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Listen, if your book has a prince who is hiding his identity to cosplay as a normal human, I'm absolutely going to read it. It's my favorite Hallmark trope and it's just as fun in That Prince Is Mine. Also as a USC alum (#fighton) I was sold since Michel is a professor there. And a prince who's looking for a love match to save him from a functionally-arranged marriage? Yes please! Emma is super likable and its impossible not to root for her as she yearns to open up her own culinary school. Her dynamic with Michel is really compelling and I loved the whole opposites-attract of it all.

Jayci Lee always writes fun frothy (often food based) romances and this one is no different. Her books are perfect for the summer, to read by the pool or beach -- you're guaranteed to have a good time!

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Overview: Emma Yoon, a culinary instructor who specializes in Korean court cuisine and wants to start her own school in LA, allows her matchmaker godmother to set her up on multiple blind dates at a local cafe. Michel Chevalier, a visiting international relations professor at USC, frequents the same cafe and can’t help but notice the beautiful woman who keeps going on dates with different men. When Michel finally takes his shot, sparks fly between him and Emma. The only problem? Michel can’t tell her that he is in fact the crown prince of a small European country called Rouleme…

Thoughts: I loved the cafe meet-cute and how awkward Michel was at the beginning DESPITE BEING A FREAKING PRINCE. Emma introducing Michel to typical American experiences was adorable. And I loved that Emma’s family was so supportive and protective of her. I will say that some of the dialogue felt a bit cliche. I didn’t love that a lot of the conflict was caused by poor communication, although I was glad that the characters quickly came to their senses. And, I was a bit irked that the sacrifices made were so one-sided for both of the main couples in the story - but it did make sense for Emma and Michel!

I was actually more intrigued by the second-chance storyline between Gabriel (Michel’s cousin) and Sophie (Michel’s royal bodyguard) - they need their own book! Finally, the true star of this book was THE FOOD! I almost sprinted to the nearest Koreatown after reading this! (Had to settle for making a mediocre kimchi tofu stew instead).

Take home message: That Prince is Mine is a delectable romcom perfect for foodies and anyone who’s ever wanted to find their own prince. Based in Los Angeles, this is a dual POV story featuring a mixed-race couple that is low on angst with medium spice (multiple open-door scenes).

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

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DNF at 14% I just started to get really confused with the story. Perhaps this is something I would pick up in the future but right now it's just not a fit for me.

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Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I soft DNF’ed this book at 30%. I will revisit it once it is out in audiobook. It’s a slow start and I am not loving the premise of the story so far. Emma wants to try to save her dream of opening a culinary school and her godmother’s matchmaking business, but she unexpectedly meets a guy who she can’t stop thinking about.

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Neither Emma Yoon, a culinary instructor in Korean royal court cuisine, nor visiting professor Michel Chevalier want an arranged marriage, but it seems to be a fate both are heading towards when the have a meet cute at a cafe where Emma is meeting yet another disappointing match made by a well-meaning relative. Michel, an adjunct at USC, is hoping to meet The One before he has to go back home to his kingdom and marry a childhood friend, while Emma’s aunt, a renowned matchmaker, would like to settle her with someone advantageous to their oversees business alliances.

Emma doesn’t quite believe in love, but the chemistry with Michel is real and immediate, and as they date and get to one another, in spite of Emma’s conviction that passion fades and compatibility is supreme. She’s aware of Michel’s short tenure, but ignorant of his royal obligations back home (oh, yes — he’s a PRINCE, and maybe already promised to someone). The secrets each are trying to keep add a delicate tension to this royal romance.

Fans of culinary writing will appreciate the exquisite detail to food and cooking. The story is fairly straightforward and very sweet and very passionate. The relationships between the protagonists and secondary characters–Emma and her Appa; Emma and her Auntie Soo; Michel and his cousin Gabriel; Michel and his female bodyguard, Sophie; Sophie and Gabriel, who seem to have a yet-to-explored backstory–all make for a rich, well-rounded, carefully populated story with a cast of characters that neatly move the story along, create a sense of community and family, and promote love at any age, any stage. Lee doesn’t shy away from commentary on racism, sexism, feminism and other issues that rear their heads in both politics and academia; this is a solid, tasty snack of a read.

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #ThatPrinceIsMine via #NetGalley, courtesy of St. Martin’s Press.

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Couldn't put it down! Super cute romance with a little bit of spice, and an extra little love story on the side. Also, I could go for some good Korean food right about now. LOL

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Imagine: a Korean American young woman whose godmother is a matchmaker searching for her perfect match meets an incognito European prince who is searching for a loving mate so as not to have to marry his since birth predetermined mate. Source for a cute story for certain.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I really enjoyed this lighthearted Royal romance…

A prince in disguise falls for a career focused girl! And vice versa…

Trying to get her Royal Court Cuisine cooking class running, Emma is also ready to be matched by her matchmaker godmother. While investing her time into many arranged dates she meets Michel… a visiting professor at USC, with a secret only him, his cousin and his bodyguard all know… he’s the crown prince of Rouleme, who is also looking for love to avoid his arrangements back home.

I found the arrange marriage/match making of it all fascinating. I don’t think I’ve read that in a RomCom yet. I fell hard for the secret prince story line and wish I had been the one Michel swooped up! Besides the main characters I found the side ones just as great! Emma’s loving Dad, meddling Godmother and Michel’s cousin and bodyguard!

If you’re looking for something easy breezy I would recommend this one!

Thank you St Martins Griffin
Releases 7/30

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Lyon.brit.Andthebookshelf/

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Piping hot and tons of fun, That Prince is Mine pits a royal court cuisine instructor against a professor who’s hiding a princely secret. This is the best Lee I’ve read in years, and it’s officially my favorite book of hers.

Emma Yoon has a very specific skill, and that’s teaching young women to cook in the way Korean royal court chefs do. This attracts the attention of a specific subset of young ladies who are looking to marry up into royalty – something about which ambitious Emma couldn’t care less. She runs classes in Los Angeles and hopes to create her own culinary school.

Emma is approaching her twenty-ninth birthday, and unfortunately, her professional matchmaker of a godmother Auntie Soo – who is her business partner – wants to arrange a marriage for her. Emma doesn’t want to get married, but her Auntie points out that it looks bad for Emma to be an unmarried woman partnered with a successful woman. On top of that her godmother has rivals up the wazoo willing to pounce at any minute. To maintain Auntie Soo’s reputation, Emma goes out on a long series of matseons – or blind dates – to find a man who looks good enough on paper to shut everyone up. She’d always planned on an arranged marriage anyway.

Michael is the Prince of Roulme, and has no intention of marrying a woman picked out for him by his elders. He wants to marry someone he can, at the very least, respect and like, so he’s working as a college professor and keeping a low profile while he searches.

Emma and Michael have their meet cute and start to fall for each other. Sexual combustibility follows. Might their feelings about true love be challenged by their sudden connection? Is Emma really ready to run her own royal household after teaching women the ins and outs of all of those protocols – even if it means learning procedures she’s never experienced before? And what will this mean for Emma’s dream – and Auntie Soo’s matchmaking service?

This is, quite simply, a spicy, fun, good-natured light-hearted romp of a romance. Lee’s description of food is particularly notable and fantastic; every dish sounds delightful.

Both Emma and Michael are likable in different ways. Emma is strong, driven, smart, and understandably feels a bit railroaded into this marriage thing. Michael is fantastic in his own way, wanting to be seen as more than a crown. He knows he must surrender to royal duty someday but ah, until then… And Auntie Soo is a delight as well – sometimes in spite of herself. 

That Prince is Mine is lovely, warm-hearted and delightful, quite the worthy romantic confection.

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This was such a delightful read! To me it's almost perfect - and that's a high bar for a rom com to meet so well done!

Emma and Michel are perfect from date (day) one and although there weren't too many surprises, I really liked the pacing of this story. I was getting a bit fidgety around the 85% mark because I did not know how it was going to resolve itself by 100% but whew we got there !

I loved the dual perspective and how it was used in this book - and the supremely amazing side characters really took it to a new level for me. BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO!

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After devouring Jayci Lee's past (and interconnected) romances, I was automatically intrigued by this one, especially with its royal romance trope. While, yes, the MC's love interest is a secret prince, it doesn't feel like countless other versions of the trope I've already read. Like, this one sort of put a unique spin on the subject. (And no, this one is not connected to Lee's past characters but it doesn't need to be.)

Told in dual points of view, Lee continues to use her now-signature compelling writing style that pulled me in and wanted to keep reading to discover what would happen next. This story, which was not a closed-door romance IYKYK, was very cute and a perfect summer beach read. For sure.

Ok, gotta go now because this book has me craving madeleine cookies.

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💙👑 That Prince is Mine ARC Review 👑💙

Thank you so much to Jayci Lee and St Martin’s Griffin for the opportunity to read and review this book!

That Prince is Mine is a standalone contemporary romance. Emma is a successful culinary educator in LA. Shes convinced that love doesn’t lead to lasting relationships, so she allows her matchmaker aunt to match her with a potential husband. But when she meets Michel at a coffee shop, she learns that maybe there’s more to love than just being compatible on paper

This was a cute story. I’m a sucker for the “royalty in disguise” trope so I enjoyed that part of it. Michel was a great character and I really liked him in this book. I liked Emma as a whole, but I did find some of her hesitations to be a little tedious as they continued for most of the book

Overall this was a solid three star read. The overall story was cute and it was a fun read. This book was a smidge of a slow burn but did have a few spicy scenes in the second half, so overall two flames for spice

If you’re a fan of royal romances with cute stories and fun characters, then absolutely pick this one up!

Please note: review will be posted on amazon upon publication

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I loved getting to learn more about Korean culture and cuisine. All the food mentioned sounded so good. I also enjoyed the plot because who doesn’t love the hidden identity trope with a prince? The writing, however, wasn’t for me. I felt that the descriptions were a little repetitive and it didn’t help bring an image to mind. I also didn’t feel very connected to the characters and felt they were a bit flat in my opinion. For me, the smut in the book didn’t match the vibe of the book because it leaned more towards the cute rom-com vibe and then the spicy scenes felt out of place for me.

The review is published on my Instagram account on June 6th, 2024.

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🎀 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. “𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆.” 🎀

🌷 ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛs 🌷

2.5 ✮ honestly, I didn’t hate it. it was pretty cute towards the middle but lost me in the beginning and end.

i think they got together way too quickly to my liking, and then the third act breakup happened too late into the story that made me not so invested. there was no balance. i also feel like stakes weren’t as high as they should’ve been. like he’s literally a prince but they just kissed in public like it was nothing and im just like? isn’t it supposed to be a little discreet?

👑 ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇᴅ 👑

🇰🇷 the culture. emma, our female main character, is korean so we got to learn more about her culture and traditions which I enjoyed very much!! it’s very refreshing to have a new type of character as most I’ve read are american.

🤴🏻the prince. whilst I didn’t really simp for him all that much, I still have to admit he is pretty adorable. he was so down bad for her and so in love that I was just like wow 🥹🥹 so cutesie <33

🍜 the food. emma is a korean cuisine instructor and the way she always described the food was so amazing i was literally getting hungry just from her words. especially when ive just been eating cereal and ramen all week, now i wanna go to a korean restaurant and get some bibimbap or something 🤭🤭

🧸 ᴄᴏɴᴄʟᴜsɪᴏɴ 🧸

sorry, again, for the short reviews 😭 im trying I promise <3 overall this was super adorable, for fans of insta-love and cutesie, rom-com vibes, this may be the book for you !! 🩷

thank you netgalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!!

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This was cute and much spicier than expected. Predictable but in a comforting way, and the characters were actually surprising in unexpected ways. I absolutely loved his bodyguard Sophie and their friendship. I really enjoyed learning more about Korean customs as well, especially the food, and how Emma showed Michel her home. I was actually torn on the best resolution for them and felt for them. I was happy with the resolution. I wished we had gotten more of their relationship growth through their shared interests as much as we got the sexual attraction, but overall an enjoyable romance.

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A light hearted, easy romance read - kind of hallmark meets The Prince and Me with a touch of spice. Looking for a sweet modern royal (in disguise) type romance? This one should fit the bill.

While it was a cute and easy read, I will say that the story felt like it had me a bit more to it in the first part of the novel. I can’t say I was as invested in the second half. While not a perfect fit for me, I can definitely see recommending it and can think of a number of friends whom this would be a very good pick for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early, gifted copy!

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I absolutely loved this book! Emma and Michel were perfect together!! The chemistry between them was there from the get go. Their different backgrounds worked well together and fit. And this book was way steamier than I was anticipating based on that cover but I’m not complaining. This was a top read for me and I absolutely enjoyed every bit of this book. I’d read three more books about this couple!

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I am a sucker for royalty romance books and this was such a good one. I love the characters and their growing relationships. The cute moments are the right level of cuteness and it made me so happy to see them throughout the novel.

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This is a fun and quick contemporary romance with secret royalty and mouth-watering cuisine. It's the perfect palate cleanser (pun intended) for me after reading a pretty heavy and dark fantasy. Switching to this lighter and steamy romance where a prince falls for a cooking instructor was a great choice. The author's writing style, the love story, and the yummy dishes all made for a fun and enjoyable read.

Emma's a Korean royal court cuisine instructor, and her dishes sound mouth-wateringly delicious. Michel sounds delicious, too. A professor and prince in disguise with a heart of gold - what's not to love? The story is told from a dual POV, which I liked because you could understand their thoughts when they made some pretty unreasonable assumptions. Their romance is as delicious and spicy as some of the food!

Emma and Michel fall for each other pretty quickly, especially Michel, and though insta-love isn't my favorite trope, it made sense with this couple. They have a lovely connection, though family expectations and pressures, secret identities, and more prove to be major obstacles in their relationship. It's interesting to see how they handle all that comes their way.

There are also two secondary characters, Sophie and Gabriel, that I loved. I kind of hope they have their own story because they definitely need a happily ever after together!! Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

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This was a fantastic quick easy read romance. I enjoyed the cultural sidelines and food details. The chemistry is palpable and a medium burn. There are a few spicy scenes and they are well written and stay within the stories romance level. This was my first book by this author and I will definitely bring look back for more reads.

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