This was cute! It didn't really stand out or resonate with me, but I would recommend it to a friend if they love these tropes.

That Prince is Mine is such a cute book, I really enjoyed reading it and was sad when it was over. I really liked Emma and her family, and the way she describes food. I liked Michel also although I wish we had even more backstory about his life before he was a visiting professor/secret prince. The ending was magical and satisfying. I do wish there was a whole book about Sophie and Gabriel.

In this fun modern romance novel, readers meet Emma Yoon, who hopes to open a culinary school in LA to share Korean royal court cuisine with other Korean American hopeful brides. When her godmother’s rival matchmakers plot against her -- citing Emma’s single status -- Emma agrees to start looking for a husband, but visiting professor at USC, Michel Chevalier, is definitely not on her godmother’s list. Emma isn’t looking for love, and Michel isn’t looking to marry someone picked for him by his government, especially since his arranged engagement goes into effect in three months. Emma and Michel might be exactly who they are looking for as long as they don’t refuse to see it. Emma and Michel have great chemistry, and their relationships with other characters are really funny and heartwarming. Emma is a strong, capable protagonist, and she really has a mind of her own; her relationships with her father and godmother are really charming and meaningful. Michel is also interesting and complex, and his relationship to his royal status is interesting in its evolution over the course of the novel. A fun, steamy, and charming romance novel, readers are sure to love seeing Emma and Michel’s relationship evolve in this fantastic book.

Emma is an Asian-American with a love for cooking. Michel is a prince who is set for an arranged marriage by his family. With only three months left Michel wants no part of it. Michel is off and finds himself in LA where he meets and falls hard for Emma. There is an instant love and attraction for them both.

Is there an HEA in store for Michel and Emma and will Michel return home with Emma as his bride, if so how will his family feel about Emma?

I received an ARC via NetGalley and St Martin Press - St. Martin's Griffin and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I just enjoy anything Jaci Lee puts out. Give me royalty and romance any day. Sweet and charming, funny, and hopeful. Really loved this hidden gem.

Dnf 47%

Thank you NetGalley and smp for the free arc. My opinions are my own.

At 47% I kind of expect to feel more invested in the story, but I’m just not feeling it.
It kinda feels like a story that meanders.

Like the grandma needing her to be married doesn’t feel pressing enough and neither does her dreams to open the commercial kitchen.

The romance feels…stilted. Too insta love for me.

A cute romance between a Korean-American food instructor and a Prince working as a visiting professor in the US.

I enjoyed this book, in particular all of the delicious food descriptions, and Emma. I liked Emma and her family a lot. It was hard for me to not compare this novel to the Sweet Mess trilogy, which I adored but I found I wasn’t as invested in the whirlwind romance with Michel as I was with Emma and her family.

Overall, I would recommend! It was fun!

A Cinderella retelling of sorts. Commoner meets a prince in disguise. I'm a sucker for a Royal tale! Cute + spicy! 4 stars.

The Prince is Mine is a delightful blend of romance, culture, and the challenge of balancing personal dreams with the demands of love. Jayci Lee creates an engaging love story between Emma and Michel that feels both fun and heartfelt.

Emma is a refreshing protagonist—focused, independent, and determined to build her culinary school while avoiding the complications of love. Michel, on the other hand, is a prince with a heart, longing for a partner who loves him for who he truly is. Their chemistry is undeniable, and watching their relationship evolve despite their practical reservations about love is both satisfying and swoon-worthy.

Lee does an excellent job of weaving in cultural elements, particularly through Emma’s culinary expertise, which adds a unique and vivid flavor to the story. The Prince is Mine is a charming read that will leave you with a smile.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you’re a fan of The Prince and Me or the Christmas Prince movies, this read is for you! I lived for Emma and all her cooking made my mouth water 😋 I’m going to have to add some of these dishes to my ‘desperate to eat after reading about it’ list.

And Michel… ohh Michel.

This was a heartwarming read thats perfect for a cozy day of reading.

That Prince is Mine is a light hearted, adorable rom com where the food is the highlight and the love interests have intense chemistry. All the delicious sounding Korean dishes mentioned had me starving! I would love to be a taste tester for Emma and I’m totally jealous Michel gets to eat her food. I haven’t read very many romances where the royalty x commoner is a main trope, but I think the author did a great job with it. I was worried either Emma or Michel would have to make major sacrifices or compromises to be together, but the ending worked out great for both parties. I hate when women in romances give up so much in order to have love, so seeing Michel be more than willing to lose so much for Emma was refreshing. I enjoyed the side characters and their featured stories. I found Emma and Michel to be a little cheesy at times, but it’s a rom com, so I wasn’t really bothered by it. Overall, the chemistry between Michel and Emma was fantastic, the story was wholesome, and the Korean representation was my favorite part.

Thank you to Griffin, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy!

I ended up DNF’ing this early on. I just wasn’t a huge fan of the writing or the plot. Some of the writing made me literally roll my eyes.

Thank you for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book partially due to the spice, but also due to the cultural references. I thought it was so interesting and I loved how the author wove in Korean traditions and food. I love learning about other cultures and find it exciting when it happens in a fictional romance book!

The characters in this book were so cute and so real. Michel was exactly how you would want a man to act for you. He's devoted, kind, genuine, and he really takes care of Emma and her family. I enjoyed reading about a man whose actually looking for love and finds it.

The plotline does get a little hairy in here because Emma is looking for a practical marriage and uses her Auntie Soo, a matchmaker, to help her find her love. We quickly move on from this though so I was a little confused why it was so heavily featured in the first 30% of the book and then it just dropped off. It felt a tiny bit unnecessary to me, but we can ignore it.

Other than that, I thought the story was cute and I loved the hea.

I really enjoyed this book! A regular person x prince (in secret) is such a fun trope, and this was really well done.


The characters were really lovable, and it was easy to see they were a good match and root for them. The cast of side characters were also really interesting, and it was fun to follow them a long (and cheer a long a side romance!)

This book was soo cute and had all the hallmark vibes. A prince in disguise and culinary instructor… come on! So cute!

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Emma Yoon's business is to teach the art of Korean royal court cuisine to young ladies hoping to marry into the upper crust of Korean families. With her godmother's help in passing matchmaking clients her way, she's doing quite well, though she is unlucky in love herself. Because of her unmarried status, her godmother's reputation is in question, so Emma decides to allow her to make her a match, though she's got her eye on the man who is always in the restaurant when she's meeting her potential matches. Michel Aubert may be a professor at USC this semester, but he's also the crown prince of a small European nation, who will soon have to find the perfect bride to be his princess. He's prepared to spend the rest of his life giving his all to his country, but he wants something for himself first, and that doesn't include an arranged marriage. Will he be able to convince Emma he's worth it all, and has he found his perfect princess?

I really enjoyed this book, especially the dual POV. Emma and Michel were very different characters, with different backgrounds and life experiences. However, they were still perfect together, and really complimented each other. I did hate how long Michel kept his identity a secret, and the fact that he was due for an arranged marriage on his return home, but they talked it through, and Emma proved she was a princess in every way.

I rated That Prince of Mine by Jayci Lee 3.25 stars (3 on this grid)..

Was hard to get into in the beginning and while I liked most of the middle, I didn’t enjoy the last 15%. Not my favorite Jayci book. Was interested in the side characters more so than the leads. Not the book for me.

I loved this! I have dabbled in Korean culture/ cuisine so that was so cute how much of that was in this.
The Prince and Me is a favorite movie of mine and this kinda gave me the same vibes.
The chemistry between Emma nnd Michel were immaculate! Nothing could tear the tension and they were so cute! Michel, prince and all, HOT!
The writing style was definitely great and I cannot wait to read more from this author after this read!

That Prince is Mine is a fun take on the Royal Romance trope with a main heroine who loves to teach Korean Royal Court cooking classes and coincidentally meets a prince. Though Emma and Michel come from two very different worlds they soon find out they have more in common than they think. What begins as a whirlwind romance soon turns into something more. But will their love manage to overcome their obstacles and lead to a happily ever after?

What stood out to me the most about this novel was the main protagonist, Emma, and the theme of food in the plot. I loved how her passion for cooking connected the reader to her character on a deeper level. I learned a lot about Korean Royal Court cuisine and its ties to the Joseon Dynasty as well as the cultural significance of each dish. Some of the recipes sounded so mouthwatering and I loved seeing how these dishes brought the characters closer together! As for the romance between Emma and Michel, it felt rushed due to their situation, but I enjoyed reading their story as a couple. I felt like the resolutions to their issues were a bit glossed over and I would have cut out some other scenes to have their miscommunications worked out in a better way. There are some steamy bits in this novel but for the most part

I always enjoy Lee’s romance so hearing about her newest release inspired me to see this out for a review. The novel unfortunately, for me, feels a little more formulaic than I would like compared to her other romances that I’ve read previously. There was a spark that was missing, although I can’t put my finger on what it is specifically. It’s cheesy in the best of ways and the side characters feel well-written but Prince Michel especially could use more fleshing out in my opinion.

Still even with those complaints That Prince is Mine is lighthearted, funny, and a fun romance novel to read overall. I would recommend this novel to those who enjoy a royal romance or light reading.

Emma has always planned to have an arranged match. She believes love fades and leaves you with nothing after her parent's divorce when she was a child. When her godmother, a high-profile matchmaker, shares that Emma being single may affect her business, Emma tells her to start arranging matches despite initially planning on expanding her Korean Royal Court cuisine school. As a culinary instructor, she is passionate about Jeongseong and is the sentiment she lives by as well as the strict plans she makes for her future.

As Emma meets potential husband candidates, she meets Michel. Michel is the crown prince of Rouleme (a small European country) who is in LA teaching at USC incognito so he may meet a woman organically and fall in love. If he doesn't, he plans to marry his arranged match, a friend who doesn't want to marry him either but will for duty too.

When Emma and Michel meet, there are immediate sparks. Emma decides to pause the matches temporarily since Michel is only there for two more months and stubbornly believes she can prove they have nothing in common and once proven, won't be distracted by him anymore.

Michel is whipped. Immediately.

Emma is stubborn. A little annoyingly though you understand how her background was traumatizing and affected her.

In many ways, Michel and Emma are opposites with little background in common or similar personalities. But they find their differences make them stronger, which they need to overcome the obstacles they face.

The realizations Michel and Emma both have at the end were satisfying and I thought Emma's reactions to the bombshells Michel kept dropping were appropriate and satisfying as well.

I enjoyed the side story of Gabriel and Sophie as well, and that it's complete though wouldn't have minded their own book.

Overall, it felt like a very full book with a lot of development of the romantic relationship, side stories, and individuals which I greatly enjoyed. Lee creates a rich world I would return to again.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Feat: interracial relationship, class difference (prince/commoner), opposites attract, simp MMC

3.75 stars
2 spice