Member Reviews
Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm is a charming, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy. It follows tomboy Dylan, who’s thrust into the spotlight as her sister marries a Scottish noble. With quirky characters, culture clashes, and plenty of romance, it’s a fun, lighthearted read perfect for fans of witty YA romance and fairy-tale vibes.
Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Oh my goodness, this was so delightful! Scotland, reality TV, and royalty. What's not to love? It was predictable, but there's comfort in that predictability and I don't see it as a con at all. I loved the swoony romance between Dylan and Jamie. It had a very friends to lovers kind of feeling, which is my favorite. I felt so warm and cozy while reading it. Dylan's such a fun character, and I loved reading her wit and sarcasm. Jamie is dreamy. Period. And, of course, the visit to Scotland was lovely. What a cute story to read during Christmastime!
When Dylan is forced to spend Christmas in Scotland to attend her older sister - reality TV star - Dusty's wedding, Dylan is pretty miffed. She just wants a normal life and it has been anything but normal since her sisters TV debut. Dylan doesn't want her long, gangly frame having any more screen time. Unfortunately for her, the makers of the reality TV show have other things in mind.
I really loved Prince in Disguise. It was such a tonic of a read. It was the sort of light, fluff, warm, good fun book that I actually really needed. The world is so serious at the moment so it was great to read a bit of pure, unadulterated escapism.
If you want to read something that will take you away from all of this drudgery then Prince in Disguise is the perfect book for you right now.
Prince in Disguise is available now.
For more information regarding Stephanie Kate Strohm (@StephKateStrohm) please visit www.stephaniekatestrohm.com.
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This was such a fun book! I love the royalty in disguise trope and while most of the books I've read with this trope have been fantasy, it was fun to read in a contemporary novel. It had that charming, sweet quality that only a contemporary can have, and I loved it!
*For more reviews visit me at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/
Ronan seemed nice, but he was probably insane. You don’t marry someone you just met. Did they not have Frozen in Scotland?
This is my second book by Stephanie and I can now confirm that I will happily read anything she wants to write. Her stories are the most adorable books and legitimately fill me with joy. I found myself laughing out loud while reading this as well as feeling warm and happy with the sweet scenes that also unfolded. I found so many quotes that I wanted to share to sum up the book, it was so hard to narrow it down to just a few to put in this review. The absurd situations and witty banter were the real winners here, to be fair.
“No offense, but I can’t imagine anything I’d like to touch me less than the hands of a baby angel.” I shuddered.
“Not even a giant squid?” Jamie asked.
“Hands of a baby angel is creepier. Why is the angel a baby? Why is it touching me? Am I dead? If the giant squid is touching me, I’d assume it was by accident. Like, I swam into its space.”
Not only was this the cutest, most awkward love (more like than love which was nice for a teenager) but it also focused heavily on family relationships and self growth. The relationship between Dylan and her older sister Dusty starts rocky, but over the course of the book, Dylan realizes what her true feelings are towards her sister and that was the best relationship discovery in the book for me. Dylan, who has never been kissed, finds herself in the strangest position of liking a boy and having him like her back just as much. Over the course of a few weeks, she realizes she is in a relationship, a totally unrealistic one that can never last for many reasons. Both the characters come to the same conclusion, but decide to enjoy their time together and not freak out that it might end- and it was not even angsty for a minute, which I enjoyed.
“I have no experience with real-life romance, Dylan, but quite a bit with love stories. You are the first girl I’ve ever asked out,” he admitted shyly. “And I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted Jane Austen to wet herself at the romance of it.”
“Jane Austen would have peed all over this date.”
“That is a truly horrifying mental image.”
I loved Prince in Disguise and highly recommend it for anyone who loves cute YA romantic comedy, Scottish castles, reality television and drama. I have already picked up my next read by this author and I can't wait to begin.
Side note, Kit Kirby totally deserved his own spinoff show, I don't seek out reality television but I would watch that hot mess with the baby sized Casanova!
“TRC wants the audience to think you waltzed up here all…you…and waltzed right back on down all Princess Barbie.”
“Like Hermione at the Yule Ball.”
“Yes, nerd.” She rolled her eyes.
“Harry Potter is not nerdy!” I cried. “He is a universally beloved boy wizard!”
“You’re not helpin’ your case, Dilly.”
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
I won a copy of this book on Twitter, and even if I hadn’t, it was already on my radar and wish list because of the royalty aspect to it. When it arrived, I simply couldn’t put it down, because of how fantastic it was. Dylan has been sent to Scotland (all royalty books seem to happen in Scotland lately), as her sister, Dusty, was the winner of a reality show - very like the Bachelor - and is now engaged to a Scottish lord, Ronan. The tv show want to film everything, and as the maid of honour, Dylan has to get used to the limelight, and all of the traditions and rules that come with both the Scottish aristocracy, and being a reality tv star. Luckily, one of Ronan's friends, Jamie, is on hand to help guide Dylan through everything, even if TRC want them two to be the next showbiz couple.
I just loved this book, and it's another one I couldn't put down once I had started it. Everything about it was swoony, and even though it was quite predictable, that didn't discount from the fun. Dylan and Jamie's relationship was quite a slow burn, friends-to-lovers, sort of relationship, but the chemistry was there from the get go, and whenever they were on the page together, I was proper smiling and giggling to myself - not like me, at all! I was pleasantly happy, and surprised, that even though Dylan and Dusty were polar opposites, that didn't mean they hated each other, and actually really cared about each other, and would do about anything in order to protect the other. Because of this book, I've gone out and bought more of Stepahnie's books, and definitely think she's an author who'll be on my auto-buy list before long.
This is the perfect book for fans of "The Christmas Prince" on Netflix, but is so much better! A fun Christmas-y YA romance with a likeable, average-girl protagonist.
I read this book so quickly and loved it. If you're looking for a super cutesy book then this is it. Also if your a sucker for royalty books like me then this will be right up your lane!
I reviewed this in December 2017 and for some reason never posted my review here. I apologize!
https://abackwardsstory.blogspot.com/2017/12/review-prince-in-disguise-by-stephanie-strohm.html
Need one more holiday read to dive into this season? PRINCE IN DISGUISE by Stephanie Kate Strohm came out yesterday, and it's one worth running out and grabbing. It was cute. Really, really cute! I'd never heard about the book until very recently, when I stumbled into a social media conversation about how much a few people were enjoying it. I decided to snag an ARC, even though contemporary isn't always my thing--and I'm so glad I did!
There are a lot of tropes throughout PRINCE IN DISGUISE, but they're really fun ones! I never rolled my eyes at anything being overdone or overdramatic, even though things could have spun that way fast. The level was just right, and, honestly? I enjoyed PRINCE IN DISGUISE so much that I ran to look up what else Strohm has written so that I can dive into another book by her very soon!
Set in Scotland over winter break, the novel follows Dylan as she gets swept up into the drama of her older sister Dusty's crazy wedding. Because of course, Dusty being Dusty, she can never do anything halfway. The former Miss Mississippi had entered a reality TV show, never realizing she was about to meet and fall in love with a lord disguised as commonfolk. The two are about to get married, and the Network wants to take its show Prince in Disguise up a notch by televising their wedding. Dylan wants absolutely nothing to do with the show or being in TV, but has no choice in the matter. What fun is going to a foreign country like Scotland when you're surrounded by wedding planning? And why did Dusty have to get married on Christmas when Dylan had off from school and could have been doing all sorts of things at home? Her sentence in Scotland gets a little nicer when she meets a guy named Jamie. But how can she have her first crush with all these cameras centered on her every step?
Jamie is such a fantastic character, and even though he's full of winks and nods designed to hit a reader's fancy and endear him to them...well, it works, so....! There are definitely some tropes at play, but you can't help but swoon whenever Jamie is on the page. And Jamie and Dylan are so adorable and dorky and sweet and awkward together. They're thrown together and trying to explore their friendship---and maybe something more--among a mess of cameras with no privacy to think about things. But whenever these two are together, the story comes alive and the pages flew by.
While PRINCE IN DISGUISE is definitely a "wish fulfillment" style novel, it does its job perfectly, and the result is a book that's absolutely perfect to read this holiday season! It will warm your heart and keep a smile permanently on your face!
<i>Prince in Disguise</i> is royal romance meets reality TV, and it's rather delightful.
At the start, it seems predictable in some bad ways, like a lot of judgment of women who are into fashion, clothing and makeup and negative stereotypes, but ultimately <i>Prince in Disguise</i> proves itself predictable in the best ways. There's nothing in the plot to truly surprise, just a pleasant frisson that the negativity ultimately gets overturned, the heroine facing up to her own biases to realize that the amount that someone is a badass is not correlated to their physical appearance. Admittedly, I do wish Heaven had more of a role, because, despite her assertion she wouldn't let the reality show make her into a sassy black friend character, that's pretty much the role she fills here, which really sucks since, as far as I can tell, she's the only poc in the whole thing.
My favorite aspect of <i>Prince in Disguise</i> is the romance between Dylan and Jamie, who meet at Dylan's sister's wedding to Jamie's close family friend, Ronan. (Dusty and Ronan met on a season of the reality TV show Prince in Disguise, though he's actually just a Lord but whatevs, and now their wedding is being televised too.) Jamie's my favorite character by a landslide, a constant fountain of literary references, silliness, and a bit of awkwardness too. He's adorable and sweet. Whenever Dylan's with him, she becomes a banter queen; I just wish there was more of that than just with him. That said, ship is super freaking cute, and I also appreciate the realism of the ending. <spoiler>They're not waiting for each other, but they're going to be friends and see what happens down the road. Also, I love that they said "I could love you"s rather than "I love you"s.</spoiler>
Dylan's relationships with her mother and sister also ultimately proved surprisingly touching. I didn't expect to feel any kind of way about the wedding, but parts of that got me for sure. Also, I do admire quite a bit the fact that Ronan's easily the most emotional cast member, and that he's infamous for crying often.
Very cute and fun with several really strong elements, but a few weaker ones too. If you only have time for one, I'd probably recommend Hawkins' <i>Royals</i> over <i>Prince in Disguise</i>, but, if you like royal romances, they're both fun.
I read romance books all of the time. I also read quite a bit of YA too. I read this book last year and I have to stay it sticks with you. This is one I book talk for teens that are looking for a good book to snuggle up too on a cold night and a cup of hot chocolate. The pacing is great and while the plot is cute (but improbable) the sisterly strife and family dynamics are as entertaining as the romance.
What was it with Christmas 2017 and royal romances? Netflix unleashed A Christmas Prince on the world and then proceeded to call out the 50-something people who’d watched it every day since its premiere at that point; Prince in Disguise came out just before Christmas. I guess the mood was princes, snow, and smooching! Seeing as I read and enjoyed the heck out of Prince in Disguise, I didn’t have much of a problem with it either. (Not watching A Christmas Prince, though.)
Dusty and Dylan, each one named after one of their mother’s favorite singers, are pretty opposite. Dusty is former beauty queen about to marry a Scottish nobleman after dating him on a reality show called Prince in Disguise; our introduction to Dylan is her trying to do an Internet challenge with her best friend Heaven’s help. From that first chapter, it’s clear there’s a large chasm between the sisters that needs to be bridged. This isn’t a book solely about Dylan falling for her future brother-in-law’s groomsman Jamie. It’s about the two sisters reconnecting in the icy wasteland that is Scotland in winter.
There wasn’t much else for them to do because… Well, Scotland in winter. Also the appropriately awful filming crew from the fictional TRC network, who are busy filming the Prince in Disguise wedding special. It turns out neither sister wants them there, but those jerks kinda need to be there. You’ll find a lot of the sisters’ best moments happening while Dylan is trying to hide from the cameras. The TRC people are pretty much an illustration of why I can’t watch reality TV.
Speaking of hiding out from the cameras… Lord, Ronan’s castle has so many secret passages for Dylan, Jamie, and even Dusty on occasion to hide in that I’d bet money that castle is haunted. There is no such thing as a place with multiple secret tunnels and no ghosts whatsoever! (I’d still go exploring in them.) If you’re wondering whether Dylan and Jamie make use of those tunnels for secret smooching and romantic getaways? Yes. Yes they do. AND IT’S WONDERFUL.
Dylan and Jamie together are honestly one of the cutest YA couples in a long time, what with Jamie’s regular literary references and the sweet satisfaction when Dylan starts to lower her guard for him. Hints that there’s more to Jamie than Dylan realizes are laid on so thick that you’ll see that reveal coming from far away, but it’s difficult to be mad about it. It’s simply too appropriate for the story!
The one thing that bothered me was the use of the word “g*psy” and even then, it was in the context of discussing Jane Eyre and the scene in which Jane talk to a fortune teller that’s really Mr. Rochester. Europeans were just as hideously racist toward Romani people in Charlotte Bronte’s time as they are now and Jamie is European, so…
I enjoyed Prince in Disguise so much that I hand-sold it to my best friend, who proceeded to borrow my ARC, fall in love with the sweetness of it all, and buy her own copy. Whether you save it until winter to enjoy when it’s cold outside or read it whenever you please, Prince in Disguise will satisfy the sweet tooth in your soul. Everyone needs some joy now and again, especially in 2018. This hasn’t been a nice year and we’re just over three months in.
i received a free advance reader copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
it's not great lit or anything but the romance and characters were pretty entertaining. it's cute and sweet and easy to read. the Jamie character reciting all the poetry is both adorable and super unbelievable.
some semi sexual situations (lots of making out and they fall asleep together but don't have sex). I'd recommend it to middle schoolers or high school freshmen.
With the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry about to become a reality, I’ve rediscovered my love of all things royal–especially when it comes to reading. I devoured The Royal We. I inhaled My Lady Jane and Kiara Cass’ Selection series too. And of course I ate up every last Princess Diaries book that there was. I might pretend like I’m a girl who cares little about girly things, but give me a story about royalty and I can’t ignore it. So when I got the chance to read Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm, I snapped it up faster than you can say “the Queen’s corgis are darn cute.”
Like The Royal We, Prince in Disguise is a light-hearted romance, with the exception being that it is a YA title. Dylan, the non-girly, “ordinary” sister of Dusty, who is marrying a Scottish “laird-to-be” on a reality TV show called Prince in Disguise, Dylan is dragged off to Scotland too for “the wedding of the year.” Although she is in no way excited about this trip, Dylan ends up meeting a cute, funny groomsman named Jamie who might just be more than he appears…
Reality Doesn’t Always Bite
I’ll admit that like the Selection series, I was hooked by the reality TV angle. Even though I’ll deny it forever, watching The Bachelor is a guilty pleasure of mine and this book fit right into that niche. I think it’s the “classic pretty girl who thinks she is ugly finds unwanted fame + handsome dork that draws me in every time. In Prince in Disguise, it was exciting to follow Dylan as she and Jamie tried to escape the cameramen that followed them relentlessly while their romance slowly unfolded.
Royal is Always In
Let’s be honest here. Attractive, available Princes are always in season. Am I right? Although it isn’t quite so obvious to Dylan that Jamie is a Prince as it is for the reader, it was fun watching her get to know him (while also imagining what it would be like to get to know a Prince a little better). While the snappy prose and fast-paced dialogue made Prince in Disguise a quick and enjoyable read, the plot was also well-done. It didn’t matter that I knew Jamie was a Prince right away, because it was so entertaining to see Dylan fumble through their encounters. In fact, I think it made it funnier, because she was so unaware of her real situation (and also a little bit sweeter when she learned the truth about Jamie).
The Final Word
We declare Prince in Disguise to be fun, fresh and an excellent way to satisfy all of your Royal cravings. If you’re looking for something to fill that Royal Wedding void once the Prince Harry/Meghan Markle wedding is over, pick up a copy of Prince in Disguise and you won’t be disappointed.
Oh gosh! This book had everything I ever wanted in a contemporary novel. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will definitely reread this book and continue to recommend this book to everyone around me.
A cute, fun contemporary full of Scotland, medieval castles, and a prince in disguise - this was exactly the fluffy read I had hoped for!
Oh my goodness, I loved this book so much! I need at least a dozen more like it! Prince in Disguise has everything I never knew I wanted in a contemporary. It has travel, sassy Southern belles, and sexy Scots. Dylan and Jamie's dynamic is so hilarious and cute, and at times it just makes you cringe how awkward and obvious things are between them.
There is also a reality tv element to this book, and I think it really added to the drama and hilarity of the book. I'd like to think that some of the things that the production crew in this book do are so far-fetched that they couldn't possibly be true, but I majored in broadcast communications and did a lot of reading about reality tv production in school, and I don't doubt for one second that every thing that's mentioned in this book has happed on some reality show.
One thing that I absolutely love about books set in foreign countries is that it really makes me want to travel more to see all of the amazing sights our world has. I've wanted to go to Scotland for so long now, so reading a book that is set there almost gives me that experience, at least enough to hold me over until I actually can convince someone to go with me. I swear, I don't just want to go because I love Outlander so much...
Prince in Disguise is a fun, quick read, perfect for getting you out of a reading slump, or when you're looking for the right book to enjoy on a beautiful rainy day. It'll definitely make you swoon and wish that you were in Dylan's situation. I would absolutely love to see a sequel to this book, because I am dying to know what happens to all of the characters!
After reading a few other reviews, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. There were some pretty obvious plot points, but I thought this was really cute. I loved the back and forth between Dylan and Jamie.
Dylan is the Plain Jane sister to Dusty, former Miss Mississippi and – more recently – winner of the popular reality show, Prince in Disguise. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Dylan is now on her way to Scotland where she’ll be the maid of honor in the televised wedding. Having every waking second surrounded by cameras and hooked up to microphones if most definitely not Dylan’s idea of a good time, even if it means spending time with a particularly cute groomsman.
Prince in Disguise was exactly the fluffy contemporary I was looking for when I picked it up and there’s really not much else that needs said. It’s not an especially memorable read – and not one I’ll revisit – but it was the perfect sort of escape when I needed it most!
Prince in Disguise was such a fun, cute read, especially with all of the news of the real royal engagement between Prince Harry and Meagan Markle. I'm always a sucker for romantic comedies, so this book was basically my crack. I loved the majority of characters, but especially Jamie because he is basically every girl's dream boy. He was just so cute and nerdy, and literally sang "Do you want to Build a Snowman" to try to woo his love interest, Dylan. I also thoroughly enjoyed Dylan's character--especially her sarcastic sense of humor and her strong relationship with her sister. I thought the two had fantastic chemistry, which you don't always see in YA novels. I liked the overall concept as a whole--basically the bachelor with a twist. I thought the way Strohm portrayed reality TV was fantastic, and pretty realistic. Another thing that I really enjoyed was all of the Disney references throughout the novel. I should've guessed there would have been some considering it was published by Disney-Hyperion, but I really liked them and thought they added to the story over all. In conclusion, Prince in Disguise is an adorable, fast paced read which I recommend to anyone who enjoys somewhat cheesy rom-coms and is looking for a new read.