This is so cute! Such an amazing queer young adult novel, gave similar vibes to Date Me Bryson Keller. It was fun to follow both brothers stories and loves/.

Overall this book was enjoyable. Love the creativity of this story of having a Royal Family based in Canada. Loved the witty and sarcastic writing done by the author and their attempt at answering the question about there being a queer prince.

Quite a fun read.

A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron
Genre: Romcom, LGBT
Rating: 2 Stars

Unfortunetly this book was not for me. I had really high hopes for this one but it just fell flat. It was not what I expected and I just couldn’t get invested in the two main characters.

It started off strong but when the big secret was discovered the book felt like it dragged. I was hoping for more of a parent trap type situation where the long lost twins exchanged lives but that didn’t happen. In fact everything happened very quickly and rather unbelievably - overnight the next in line to the thrown completely changes and a country boy with no experience is thrust in to the position - it didn’t make sense to me and I just couldn’t maintain interest after that.

I am sure many people would love this book but it just wasn’t for me.

I feel I am too old for this book, but if I were younger I would have enjoyed it. An interesting story.

“A Tale of Two Princes” is a story about finding your place in the world, with a light dusting of fantasy over it. It’s aimed at young people who are finding their feet, and many in that group will enjoy this immensely.

Edward is the Crown Prince of Canada. This is where the fantasy comes in: the idea that Canada has a royal family, an offshoot of the British royal family. This idea is treated very lightly; although there are some clear echoes of real life events, very little about this has been fully worked out. Although mildly annoying for those who like their fantasy worlds well realised, it mostly works because it’s not the point of the story.

Edward is not only the Crown Prince, he’s gay. And those two facts mean he’s so far in the closet that it’s surprising he hasn’t visited Narnia. He can’t see any way of reconciling his duties as Crown Prince with his sexual identity. He’s hardly what you’d call happy, but for now he’s focusing on getting through the Investiture Ceremony which will take place on his 18th birthday.

In contrast, Billy is a cowboy. He’s also gay, but he’s very out, and most people in his life don’t think twice about it anymore. Mind you, he’s not that happy where he is, either. He dreams of playing the violin professionally, and feels tied down by family expectations that he’ll take over the family ranch, settle down with his boyfriend, and spend his life in his small town. So in the short term, he’s focusing on an exciting trip to New York to audition for Juilliard.

In New York the two come face to face. When it’s revealed that they’re twins, separated at birth, much more is at stake than the royal succession.

Some people are going to find aspects of this novel hard – and no, not the people you think. I’m assuming that anyone who has a problem with gay or gender fluid people is not even going to attempt this. The people who’ll have the most trouble are those who like either a good helping of reality or a completely worked out fantasy world.

For me, I got tangled up early with concern for Billy’s mother. She’s just been told that her son is dead, and the son she thought was hers is actually someone elses’, and they’re going to just help themselves to him, thank you very much. I couldn’t believe how little concern there was for her feelings or what she’d be going through.

Now, I recognise that this is missing the point of the novel. It’s about Billy and Edward, not their parents. And the light sheen of fantasy across the novel means there are things you’re not supposed to think about in too much detail. But I couldn’t look away from this emotive issue, and it made some parts of the novel uncomfortable for me.

Similarly, if you read a lot of fantasy and are used to fully realised worlds, you’ll probably find parts of this infuriating. I kept thinking “but surely they’d…” only to pull myself up and remind myself that this isn’t supposed to be particularly realistic. I was, I think, just expecting a bit too much from the novel in this regard. It’s not what Geron was trying or intending to achieve.

What he has written is a novel about young people finding their place in the world. A large part of this is their sexual and gender identity, but it’s also about family, personal ambitions, and responsibilities imposed on them by others. And in this regard, he’s written something entertaining, thoughtful and empathetic.

Both boys are strong characters, and it’s easy to understand the forces that push and pull them. Most young readers will empathise with this, and with the fact that they have somewhat unformed ambitions, rather than focused drives. Although we see few of their friends, those we do are also fully formed characters.

There is a little bit of many things in this novel: a touch of fantasy, a little romance, exploration of family relationships, consideration of sexual identity, and identity more broadly. Although none is really explored in any depth, the result is a light but encouraging novel with a hopeful theme around the benefits of being yourself.

As I said, some readers may find themselves focused on side issues and struggling to fully enjoy the novel for what it is. However, I think that readers who can put those issues aside will enjoy this novel. Geron knows he’s not being completely original, but he brings a cheerful verve to the reimagined plot that makes it easy reading.

The novel is best suited to those experiencing a similar struggle to Edward and Billy: not necessarily with their sexuality, but more broadly with who they want to be and how it fits with the expectations of those around them. These readers will find this empathetic and fun.

Hmmmm. I did skim a lot of this book but I did finish it. Just. It was too long and too politically correct for me. Don't get me wrong I have read and thoroughly enjoyed lots of MM books but this one had me eye rolling. Having read Red, White and Royal Blue (loved it!) I had high hopes this would be in a similar vein but it wasn't. I just didn't get invested with any of the many characters and I didn't feel the chemistry in any of the relationships.

And the whole twin switch at birth, the Canadian monarchy and the quick flick from Edward as prince to Billy as prince was not believable. It just didn't flow. Don't even get me started on the twin references - twinvestiture, twinemies, twincompoop, twinterloper, twinfuriating....it was almost as annoying as the maple reference on nearly every page.

This was a bit of a miss for me.

I started off really liking this book, and I enjoyed the fun banter between all the different characters. I think this book will do really well and will find a crowd of people who really enjoy it and the niche it sits in. However, personally, I think this book only really works if you're prepared to suspend disbelief as at times the plot direction felt rather contrived and I couldn't understand why characters were saying or doing certain things - in the end, it felt like they only made these decisions to push the plot along in a particular direction. For example, when they realised that Billy was the older twin, it didn't make sense to me that they would thrust him into the spotlight with such short notice. To be honest, given what Ed had already told us about all the rules in his world and how the Royal family was hellbent on controlling the narrative, I was really sceptical that they would actually announce Billy to be the older twin and therefore the crown prince.
Of course, I don't want this to be taken as a major criticism, because the point of this book is to be a cute, feel good story about two brothers finding each other under crazy circumstances and navigating their changing world as well as their sexuality. On this front, the book delivers. I won't be sharing this review on my insta/goodreads because I don't think it would be fair to share my honest review with my followers when I'm too cynical of a reader for this genre!

👑Book Review - A Tale of Two Princes👑

⭐⭐⭐✨and a bit - nearly a four.

This is a fun read. Thank you @harlequinaus, @ericgeron and @netgalley for providing me with a copy of this cute book for review.

I enjoyed the concept of this book establishing a Canadian Monarch. Being Australian, it is a very interesting thought and something I would obviously be opposed to in real life. Luckily we can just live it in fantasy.

I thought it was very well written, the characters where all very interesting to me except maybe two of the side, side characters. I just really loved Billie, a true fish out of water story.

This book did a much better job at making me feel connected to a member of a royal family than Red, White and Royal Blue did. Speaking of, if you love Red, White and Royal Blue then this is an easy recommendation.

My main concern just comes down to the length. In my opinion, I don't think that the book needed to be 440 pages. It could have told as good of a story in 350-400 pages. Some cut throat editing in the back half would have achieved it but it was still a solid read.

2.5 stars rated DOWN

I was willing to put aside the unbelievable reasons Canada all of a sudden gained a King and Queen. I was even willing to put aside the monarchy ass kissing in this book.

But I can’t agree with a mob of stans pulling a monarchy protester to the ground! What are we to picture happening? Clearly violence was involved. What kind of behaviour is that encouraging?!

I shelved that disgusting paragraph for later but was forced out of the narrative once again in the last pages of the book.

COPS. AT. PRIDE. The only description we got of the pride parade was them cruising by THE Stonewall Inn, with COPS in front of their float with pride flags attached to the back of their bikes.…… no. It’s bad enough this book doesn’t contain any queer women, but to only showcase one group at pride and have them be cops is vomit inducing.

I’m not going to mention positives because plenty of other people have glowing reviews.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


How I rate books
1- I disliked this book very much. Highly unlikely to read this author again
2- Eh. I didn't hate it. Might give the author another go
3- It was fun
4- Amazing and would read again
5- I'm in love. Give me more right now!

3.5 stars

This book reminds me of Alexis Hall and Tobias Madden rolled into one. It's a book that takes the premise of "what if a royal is gay?" and lets rip with a story that is heartwarming, inspiring, playful, and provocative. Provocative because it dares to put a spotlight on characters in a royal family who are gay, but also discusses homophobia in all shapes and forms.

I do think Eric Geron has managed to create a story that will have broad appeal for teenagers, and I certainly hope this is read by teenagers from wall walks of life. And, you know what? You don't need to be a teenager to enjoy this story, and relate to the characters. You just need to be human. It's that type of story. You can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy when you read this. It's a book that celebrates finding your happiness, and grasping onto that tightly. It's a lovely message, and really shines through in this book.

What did I enjoy the most? I enjoyed the characters the most in this book. They were well thought out and fit effortlessly into the plot. They did seem influenced by teen shows like Gossip Girl and the like, but that didn't bother me. The teenage character are definitely more well-constructed, as you'd expect. There are moments that do feel superficial and a bit underdeveloped, but if I look at the characters as a whole, I can't complain. Can I also say, it was so great to see one of the main character be from a small country town and be gay? I loved that in this story!

Anything I thought could be better? It's always hard to say, because I'm aware of the effort that goes into constructing a story. However, there are some sections in the book that felt like extended filler, and moments where I thought the pacing was off. Also, some moments where the plot shifts to a group of characters plotting their next move, and it felt like some of those moments could be shorter. I do understand some of the slow-paced moments were used to build up to a bigger moment or reveal, but the balance felt off at times.

Overall, I did enjoy the read, and am glad to have read it.