To be completely honest, I’m not sure how this book found me, but I am so glad it did. While I normally steer away from royalty romances – adult or teen – this one was so different that it felt refreshing. While I don’t agree that fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue will necessarily love this book (as they are very different, and I was a huge fan of Casey’s novel), I do believe they will appreciate the carefree, fun-loving youthfulness of a summer in Barcelona, the complexity of teen love, and the possibilities of what can happen when you break the rules in the name of love and happiness.

One summer of normalcy in the beautiful city of Barcelona is all Stefi and Xavi hope for as their lives are completely turned upside down. For Stefi, the ultimate betrayal has sent her across an ocean. Devastated and heartbroken, all Stefi wants is the chance to heal, rediscover who she is, her passions, or maybe even reinvent herself in a city where no one knows her. For Xavi, life as he knows it is about to change. Recently learning that he is the son of the King of Spain, Xavi only has this final summer before his secret comes out and he is forced to move from his beloved Barcelona to Madrid.

When Stefi and Xavi’s paths cross that one magical day in La Boqueria, they believe fate has given them what they need most – a beautiful distraction to make the summer unforgettable. No relationships, no love, no forever – just a “fling” to pass the time and feel alive before the summer ends. If only it were that simple…

As always, I try to make sure I present warnings if I believe some subject matter may be uncomfortable for certain readers. This is both an MF and MM romance, so for those who may have an issue with queer romance, the secondary romance in this story is between Santiago and Diego. There is also a lot of drinking and partying among these teenagers. While this reflects the culture, and Donna does a great job of explaining the differences between alcohol consumption in Spain versus America, some readers may still be bothered by the amount of wine and beer consumed by characters who would be considered minors in the U.S. The same applies to physically intimate relationships. If you are a reader who prefers not to see teenagers in very adult situations (to clarify – Donna keeps it steamy and clean, not spicy at all), then this book is definitely not for you!

Now that that’s out of the way, this story had my full attention from beginning to end. I will warn potential readers that the beginning of the book is extremely descriptive of the surroundings. For those who love to be fully immersed in a story, they will truly appreciate feeling as if they are walking the streets of Barcelona and sweeping through the alleys of La Boqueria. For others who just want to dive into the story, they might feel flustered by the over-explanation and detailed clarification of everything mentioned when referencing places in Spain, cultural events, traditions, sites, and sounds.

Once the environment is clearly established, the story wraps you up in the whirlwind romance of Xavi and Stefi, along with the complications of Xavi’s secret. The treat is, you don’t just get one love story – you get two! While we follow Xavi and Stefi, we also have the pleasure of Santiago’s story as he starts to fall for Xavi’s best friend, Diego, but struggles with his sense of duty and loyalty to both his life and the crown. If you aren’t fully captivated by Xavi and Stefi, you’ll surely find yourself enamored with Santiago, his growing feelings for Diego, and his complicated task of protecting the Prince of Spain.

With that said, there could have been so much more with this story. The fact that it just abruptly ends leaves you feeling somewhat cheated. You are left with so many questions – especially considering the characters are so young. The epilogue takes place the very next day, but it could have easily jumped forward months or even years down the line. We are left wondering what happened with Diego and Santiago – especially with Santiago quitting his job to be with Diego. Does he move to Barcelona? What does he do for work? Diego is only 18 and still living with his parents, while Santiago is 19 and technically gave up his residence when he quit his job. Filling in these blanks would have been greatly appreciated.

The same goes for Stefi and Xavi. There were so many questions introduced between them when they decided to be together, and with Xavi being royalty, their story was bigger than just the two of them – as his parents pointed out. What happened? We know Stefi says she wants to finish her pastry class, but her parents still hadn’t decided whether they were moving to Barcelona, and she still has one more year of high school left! With Stefi being 17 and Xavi 18, it would have been great to know where their relationship was heading, especially after being invested in them for 340 pages. Instead, we are left with a Happy For Now ending, with no idea if any of these couples will still be together in a week, a month, or a year.

With Alfonso and Marta – we learn that the letters that pulled them apart were forged, but then it ends there. We don’t know who was behind it, despite the fact that the King was supposed to put in efforts to investigate. We also don’t know what happens next. Like Xavi speculates, do they date, do they get married, does Marta give up La Buena and move to Madrid? Again, there was so much potential for the ending of this book – or at least for a second book to wrap everything up. I even checked the author’s site to see if there were any notes about a continuation, but nothing was mentioned. I would even take a novella to provide some type of closure!

It also would have been nice to see if Isabel faced any kind of retribution for her interference. For someone who caused so much turmoil, the thought that she might have just walked away with nothing more than her pride hurt is extremely disappointing. 

The one thing I will point out is that a little more editing could have been done to clean up this book. While I absolutely loved it, there were some sentences that felt oddly written or repetitive. Luckily, the story was strong enough to keep its momentum, but there were a handful of moments where I had to reread a part several times because the way it was written just didn’t make sense. Eventually, it clicked, or the surrounding context clarified it, but those little hiccups might be what takes this from a 4- or 5-star read for some readers.

As mentioned before, for a teen romance, this was a bit on the steamy side. That being said, Donna kept it steamy, not spicy. While there were intimate moments between the characters, she quickly transitioned to fade-to-black scenes to keep them appropriate for readers. She focused more on building intimacy through meaningful kissing moments than anything else.

While I would still recommend Stefi and The Spanish Prince, I would suggest taking the triggers and warnings into consideration so it doesn’t detract from your experience. Even though it pushes the boundaries of YA romance and what might be considered adult themes, it remains a beautifully told story. If Donna ever considered making this a series, I would absolutely love to see the continuation of these characters.