, though.
Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy!
I've seen this advertised as The Princess Diaries meets Red White and Royal Blue, and honestly, that is an apt comparison. Overall this was a cute story about two boys adjusting to what life throws at them and learning to stand up and fight for themselves. Both Jamie and Erik are sweet, and I even got a little teary at some points. I also LOVED that all of the adults in Jamie's life were active and supportive and kind. It was refreshing to see in a young adult book.
At the end of the day I think my rating stems from a case of not really being for me. While there is kissing and references to previous hookups (both characters are 17-18), something about the book and writing felt younger. I think a lot of people will enjoy this and connect with the characters, though.
Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy!
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Super cute YA romance
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was an alright book, but I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had it been a movie. The plot is basically the Princess Diaries: an american teenager (Jamie) finds out he’s the prince of a small nation and goes there for the summer. His father, the king, asks the prince of another country (Erik) to teach Jamie how to be a prince. You reeeally have to suspend your disbelief here – if the world just found out that an american boy has a claim to a whole country’s throne, the king would be finding a bunch of tutors and a whole PR team to teach that boy how to… you know… not ruin the monarchy’s reputation or the country’s relations with other countries lol. It’s quite absurd that the king was just like “Yeah yeah I’ll just ask a teenage prince from another country to tutor and media-train you lol”. 🥴 It was just a very contrived reason for them to be spending time together.
I was okay with suspending my disbelief for the sake of the romance, you know? The problem is that the romance was just… really meh, to me. 😕 Jamie and Erik very quickly started liking each other, and I’m very much a slow-burn kinda gal, so their relationship just felt too sudden and lowkey insta-lovey. They supposedly became friends, and they had their whole mentor-mentee thing going on, but neither of those were very well developed, so I just never felt their bond and I didn’t understand why they even liked each other. Overall, I just think their relationship wasn’t that developed, which made it impossible for me to care *at all* about the romance. How am I supposed to feel anything about their romance when I barely even see them as *friends* yet? 😐😐😐
I will say, though, that I enjoyed their relationship, once they got together. I mean, I didn’t *feel* anything, but I reeeally appreciated that they actually cared about each other and were super respectful. Jamie and Erik always talked openly about their feelings and had comprehensive conversations, which made their relationship feel really healthy.
I actually think that was my favourite aspect of this book: both MCs openly communicated their feelings, which was not only really healthy and refreshing to see, but also made it so that the book didn’t have any annoying miscommunication trope. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Whenever I thought we were about to reach a stupid miscommunication plot-line that would unnecessarily drag on for 50 pages, the characters immediately discussed their feelings and talked not only to each other, but to the other characters as well, instead of hiding everything and wallowing in self-pity. It was sooooo nice to not be constantly annoyed at the book for creating unnecessary conflict by making the characters hide things for no reason!!!! 👌🏻
Regarding the actual story: this is supposedly a book about Jamie finding out he’s a prince and going to his father’s country. However, we focus pretty much only on the romance. And like, I get it; this is a romance book. But I definitely think more time should’ve been spent with Jamie bonding with the other characters as well. His parents went with him to Mitanor, he had like 4 besties back in the US, he had his birth father, his stepmum and his half-brother in Mitanor, as well as his maternal grandparents, and yet he barely even interacts with any of them them! 😟 I think the most egregious case of this was with his grandparents; he meets them one time and they’re crying because Jamie looks so much like his deceased birth mother. They tell Jamie they’d love to get to know him and tell him more about their daughter (his birth mother) and then we never get to see any of that????? In the epilogue he mentions he got close to his grandparents, but like….???? It all happened off-page, I guess…
Actually, a lotttt of things seemed to happen off-page. They were usually pretty small things, but I think we should’ve gotten to see them, not only because *telling instead of showing* is annoying, but also because showing these little moments could’ve helped the relationships feel more developed (especially the romance between Jamie and Erik).
Random thing: some of the conflicts felt a little forced and were lowkey unnecessary.Like, Erik’s grandma (the queen of Sunstad) insisting that Erik needs to find a date to look stable or whatever?? And wanting him to date that Sebastian dude… for what?? And Erik fake-dating him? (Except they barely even did that lol. Sebastian was completely inconsequential…). And then his grandma not wanting Erik and Jamie to date because she didn’t think they were a good match?? Just silly conflicts, omg…
Overall, this was a fine book, but I wish that: 1) Jamie and Erik’s relationship had been better developed; 2) Jamie had interacted more with the SCs; 3) there was more *showing* instead of *telling. The story we got kind of fell flat to me. In general, I think this would be a cute movie.
I was okay with suspending my disbelief for the sake of the romance, you know? The problem is that the romance was just… really meh, to me. 😕 Jamie and Erik very quickly started liking each other, and I’m very much a slow-burn kinda gal, so their relationship just felt too sudden and lowkey insta-lovey. They supposedly became friends, and they had their whole mentor-mentee thing going on, but neither of those were very well developed, so I just never felt their bond and I didn’t understand why they even liked each other. Overall, I just think their relationship wasn’t that developed, which made it impossible for me to care *at all* about the romance. How am I supposed to feel anything about their romance when I barely even see them as *friends* yet? 😐😐😐
I will say, though, that I enjoyed their relationship, once they got together. I mean, I didn’t *feel* anything, but I reeeally appreciated that they actually cared about each other and were super respectful. Jamie and Erik always talked openly about their feelings and had comprehensive conversations, which made their relationship feel really healthy.
I actually think that was my favourite aspect of this book: both MCs openly communicated their feelings, which was not only really healthy and refreshing to see, but also made it so that the book didn’t have any annoying miscommunication trope. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Whenever I thought we were about to reach a stupid miscommunication plot-line that would unnecessarily drag on for 50 pages, the characters immediately discussed their feelings and talked not only to each other, but to the other characters as well, instead of hiding everything and wallowing in self-pity. It was sooooo nice to not be constantly annoyed at the book for creating unnecessary conflict by making the characters hide things for no reason!!!! 👌🏻
Regarding the actual story: this is supposedly a book about Jamie finding out he’s a prince and going to his father’s country. However, we focus pretty much only on the romance. And like, I get it; this is a romance book. But I definitely think more time should’ve been spent with Jamie bonding with the other characters as well. His parents went with him to Mitanor, he had like 4 besties back in the US, he had his birth father, his stepmum and his half-brother in Mitanor, as well as his maternal grandparents, and yet he barely even interacts with any of them them! 😟 I think the most egregious case of this was with his grandparents; he meets them one time and they’re crying because Jamie looks so much like his deceased birth mother. They tell Jamie they’d love to get to know him and tell him more about their daughter (his birth mother) and then we never get to see any of that????? In the epilogue he mentions he got close to his grandparents, but like….???? It all happened off-page, I guess…
Actually, a lotttt of things seemed to happen off-page. They were usually pretty small things, but I think we should’ve gotten to see them, not only because *telling instead of showing* is annoying, but also because showing these little moments could’ve helped the relationships feel more developed (especially the romance between Jamie and Erik).
Random thing: some of the conflicts felt a little forced and were lowkey unnecessary.
Overall, this was a fine book, but I wish that: 1) Jamie and Erik’s relationship had been better developed; 2) Jamie had interacted more with the SCs; 3) there was more *showing* instead of *telling. The story we got kind of fell flat to me. In general, I think this would be a cute movie.
This was a sweet coming of age story in the most extreme of situations. I like the comparison to Princess Diaries though he went to his home country to learn about his previously unknown royal position. The neighboring country's prince was asked to help him with the ropes. It was interesting seeing how someone born to the position feels a certain way about questioning authority and what he can do. Whereas, the American born prince just goes out and does things to help his community.
The romance between the two was slow and sweet, the longer they spent together. There were obstacles in their way but they were brave enough to cross them.
The romance between the two was slow and sweet, the longer they spent together. There were obstacles in their way but they were brave enough to cross them.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Princess diaries but with two gay princes. This was such a fun, light read. I binged it anytime I had a chance and loved being in a world of royalty, love and complicated families.
I will be picking up Cale’s backlist, as this one drew me in.
Thank you so much for the copy St Martin’s Press and Wednesday for the book, this was such a treat!
I will be picking up Cale’s backlist, as this one drew me in.
Thank you so much for the copy St Martin’s Press and Wednesday for the book, this was such a treat!
emotional
funny
relaxing
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:
Complicated
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes