After reading and loving Janovsky's debut, Never Been Kissed, last year, I knew I had to read Matthew Prince ASAP, especially considering I LOVE The Grinch!

There were so many fabulous characters in this book, especially one of the MMCs, Hector! While Matthew was unlikeable at the beginning his character developed so much and so well and I couldn't help but root for him and love him by the end.

I loved the LGBTQIA+ & GAD rep in this book! This is going to be a perfect Christmas time read for so many people.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca & Dreamscape Media for advance copies in exchange for an honest review!

This book reads like a queer, Hallmark rom-com and it was so fun to get into. Rich kid Matthew is forced to spend the holidays with his grandparents after the terrible financial decision to buy an island. In his time in the small town, he has to share a bunk bed with Hector, who keeps intercepting his attempts to go home. Watching this rich kid begin to connect with humans again and learn how superficial his party lifestyle is just warmed my heart.

I keep going back and forth on this book between 3 and 4 stars so 3.5 feels right. After buying an island on an impulse, Matthew Prince, is cut off financially and sent to live with his Grandparents in a small town in Maine. While living there he is forced to share a room with Hector, a grad student, who is his opposite in every way. Matthew is a spoiled brat who must learn to appreciate the town and those around him. He and Hector work together to put on a gala benefiting the town’s small business organization and fall for each other in the process.

What can I say, the author did too good of a job at making Matthew unlikable. Not every main character needs to be likable, but there should at least be something compelling about them that makes me invested in them and I found that aspect lacking about Matthew until the last 25-30% of the book. I really wish this would have been dual POV or 3rd person omniscient because being in Matthew’s head for 300+ pages was exhausting. He is like if the worst parts of Alexis and David Rose from Schitt’s Creek were combined. The rest of the book was just a basic Christmas book with all the cliches.

I did like that Matthew’s struggles with anxiety were on the page and as someone with anxiety the depictions felt accurate. I also really really liked Hector. I liked Hector to the point that I wanted so much more for him than Matthew. I really wish we would have had some chapters from his perspective because he was by far the much more interesting and dynamic character. In fact I loved all the side characters and really enjoyed seeing all the lovely and accepting townspeople (again, very a la Schitts Creek). I did enjoy the audiobook and found that Mark Sanderlin really captured Matthew’s essence.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC, and Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A holigay delight! Timothy Janovsky is proving to be a must buy for collections where queer contemporary romances are popular.

This book really reminds me of Schitt's Creek, and Matthew really fits into that rich boy-stuck-in-the-small-town vibe. There were moments I enjoyed, the narrators did a lovely job, but it was hard to really like any of the characters. They all felt a little bit too pigeonholed and predictable, and not a lot of depth. I like that Hector and Matthew have to work together and get to know each other better. I wish there was a little more build up and tension, as they really stop "hating" each other rather quickly. There's a decent amount of Christmas hubub, which is my requirement for a Christmas romance, so I enjoyed that. Overall this was pretty good, someone who likes lots of topical references and more of a young-adult slant to their romance would like this! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opprotunity to provide my honest review.

✨Audiobook Review✨

You’re A Mean One, Matthew Prince
Timothy Janovsky
Pub Date: October 4th, 2022

⛄️ Synopsis:
Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He's on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents' charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?

It's bad enough he's stuck in some festive winter wonderland-it's even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who's unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.

Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior...with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can't resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince's heart grow three sizes this year.

💭 Thoughts:
I’m not really sure how to write a review for this book. It turned out to be very different than what I was expecting. I was excited after reading the comparisons to Schitt's Creek, but It’s not nearly as funny. I wish I had gone in more blind.

The narration is great and the voice really matched Matthew’s character well. The narrator really brought Matthew to life for me.

I definitely enjoyed the references to the holidays and all the magic that comes along with that time of year. I really like Hector’s character and wish he had been developed a bit more.

There were a lot of references to anxiety and panic attacks. It’s always great to see authors bringing awareness to mental health. I appreciated how Matthew evolved throughout the book and work through some of his anxiety.

Overall, the story was very predictable, lacking in some development, and just didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Thank you @netgalley, the author, and publisher for my advanced copy to review.

Rep: anxiety, gay MC, bi LI, queer side characters

It’s a tale as old as time. Every Hollywood movie ever. Metropolitan person goes home to the middle of nowhere for some reason or other, falls in love with the local sweetheart, some drama happens, they go back to the big city, only to realise they were so much happier with the love of their life they met two minutes ago in the old hometown.
This was the book. Only in gay.
I absolutely loved Timothy’s last book, you can tell he’s a movie lover and I don’t mind him implementing that in his books. Only it made this one VERY predictable.
The main problem though was that I didn’t love any of the characters.
Matthew, our MC, is a spoiled brat. He’s rich without ever having to do anything for it. He’s horrible to everyone. He’s a horrible friend, only calling when he needs something or someone to listen to his problems.
Every problem he has he solves with either money or his famous parents celebrity status.
No wonder Hector hates him on sight.

The promised hate to love was very short lived and for me there wasn’t enough of a “realinh the other guy is actually hot”/ pining situation to make the sudden romance believable.
Hector using “dude” in every SINGLE SENTENCE(!!!) didn’t make me love him any more. It’s not cute, dude. After a while I was very fed up with this.

I loved Noelle and her romance part had me more invested than anything else tbh. Go lesbians! 😂
I would have loved for the grandparents to play a bigger role in this, to see their relationship with Matthew get a little more attention.
His parents were horrible and the mothers actions were just absolutely shocking. Throwing your own son under the bus because of your anxiety? No mother should do that. You can have mental health issues and still be an asshole, it’s not exclusive.

All in all I felt pretty meh about this, I didn’t love the characters and the predictable plot didn’t make it any better. I wanted to love this, but I just didn’t.

I liked the idea about a romance between two guys. We have a lot of male/female kinds of romance so in that regard this novel was very advanced. Unfortunately I just couldn’t like Matthew Prince. He was self-obsessed, haughty, and fairly annoying. The way he treated his grandparents was sad! Also, the fact that he had to share a room with some random guy in their house was unbelievable. So I lost respect for Hector that he would give a guy like Matthew a chance. I also felt like Matthew dwelled a lot on his place in this family, and tended to think the same things over and over. Good premise, needs better execution.

Matthew Prince is definetely a mean one at the beginning, but Janovsky does a great job of developing Matthew's character throughout the story (something that I'm a sucker for)

Know what else I'm a sucker for? Small Town romances. Bonus points if it has queer rep.

Matthew and his love interest, Hector, are polar opposites. Matthew is a spoiled rich kid who has never had to work for anything and had always taken the easy way out. Hector on the other hand, works hard for what he has and is a determined (+broke) college student. So, when they're paired up to pull off the town's Christmas Party to benefit local businesses, sparks fly.

This was definetely a sweet and heart mushing holiday read for the colder months. I'm not a huge Christmas fan, some may say I'm a bit of a Grinch 😅, but this story definetely managed to thaw my ice cold heart a bit. 🖤

Thank you Netgalley + Dreamscape Media for an audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

(Posted on Goodreads under the username 'Emmy Jeanz')

Thank you so much for the advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Having read Timothy Janovsky's "Never Been Kissed' earlier this year I was ecstatic to see his second novel already on its way out!

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince is the perfect blend of a Hallmark Christmas movie with all the substance they usually lack. Matthew, at first, was very bratty and sure of his way of life which he had yet to realize had his head in all the wrong places and his heart in all the wrong circles. A banishment to good ol' grandma and grandpa's out in the middle of nowhere for a few weeks is the prefect punishment for our spoiled MC who's not only been reckless with money, but also with his own well being.

In a whirlwind of events through the book we get to enjoy watching Matthew learn more and more about himself and really look at things in a new light and with a new perspective. He finds true friendships and companionships in this little back of the woods town and starts to realize that the things he felt were so important before maybe weren't what he really wants from life.

This book has a perfect touch of mental health representation and of course LGBTQ+ representation. It is always incredibly refreshing to read something where the world is not so hatefully against characters for these reasons because it allows the book plot to be about more than just bigoty and homophobia.

Timothy Janovsky has a wonderful way of writing characters you will find yourself really caring for and his books are so easy to fall in to and enjoy. I cant wait for more in the Boy Meets Boy series.!

📚🎧 Audio Book Review 🎧📚

You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince
Written by Timothy Janovsky
Narrated by Mark Sanderlin
published/produced by Dreamscape Medi
👉🏻 Swipe for review!

Overall:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Story:
📘📘📘📘
Narration:
🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Sweet Level:
🍫🍫🍫
Spice Level:
🌶
Angst Level:
💧💧
Frustration Level:
😤😤

I thoroughly enjoyed this! ❤️



DISCLAIMER: I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rep: Gay mc with GAD, Puerto Rican bi li, trans sc, queer sc

This is a fun holiday romcom, very Hallmark and Schitt’s Creek style. It’s got all the tropes. Slow burn enemies to lovers in a small town at Christmas. Also not to mention, the one bunk bed LOL

The rich main character, Matthew, spends too much money, so is sent to live with his grandparents in their small town. To make matters worse, there’s a student living with them, and they instantly dislike each other. Matthew just has to be good and prove to his parents that he changed, so he can go back to living his life of luxury.

Matthew is a rich, grumpy, spoiled, elite, living the life of luxury. Naturally, he’s also a jerk who thinks he’s better than everyone and has certain standards. He’s not a very likeable character at the beginning. But he is slowly brought back to reality when he’s stuck in a town with no cell service, no parties, no rich people, and has to share everything with Hector. This exile really helped him, but not in the way his parents were expecting. I found it funny how he kept mentioning the Scrooge in him.

I also felt bad for Matthew at times, especially the more you read and find out about his life. He has generalized anxiety disorder, but his mom never talks to him about it and pretends it doesn’t exist. She wants to keep it hush hush so the media and her fans wont find out. This was very toxic and hurt Matthew so much. He never tells people about it, except his therapist (we love to see it!). Plus what she did at the end, ugh. Then there’s the other people in his life, friends and boyfriends. They’re all too caught up in being rich and looking good. He deserved better.

Hector starts off strong, immediately hating Matthew, for no real reason. He doesn't doesn’t have a lot of money, therefore doesn't care about wealth or big shot names or the life of luxury Matthew lives. With everyone one else he is pretty nice and caring though. You can tell he’s a nice guy. It’s a slow journey, but they eventually get there. It was sweet how patient and understanding he was of Matthew’s GAD.

The grandparents were so nice. They weren’t rich, so they were super down to earth. I felt bad for how Matthew and his parents treated them, as he was growing up, and even now.

This of course has the third arc breakup, where things could have been resolved if they just talked. But in this case it did some good for Matthew. He got to work through some personal and family issues in that time, so it wasn’t for nothing.

This is like the third queer Hallmark romcom type book I’ve read within a month. The queers really decided to go all out this year haha I’m definitely not complaining. If the straights can have 5 million romcoms, queers should too. It’s about time actually. I’m glad we’re finally starting to have happy casual stories of our own. Authors in the last few years have been coming through with all the queer books, I’m so happy. Next we need movies and shows, ones that don’t get cancelled after the first season <.<

Overall, a nice queer holiday book to get you in the spirit of Christmas.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

This book wasn’t terrible but I certainly did not like it.

My first complaint is how often the characters called each other “dude”, I was about to start a drinking game and see if I survived until the end of the book.

My real issue with the book is Matthew. This is basically a snobby rich kid redemption story. He’s like a blend between David and Alexis from Schitts Creek but like not in a good way. I really couldn’t stand that the author basically implies that Matthews snobby and ridiculous behavior is excused because he has anxiety. Dude, lots of people have GAD without being awful. Don’t blame your personality flaws on your mental illness.

Meh. I liked this authors first book so I will read whatever his next release is. This one is a hard pass for me though.

You’re the Mean Once, Matthew Prince is a holiday book that should be kept on the shelves to be read throughout the months of November and December.

Matthew Prince is young and entitled: he just bought an island with his money. TOTAL press nightmare. His parents have decided they have had enough of their sons scandalous action and shipped him off to his grandparents small town for the holidays. Prince cannot try to come back before he proves to everyone that he has changed for the better.

What Prince doesn’t expect to find in the small town is Hector Martinez. Hector, the local strapping gentleman who could care less about Matthew’s social status and impressive money bags. Another thing he doesn’t expect is for the town’s charity gala host to drop out. Looks like Matthew’s charity plan has fallen right into his lap. But will he stay a mean one?

I had high hopes for Timothy Janovsky’s sophomore title: You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince. He is a very creative person and I couldn’t want to listen to story. While I enjoyed the narrations by Mark Sandelrin, the book was very long and details dragged.

I loved this book. I really like how they learn to love themselves and change for the better. If you don’t like same sex situations you will not like this book. If you don’t mind it you will love it!! I recommend this book!!

This was fun but one of those books where a man is VERY hard to like. VERY HARD TO LIKE. Ultimately the relationship worked for me and the book was mostly a romp, but i just really enjoy likable characters and this book wasn't that. I think the voice the narrator used made him extra-unlikable.

I found it compelling and fun despite not liking the title character which says a lot! Now i have read 4 of the 5 queer hallmark holiday books coming out this year, and it's not my fave but not my least fave. My emotional experience of reading this was better than it feels like it would be given what i am saying about it though! Worth a read!

Grumpy heroes only work for me if they aren't a complete asshole for no reason. I understand Matthew is rich and therefor is suppose to be the bad one but Hector is an unapologetic jerk from the jump without any provocation or appropriate backlash, and my anger issues could never let me finish this

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince audiobook, by Timothy Janovsky (Narrated by Mark Sanderlin)

Timothy Janovsky's audiobook is delightfully funny. I actually laughed out loud several times while listening to the wonderful narrative. I always enjoy audiobooks because they add such realism to the characters. This one is a real treat that you don't want to miss.

Synopsis:
Matthew Prince is an exceedingly spoiled gay young man who gets into a bit of trouble with his parents during the Christmas holidays. To teach Matthew a lesson, his parents cut off his spending and sent him to his grandparents' home in a very backward small town. With no cell phone service, Matthew suffers a bit of culture shock. Added to the situation, Matthew has to share a small room and a bunkbed with Hector Martinez, his grandparents' boarder. Hector and Matthew have opposite personalities which leads to amusing banter between the two.

This is my first experience with Timothy Janovsky's writing. The story is quirky, and humorous. I look forward to reading more from the witty author. The novel does contain some fairly graphic sexual content and may not be suitable for all audiences.

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince is available on October 4th.
(4.5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫)

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for sharing this hilarious audiobook with me. I enjoyed every minute of it.

#YoureAMeanOneMatthetPrince #DreamscapeMedia

THANK you netgalley, Dreamscapemedia (which is becoming my favorite audiobook production) sourcebooks casa and Timothy Janovsky for the alc. I really enjoyed this super fun lgbt+ holiday rom com i loved and appriciated the anxiety representation and how both matured and grew. Auper cute highly recommend...

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was absolutely delightful. The main character, Matthew Prince, is a young and rich elite who goes too far when he buys himself an island. His parents take away all his funds and send him to spend the holidays in a small little town with his maternal grandparents. I just want to say here that I adored his grandparents so much. They weren't rich but very down to earth and adorable. A young man named Hector is staying with the grandparents while he attends college. Hector does not have much money and can't even begin to fathom the life that Matthew has. Their 'hate' banter at the beginning made me laugh out loud a few times. The story unfolds delightfully as Matthew adjusts to life in a small town without money to buy his problems. I won't give anything away but its safe to say this could easily be the next Netflix or Lifetime gay Christmas Rom-Com.