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A review by hobbithopeful
Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A thoroughly funny read that had so much heart and nuance, with witty banter and a diverse set of characters I adored.
I love any storyline or premise where royalty falls in love with a normal person, yet this one still managed to stay fresh and the heartfelt topics that were interlaced through the plot knocked it out of the park for me. (Like, yes please give me a diverse and queer book!)
Jadon has spent his entire life trying to act as the perfect prince, yet it seems the media keeps tearing him down at every second, always waiting to jump on any chance he slips up. While trying to rebuild his image, he figures out who he wants to be in, and meets a boy that could threaten everything he’s trying to fix.
While we all know where the book is going to end, the journey kept me heavily invested, I couldn’t stop reading. No one was perfect, but instead nuanced. And can I just say how delighted I always am to read a book where most characters are in fact, NOT white? It was glorious.
“’Relax those ass cheeks,’ Karan instructs. ‘Melanin dominance, remember?’”
I tabbed this book so much, because I couldn’t stop GIGGLING reading this! Every few minutes I was stopping to send to tab a line of dialogue, I’ve never read such well written banter between characters before.
“‘You seem upset,’ I say, breathing normally again.
‘What gave it away, Benoit Blanc?’”
Jadon and Reiss had such great chemistry, it felt so natural, their relationship and flirting.
‘” Isn’t there a fancier title?’ He interrupts. ‘Like Royal Suitor? A duke? His Royal Arrogance’s— ‘
‘Royal Attractiveness,’ I correct. ‘Royal <i>Adorableness</i>.’
‘Royal Assholeness.’
‘You’d be okay with everyone calling you His Royal Assholeness’s consort?’”
Sometimes I read romances, and it feels like there is zero chemistry between characters, or suddenly the romance just happens without any built up which just feels cheap. But not here!
I recently dnf’d another book where the dialogue was so stilted, repetitive, and boring, and that was ADULT fiction. This is ya and yet quite frankly every single page of Prince of Palisades was leagues above the other book. Every character was cheeky and well written, easy banter feeling like I was listening in on a conversation and making me forget I was reading.
“‘Greg, royalty is in our living room, and I <i>burned </i>the damn meatloaf.’”
A boon to be sure, since I am currently sans power because of a hurricane, and trying not to think about when my a/c will be restored and how much longer I’ll have to eat tuna and dry goods. (Damn you, hurricane Beryl)
‘Welcome to California! Everyone’s either queer or not-so-secretly hating you for being queer.’
“Isn’t that all of America?’ Lo proposes.
‘The whole world, actually,’ Reiss sighs.
‘Wow. That got dark,’ Karan says.”
It reads so well! That is the kind of dark humor I say to my friends, and it just fits so well.
I adored this book, and when I adore books, I write a lot about them. (Like what I did with The Stardust Grail, so enjoy my picking at this book)
Even among all the funny moments, there was still a great message that was present. How Jadon was treated differently for being one of the few Black princes, and the only openly gay one for instance.
“‘This world treats you like a man instead of allowing you to be a boy. They treat all Black children that way. Expecting excellence. Perfection. To grow up before you should.’”
There is so much nuance and weight to this statement, so much truth to it. Jadon is treated differently; we see as such with other experts from young royals at the chapter heads throughout the story. Others act out far more, and yet receive more grace, there isn’t a witch hunt, or people targeting them.
There’s also a moment when Jadon and Reiss arevisiting Palisades, and Reiss mentions feeling so comfortable because of how it’s full of people that look like him.
“‘Is it weird,’ he says outside a teashop, ‘that I feel so safe here?’…’Everyone looks like’—his eyelashes flutter when he inhales— ‘like me’.”
That <b>feeling</b> resonated so deeply with me. It’s the same feeling I got when I visited El Salvador the other month. Surrounded by other brown people, with no white people around, I felt like I could breathe. Like there was a weight lifted off my shoulders that I hadn’t even been aware of. A sense of community and safety and belonging. I do live in Houston, which is extremely diverse, but it’s just different to be standing in a street and look around you and see no white people. It’s indescribable.
The scene where Jadon finally decides to stop being neutral, is honestly great symbolism for how so many people are afraid to stand up for what’s right. As we all know, it’s never easy. It’s not supposed to be easy, if it was everyone would do it. People like to claim they are allies until they must be uncomfortable and be in a tense situation. As an enby, this whole plot point was perfect.
<i>“’You can’t choose comfort over inconvenience. You can’t be silent because it’s easier…It’s our duty to protect communities, even if they’re not our own."</i>
It’s hard to pick a favorite character when THERE WERE SO MANY, (more on that in a bit!) but if I had to choose, I really adored Reiss’s parents.
“We’re barely inside before his mom yells, ‘Door stays open!’
‘Babe, that’s a prince!’ Mr. Hayes hisses.
They were two of my favorite side characters, by far. Because honestly, who wouldn’t have the same reaction to meeting royalty.
“’You’ve gotta try my potato salad!’ Mr. Hayes announces, breaking the tension.
His wife glares at him in a <i>you did not just offer a queen potato salad </i>way.”
One last quick thing I loved, the small discussion of consent Jadon and Reiss had before intimacy. Say it with me kids, consent is sexy. That is all.
There were only two small issues I had with this story. First, there were moments I did have a slight trouble keeping up with certain characters, there were quite a few introduced, and I must admit some of the side ones started to blur together to the point of confusion, some of the names I kept getting mixed up with who was who.
And then to put it in perspective, this is all of the names we get total of characters that have lines of dialogue: Karan, Kaden, Khalia, Kofi, Ajani, Annika, Nathan, Nadia, Reiss, Grace, Morgan, Barnard, Jadon, Headmaster Parker, Lo, Léon, Luc, Dr. Garza Villa, Samuel, Dom, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Hayes, Mia, Papa, Mom, Senator Miller, Ime. That’s quite a lot of names. The K names got me, as well as the A’s. I mixed some of them up. (This is about a 337 page ya book) I wish there were less characters introduced, some of them felt unnecessary to the plot, just because there were already so many others.
My other issue is, while everything was dealt with and handled, I feel like the situation with Kofi was glossed over a bit much. I do feel a bit of the quality of writing slightly wavered as the book wrapped up, and while Winters excels in dialogue, the internal moments at least towards the end did not feel as strong. (and yes, I’m nitpicking because this story was amazing and the moments where it wasn’t were jarring) The story seemed to imply that Jadon didn’t take the time to invest in his friendship or have that level of care to ask about Kofi.
“…’I needed a friend.’
‘You don’t know what that word means.’
It’s another sting to the face. He’s right. We’ve been around each other for years but I don’t know Kofi…I never asked.”
I felt a little confused about the direction the scene went because after that revelation it then seemed to imply that Kofi was just bitter and selfish and Jadon instead chose the new friends he had, even though it also stated he wanted loneliness and distance. In a way it was odd that Jadon would choose to forgive and wrap things up with everyone else but just not Kofi. Everyone else is so nuanced and not perfect, I thought Kofi would be given the same treatment. Instead, Jadon just ends up walking off. It feels like that whole scene could have been cut and never happened.
Another example of a moment where I side eyed the writing:
“I was made of gasoline. He was the one holding a match. But were we ever more than just two boys watching our fire burn the world down?”
I truly didn’t understand the purpose of that sentence, as the book never mentioned the two getting into any true troubles or issues, and that moment broke me out of my reading. Compared to the rest of the strong and impactful writing, this one felt much weaker, and far more…well you know, (I hate to say cringe) then the rest of the book. And then of course we get this sentence:
“As I unleashed the last flames swelling inside me. Now in the aftermath, I sit on my bed. Fists curled in my lap. Exhaustion creeping in my bones. The fire extinguished.”
The moments of fire being mentioned, the metaphors, doesn’t feel like it fits. It just made me make a bit of a face, because it doesn’t carry the emotional weight I had come to expect from Winters writing, and that the rest of the story had excelled at.
This was my first book by Julian Winters, I am absolutely in love with his writing now. Especially when it comes to banter, Winters easily sits at my top author now when I think of who I like writing dialogue. I absolutely love finding a new-to-me author, because it means their other books are all sitting ready for me to read, and I know I am going to love them just as much.
<b>I HIGHLY recommend this book, a royal romcom with a hilarious BIPOC cast, fantastic dialogue, and real issues that give heart to the humor.</b> Now quick, someone shred all of Winters’s other books so I can liquify them and inject them into my veins.
<i>Thank you, Penguin for this Arc,
Quotes are subject to change, as this was an arc and an unfinished copy </i>
I love any storyline or premise where royalty falls in love with a normal person, yet this one still managed to stay fresh and the heartfelt topics that were interlaced through the plot knocked it out of the park for me. (Like, yes please give me a diverse and queer book!)
Jadon has spent his entire life trying to act as the perfect prince, yet it seems the media keeps tearing him down at every second, always waiting to jump on any chance he slips up. While trying to rebuild his image, he figures out who he wants to be in, and meets a boy that could threaten everything he’s trying to fix.
While we all know where the book is going to end, the journey kept me heavily invested, I couldn’t stop reading. No one was perfect, but instead nuanced. And can I just say how delighted I always am to read a book where most characters are in fact, NOT white? It was glorious.
“’Relax those ass cheeks,’ Karan instructs. ‘Melanin dominance, remember?’”
I tabbed this book so much, because I couldn’t stop GIGGLING reading this! Every few minutes I was stopping to send to tab a line of dialogue, I’ve never read such well written banter between characters before.
“‘You seem upset,’ I say, breathing normally again.
‘What gave it away, Benoit Blanc?’”
Jadon and Reiss had such great chemistry, it felt so natural, their relationship and flirting.
‘” Isn’t there a fancier title?’ He interrupts. ‘Like Royal Suitor? A duke? His Royal Arrogance’s— ‘
‘Royal Attractiveness,’ I correct. ‘Royal <i>Adorableness</i>.’
‘Royal Assholeness.’
‘You’d be okay with everyone calling you His Royal Assholeness’s consort?’”
Sometimes I read romances, and it feels like there is zero chemistry between characters, or suddenly the romance just happens without any built up which just feels cheap. But not here!
I recently dnf’d another book where the dialogue was so stilted, repetitive, and boring, and that was ADULT fiction. This is ya and yet quite frankly every single page of Prince of Palisades was leagues above the other book. Every character was cheeky and well written, easy banter feeling like I was listening in on a conversation and making me forget I was reading.
“‘Greg, royalty is in our living room, and I <i>burned </i>the damn meatloaf.’”
A boon to be sure, since I am currently sans power because of a hurricane, and trying not to think about when my a/c will be restored and how much longer I’ll have to eat tuna and dry goods. (Damn you, hurricane Beryl)
‘Welcome to California! Everyone’s either queer or not-so-secretly hating you for being queer.’
“Isn’t that all of America?’ Lo proposes.
‘The whole world, actually,’ Reiss sighs.
‘Wow. That got dark,’ Karan says.”
It reads so well! That is the kind of dark humor I say to my friends, and it just fits so well.
I adored this book, and when I adore books, I write a lot about them. (Like what I did with The Stardust Grail, so enjoy my picking at this book)
Even among all the funny moments, there was still a great message that was present. How Jadon was treated differently for being one of the few Black princes, and the only openly gay one for instance.
“‘This world treats you like a man instead of allowing you to be a boy. They treat all Black children that way. Expecting excellence. Perfection. To grow up before you should.’”
There is so much nuance and weight to this statement, so much truth to it. Jadon is treated differently; we see as such with other experts from young royals at the chapter heads throughout the story. Others act out far more, and yet receive more grace, there isn’t a witch hunt, or people targeting them.
There’s also a moment when Jadon and Reiss are
“‘Is it weird,’ he says outside a teashop, ‘that I feel so safe here?’…’Everyone looks like’—his eyelashes flutter when he inhales— ‘like me’.”
That <b>feeling</b> resonated so deeply with me. It’s the same feeling I got when I visited El Salvador the other month. Surrounded by other brown people, with no white people around, I felt like I could breathe. Like there was a weight lifted off my shoulders that I hadn’t even been aware of. A sense of community and safety and belonging. I do live in Houston, which is extremely diverse, but it’s just different to be standing in a street and look around you and see no white people. It’s indescribable.
<i>“’You can’t choose comfort over inconvenience. You can’t be silent because it’s easier…It’s our duty to protect communities, even if they’re not our own."</i>
It’s hard to pick a favorite character when THERE WERE SO MANY, (more on that in a bit!) but if I had to choose, I really adored Reiss’s parents.
“We’re barely inside before his mom yells, ‘Door stays open!’
‘Babe, that’s a prince!’ Mr. Hayes hisses.
“’You’ve gotta try my potato salad!’ Mr. Hayes announces, breaking the tension.
His wife glares at him in a <i>you did not just offer a queen potato salad </i>way.”
One last quick thing I loved, the small discussion of consent Jadon and Reiss had before intimacy. Say it with me kids, consent is sexy. That is all.
There were only two small issues I had with this story. First, there were moments I did have a slight trouble keeping up with certain characters, there were quite a few introduced, and I must admit some of the side ones started to blur together to the point of confusion, some of the names I kept getting mixed up with who was who.
And then to put it in perspective, this is all of the names we get total of characters that have lines of dialogue: Karan, Kaden, Khalia, Kofi, Ajani, Annika, Nathan, Nadia, Reiss, Grace, Morgan, Barnard, Jadon, Headmaster Parker, Lo, Léon, Luc, Dr. Garza Villa, Samuel, Dom, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Hayes, Mia, Papa, Mom, Senator Miller, Ime. That’s quite a lot of names. The K names got me, as well as the A’s. I mixed some of them up. (This is about a 337 page ya book) I wish there were less characters introduced, some of them felt unnecessary to the plot, just because there were already so many others.
My other issue is, while everything was dealt with and handled, I feel like the situation with
“…’I needed a friend.’
‘You don’t know what that word means.’
It’s another sting to the face. He’s right. We’ve been around each other for years but I don’t know Kofi…I never asked.”
Another example of a moment where I side eyed the writing:
“I was made of gasoline. He was the one holding a match. But were we ever more than just two boys watching our fire burn the world down?”
I truly didn’t understand the purpose of that sentence, as the book never mentioned the two getting into any true troubles or issues, and that moment broke me out of my reading. Compared to the rest of the strong and impactful writing, this one felt much weaker, and far more…well you know, (I hate to say cringe) then the rest of the book. And then of course we get this sentence:
“As I unleashed the last flames swelling inside me. Now in the aftermath, I sit on my bed. Fists curled in my lap. Exhaustion creeping in my bones. The fire extinguished.”
The moments of fire being mentioned, the metaphors, doesn’t feel like it fits. It just made me make a bit of a face, because it doesn’t carry the emotional weight I had come to expect from Winters writing, and that the rest of the story had excelled at.
This was my first book by Julian Winters, I am absolutely in love with his writing now. Especially when it comes to banter, Winters easily sits at my top author now when I think of who I like writing dialogue. I absolutely love finding a new-to-me author, because it means their other books are all sitting ready for me to read, and I know I am going to love them just as much.
<b>I HIGHLY recommend this book, a royal romcom with a hilarious BIPOC cast, fantastic dialogue, and real issues that give heart to the humor.</b> Now quick, someone shred all of Winters’s other books so I can liquify them and inject them into my veins.
<i>Thank you, Penguin for this Arc,
Quotes are subject to change, as this was an arc and an unfinished copy </i>
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Racism, and Classism