I will buy nearly anything for fifty cents, book-wise. Well, that’s not entirely true; I probably still won’t pick up vast swaths of the non-fiction world, or anything by Danielle Steele. However, the fact that I merely paid fifty cents for this book doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth a lot more. Melissa Wyatt is apparently from York, Pennsylvania; she has never lived more than seven miles from her birthplace. I’ve been to York, although I didn’t have any peppermint patties there. She was born one day after Jane Austen’s birthday (in 1963); her second novel, Funny How Things Change, is coming out next year from FSG.

Alex is a normal sixteen-year-old boy in an English boarding school, cutting class to go to the pub and all. Except for the fact that his father would be the heir to the Rovanian throne, if Rovania had a king anymore. Which, in a surprising 80% positive vote, happens: the Rovanians decide to reinstate the monarchy. Unfortunately, this doesn’t quite make Alex (Alexei) as elated as it does his parents; for one thing, they spring it on him via the Count Stefan deBatz, whom Alexei finds thoroughly unpleasant. Second, and more importantly, he feels like he doesn’t have any choice in the matter; he will spend the rest of his life as a public figure, first as crown prince and then as king. Will he be able to work through this?

The plot to this book is not that exceptional; pretty much every pitfall that one would expect someone elevated to royalty, Alexei falls into. He can’t see his friends; he can’t take his horse; he acts like a spoiled brat; he tries to dismiss his valet; he has to learn boring history . . . whatnot. What makes the book worth reading, and what made it worthy of nominations to many different best-of lists, is the masterful description of emotion and Alexei’s personal growth during the course of this book. He starts, as one might guess, as a sixteen-year-old future rake (or playboy, I guess), and ends up a prince. Of course, it’s not entirely through hard personal work of his own; a few external events happen to him. Overall, though, his personal growth is through experience and contemplation.

In addition to the great emotional honesty in the book, we have several wonderful characters. Count deBatz is a wonderfully conflicted character, both in and of himself and also Alexei’s view of him. Alexei’s mother is everything a queen should be, including beautiful and devoted to Alexei’s father. We also have Sophy Campbell, who is American and from Pittsburgh (although I’ve never known an American Sophy-with-a-y, apparently Ms. Wyatt does) and the daughter of Eileen Ketterman, the head of PR. (I thought the differing last names was a nice touch of realism.) There’s another female character, Princess Isabelle, the jet-setting minor princess with more interests in fashion and drugs and playing around than anything else. She’s a bit shallow, but she added a nice touch to the book.

Even though it’s a YA book, there are some heavy topics touched on. Cocaine makes a brief appearance (no, Alexei isn’t even tempted to use it), and so does sex. However, they’re pretty euphemistic, and there is little overt violence as well. There is an event towards the end of the book that I wasn’t entirely sure about. Sure, it fit, and the explanations were proper, but I felt it was a little too heavy-handed. I won’t discuss it anymore, because it would be a spoiler of epic magnitude. Those who have read the book are welcome to disagree with me. Overall, though, the quality of the book is awfully high, and I’m glad I broke a $20 bill just to buy it. 4.5/5 stars.