“𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫.”

Jayci Lee's fast-paced romance That Prince Is Mine centers on Prince Michel Aubert and culinary instructor Emma Young.

I really liked the first half of the book, but after that, things started to become worse. Just to make sure I wouldn't dnf this, I had to stop reading for a while. 

The characters were also very boring and they had no personality, even when together.

Although the book and its tropes had a lot of potential, the manner it was executed made the book unenjoyable. Considering the secret he was holding, I also anticipated a little more angst, but I didn't get any.

This book didn't live up to any of the lofty expectations set by the synopsis.

*Thank you to NetGalley, ST. Martins Griffin, and to the author, Jacinta Lee, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

That Prince is Mine is the perfect royalty romance. With the perfect amount of sweet and spiciness, I loved the dynamic between Emma and Michel, the two main charaters. Starting with Emma's godmother, renownded matchmaker, setting her up on countless dates with guys who on paper should be perfect... Emma needs a break from the forced interactions. Upon catching the eye of a handsome stranger at a cafe, Emma welcomes the distraction and uses the stranger to get out of these blind dates.
After meeting up with the handsome stranger again and again and running into eachother on Emmas college campus, Emma and Michel grow very interested in eachother and build a relationship that is only to last for the summer.
One thing I thought this book got so right was Michel being honest about being a prince, I feel like that is usually saved for a 3rd act breakup scene and I love that he shared that information towards the beginning of their relationship.
I thought this book had two very interesting characters with a fun relationship to read about that had me both blushing and kicking my feet. I would definelty recommend this book to someone looking for a fun modern royalty romance.

was not expecting this but i am not complaining cute short really romantic book, i cannot wait to annotate a physical copy

Very, very cute. Royal/commoner love story with the most amazing descriptions of Korean dishes. I wish I had a Korean restaurant nearby. The beginning is pretty slow but it does pick up. Stick with it because the cuteness of the main characters is worth it. Dual POV and a golden retriever MMC.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

This book is a verified hidden gem.

The little bit of slow burn and the tension was utterly delicious. The little tidbits of Korean traditions and food were wonderful. The characters were adorable and loveable. I couldn’t stop squealing over Emma and Michel and their feelings and they were just so cute.

They had the sweetest story I’ve read so far this year. The way that Michel was so happy just to see Emma whenever he could set a new bar for my real life boyfriends. But he’s also been adopted into the armada of Book Boyfriends I currently have.

The side characters also made the book about a gazillion times better. I utterly loved the relationship between Sophie and Emma and Gabriel and Michel. The parallel between Gabriel and Sophie’s relationship and Emma and Michel’s relationship was brilliant and so well written.

The smexy scenes were hot and so hot and soo soo hot. Like there’s no other word to describe it. Michel constantly checking into Emma’s feelings and mental health was so sexy and the fun stuff that happens before the big one was so nice.

Both characters were constantly thinking about the cultural and racial implications of their relationship, which was an absolutely beautiful way to make sure that the reader is aware of the differences and a way to ensure that the differences are at the forefront. It was done in such a way that it didn’t take me out of the story. I absolutely loved the book. Highly recommend.

This was such a sweet story! It's more on the lighter side, nothing too deep or heavy, which was ideal for me because I was in the mood for something light and funny.

Emma's character felt really well-developed. I found myself relating to her in some ways and just enjoying her vibe. Michel, on the other hand, seemed a bit one-dimensional to me, we know only a little about his backstory.

The romance was a highlight for me, it was lovely and so sweet! While I would've preferred a dual POV instead of third-person, I still had a great time with it!

I am very excited to be reading this book! My full review to follow.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. That Prince is Mine is a light and fluffy romance about a prince named Michel who falls in love with a culinary instructor named Emma in LA. I love Emma’s passion for food but I had difficulties connecting with the characters. The dual POV would’ve been fun if we got more personal details about the characters. Unfortunately I felt like they were a little too one dimensional. I still enjoyed this read but the characters didn’t stand out to me.

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.