This physically pains me but I did not love it and I wholeheartedly expected to. An entitled dude gets shuttled off to his salt of the earth grandparent's house after a series of mistakes and falls for a local man who is nice to his grandparents? Did I mention when we meet Hector he's chopping wood in a flannel? Catnip.

Unfortunately, the story had oodles of opportunity for character development for Matthew but at the end I'm afraid I still found him as unlikeable as I did at the beginning. I love when people are extra because I'm an introvert and like to see them go have a great time and live vicariously. But his extraness felt false and made the whole book feel like a shade of secondhand embarrassment because he would do embarrassing things and be privately horrified but publicly thrilled.

This had all the makings of a Hallmark Christmas special (plus a little rated R action) and I was checking them off as I went: quirky coffee shop owner, Christmas tree farm, finding the missing Christmas vibes from his life, big winter gala. I just found everyone in Matthew's NY life to be intolerable (except for Oksana and Maxim).

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

This didn't work for me. I tried reading Matthew as David in Schitt's Creek, which only helped a little bit. Unfortunately this was insufferable; there were meddling grandparents, super pretentious and over the top lead, a tiny town where a spoiled rich kid is banished for the holidays, and some party planning. I will say the anxiety & panic attack rep felt like a good addition.

I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince was a sweet romance that will put a smile on any reader's face. Javovsky's holiday romp will speak to a younger audience seeking a heartwarming cross-over book, as Matthew Prince undergoes a Hallmark-esque transformation.

This was a holiday queer romance that takes place in a small town. Matthew Prince is a spoiled rich kid who is cut off from his parents and forced to move in with his grandparents for the holidays. When he gets there he finds that his grandparents are having a former student live there. Hector Martinez is just as unhappy with Matthew being there as Matthew is with being stuck in the small town. The initial enemies to lovers start off with sharing a room and hating one another. There is representation for anxiety in this book and the growth of Matthew while Hector and Matthew fall for one another.

Matthew Prince has been blundering through life trying to find traction, until his anxiety driven purchase of an entire island motivates his parents to pull the plug on his "rich and famous kids on Instragram" lifestyle and send him out to stay with his grandparents in a wifi desert.

This was a really sweet story. Matthew suffered from an anxiety disorder, which is the product of his parents fame and wealth and lack of privacy growing up. His grandparents are already letting a college student, Hector, with financial troubles live with them, and the two of them clash instantly. The two young men find their way to a partnership as Matthew attempts to redeem himself in his parents' eyes, but gains much more in the process. Matthew's anxiety disorder is addressed in a very sensitive way and the story does a good job illustrating the ways people mask these disorders and how they might manifest. The audio narration was perfect.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Dreamscape for the ARC & AudioARC of this!

This was perfect timing, I needed some holiday vibes early this year! Super cute, with some of the feels of Schitt’s Creek, a spoiled rich young man is sent to the middle of nowhere with his grandparents after a potential scandal - and starts to fall for the college student they are housing. Queer, sweet, and an easy book to get drawn into, this is perfect for getting your Hallmark movie vibes.

The narrator did an excellent job, and I enjoyed the audio.

There has never been a more lovable love interest than Hector. This was an adorable Christmas rom com and I would definitely pick up another by Janovsky.

YES YES! Loved it!

SO cute, laugh out loud funny! This is absolutely perfect holiday read for holiday-lovers and scrooges alike! All the small town charm and likeable characters to root for.

I also loved the anxiety rep! Gaining insight into the MC's journey to discovering himself and his struggle with mental illness was my favorite part of this book!

On audio, the narrator did a great job!

This one was a roller coaster ride for me! I'm not going to lie I went from excited to read it to very disappointed in the opening chapters. I knew Matthew Prince wasn't supposed to start out the most likable of characters but I had to push past the first few chapters rolling my eyes - he was so stereotypical rich and Hector so stereotypical hardworking. It was as if those single class identities were their whole personalities and that's the reason this one isn't a 5 star read for me.

After the stereotyping was over the book evolved into something much more enjoyable - a lovely ideal small town that will never exist in the real world that left me aching to visit, a grandma who really was the best character in the book, and other side characters that built up the plot in awesome ways.

A Christmas Carol has long been one of my favorite classic and this one did it justice in all the parallels and had some fun with the theme.

At the end of the day most romance is predictable - they meet and something keeps them apart and then they're together in the end. This one is no different and even used the classic 'miscommunication' trope that drives me crazy, but at that end of the day it's a cute love story with a lot of coming of age elements.

Thank you Netgalley for providing an arc of this book for me to read!

I enjoyed listening to this one and think that had I only had an ebook I might not have finished. Both characters were hard to like at first and while I felt back for Matthew because of his parents and family, it just took a long time for him to be redeemed in my opinion. I also would have liked for their to be more relationship building because I don’t feel like I got much, it went from enemies to hooking up so quick!

Audiobook: the narrator was a great choice for this audiobook. They did a wonderful job bringing Matthew's character to life and telling this story.

Story: The main character, Matthew Prince, reminds me of David Rose. The rich, whiney spoiled kid who cares about labels and is now in humble settings. He even finds his Patrick. While the main character is whiney in the beginning, it wasn't annoying.

I loved everything about this book. The characters are lovable, the Christmas references and the story itself is cute. One thing I didn't like was Hector constantly saying "dude". While this is addressed in the story, it is said more than needed. However, it wasn't enough for me to turn the book off.

This is a great book to add to your Holiday TBR!

This story has LGBTQ+ representation and general anxiety disorder representation.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

DNF @ 36%

I was excited for this one- cute cover, cute title, cute synopsis. However, I just couldn't get into it. At all. I watched hurricane coverage for 6 hours to avoid picking the book back up- and this is before it made landfall. I live in Michigan, so it was not need to know information. I was refusing to turn something on because I needed to read- pub day is coming up. But I just couldn't. So, after watching an entire day's worth of news, I decided to do something I never do- pick up a different book and come back to it. I flew threw the other book, went back to this, and made it maybe another 30 minutes into the audiobook before I repeated this. I, again, put it aside, came back. Still nope. I have NEVER done this before (tried more than once to read something that wasn't clicking)

Ultimately, Matthew was just too immature for me to handle. I couldn't listen anymore. I am sure he has a great growth arc, but I couldn't put through hours of audiobook torture to get to it.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity. I really did try.

To be honest I requested this one based on the cover and the title, and I was hoping for a cutesy LGBTQ holiday read and unfortunately didn’t get that. While it did shine a light on Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the main characters are both quite unlikeable so it was hard to connect to the story.
Matthew Prince is from a rich family and has pushed his limits too far-he’s bought an island. So his parents cut him off and send him to stay with with grandparents to regroup and think about his life and his choices. Left with no options, he finds himself in Wind River with his loving grandparents despite everything and their hunky lodger. Matthew finds each day more insufferable than the last and a reminder of everything he’s lost. When he’s grandmother asks him to help plan the towns charity gala, he figures it is his one chance to prove himself to his family and get his old life back. Despite their differences, Hector and Matthew work together on the gala, so they can both get back to where they came from. But along the way, they are faced with lots of obstacles, which trigger Matthew’s anxiety and Hector is the first person who is really patient and understanding of what Matthew is going through, which softens Matthew’s bah humbug heart towards him. Will Wind River end up being a blessing instead of the curse he thought it was?
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

This book reminded me a lot of Schitt's creek set during the holidays. Unfortunately I did not find the main character Matthew Prince as likable as David Rose. I would absolutely love to watch a made for TV movie adaptation of this book, it would be so cute! It's a classic hallmark movie trope, the busy and rich main character is sent away to a small town as punishment for a bad decision. While there he discovers a softer side of himself and maybe even falls in love. The book features gay and bisexual characters which is always awesome to see represented in media. The main character also has generalized anxiety which I haven't read about often in a book so that was nice to see too. My biggest grievance with the book is Hectors use of the word "dude", I don't think I can ever read that word again because this book used up my allotment for life!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for letting me listen to an advanced copy of the audiobook!

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this!! Loved the cozy holiday vibes and the sweet romance

The only negative part for me was Matthew. He never grew on me, and I was annoyed with him the entire time. I would’ve really loved this book if it had been told from Hector’s perspective because I just couldn’t stand Matthew.

I wanted to love this book so bad:( I’ve been looking forward to reading it for months!

This is sort of a gay holiday take on Tessa Bailey’s IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER. I enjoyed the narration, and I loved the main character. Unfortunately, I felt like nothing important was really at stake. Matthew has to toe the line or he won’t get his credit cards back, and then he won’t be able to live his frivolous jet set life. Why should I care?

I’m sure this book is going somewhere, but I’m not engaged enough to keep reading. DNF at ~18%.

*3.5 stars rounded up*
AudioARC provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy of this AudioARC.

It's not a Christmas in my family if my mother doesn't call me a Grinch at least once. I've never been a fan of the Holiday, too much stress in finding the perfect gift and tense family gatherings as we make small talk. But, as someone who's favorite Holiday song is "Christmas Shoes" It think its just safe to say the holiday cheer isn't something you typically find from me.

But you know what does bring me cheer? Curling up in front of a fire with a good book or watching a cheesy holiday hallmark romance. You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince gave me both in a perfect LGBTQ Holiday Enemies to Lovers Romance.

Within the first minutes of listening to this audio book I was obsessed with the way the author crafted Matthew's voice. Sarcastic, passionate, even though he's a little out of touch due to his upbringing. I loathed what he was, but I loved his personality and who he is. The narrator did an amazing job with carrying his voice through this novel.

Like many romance novels, we experienced the third act breakup, and it was due to another family lie. Worst of all, me as the reader actually believed Hector did it. I was fully expecting a "It was before I got to know you." speech, but when he reacted to Matthew's accusations I was thrown completely off, and created a new theory that it was Matthew's best friend. Spoiler alert, it wasn't her, though she sucks too.

I loved this story, and it maybe grew my heart a single size for my most detested holiday. Who knows, maybe next year you'll catch me listening to something a little cheerier (probably not though). If it hadn't been Holiday themed it would've been a solid four stars, but docking half as has a niche audience for the holiday season rather than a general push.

I really loved this book! The focus on mental health was fantastic and I truly enjoyed the character development over the course of the novel. It was adorably festive, steamy, and sweet!

I have been excited about this queer rom-com since I first saw the title and read the blurb and will admit that while it started out slow, it finished with a giant holiday bang!

Two of my favorite things in the world collide in You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince in this rom-com with a Christmas twist. When Matthew is forced to spend the holiday with his grandparents, he finds himself bunking with his grandparent's housemate, Hector.

What starts as two opposites trying to put as much distance between them quickly morphs into two friends who might just be interested in something a little more.

Jam packed with adorable grandparent moments, my love for Matthew Prince grew much like the Grinch's heart.

This was so stinking cute! I was wanting a queer holiday romance that made me feel warm and cozy like a mig of hot chocolate and thats exactly what this was.
This book was the perfect enemies to lovers holiday story. Actually no this book gives off David and Patrick vibes so hard so if you ever wanted to read a holiday romance featuring those arcatypes this is definitely for you.