Prince of the Palisades is a fun, new YA romcom that gives you Princess Diaries vibes if you squint hard enough. I enjoyed the character growth, tender moments and romance. I thought the prince and his love interest had great chemistry and communication. I only wish there were maybe just a few less side characters so that we could get to know some of them on deeper levels.


Overall, this was a really cute and fun read about a young prince and his efforts to come into himself, without the weight of his family name and what his father wants holding him down.

Another gem from Julian Winters!

Joining the emerging trend of romcoms involving LGBTQ+ royalty, Winters has produced a sweet novel. Set in Santa Monica, California, the story follows two boys who meet at an exclusive private school. One is aloof and totally "riz", while the other is a disgraced prince. When the 17-year-old prince makes a mistake by criticizing a high government official during a drunken tirade, his father, the king, declares that he must not return to their beloved island homeland until he can repair the damage.

As a prince in exile, the young man is being schooled on good public relations as well as academics at Willow Wood Academy. He notices Reiss, and vice versa. From there, their story unfolds, filled with attraction, dating, and occasional misunderstandings. It helps that the prince's mother is American, so he is not entirely socially unaware. Additionally, the secondary characters, such as his sister who is the heir to the throne, are fully developed.

The sweet A plot is complemented by a B plot involving palace intrigue, keeping the pages turning. Overall, this is a successful novel that belongs on YA shelves.
Full disclosure: I received this ARC from netgalley and Viking in exchange for an unbiased review.

Prince of the Palisades is a book I've been highly anticipating all year. I wasn’t sure what to expect but was hoping for a feel-good contemporary romance. I’ve been reading mostly fantasy lately, so this was a lovely change of pace! I’m a huge fan of queer modern royalty romance books and will pretty much read any of them. The premise sounded wonderful, and I was really excited to dive into Prince of the Palisades. If the synopsis isn’t enough to entice you, I’m sure the beautiful cover will!

I liked Annika, the future Queen and Jadon’s sister, more than the main characters, and would have honestly enjoyed reading the book from her perspective. She was very level-headed and always had a good perspective to offer Jadon. I always love when royal books have inserts from the media and news articles sensationalising the romance and plot. I wish the mystery around Jadon’s secret man was more important to the story and that the media’s involvement in the plot took more importance. However, I really enjoyed the moments where Jadon took control of his life and rejected the media's expectations. Those moments made him more endearing.

The romance was the main focus of the story, but I felt that the relationships between Jadon and his family were more developed. They were definitely cute together, but I did feel that their chemistry was lacking at times. I enjoyed Reiss and his hair and laughed at the Frank Ocean comparison. Reiss offered a sense of normalcy that was missing from Jadon’s life, and I’m inclined to think that was what he found most appealing about his love interest.

This will be a great read for fans of royal romance books like Red, White, & Royal Blue. I’m looking forward to reading more books by the author in the future! Thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

In Prince of the Palisades, the dubbed “rebellious” Prince Jadon of Îles de la Rêverie is sent to America to rehab his image after a viral breakup. Romance isn’t on the agenda, but orchestrated photo ops and high-society appearances are. However, an unexpected fling with a film-obsessed American student changes everything.

With the help of his sharp-tongued royal guard, his brilliant sister who’s next in line for the throne, and a quirky royal liaison, Jadon is determined to prove he’s more than a royal disaster. If he fails, he may never return home. But as he falls for this unassuming boy, Jadon begins to realise that being a true leader might just mean being himself. Can he win over his country and his heart?

Winters has a talent for banter and this book proved that all over again. Jadon’s sarcastic humour is contagious and the way he and Reiss go back and forth made for excellent comedic relief. All the side characters (and there are quite a few to keep track of) also had their own unique brand of humour which was fun to see play out in group settings. Reiss and Jadon also have some sweet and wholesome romantic moments that are sure to make readers swoon. Reiss, meanwhile, also shines bright as a boy with many talents who has his own goals to pursue and doesn’t compromise his personality for anyone or anything, which I really appreciated.

Beyond fun banter and romance, this book also delves deeper into important cultural issues. From the things Jadon tries to keep from his parents that he has overheard from people in power (and that basically acted as a catalyst for his exile) all the way to dealing with the expectations placed on him at a young age not only by his parents but by the world at large, Winters doesn’t shy away from exposing some systematic issues in the real world.

And while I didn’t vibe with the caricaturistic, somewhat one-dimensional characterisation of Jadon’s parents and the villains in the story and the way they did a 180 at the end of the book without a real catalyst, I was still glad to see that some of them got what was coming to them.

The parts that I struggled with in this book were the pacing and the repetition when it came to some facts like the way Jadon struggles with the media’s attention and the pressures of being a teenage public figure. Here, the story often reverted to telling rather than showing, which grew tedious especially after the first few inner monologues. A few more scenes where the impact and consequences on Jadon were shown rather than told to the reader would have been appreciated. It’s such an important part of his identity and what drives his actions and as such, I was a tad disappointed in how it was addressed – yet the way it was resolved made up for it in small parts. Similarly, the pacing sometimes dragged because of the way readers were told what was going on instead of shown more clearly. This, for example, happens often when it comes to Jadon and Reiss’s conversations where things stay on a surface level (for example them bonding over their love for shoes but then deeper talks being swept into one or two sentences recounting what happens off page). Nevertheless, once they get closer, you can’t help but root for them.

All that being said, I think that this book is going to take readers on a wonderful journey. If you’re someone who loved The Royals, Young Royals or Red, White and Royal Blue, you’re sure to fall hard for this queer, black, strongheaded and wholesome dork of a prince.

Finally, one thing that made me smile throughout this book was how Winters managed to incorporate his friends into the story. From small hints like Reverie (the book title of Ryan La Sala’s novel) to more overt references like a character named Garza Villa, these small nods to real-life people made me smile. It’s such a sweet way to pay homage to your writer friends that serves as a little boost of happiness to the readers who have also revelled in stories from them.

Fun, flirty and as fierce as its main character, Prince of the Palisades is the queer YA romance to escape to this summer, perfect for fans of Jason June and Johnny Garza Villa.

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!