Canadian golden boy and young prince Edward just wants to be a normal teenage boy at least sometimes the duties call and he must answer. Montana cowboy Billy is excited to be going to New York he has an audition at Juilliard and although he has no intentions of leaving his mom and sister he still wants to go for the experience. His best friend packs is going along for the ride as well. They are non-binary and One of the most fashionable people Billie knows and they’re going with him. the same day that Prince Edward is given native Canadians their due respect in the museum display being held at the Lincoln Center Billy is running late for his Juilliard audition. When he was standing outside of the musical school a lady says “we’ve been waiting on you!” When she escorts him across the street and then to a dressing room where people immediately start fixing his hair and his face he thinks how fancy, but when everyone leaves Billy in the room alone he starts getting a weird feeling and goes to leave and runs into his doppelgänger… Who happens to be prince Edward. Billy has no idea who this guy is but sees the resemblance but after Prince Edward accuses him of having plastic surgery to look more like himself Billy just cuts and runs away. It isn’t until later that prince Edward and his best friend Neil realizes how much this look alike could help him and after tricking Billy into a meeting Edward axes Billy if he would be willing to go to a ribbon cutting ceremony in his stead because Edward secretly has his first date with a boy ever! And first Billy says no but being the nice guileless cowboy he ultimately agrees but by doing this Edward and Billy will find out they aren’t the only two with secrets. On the night of the switch Billy is waiting for the car to pick him up when who should walk in the room with a king Frederick and a soon as he sees Billy in the birthmark on his hand he gets teary-eyed and when the king says we thought you died, Billy doesn’t know what to think. Him and Edward will find out that the king and queen head twins but thought the first twin died and he wa switched in the hospital with Billy‘s families Little boy who did pass away. This will change everything in both boys ‘ life and the thing Prince Edward thought he didn’t want is now being given to this country bumpkin Billy Who is not only gay but out and it seems everyone loves him for it. The one thing prince Edward was trying to hide seems to be the one thing that endears Billy to Canadians hearts. Edward isn’t happy about this and he gets royalty influencer Faye to try and embarrass Billy to get him canceled, but someone even closer to the royal family will do something so agreeious and will prove that blood is much thicker than maple syrup. I really really really enjoyed this but I love sweet and clean romances and although I find those hard to find in the LGBTQ community they can be found in this is one of them and one of the great ones. I love the story and highly recommend it! This is a totally five star read! If you love love the new love the two princes it’s more about brothers and family loving each other I especially loved when Billy went to New York and felt like he was going from a little bitty gay boy to a grown-up homosexual man who finally felt free, I love that part. There is so much to love about this book and I loved it all! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I think this might have worked better if it were purely satire, but there were too many dramatically cringe-worthy moments that distracted from the heartfelt plot points about identity and acceptance. I DNFed this about 50% of the way through, so I'm rating this 3 stars since my thoughts aren't based on a full read.

2 stars

Unfortunately this didn't work for me. I assumed it was a YA romcom but it was far from that. It read more middle grade and wasn't a romcom at all. Both MCs annoyed me. The pacing was also very off and the 'funny' parts weren't actually funny.

When I first discovered this book, I knew I wanted to dive right in. Immediately, I put it on my anticipated reads of 2023 and couldn't wait to start it. After all, it had some of my favorite buzzwords: royalty, prince in disguise, long-lost twins, and small town life. It had the ingredients to be absolutely superb. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment.

The premise, overall, was super fun and enjoyable! Billy, a sweet, young farmer/rancher, finds out he is the next heir to the throne and has an identical twin brother, when he crosses paths with Prince Edward in New York City. Then, of course, drama ensues.

A Tale of Two Princes is one of those books that readers have to suspend their belief quite a bit to enjoy fully. This is much easier when the intention is fantastical and not contemporary. However, Geron set his fictional monarchy in Canada with very little history to back up his claim that modern-day Canada is home to royals running the country now.

Billy makes quite the entrance into Prince Edward's life, literally unseating his position as the heir to the throne. The drama that such a scenario created was exhausting. Edward, who seemed princely, kind, and relatable in the beginning, decides to make a villainous plan that will result in the monarchy finding Billy unfit to rule. In fact, most of the characters (besides possibly Billy and Mack, Billy's sister) turned out to be unlikeable. While most of the side characters, particularly the royal family, were two-dimensional, the main characters seemed wildly under-developed as well.

The ending didn't tie everything up in a nice bow. Most of the drama that occurred seemed to be still lurking under the guise of a happy ending. (I'm not sure how to put it without giving away any spoilers.)

Overall, this book wasn't for me. With Canadian monarchy's reign, the under-developed characters, and the endless drama that doesn't get resolved, A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron is a tale that sorely misses its mark.

I was so excited to read this. The description sounded so fun and the cover is fun and it all just sounded like a fun time.

But ugh. First off, this book was too long. There was no reason for this book to be almost 500 pages. Completely unnecessary.

The writing just wasn’t strong, the dialogue was unnatural, and the characters, aside from Pax and Mack, were so bland. There was no conflict, no passion, when something happened it was just like “I’m sorry” “no it’s fine I totally understand it’s okay I forgive you.”And then everything just moved on.

Things happened that were drastically unreasonable with no explanation. I know it’s fiction but it’s not fantasy, it made no sense that Pax would uproot themselves their final semester of high school to a new school within a week to be with Billy in New York because of the Prince thing.

Also things that COULD have been more detailed and focused on like what happened to lead Billy to be in Montana and not know he was royal, that entire scene was just breezed through. I don’t know how this book was so long, yet so rushed?

Unfortunately for me this book was disappointing. Pax and Mack were the best part. 📚

The royal love story everyone is looking for. The book of the year, ready to find its new readers of queer royal families lover.

For the most part I really enjoyed this queer YA rom com that reimagines a world where there's a Canadian monarchy and the crown prince Edward is in the closet only to discover a long lost older twin brother who is set to take the crown from him.

Clever, funny, with tons of Canadian puns that I adored. This is perfect for fans of the American Royals series or the movie Parent Trap. Good on audio too - my only criticism was that I felt it was longer than it needed to be and dragged in places.

Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! I'm excited to read more from Eric Geron and can't believe he's not Canadian with how well he wrote about Canada and all our little quirks!!

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

Oh boy was this book an adventure! As much as I loved Edward (definitely my favorite brother) I really enjoyed Billy being himself in a world that he didn't fully understand with people who were out to humiliate him. There was a lot going on with most of the characters, like Pax's fashion dreams and Fi's dream of being Queen Consort, but I couldn't help but notice that the characters that weren't that fleshed out were on Edward's side. I wanted to know more about what Neel was up to, but he vanished from the story and only popped up sporadically (I found it very weird that as Edward's best friend he was almost too quick to blame Edward for everything and start avoiding him), and we almost never saw the Canadian Queen in anything but a group setting where she had a few lines and then was gone. I wanted more moments between her and her long lost son, and instead we just got group moments with almost no emotion. Overall, however, I really like the enemies to friends relationship of Edward and Billy, and how Billy was reluctant to change himself to better fit the Maple mold.

I had a lot of fun and loved the characters and the humour. The plot is entertaining even if there's not a lot of surprises.
The story kept my attention alive, I laughed a lot and rooted for the characters.
A compelling and entertaining story.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Two boys who have lived very different lives find each other in New York. There they try to do the typical doppelganger swap only to find out that they aren’t doppelgangers, in fact they are twins. What makes it worse is that the twin who comes from the farm is actually the oldest which means the twin who was raised to take over the throne has to step aside. Can farmer run a country, more importantly will the world accept that they are out and proud?
I liked the idea of this story. I feel like maybe the characters needed to be fleshed out a bit more. Edward was really one note once Billy entered the scene. Plus, there was so little interaction between Billy and Edward. I understand that Billy was busy taking over all the challenges of becoming the next in line, but I would have loved to see them interact more. I enjoyed Billy’s character more as I feel he was given more depth, with his struggle to try and figure out his feelings about his father and his birth dad. Plus, him trying to learn how to balance two families, and making so that people didn’t think he was pushing a gay agenda. It makes me so sad to think that Gord knew about Billy for years and instead of letting the royal family know he hid Billy because being gay would not be a good look for the crown. I am so glad that the royal family did not agree with this standpoint and embraced Billy and Edward for who they are. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it didn’t suck me in like I hoped it would.
Thank you to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the advance copy of this book, which is out now! All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5. Okay, this one was cute, if not predictable and a little too early wrapped. Sometimes you need that though. When Montana teen Billy, who is used to working on his family’s ranch, discovers that he is actually the twin to Edward, Crown Prince of Canada, their lives are turned upside down. Since Billy is older by one minute, he technically stands to inherit the crown. But will Edward go quietly and support his brother, or will he sabotage him? Both twins are queer, which adds a layer to the royal-driven cast. Cute, fluffy, and appropriate for middle school. Recommended for grades 6+.

This was a great idea that starts off pretty good. Once the central conflict arises things become awkward and slow down. Billy, one of the MC’s suddenly has different ambitions and I was never sure why. Edward remains consistent throughout the story but seems to suddenly have things dawn on him out of nowhere that neutralizes the conflict, but the realizations don’t feel natural. The main dramatic event comes across as comical and absurd and everything wraps up in the second to last chapter instead of slowly filling out the end of the book. I liked the whole swap going on but I really wish the author had taken more time to make certain aspects more believable. All the unrealistic elements made the story hard to invest in the characters. I’d still tell others to read it but I was hoping for a little more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Edward and Billy's lives are worlds apart. The first is Canada's Crown Prince and the second works to keep his family's ranch going after his dad passed away. They each struggle to accept their lot in life until a random meeting in New York City leads them to discover that Billy is Edward's twin and the long-lost firstborn prince. Their worlds collide and everything they knew and thought about their futures is about to change.
It's a total fantasy fairytale in the modern world complete with witty nods to real celebrities and the very famous royals everyone knows. I particularly enjoyed how real realistically it portrays how hard it must be to be a royal with expectations and rules governing your every breath. Poor Edward has to constantly hide his true self and Billy is dropped into the deep end of etiquette and tradition without much preparation.
I confess that it took a bit for this one to grow on me, but the more time you spend with Edward and Billy, the more you have to love them. And it's not just them, the people they're surrounded by all feel like real people that you'd enjoy spending time with.
There's also the fact that it touches on important points of self in ways that never feel forced. I loved the character of Billy's best friend, Pax, and what a great example of being true to one's self they are.
Overall, it at times got a little too close to CW teen melodrama for my tastes, but I figure that's perfect for the age group it's intended for and I did end up really enjoying it towards the end.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the early read!

If you have ever wondered 'what would happen if a member of the royal family, especially the heir was queer', here you go!
This was sold to me as the princess diaries meets the parent trap--obviously I'm sold. This book is funny and sarcastic and wonderfully campy.

I really loved the concept of this one more than the actual story, sadly. There was just too much going on for my taste--several great ideas mixed together into something just okay. I was confused that this takes place in Canada, with no explanation of how Canada came to have its own Monarchy. The whole switched/missing/presumed dead baby thing felt kind of weird to me. Overall, I liked it, but didn't love it.

Queer and royalty? Oh you must be screaming my name. Was this a fun book with great representation that I would recommend lots of people give a try? Yes! The storyline is cute but there is more potential for sure especially with a bit more research. Overall still super cute!

3.5 rounded to 4 (the extra point solely for Pax)
A fun, and sometimes funny, m/m romance that I ended up wanting to like more than I did.

I really enjoyed the characters, but the frenetic pacing with the constant one-liners stayed on the same emotional note a tad too long, making the story seem longer than it was. Splitting it up over many days helped, also, the utterly delightful Pax. Much as I liked their royal highnesses, I ended up wishing it was their (meaning Pax's) story, the focus on them.

When I saw that there was a book including two gay princes, I was all in!!! I enjoyed most of the book, there were
times where I was a bit bored and just wanted to move on to the next scene.
I felt that the book was so 100 pages too long. I did love Pax as a character and wish there was more about him in the book.

Overall I would recommend this book to others based on the modern humor and found family aspects.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an E-ARC in exchange for and honest review.

I read quite a number of LGBTQ and YA novels (and combinations of both), so when I saw there was an upcoming release of a YA queer lost prince book about the Canadian monarchy (as a Canadian, it was hard to resist reading this sort of fantasy) …. Well, I absolutely had to read this!

Sadly, A Tale of Two Princes really fell short of what I was hoping it could be. It was extremely long, with a lot that felt like could/should be cut to make it flow better and faster (a lot didn’t add anything to the plot and storyline, made it drag, and honestly, the number of times I had to flip back pages because my mind wandered due to not being invested or absorbing the words, because it was just not holding my interest enough - well, it happened a lot, and with how many books I read, more than 400 last year (22), with this occurring maybe 1-2 times overall last year but like 10 just in this book, it was a big problem). There was so much potential and I was so excited to read this, and there were pockets of greatness, which is why I give it a 3.5-star rating rounded up to 4-stars.

Prince Edward and Billy were quite interesting characters and really more info about nature vs nurture could have been discussed explicitly (for why so similar), the characters of Pax and also to a point Neel were great secondary ones and best friends. The sibling rivalry was understandable but the parents (king and queen) needed to be explained a bit more for why they shifted allegiance so immediately.

Otherwise, if it was pared down to flow better, with the superfluous parts removed and so it didn’t read like a junior high level book, and more like the high school level it is intended to be, it would be a lot more enjoyable and I definitely would have rated it higher. I will have a harder time recommending it with how juvenile it is and with how the characters act(also juvenile) in it the way it is at this time.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Inkyard Press, and this is my honest opinion.

The main premise of this story was sound, but it was executed with terrible pacing. The ending was too fast and easy, and the entire book before then was too drawn out. It acted like a TV series in its pacing when it should have been a movie.

This was a cute read. Some parts were slightly heavy.
Some cute liners. Really important messages throughout. I did call the ending but I enjoyed getting there.

Some parts carried on a little longer than necessary.

I was cheering for Pax the whole time. I loved them. I was kinda more interested with the supporting characters than the main characters.

LGTBQ+ representation- gay/ non-binary

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Special thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for this digital ARC.