2.5 but rounding down because the writing was just not smooth at all in my opinion.
I've read a lot of romances involving fictional royalty that were pretty good so the bar was high and for me, Prince of the Palisades did not reach it. The book is about the prince of the Iles de la Reverie being exiled to his mom's birthplace of LA after badmouthing the Reverian PM (who was badmouthing the queen, Prince Jadon's mother). He is enrolled into an elite private school and under constant watch of bodyguards and his sister, the crown princess Annika, and he is trying to prove to Reverie that he is a prince they can be proud of. Throughout the book, whenever he tries to be himself, media hates him, so he hides behind the prince mask until he realizes he can't stand that anymore, and truly grows into himself, by the side of friends he made at the school and his boyfriend, Reiss.
First: everything I liked about the book --- the descriptions of settings and atmosphere are brief and to the point to better explore characters and character development, which is great for YA books like this that are character focused. You really see Jadon learn and adapt and break his shell, and you see it in some other characters too, like Annika, and characters like Morgan and Nate once he learns to trust them.
That aside, I think this book is wasted in first-person because you learn so much about Jadon's feelings and motivations but every chapter they're the exact same thing, which is to return home and how much he hates being a prince. At a point, it sounds like a rant against America and against the precautions the monarchy has to take and it's annoying so I skimmed over a lot of it. Jadon is very closed off, which makes sense after a recent betrayal of his best friend and boyfriend, but instead of slowly growing to trust people, there's a point in the book where it's like a flip has switched and he starts to actually care, with no good catalyst. I understand it's hard for Jadon, given who he is and who he has to be, but he's such a mess that it's kind of hard to root for him. There's also a bunch of modern language and references that kind of throws you off everytime you get into it which is insanely infuriating.
I've read a lot of romances involving fictional royalty that were pretty good so the bar was high and for me, Prince of the Palisades did not reach it. The book is about the prince of the Iles de la Reverie being exiled to his mom's birthplace of LA after badmouthing the Reverian PM (who was badmouthing the queen, Prince Jadon's mother). He is enrolled into an elite private school and under constant watch of bodyguards and his sister, the crown princess Annika, and he is trying to prove to Reverie that he is a prince they can be proud of. Throughout the book, whenever he tries to be himself, media hates him, so he hides behind the prince mask until he realizes he can't stand that anymore, and truly grows into himself, by the side of friends he made at the school and his boyfriend, Reiss.
First: everything I liked about the book --- the descriptions of settings and atmosphere are brief and to the point to better explore characters and character development, which is great for YA books like this that are character focused. You really see Jadon learn and adapt and break his shell, and you see it in some other characters too, like Annika, and characters like Morgan and Nate once he learns to trust them.
That aside, I think this book is wasted in first-person because you learn so much about Jadon's feelings and motivations but every chapter they're the exact same thing, which is to return home and how much he hates being a prince. At a point, it sounds like a rant against America and against the precautions the monarchy has to take and it's annoying so I skimmed over a lot of it. Jadon is very closed off, which makes sense after a recent betrayal of his best friend and boyfriend, but instead of slowly growing to trust people, there's a point in the book where it's like a flip has switched and he starts to actually care, with no good catalyst. I understand it's hard for Jadon, given who he is and who he has to be, but he's such a mess that it's kind of hard to root for him. There's also a bunch of modern language and references that kind of throws you off everytime you get into it which is insanely infuriating.