Huge thanks to Penguin Teen and Julian Winters for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Prince Jadon of Îles de la Rêverie has accidentally blown up his image, all with a single video after a devastating breakup with the son of the country's prime minister. Perfect. His parents, his country, his sister, his ex-best friend, the royal "fixers"-everyone is frantically doing damage control. And to make a long story short: America is where Jadon has to go. The goal is simple: a new school, planned appearances and photo shoots with puppies, whatever they can do to sanitize his image. A new romance is the exact opposite of the plan...

...which proves to be a problem when pink-haired film lover Reiss enters his life at a function with his new school "friends" and everything starts to get really complicated really quickly. Jadon is supposed to be cleaning up his image and making things right to be able to go back to Îles de la Rêverie and prove himself to his nation as a leader and a prince worthy of respect. But when school plays, real friends, a new chance at love, and real social issues start pulling on Jadon's other arm, what will he choose?

I was supposed to have reviewed this book earlier but due to getting extremely sick, it unfortunately didn't happen before the release date.

This was GENUINELY excellent. I was hooked from the first paragraph, and the only reason I didn't finish the whole thing in one setting was because of life interruptions. This was a fun royal love story with an incredible thread of self-acceptance and standing up for what's right even when it gets complicated a fuck woven through in a way that was...flawless.

This book was exceptional, romantic, funny, cute, and had references to one of my favorite movies of all time, CLUE-which gave it extra bonus points in my book. 10/10, so grateful to have gotten a chance to review this one. I was supposed to have reviewed this book earlier but due to getting extremely sick, it unfortunately didn't happen before the release date. This book was released on 08/20/24-which is great in that it means you can go out and get a copy of this five star charmer RIGHT NOW!

3.5/5 stars!

This was an enjoyable YA coming-of-age/romance!

Jadon had so much character growth throughout the story. From being a bratty, lost “spare” to becoming an outspoken, emotionally intelligent young adult. Jadon’s relationships with Reiss, his sister, and his friends were also sweet.

I think where this book lost me is that there was *too* much going on at once and the story does a lot of telling instead of showing.

There were too many side characters and I wish we instead got more fleshing out of a select few, like Morgan and Nate.

The book also covers a lot of important topics, but didn’t go in depth enough because there are so many. I really wanted to learn more about Reiss’ experience with classism within the school and Jadon’s activism.

There were also scenes I wish we saw instead of were told about, like Jadon making friends with the theater kids, Jadon and Karan’s reconciliation, and more.

Overall, it was a heartfelt read and I would definitely read Julian Winters again because I really enjoyed his writing!

I have loved each of Julian Winters books and this one was as good as his others. This book was a bit different than the others that I've read from Julian Winters since the others are built on friendship and nerds and this is different. I ended up listening to this book on audio and it was quite easy to follow along the story. This book is a cute rom com and I love the royal aspects that are included throughout the book.

Great for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue! Prince of the Palisades is a YA rom-com about an African prince stuck in a private Los Angeles high school until he can clean up his image. Along the way he falls for a boy and finds himself.

It's a very fun, very cute book! If you enjoy royal romances and want one that is queer and Black, you should absolutely check this out. It's sex-positive but not explicit, and prioritizes consent, safety, and waiting until everyone is comfortable. Prince Jadon has a strong character arc as he comes to terms with his identity as a royal, and decides what he wants that to mean and who he wants to be. I also like that him being openly gay is a non-issue. There are issues being faced and pressure from his family, but homophobia is not a part of that. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a really sweet, easy to read book with some fun tropes. Royal romances always grab my attention and this one was a winner, especially if you're in the mood for a light-hearted rom-com.

I liked the characters in this one, including the secondary ones. The romance was cute, but there was more to the story than that. The sibling dynamics were great. The villain was a bit flat, but that didn't really matter to me. I think a more serious bad guy would've soured the story.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I made it about 60% through this one, but ultimately gave up because nothing is happening. True, this is a character driven story, but I just wasn’t sold that the MMC was driving the plot forward.

Short, sweet, and queer. This is a YA royalty romance and coming-of-age story described as Young Royals meets Red, White and Royal Blue and yep, that meets expectations. A bit of political intrigue, contemporary dialogue, teenagers being angsty and motivational “just be unapologetically yourself” narrative. I enjoyed it, I did not feel it broke any molds but I liked and had fun with this read.

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC.

This was cute! I always love to see good queer representation in YA novels, and the fact that these are queer people of color is even better. I don’t think these were the most well-developed characters (I found the “evil ex” to be a bit cartoonish and stereotypical) but this is a great story and it’s a fun, easy read. I would recommend!

Julian Winters is an automatic read author for me. I have all his books, and love every single one of them.

This was no different! A Red White and Royal Blue meets Young Royals story YA rom-com. Some of the dialogue in this had me laughing out loud.

This book felt different than Julian’s other novels, usually small stories with close friend groups made of nerds who love comic books and super heroes. This story felt bigger sort of, with the royal aspect and the media stories.

One thing I felt was missing, and this could just be because I feel like it’s the norm now with rom-coms, I was missing Reiss’ POV. I sort of wish we had the chapters switching back and forth. I didn’t NEED it, but I so bad wanted to hear what Reiss was thinking throughout this novel.

Overall though, I loved this as I always do. Julian writes the sweetest rom-coms, and I’ll continue to pick up each one.

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinteen for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Came for the beautiful cover. Stayed for the beautiful writing.

I don't normally read books with royal characters because honestly monarchies are stupid and outdated and why can't we just burn the system down already. But throw in a Black monarchy in Julian Winters's universe, and I'm sold. I instantly felt compassion for Jadon, who was wildly misunderstood by his family, so-called friends, and the press.

Growing up in the public eye is messy. Like imagine if your teenage mistakes were magnified (i.e., blown out of proportion) and turned into front page news stories. I lowkey wouldn't survive all that scrutiny (not today, and definitely not as a teenager, when I'm still figuring out who I am and not being given the room to change and grow). Newsflash: teenagers make lots of mistakes, and they're allowed to be messy!

Jadon's been taught to not speak out on issues where his opinion "won't make a difference" because his island's tradition is neutrality in international affairs. So at first he's silent on issues like transphobia because he doesn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing and get blasted in the press (again). Throughout the course of the book, though, he learns to use his voice, even going against tradition by attending a protest with one of his friends. He learns that breaking tradition is a good thing, and something younger generations celebrate!

Oh yeah, and the romance between Jadon and Reiss is well developed and sweet. Jadon opens himself up for the first time and learns how to fully trust other people. The friendships he develops are just as satisfying.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

This was cute and had a good message about being true to yourself, rather than living by others' expectations of you. But I also felt like the romance needed a bit more development. Some of their romantic moments didn't feel earned yet and their feelings felt more intense than what their interactions warranted, but I also suppose that's true to teen feelings as everything feels more intense at that age.

This is a sweet ya queer romance. Prince Jadon is half Reverien and half American. He doesn’t feel like he fits in either place. I always see this in media and books that you are either not enough of one or the other to be fully accepted. I don’t get it, we are all mixed with something, why the exclusions.

Jadon had a video leak of him talking bad about an official after he heard that official saying nasty things about a loved one. It’s so hard to tell someone what you’ve heard when it will hurt them. So instead of telling his royal parents why he acted out, he gets a punishment to go to the US to go to school.

His ex started off ruining everything and kept showing up to ruin his progress with Reiss, his new love interest. This was a coming of age story about finding your place and finding your voice. Jadon had a lot of growth and learning to do but with a change in setting and people it helped him.

They do have some closed door scenes we know nothing about but that something happened. The focus is more on communication and friendships.

This book was a such a cute read. It was interesting to see how public reaction can sway those in power. I’m also a sucker for a royal/celeb in a normal setting so this book was my jam. Prince Jadon was down to earth and easy to relate to so it was easy to get into this book. The connection he forms with Reiss was cute and although not too deep was a sweet read. I never understood exactly why Jadon wasn’t able to be honest with his father but I overlooked that because the story was cute and it was well written.

I'm such a Julian Winters fan, and this is such a great addition to his works - and my classroom bookshelf. There's something so lovely about a queer, BIPOC-led YA romcom that I just know my students will be drawn to.

Following Jadon's story, labeled the "rebellious" prince of his home kingdom of Reverie, to find out that he's really just a misunderstood, mostly well-meaning teenager put in a near-impossible situation with parents who have to balance parenting with running a country, and Reiss with his loving family and steadfast morals... They act both as great counterpoints of each other and as romantic partners. The secondary characters are well fleshed out, and I'd love to see more of them in future books set in this same universe.

When the tabloids get wind of a video of Jadon (Prince of Reverie) partying wild and badmouthing his country's PM, his father the king banishes him to California to clean up his act. Now Jadon is forced to figure out the type of royal he wants to be and if his people will ever accept him. If like stories about young royals figuring out who they are then this is the read for you. Despite the cover giving off summer beach read vibes, there were actually a lot of important topics such as racism, prejudice, acceptance, Trans rights etc. that were discussed. Unfortunately I didn't think each topic was explored sufficiently. I liked some of the side characters but I felt too much happened off page for me to truly invest in anyone. Overall this was an OK read for me but I can see it being just the thing for others.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the eARC and gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Real Rating 4.5

This took me a while to write a review about because I enjoyed it so much. I had no idea that when I started this I was going to be staying up until 3 am to finish it. A royal romance! Idk what Winters put in this, but I was hooked!

First of all, let’s get something straight….. My boy Jadon is NOT roguish. He was just misunderstood and passionate about things. So all the bad press and evil people who tried to name him that can kick rocks lol He really was a sweet kid, but everyone just labeled him whatever they wanted because he was royalty and I don’t think that was fair. They literally kicked him out of the country to try to make him act the way THEY wanted him to act, which just was some BS. But throughout the book he shows you that he’s sweet, kind, and actually cares about his friends. Does he have a hard time getting there? Yes. But like, he’s a teen? Of course he has some issues. I hated that people didn’t take him serious.

The unexpected thing in this book tho is the humor. I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard in a Winters book like ever. Jadon had the same sarcastic nature as I do and I can’t tell you how much I related to him. He was was so me. And then there was the stuff that just happened to him, like the pool thing. I would have been so mad lmao (that could have been a completely different situation if it was a femme presenting person) And he just handled it with grace. Idk, I really liked his character.

On the other hand, there was the boy with the pink hair. I thought he was such a great match for Jadon. He was the only one who made him second guess things and to make sure that he didn’t seem like such a screw up. He challenged him and I was glad to see Jadon’s character try to make things right. I also LOVED his family. His little bro? Hands down my favorite character lol But I can say, I was a little put off by him in the end, but I didn’t understand why he said what he said. Especially in that setting. But in the end, they got there so i wasn’t too mad.

This was pretty much a basic royal romance story, with pictures in the media, royal guards following him, and even a whirlwind romance that seemed to sprout up out of nowhere. And I ATE THIS UP. Trust me when I say this is going to be one of the books I submit to work for our Tournament of Books for next year for our fluffy romance pick. This deserves all the praise!

This was a fun and cute ya romcom that I enjoyed so much. I loved everything about this book, from the royalty to the high school relationship and feelings to Jadon’s character development and all his different relationships. First let’s talk about Jadon’s character development, which I really enjoyed. We see him go from a shunned and lonely prince to someone who lets other people in and is unapologetically himself. All the actions he’s done are that of a teenager and it’s gotta be hard in the spotlight, especially as a prince, and I loved seeing him come into his own and recognizing that he’s not a bad prince as he thought, but just a boy who will make mistakes and will continue to grow and fight for what he believes in. And that development is due to all these relationships in his life both from family and friends and romantic. I loved seeing his growing relationships with his new friends at school and how he learned to let people in after his previous friendships. I also loved his relationship with Reiss. These two have such a high school-esque relationship it’s so cute and I love it and them.

Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

I really appreciate that queer YA books and queer books in general are becoming more prominent in books and will always try to give one a chance.

This one wasn’t bad, but just fell a little flat for me. This is the first book I’ve read from this author and although this one wasn’t quite for me, I’d read more by them.

Prince Jadon of Îles de la Rêverie has been exiled to America — LA, to be exact — where he’s going to be enrolled in the prestigious private school, Willow Wood. There, he’s expected to make friends, smile, behave, and repent for his past scandals: Yelling at one of his father’s prime ministers, having a public breakup with his boyfriend (the aforementioned prime minister’s son), and going viral for badmouthing the prime minister on social media.

He’s so screwed.

Because Jadon isn’t sorry. He’s angry. Angry at his father the king, who went from being a loving father to an absent one when he became king of of Rêverie; angry at Prime Minister Barnard for what he said about Jadon’s mother; angry at his ex, who dumped him; angry at Kofi, who he thought was his friend and who let him be filmed; angry at having to play nice, smile for the camera, and pretend to be the prince he’s supposed to be when all he wants is … well, he has no idea.

And then Jadon meets Reiss, with his cocky smile, sharp tongue, clever friends, and biting humor, and Jadon finds himself wanting more. First, it’s just friendship — and flirting — but it quickly becomes something more. Reiss doesn’t care that Jadon’s a prince, and it’s refreshing. Reiss challenges him, insults him, and makes him try harder. And Reiss and his friendship are just what Jadon needs when he’s feeling homesick and worthless. Everything’s almost perfect, until the paparazzi find them.

This story is about a young royal falling in love with an all American boy, with all the complications and complexities one would expect. The ex-boyfriend coming back, the disapproval of the king, the school play, the private jet flying the couple to the storybook kingdom, complete with a castle and a bustling market adventure. It sets up all the expected dominoes quite nicely, and topples them in the proper order … all while adding more nuance and more social commentary due to Jadon’s race.

When Jadon attends a protest for transgender rights with a friend, he’s oblivious to the potential harm that could happen to a young black man who isn’t afraid of the police, even in a liberal city. He doesn’t understand why his father is so horrified, because his kingdom, Îles de la Rêverie, is a kingdom of black people who threw off the shackles of their colonizers. All of Jadon’s life, his blackness has never been an issue, and while he’s heavily protected by his guards, his friends are not. This isn’t the biggest focus of the book, but it’s an undercurrent — along with Jadon’s older sister, heir to the throne, who has to represent not only her kingdom but her gender and her own blackness. Jadon and his sister are biracial; their mother is white. It’s an undercurrent that shapes so much of the familial relationships and it’s handled so well, with delicacy and a happy ending ,while still accepting and acknowledging that not every place is going to be Rêverie.

However, the main focus is Jadon and his coming of age, moving from young prince to public scandal, all while being expected to be and act like an adult at seventeen. He’s also suffering the emotional loss of his father, the current king, who was a present and active parent, who made him feel loved and wanted. He had a family, and now it’s gone, his father replaced by a distant and often absent king; his mother an obedient and dutiful queen, bowing her head to her husband’s commands; and a sister often away on her own duties, being a model royal. Jadon is still, in many ways, a child wanting comfort, needing support, needing someone he can turn to for comfort. And he has no one.

While trying to do everything right — say the right things, obey the rules, be the right kind of person, the right kind of prince — he continues to fail not just his friends, but himself. So, for once, Jadon decides to embrace his anger and do something out of spite, and realizes that he’s angry for a reason. Not just because he’s a spoiled prince, but because he feels helpless and powerless and nothing he does is good enough to protect the people he loves.

Reiss is there as a balance, someone who is willing to love Jadon, the boy in front of him rather than the prince, someone who will also stand up to him, say no when things are too much, or say yes when he’s willing. He’s a good friend, a sounding board, and someone who comes without the bias of a preconceived notion of who Jadon ought to be. Reiss is kind, loving, and open in a way Jadon struggles to be. He balances Jadon, a bright and shining light to combat the despair, and is someone who will not only stand shoulder to shoulder with him, but toe-to-toe against him when he doesn’t agree with Jadon’s words or actions.

This is just a lovely book. Jadon is a very sympathetic character, though he struggles for much of the book to find out who he wants to be, and — as many seventeen year olds are — can be curt, cruel, thoughtless, and self-centered. But by the end of the book, when he’s found himself, he is able to reconnect with his father, his mother, and his sister, all of whom it’s clear he adores.

If you like coming of age stories, friends to lovers, princes in love, and strong family bonds, you should very much give this book a try. It’s well worth the read, and I’m so glad I am able to review it.

3.5 Stars. First of all, can we talk about how gorgeous this cover is?!? There was a lot that I really loved about this book. I loved our wonderful male leads and many of the side characters were equally well developed. I did struggle with the cartoonish-nature of the story's villains and how awful the parents were in general. I can see why so many are comparing it to RWRB.