Emma is a culinary instructor, teaching he students how to cook amazing traditional Korean dishes, one student at a time. Her matchmaker godmother tells her that it's time to start setting her up on matches dates before she seems too old for marriage. Emma agrees, though her dates don't tend to go very well... Michel is the crown prince of a tiny nondescript European country, and is visiting the US for a few months to try to find himself a wife that would be a better love match than his arranged marriage waiting for him at home. The woman at the hotel bar who keeps chewing dates up and spitting them out is gorgeous, though he doesn't know of he would have the same fate...

I like the elements that talk about Korean culture and cuisine. I liked learning more about the Korean culture. I like the characters. I thought Emma's and Michel's personalities were nicely built. I guess I didn't feel the need for intimate scenes as lengthy as these were. They seemed to come at me rather abruptly when the plot could've been furthered a little more instead.

SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I rolled my eyes quite a bit that in the epilogue, "one year later" after the grand gesture, they're already married, and expecting a baby. The characters that, DURING THE STORY, announced their engagement were NOT married, but the MCs and the secondary couple WERE. That doesn't seem plausible to me.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Just finished "That Prince is Mine" by Jayci Lee and wanted to share some thoughts with you all. So, let’s dive in!

Lee crafts a storyline ripe with romance and culinary delights, setting the stage for a fairy-tale ending.

The story kicks off with Emma Yoon, who's super passionate about Korean royal court cuisine. Emma's journey through a string of setup dates to find a husband that looks good "on paper" adds a fun twist to her culinary ambitions.

Now, enter Michel Chevalier— a prince in disguise, out in LA trying to find true love before his royal duties catch up to him. When Michel and Emma meet, sparks fly, but Emma is set on finding someone who matches her on paper, while Michel is all about finding “the one” and he’s set on Emma.

I loved the initial setup between Emma and Michel, but I felt like the food descriptions, although initially interesting, became a bit repetitive. For those unfamiliar with the dishes, the frequent culinary references might be overwhelming rather than illustrative. Still, Jayci Lee definitely makes the food scenes vibrant and full of passion!

While I found the plot twists to be engaging, both Emma and Michel could benefit from deeper character development. I found the characters to be a bit surface level. The romance is predictable yet comforting. We get a glimpse into their lives, but more depth would have made me root for them even harder.

The book was a bit of a slow burn for me—it took a while to get through. Which isn’t really a good thing… but it was a good read.

Overall, "That Prince is Mine" is a charming read that combines romance with cultural richness. Although it may not linger long after the last page - for me personally.. it is definitely worth a read. I would recommend it to friends looking for a light and enjoyable story, though it might not satisfy those seeking profound emotional depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an E-ARC. All opinions in this review are my own.

Okay, I absolutely LOVE THIS! 😍
I don't know why, but I completely forgot this FMC was Korean American, it's literally in the synopsis! 😂
So I for me, it was refreshing to see a Korean girl doing her thing, cooking Korean food and just loving life and family. Unlike other rom-coms, she was not intent on finding love or actively trying to date, she just sees it as a way to help her godmother's business.
She's very much a business woman with goals.
Enter Prince Charming (aka Michel lol). He WAS actively seeking a partner. Scared of marrying for duty alone, he pulled a Coming to America and went to the US in a desperate hope to find love.
He's immediately attracted to Emma but is too shy to make a move. It was adorable 🥰
When he finally worked up to making a sweet gesture, it was Emma who spoke up first and they hit it off!
Emma was annoyingly in denial and her mindset was completely illogical. It got a bit old, but Michel wormed his way into her heart and I loved how they're relationship developed 😍
Every time I thought the book was going to make the typical annoying "plot twists", it didn't! It surprised me by doing the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what I thought the characters would do! Loved that! 😂
It still had that 3rd act break up, but it didn't take too long to resolve and again the characters reacted in ways I didn't think they would, with Michel making the ultimate sacrifice to win Emma back and Emma actually going after Michel (which she SHOULD have done after everything) 🤭
This novel have me LOL and I even teared up. It made me frustrated and happy, gave me butterflies and got me hot 🥵
One of the best romances I've read this year and I totally plan to buy it!
Thanks Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this gem 💎

➸ 3.5 stars

“People who've led similar lives with similar experiences miss out on the thrill of discovering new things together—experiencing each other's firsts together."

This book was soooo cuteeee!! I was smiling like every chapter! I liked the overall story and the characters and enjoyed every second :)

Emma - She’s a culinary instructor who dreams of opening up her own school, is searching for the perfect-on-paper husband and has forever believed marriage would only work if people have things in common and are compatible. Despite her annoying me a few times, I liked her!!

“𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞.”

Michel - He’s a prince… in disguise! Oh and a hopeless romantic! Searching for his soulmate! I LOVED his character and wow did he have a way with words!! (He threw pebbles at her window in the middle of a night after a argument with the fmc earlier that night to apologize it was so cute just wanted to mention it haha)

"𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮—𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞."

Emma and Michel - AHHH THEH WERE SO CUTE!!!! Michel was immediately drawn to her and Emma was definitely interested but only agreed to the dates to prove they didn’t have anything in common but as the kept going on dates those lines started to blur and they both started to fall in love despite being the complete opposites of each other. (Him being willing to give up the crown just so that he could be with her ahhhh just wanted to mention it because he’s such a romantic)

Now as much as I loved this book, there is a few things I didn’t like… as cute as they were it also felt like instalove :( I didn’t like the third act break up and the ending felt a bit unrealistic even tho it was a happy ending and I’m glad it was! But she quite literally left everything she worked so hard for and forgot her dreams that she’s so passionate about to be with him! It was her choice but I just wish she could’ve done both idk… or at least have something in the epilogue that showed she still continued it on the side or something IDKKK

If you love The Prince and Me with Julia Stiles then you will adore this book! I read Jayci Lee's other series, A Sweet Mess, and while I enjoyed those books this one knocks those out of the park. I am begging for a book 2 of these two following their adventures wherever they end up - I'm keeping this spoiler free!

I did think the ending was rushed and wished we fleshed out that plot point more. I get it, but I wanted more! Overall really enjoyed this one!

As I was stuck reading a long high fantasy novel I wanted something fun and easy to read as a break. As someone who is a sucker for modern royalty romance books (thank you old Merther fanfiction) I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my hopes.

We follow Emma, a Korean-American culinary instructor in LA who is a well-rounded character and easy to root for. Her Prince, Michel, gets no development besides saying the cheeses-est things and feels trapped as a prince. This book does a lot of telling not showing. The author tells us that the characters are bonding and falling in love while exploring LA but she never really shows that development. Instead, we see their instant attraction but nothing on the emotional side. I wanted to read about the little things they like about each other and their sharing about their life, fears, and even their family (which Emma doesn't even know about Michel's cousin). All the conflict was extremely predictable, which sometimes can be wanted, but in this case, it made me roll my eyes. Same with the spicey bits. Any cliche that could be said was said. I am not sure if I've been only reading queer romances but are all straight modern romance books like this now?

I did enjoy all the food descriptions and how grounded Emma was. She surprised me a couple of times when she went along with Michel enthusiastically instead of saying the typical lines. It was overall cute and easy to read but nothing memorable.

This gave me The Prince and Me vibes in all the right ways!

This was captivating, sweet, enchanting and fun!

This is a sweet and spicy romance full of delicious food. It's not a good choice to read when hungry unless you have traditional Korean food on hand!

Emma is determined to find a good match through her godmother's matchmaking service. Michel is determined to find a love match - and he has his sights fixed on Emma! Add in interfering family, unsuitable matches, and a secret identity, and you have a recipe for a good time. Everyone is a tad overdramatic, with terrible habits of keeping secrets but it's difficult to not get swept up in the drama. It was funny and sweet, and I loved the side characters - especially Emma's godmother.

This book is a charming contemporary romance that swept me off my feet with its blend of royalty and real-world issues. The fairy-tale-like story with a modern twist, featured a relatable heroine and a prince who is more than just his title. The protagonist's journey towards love is filled with obstacles, introspection, and growth, making her character development a strong point of the book.

This was a quick, fast paced and fun read. The description of the royal court cuisine and Emma's commitment to teaching felt realistic and heartfelt. Michel was a fun and dashing prince.
The chemistry between Emma and Michel was well developed. The development of their respective cultural perspectives, however, felt a little flat and rushed. Overall, a lighthearted and fun read. I will be looking for other titles by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion. I see a lot of reviews that mention the plot falling short in the second half of the novel, and I have to agree! Overall, I think this was a really fun idea and the "secret identity" trope is one of my favorites, the characters just fell a little flat and the story lacked the depth I usually like. I would still recommend it if you're looking for a light read that you're not looking too hard into!

In "That Prince Is Mine," Jayci Lee weaves a delightful tale of love, food, and unexpected connections. Set against the backdrop of Los Angeles, this romance novel is a feel-good read that leaves you with a smile.

Meet Emma Yoon: a Korean royal court cuisine instructor with a practical, heartbreak-proof plan for her life. Emma dreams of opening her own culinary school, but meddling matchmakers threaten her aspirations. To save her godmother's reputation and her own dreams, Emma embarks on a series of arranged first dates in search of the perfect-on-paper husband.

Meet Prince Michel Aubert: a professor at USC who is bound by duty to his country. Michel longs for a love that transcends duty and responsibility. When he meets Emma, he wonders if she might be the woman he's been searching for. As their paths intertwine, secrets are revealed, and love blooms unexpectedly.

Lee's writing is both heartwarming and engaging. She skillfully combines romance with culinary delights, making the food come alive on the pages. The incorporation of Korean royal court cuisine adds depth to the story, and readers will find themselves craving the dishes described. From savoury bulgogi to delicate banchan, the culinary journey is as satisfying as the romance itself.

Emma and Michel are well-drawn characters, each with their own vulnerabilities and dreams. Their chemistry is palpable, and their banter is both witty and endearing. While the love between them may start as an arrangement, it soon evolves into something deeper, forming a connection that defies societal expectations.

The pacing is spot-on, with just the right balance of tension, humour, and heartache. Lee's attention to detail immerses readers in the world of Korean culture, from traditional customs to modern LA life. And yes, there's even a delightful shout-out to H-Mart. It’s a nod that will resonate with foodies and fans of Asian cuisine.

"That Prince Is Mine" is a reminder that love can be found in unexpected places, even when duty and tradition seem to dictate otherwise. If you're looking for a charming read that combines love, food, and a touch of royalty, this book is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4/4.25 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this story. it is more of a lighthearted read, the topics don’t get too in depth and there isn’t any really heavy topics.

You’re following Emma and Michel and i felt like Emma’s character had a lot of depth. It was hard not to relate to her in some way and enjoy her character. Michel didn’t feel like he had much depth to me. You learned basically who he was - but not much else about his background.

I really enjoyed the romance, and I would love a book about Sophie and Gabriel. I wished the book was dual POV and not third but still enjoyed it!

Sweet story and how fortunate that Emma is a chef of royal Korean cuisine! The food references were so yummy and I loved that there was even a dictionary of the terms we would be reading throughout the story. While I felt like the characters weren't that well fleshed out, I did enjoy this story for the sweet characters, the gentle pacing and the overall low angst of the story.

Prepare to be swept off your feet in Jayci Lee's enchanting romance, 'The Prince is Mine.' In this delightful tale, Lee introduces us to Emma Yoon, a culinary enthusiast who dreams of opening a culinary school. As she navigates the world of Korean royal court cuisine and assists hopeful brides, Emma finds herself entangled in a plot orchestrated by rival matchmakers.

Forced to save her godmother's reputation and her dreams, Emma embarks on a quest to find the perfect husband, even if love isn't on her agenda. Enter Michel Chevalier, a charming and irresistible professor who also happens to be a real-life prince, who disrupts Emma's plans. Only months until his arranged engagement is announced, Michel is determined to find a bride who loves him for who he is, not his crown.

Lee's engaging storytelling shines through as she weaves a tale of finding love when and where you least expect it. From the bustling streets of Los Angeles to the opulent world of royalty, 'The Prince is Mine' is a captivating journey filled with twists and turns that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

What a cute storyline! If you are into “a prince meets average girl and falls in love “ then this book is for you. It was a light fluffy, feel good read. :) I loved it and wouldn’t mind reading it again. Perfect to change things up

This is a great quick read for someone who wants a cute predictable contemporary romance with a secret prince. I enjoyed the dual POV, side character plots, and the insight into Korean culture and cuisine. The MMC could have been more well rounded as I felt like his only personality trait was "loving" the FMC (instalove from his side). That being said if you just want to turn your brain off for awhile and read a cute romance with a little spice this is still a good read.

I will never not love a "royal in disguise" romcom, and this one delivered that trope along with plenty of foodie fun. I really enjoyed this book!

I read this book as an impulse offer. I haven't read any of Jayci Lee's previous books but I loved this book. It was cute and I love the style of writing. If anybody is on the fence of buying, I'd tell you it is worth the cost.

Emma and Michel come from two different worlds: she aspires to open a culinary school in L.A. and Michel is the crown prince of a European country. They both feel pressure from their families to marry someone they don't know and don't love. Can they make it work?

I enjoyed this fun, contemporary romance. There was a good amount of fluff and substance, and I really liked our main characters. Their relationship was insta-love, but I didn't mind that in this instance. It was interesting learning about Korean culture and food.

I'm glad we got a dual POV, and I also liked the side characters Sophie and Gabriel. I hope there will be a book focusing on their romance!

Overall this is a sold contemporary romance that I would recommend to my patrons.