Damn! This is a great royal-commoner romance story. Fans of “The Prince and Me” will enjoy this updated, multi-racial, royal posing as a commoner tale. There are some open door scenes, but not too spicy.if you’re a fan of Korean food, don’t read on an empty stomach,
Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Emma is trying to get a commercial building for her dream business teaching people how to make Korean meals for high court. Her godmother, who sends a lot of business Emma’s way, is concerned that if her business being a matchmaker suffers because her own goddaughter hasn’t made a match, then Emma’s business will suffer too. They agree to seriously find Emma a mate. At the beginning of her dating journey, she meets an undercover Prince that was not set up by her godmother. She must continue to hang out with him to convince herself how horrible of a match they would be.

I think this had potential, but I really struggled with it. The dialogue was very unnatural. Often times I would have to go back to re-read what they were saying to see how they were offended. I guess I expected a little more maturity from people in their late 20s early 30s.

There wasn’t enough development of the characters, it’s basically a mention of their backstory over and over, the authors knowledge of Korean cooking, and repeating ad nauseam thoughts that should have been subconscious and shown in actions rather than the same sentence repeated.

Ex. 1) I’ve got to prove why we’re incompatible because it’s impossible to stay with someone forever if they’re not perfect for me on paper.

Ex. 2) I can’t tell her I’m a prince yet cause she’ll change and not love me for who I am.

These two examples comprise 25%+ of the book at least.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the arc!

Thanks so much for letting me read your book! I overall really enjoyed it although I do feel like if someone wasn’t interested in the korean culture they probably wouldn’t be much of a fan with the details. However as soon who married into a Korean family I learned some interesting and new things from the book! But anyway focusing back on the book I enjoyed the connection between them and seeing them together. I do wish it would’ve focused a little more on the relationship outside of the romance scenes and the royal stuff. I enjoyed the descriptions and I even enjoyed the writing style once I got used to it. Definitely a new author that I want to check out and see what else I can read!

Such a cute book. I really appreciated that the author put easy to follow pronunciations in the beginning. As someone stuck in the Midwest, I don’t have much experience with other languages and truly appreciated being able to respect the language. Even in my own head while reading.

4.5 Stars That Prince is Mine is a delightful opposites-attract, hidden identity, royal romance. The main characters were so sweet together and I really enjoyed their banter. I always appreciate when a book has dual POV so you can read how each character falls in love with the other. Though somewhat predictable, especially when it came to the main conflict and third act breakup, this was a great easy read.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one at 34%.

This book had the making of being one of my favorites but it fell short. I really like the aspects of Korean culture that the author added. I felt it worked seamlessly into the story rather than distracted or act as a lesson. This is not a YA romance but I think the writing style leaned too closely in that direction for my liking.

The story from the parts that I did read were cute, but it lacked any real substance.

Rated 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

That Prince in Mine starts with the cutest meeting and the start of a fast relationship, yet it misses the mark. The MMC is lovely, and the culture in the book is appreciated. However if feels stuck in parts. I do love the descriptions and the settings. Jayci Lee definitely can put imagination to paper beautifully.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a cute light fluffy read that was pretty enjoyable. Overall.
Love the movie the prince & me and this had similar vibes.
I really enjoyed the Korean culture aspects.
The main characters were a bit cringey though and had some moments that had me shaking my head, so docking some stars for nonsense.

I loved Emma and Michel. Emma is so funny and kind hearted. I liked learning more about the Korean culture. Michel is very swoony. I loved that as a prince he wasn’t all snooty. He was quite endearing. This book has lovely writing. It’s a funny and heartwarming story. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for review.

I loved the representation of a Korean woman working in the culinary arts and looking for their person but sticking true to themsleves. Everything was sweet and wholesome...until about 70% of the book when the truth comes out from Prince Michel. The premise of the story would have been a home run but without any of the cute parts, there wasnt really much to the plot. The book hinged on the one critical plot point and to have gone through the entire book to reach to this point i had wished for me. Maybe adding side characters to follow as well or finding out about the conflict earlier and having a continuation to the story would have allowed for a bigger picture to learn about.

I am a sucker for stories about falling in love with a secret prince. It’s a tale as old as time. However, I found myself really enjoying this book in particular because the female main character is Korean-American. As someone who is half-Korean, there were so many things that made me giggle, like the details that we are all too familiar with explaining to people when we are introducing them to Korean food and culture. And if the love interest doesn’t ask you to start calling him oppa out of jealousy, is it really a love story? All in all, this was a wonderful, refreshing book to read and it healed a part of me that was yearning for my own relatable princess story.

**Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.**

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me this free ARC in return for an honest review.

This is your typical light and fluffy romance read. I landed on a 2.5 stars for many reasons. This wasn’t particularly a “bad” read, but there were a few things that I didn’t love about it. Unfortunately I almost DNF’d this in the first 50%.

Here are my problems:

⭐️ First and foremost, there were many times that I got the ick from the FMC and occasionally the MMC. Particularly, the FMC is 28 (or 29; I can’t remember exactly) and reacts as a 13 year old would in her first adolescent romantic relationship. There is one scene that exemplifies this most accurately. The FMC & MMC are speaking about ✨serious matters ✨ during which the MMC asks a question to the FMC, who proceeds to blankly stare, stand up, and lock herself in the bathroom, cry, and demand he not speak to her. She then wants to speak to her “friend” (who she has known for a very short time) for girl advice. I just don’t know why they could not speak maturely as adults in serious relationships do.

⭐️ His obsession with her shoulders.. ????

⭐️ all of the characters had little to no depth

⭐️ instalove

⭐️ borderline incestuous relationship with godbrother. I can’t count the number of times he called her “brat”


Now I will say, there a few things I did enjoy. One of which was the representation of Korean culture. I loved the vivid food descriptions as well.


Overall, this was just average. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t an enjoyable read for me.


Read if you love instalove, Korean culture/representation, light/fluffy romances.

This was an cute and which read - it’s definitely is a original idea and i enjoyed the prince and me (movie) like moments - but the ending felt a bit rushed to me, which ruined the overall arc for me.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable light read for me. I liked the relationship between Emma and Michel, and I felt like their romance was believable from the beginning. There were some awkward moments throughout and some cringey things (mostly surrounding things Michel said), but it was overall sweet. I loved how Emma was so passionate about food, her family, and her culture, but I wish that there had been more mention of that in her debate over whether to leave LA. I thought that the third act breakup reason was very stupid and I’m glad that Emma came to her senses on her own instead of the love interest convincing her. The side characters I also felt were very developed and felt like a part of the world rather than just there to further the plot. Jeremy’s relationship as well as Sophie and Gabriel’s felt like they should’ve been their own books (interconnected stand-alone type). Overall, I enjoyed the book and the romance, but it didn’t leave a significant impact on me.
ARC provided by netgalley

This book was such a cute and lighthearted read! I read this in only a couple of sittings, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The tension in the book was decadent and the spicy scenes were well-written. I would most definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to get over a slump and just have a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this digital ARC of That Prince Is Mind in exchange for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐💫

As a fan of Jayci Lee's A Sweet Mess series, I was ecstatic when I learned that she was writing a royal romance novel! I absolutely love all books and movies that involve a king/prince who is hiding his royal identity in order to find his one true love, and this book is an excellent contribution to the genre.

Prince Michel is taking a three month sabbatical in America before he takes over as King of Rouleme. He is enjoying some time away from the spotlight as a professor at USC, but he is also hoping to find his future queen. A beautiful woman, Emma, catches his eye in the hotel cafe, but she is on a date with a different man every time he sees her. When he works up the courage to ask her out, he discovers that she is going on dates arranged by her matchmaker aunt in hopes of finding her future husband. She believes compatibility trumps attraction and only agrees to go out with Prince Michel for one date. But as one date turns into two and then three, will Emma change her view of relationships?

This was a quick and light-hearted read - perfect for reading poolside. I particularly loved the side characters, Sophie, Michel's bodyguard, and Gabriel, Michel's cousin. I am hoping that this book becomes a series in which we get to hear Sophie and Gabriel's story!

Read this if you love:
-Secret identity trope
-He falls first
-Strong side character development

A big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC in exchange for a non-biased review!

This was such a light and cute read! A royal romance where the royal is somewhat in disguise and falls in love with a 'commoner' is definitely my favorite way to go about this trope. That Prince is Mine fits in well with Jayci Lee's catalog of other books. The characters were enjoyable- both main and side. Michel was such a soft boy and loved Emma wholly. Readers never have to question that. Emma being a Korean ROYAL Court chef was funny, though didn't add much to the story- she could have just been described as a chef/culinary instructor and the story would have remained the same. On one hand, I do wish that this book was set up for there to be a second book about Sophie and Gabriel so that we could have a closer look at their second chance romance, however I also did like not having to wait to know they end up together in the end. I will say the plot was rather predictable, but I am a person who likes that! There were very low stakes and plot points weren't anxiety inducing. Overall 4 stars. Thank you NetGalley, Jayci Lee, and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC!

Started strong but didn’t deliver in the end.

Emma, our FMC, I found to be brilliant in the beginning. I loved the background on Korean cuisine and the moments where we got to explore her talents as a culinary teacher. Michel, our MMC, was honestly adorable and I didn’t find much fault in him besides that fact that we knew basically nothing from his past. I wanted more there because we knew lots about Emma. But even knowing Emma’s past, her actions in the end just annoyed me. It was hard to sympathize with her.

This story contains insta-love, third act breakup, and miscommunication tropes. That alone may explain my lower rating.

This had great potential, but just wasn’t it for me. However, I appreciate the opportunity to read this. Thanks, NetGalley!

In the kitchen, Emma is a queen—she teaches Korean royal court cuisine, and she has every reason to believe that her business will continue to grow. She doesn't have much dating experience, but she's clear in her expectations: her godmother will arrange a match for her, and she'll end up with a husband who is perfectly suited to her. Someone *compatible*. Not, say, a prince from a small European country who is from a different culture and class and shares almost none of her experiences...

I am a sucker for a royal romance, which is what led me to this book. "That Prince Is Mine" has the added benefit of some cultural diversity that I don't often see in romance novels—I've read books in which the heroine is a cook and the hero a prince, but never one delving into the intricacies of Korean cuisine. (The ARC I had didn't have a final cover, and by the time I picked up the book I'd already forgotten the plot details, so I was a bit disappointed to find that the prince in question is Generic European—one of these days perhaps we'll get a Generic Asian prince!)

The book leans rather fluffier than I expected, a bit like an extended Harlequin or perhaps a soap opera. Partly because so many of the side characters have romantic plots, the plot pretty much all moves quickly to romance, leaving little room for anything else. I'd have loved to see a bit more from the characters, especially things that aren't so hormone-driven. It's the end of the book before we learn that Sophie (Michel's bodyguard and childhood friend) used to paint, for example, and I can't help but think that if she'd not had a romance plot, we could have seen more of her personality (followed by a separate book about her, if the author were so inclined).

Generally speaking, this is not one to pick up if you're looking for more depth in a romance novel, but it would be a good read for those looking for a bit of instant-princess fluff (bonus points if you salivate over Korean food!).

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

First off, thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I received this copy in exchange for an honest review.

It wasn't a terrible story at all, and of course, who doesn't want to suddenly find out the person they are dating is a prince? But I'm sorry to say it would have been a DNF if I hadn't already committed to finishing this ARC. As far as the Korean cultural references and terminology, I started the book excited to learn. I screenshotted the page talking about Jeongseong because the meaning was inspiring and I wanted to remember it. I just found myself skim-reading most of this book, ready for it to be over. Why is that? All I know is it was a sweet story, one we all know because it's been done a thousand times. And that's why most of us love reading the same tropes over, we feel safe with it. And I do love this Cinderella-type story, but I just wasn't feeling it this time.