Piping hot and tons of fun, That Prince is Mine pits a royal court cuisine instructor against a professor who’s hiding a princely secret. This is the best Lee I’ve read in years, and it’s officially my favorite book of hers.

Emma Yoon has a very specific skill, and that’s teaching young women to cook in the way Korean royal court chefs do. This attracts the attention of a specific subset of young ladies who are looking to marry up into royalty – something about which ambitious Emma couldn’t care less. She runs classes in Los Angeles and hopes to create her own culinary school.

Emma is approaching her twenty-ninth birthday, and unfortunately, her professional matchmaker of a godmother Auntie Soo – who is her business partner – wants to arrange a marriage for her. Emma doesn’t want to get married, but her Auntie points out that it looks bad for Emma to be an unmarried woman partnered with a successful matchmaker. On top of that her godmother has rivals up the wazoo willing to pounce at any minute. After all, if Auntie Soo is such a great matchmaker, then why is Emma single? To maintain Auntie Soo’s reputation, Emma goes out on a long series of matseons – or blind dates – to find a man who looks good enough on paper to shut everyone up. She’d always planned on an arranged marriage anyway.

Michael is the Prince of Roulme, and has no intention of marrying a woman picked out for him by his elders. He wants to marry someone he can, at the very least, respect and like, so he’s working as a college professor and keeping a low profile while he searches.

Emma and Michael have their meet cute and start to fall for each other. Sexual combustibility follows. Might their feelings about true love be challenged by their sudden connection? Is Emma really ready to run her own royal household after teaching women the ins and outs of all of those protocols – even if it means learning procedures she’s never experienced before? And what will this mean for Emma’s dream – and Auntie Soo’s matchmaking service?

This is, quite simply, a spicy, fun, good-natured light-hearted romp of a romance. Lee’s description of food is particularly notable and fantastic; every dish sounds delightful.

Both Emma and Michael are likable in different ways. Emma is strong, driven, smart, and understandably feels a bit railroaded into this marriage thing. Michael is fantastic in his own way, wanting to be seen as more than a crown. He knows he must surrender to royal duty someday but ah, until then… And Auntie Soo is a delight as well – sometimes in spite of herself. 

That Prince is Mine is lovely, warm-hearted and delightful, quite the worthy romantic confection.