Book Review: A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron

Will these long-lost twin princes be able to take on high school, coming out, and coronations together—or will this royal reunion quickly become a royal mess?

I was granted eARC access to A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron courtesy of HarperCollins Canada as part of my participation in the HCC Influencers program. Thank you, as always, for these amazing reading opportunities! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

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About the Book

A Tale of Two Princes
by Eric Geron

Published 10 January 2023
Inkyard Press

Genre: YA LGTBQIA+ Romance
Page Count: 461
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Will these long-lost twin princes be able to take on high school, coming out, and coronations together—or will this royal reunion quickly become a royal mess?

Edward Dinnissen, Crown Prince of Canada, loves getting the royal treatment at his exclusive Manhattan private school and living in a fancy mansion on Park Avenue. But despite living a royal life of luxury, Edward is unsure how to tell his parents, his expectant country, and his adoring fans that he’s gay.

Billy Boone couldn’t be happier: he loves small-town life and his family’s Montana ranch, and his boyfriend is the cutest guy at Little Timber High. But this out-and-proud cowboy is finally admitting to himself that he feels destined for more . . .

When Edward and Billy meet by chance in New York City and discover that they are long-lost twins, their lives are forever changed. Will the twin princes—“twinces”— be able to take on high school, coming out, and coronations together? Or will this royal reunion quickly become a royal disaster?

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My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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I was granted eARC access to A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron courtesy of HarperCollins Canada as part of my participation in the HCC Influencers program. Thank you, as always, for these amazing reading opportunities! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

Edward is the heir apparent to the throne of Canada (yes, Canada!) currently serving a year-long grounding quietly tucked away at a high-class school in NYC. Billy is the eldest child and only son of a widowed farmer from Montana, and although he knows he can’t ever really leave Montana and the farm, he wants to audition for Julliard, just for the experience. When the two cross paths in NYC, no one can help but notice their distinctly similar appearances. Identical, in fact. Like long-lost twins…

Where do I start with this one? I’m honestly so torn on how to rate it. On the one hand, this is a marginally predictable mashup of The Prince and the Pauper, The Parent Trap, and Gossip Girl, and I have a bone to pick with the author about maple-everything (I’ll circle back to that.) On the other hand, the last third of this book had me in tears, in a complicated but overall positive way, and the human rights wishes this book has for Canada, the monarchy, etc. are fantastic and truly deserve attention.

This book is told in alternating first-person perspectives between our two princes, Edward and Billy. Other key characters along for the ride are Billy’s mother, his rising social media star of a younger sister Mack, and his non-binary fashion designer diamond-in-the-rough best friend Pax. In Edward’s corner, we have their parents, King Frederick and Queen Daphnee, best friend Neel, suspected girlfriend Fi, and royal advisor Gord. If you can keep a cast of 10 and 2 perspectives straight then you’re all good, this book is easy reading and it really flew by.

Each character is distinct, well-rounded, and mostly given just as much page time as I felt they deserve. I think Neel could have used some more spotlight, as he’s the Pax of camp Edward, but other than that I think we get to know everyone well enough. Edward and Billy are both very alike and very different, as one might expect from identical twins raised apart, and I didn’t have any trouble distinguishing between the two and following along with perspective flips. The discovery of a long-lost older twin puts Edward’s succession status in question, and this leads to teenage angst-filled sibling rivalry that is absolutely boiling under pressure. I can see how some readers might side with Billy and hate Edward for it, but I empathized with both boys in different ways, and it was really interesting to see the two of them go through so much emotional growth and this book unfolds.

This book is absolutely full of positive LGBTQIA+ representation and sincere wishes for equality of human rights in all levels of society. In this alternate timeline present-day Canada which hosts and celebrates a home-grown branch of the Commonwealth monarchy, homophobia and traditionalism are huge barriers for a gay prince to overcome. It’s not really a secret to anyone with open eyes that the monarchy in the real world doesn’t have any prominent “out” members anywhere near the line of succession, and it would be a huge scandal if one were to raise their voice. This book dares to challenge that, and I love it. As a non-binary person, I also adore the handling and spotlight of a prominent supporting character who exclusively uses they/them pronouns and has some clever suggestions for less gendered lingo.

Now, let’s get back to that bone I mentioned earlier. First, both as a Canadian and as someone who studied Canadian and British history at the university level, it took at least half the book to stop being pulled back to reality by the cognitive dissonance of the idea that Canada wanted and celebrates a home-grown branch of the monarchy, rather than wishing the whole thing was simply abolished. While I personally have no problem with maintaining the mostly figurative role the monarchy plays in Canada’s government and culture, I would be a fool not to acknowledge that there is a huge portion of the population that does not support the monarchy and cried out that the passing of the crown to HRM King Charles III would have been an ideal time to back out of that particular tradition. There are some comments here and there in the book that acknowledge Quebec doesn’t support it, but to pretend that only Quebec doesn’t support it is far too optimistic.

Now let’s move on the maple. Not everything needs to be maple! It doesn’t need to be a term of endearment, it doesn’t need to be a curse word, it doesn’t need to be the flavour of everything edible at all times, and I sincerely down “The Maple Crown” is what we’d go with if adopting a Canadian royal family won the popular vote to begin with. Take it from a nearly 35-year-old Canadian who has lived in multiple provinces: most of us don’t like maple THAT much! Maybe Quebec does, they do harvest it, but not the majority of the rest of us. For most people, it’s just the type of syrup we put on our pancakes. You hear about maple-everything because it’s sold in our tourist traps and we do, admittedly, freeze it onto sticks in the snow like a lollipop on special occasions. I guess in short what I’m trying to say is that as a Canadian reader, I can tell the author is not Canadian, and while I’m flattered on behalf of Canada for the positive attention, it doesn’t ring true to the experience of being Canadian and the maple thing seriously felt like a tired joke by the second chapter.

I thought I was done with maple, but really? The farm boy from Montana just happens to love putting maple in odd things? Is it supposed to literally flow in his veins because he’s actually Canadian? Okay, I’m done now.

Overall, A Tale of Two Princes is a charming, heart-wrenching, pride-flag-waving royal adventure that’s definitely worth a read. This is my first encounter with Eric Geron’s work but it won’t be my last, that’s for sure!

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