American Royals

Holy hell. Somehow, by the Grace of God, I got an e-ARC of my most anticipated release of the entire year and WOW WOW WOW did it live up to expectations. I’m already craving the next book in the series! Katharine McGee has done it again.American Royals is a kind of alt-history, set in the present day. After the US won the revolution, George Washington became king and his descendants have set on the throne ever since. King George IV now reigns, but his children, Princesses Beatrice and Samantha and Prince Jefferson, have a lot of drama of their own. Beatrice is in line to be the first ever Queen of America, but who will be her King?And when her time comes, will she be ready? Samantha has always been the “spare” and lived her life how she pleased, but at what cost to her relationships with her family and her friends? And Prince Jefferson, well, he’s going to have some big decisions to make soon, because the other two POVs in this book are the two girls vying for him–Nina, Samantha’s best friend and a commoner, and Daphne, a social climbing crown grabber who will do anything to get her man back.Told over a pretty short period, I’d say less than four months, this is the perfect first book in a series. It introduces you to a world we can relate to but that has this new royal element. It’s got LOTS of nods to the real British Royal Family, Hamilton, The Crown and more, and I could not get enough. The relationships…especially Beatrice’s…WOW WOW WOW. It’s The Crown meets the Selection meets Gossip Girl and I can’t wait til my pre-order copy arrives in September so I can read it all over again. There’s love, royalty, ball gowns, college campus drama, family strife, more love and romance, and a lot of scheming and I love love love it.

Katherine McGee’s American Royals is an enjoyable book to read and certainly keeps you wanting to know more and is hard to put down. The book is based on the theoretical idea that America had established a monarchy instead of a democracy. The American royal family, the Washingtons, are the center focus of the novel and the whole nation adores them. The book focuses on the point of view of four girls who are all intertwined with the royal family in some way. Beatrice is the heir to the throne and America’s first future queen. Beatrice’s younger sister Samantha, also known as Sam, is a twin to her brother Jefferson, but she is older by a few minutes making her the “spare”. Samantha has always felt underlooked and has felt invisible to her parents as she is just the spare to the throne. Beatrice will always be superior to her and she knows that there is nothing she can do about that, so Sam tends to act out and get in trouble frequently, desperately seeking her parent’s attention. The media shows Sam as an irresponsible nightmare, and although her brother does the same rebellious things, the media plays it off as” boys will be boys”. Sam’s best friend Nina, is a commoner, and another focus of the story. The two of them met when Nina’s mom was interviewing to be a chamberlain for the Washingtons. Sam saw Nina waiting for her mother and the two clicked right away. Daphne Deighton is the other girl the story follows, Daphne is the stereotypical, perfect candidate to be a princess, she is perceived to the world as kind, caring, beautiful, and comes from a wealthy and high-status family. Daphne is determined to become a princess and will do anything to be with Prince Jefferson. Jefferson and Daphne dated for three years before breaking up and she will do anything in her power to get him back. One of the story’s main conflicts is Beatrice’s love life. Beatrice has always been a well-behaved princess and done all the right things, so when her parents tell her she needs to get married, she listens to them and looks through a list of approved bachelors. She finds a boy, Teddy, that is very kind and of well status and chooses him to date. Although she likes Teddy as a friend, she is secretly in love with her bodyguard, Connor. She knows her parents would never approve of this so she has to keep it a secret from them. To add to all this drama, the boy Beatrice is dating, Teddy, secretly likes Beatrice’s sister Samantha and Samantha likes him too, she becomes very jealous of Beatrice and Teddy’s relationship. Sam knows that she cannot be with him as he is on the path to be the future King Consort. This all in my opinion was a little too dramatic and cheesy and the whole Connor and Beatrice romance was very cliche. Then there is another love drama between Jefferson and Nina. Nina has had a crush on Jefferson all her life and they finally start dating, but of course, they have to keep it a secret. When Daphne finds out from Jefferson’s best friend, Ethan, Daphne loses it and sabotages their relationship. The story is filled with secrets, family drama, and many twists and turns. The only problem for me was that the “plot twists” were so predictable. It was so obvious what was going to happen at the end and nothing truly surprised me. All the love triangles and dramas were completely obvious and it was very clear from the start what would happen, for example with Connor and Beatrice and Nina and Jefferson. I liked how each chapter was written about each different character, but I wished it was narrated by each character instead, so I could understand what they were thinking. I also wish that the next book has chapters from the point of view of different characters, such as Queen Adelaide and Prince Jefferson. The ending of the novel was a complete disappointment, as it leaves you on a cliffhanger and leaves everything unfinished and the drama unresolved. I understand that this was done on purpose, to get the reader to purchase McGee’s sequel, but I wish there was a little bit more clarity and maybe a hint as to what would happen in the next book. Although there were some things, I did not like, overall it was a pretty entertaining story, and I read it very quickly as it is easy to lose track of time while reading it. McGee writes the novel in an easy flowing way, and she makes it is simple to follow everything going on. I liked the idea she had about Beatrice and Samantha wanting each other’s lives. I thought this was very interesting and funny because they both thought the other person had it so good and easy when they did not understand the complexity of each other’s lives. All of the girls the reader followed throughout the story, were all very different which I enjoyed. Although the author tried to create the reader to feel sympathy for Nina when I just could not. Nina was a very annoying character in my opinion as she was always looking for pity and took her friends for granted. Daphne on the other did not annoy me as much as she probably should have. I understand that Daphne was portrayed as the villain and a horrible person, and I know that she was, but I couldn’t help but understand why she felt the pressure to be apart of the royal family, as both her parents pushed her so badly and made it very clear that she needed to be with Jefferson, no matter what it takes. She had a lot of pressure from her parents, and they are a true reflection of why she is the way she is, competitive and scheming. Not to justify that is a valid reason to give her friend sleeping pills in her drink. Her parents pressure for Daphne to be perfect caused Daphne to do some awful things, like sabotaging Nina’s dress, and sending pictures of Nina and Jefferson to the paparazzi; I agree these are cruel things to do and do make Daphne an evil person, but she was a very interesting character and I enjoyed reading her chapters the most out of all the girls. She has a very interesting and had a deceitful personality that leaves you hooked. Samantha was a great friend and surprised me a lot throughout the novel, unlike the other characters who were not as dynamic. In the beginning, I thought she was irritating and ungrateful, but she becomes more likable throughout the later chapters, and in the end, you feel bad for her due to her parent’s neglect. Beatrice was a very boring character, I always thought her chapters were the driest. Her romance with Connor was so repetitive and I feel like I have heard their forbidden love story a million times in other books and movies. Beatrice is not a relatable character like the others and her chapters were very redundant. I felt as if I could somewhat relate to some qualities of the other characters, but could not with her at all. I hope that in the next book she has some new, more interesting storylines and we see different sides of her personality. Overall I would recommend this book. This book is targeted towards a younger audience, but I think this could also be a good read for adults. If you like the show The Crown and Gossip Girl and the movie and book Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan, then I would assume you would enjoy this story as well because it is all about wealth, drama, and status.

What I Loved:The idea of America’s history going slightly different and a royal family of Washington’s emerging was so interesting to read about. I loved the small changes to history that are mentioned throughout the book that swing America from a democratic nation to a monarchy.How I Felt:American Royals is a romance story featuring the American Monarchs. That’s right, in this story, America won its independence and created a monarchy of its own! Princess Beatrice is the heir to the American throne and has been training her whole life to follow in her father’s footsteps. Her younger twin siblings, Samantha and Jefferson, have always lived a bit in her shadow. While Jefferson embraced this position, Samantha has found herself resentful, always feeling like an outsider.I liked that this wasn’t a single-romance story, but one exploring the relationships of all three royal siblings. Beatrice has been told it’s time to find a husband, but her relationship must be carefully thought out and structured. A somewhat planned marriage begins to be arranged. Jefferson breaks off a relationship with a long-time girlfriend to chase after the love that feels right for him. And Samantha falls for someone she can’t have.The characters were easy to like and I enjoyed reading about each of their stories. I find sometimes that I connect with some, but not all characters, so I don’t really want to switch to the new perspective, but that wasn’t the case with this book. I liked the development of each character’s relationship and wanted to know where it would lead.The writing was well-done. The story flowed well, and I was able to just drop into the book and stay there, enjoying everything. I liked the imaginative aspects that Katharine McGee added to the story to make the royalty of America seem real, while the rest of the story felt just like our world today.Overall, this was a wonderful story that was light and easy to read. I enjoyed the romance development of each character and the overarching storyline. I am so excited for book 2!To Read or Not To Read:I would recommend American Royals to readers that enjoy a light, easy romance. This book was a definite YA read, so if you enjoy stories with teen/early adult characters, you’ll enjoy this one!

Libro relajado, fácil de leer. Para una lectura de vacaciones.

Als ich mir das Buch bestellte, war ich skeptisch. Ich habe bereits früher andere Werke der Autorin gelesen, die mir gefallen haben, aber Bücher über eine amerikanische Krone? Die ersten Seiten habe ich wirklich mit mir hadern müssen, da dieses Konstrukt zu diesem Land, in unserer Zeit, zumindest etwas seltsam erscheint. Doch ich muss sagen, dass mich die Autorin schnell von den Zweifeln befreit und wundervolle Liebesgeschichten, natürlich alle etwas tricky und kompliziert, auf Lager hat.Das Buch habe ich verschlungen. Ich lese gerne auf Englisch und kann dieses Buch jedem nur im Original empfehlen. Die Sätze sind nicht superlang, das Vokabular ist das gängige mit wenig untypischen Begriffen. Der Stil der Autorin gefällt mir wirklich gut.Für jeden, der Liebesgeschichten in einer etwas seltsamen Umgebung sucht, wird dieses Buch mögen!

Ce n'est pas de la grande littérature mais j'ai adoré l'histoire. J'ai commandé la suite !

Adoro este livro é está edição de capa dura não desilude

Ho comprato questo libro un po’ per caso e devo dire che sono soddisfatta. La trama è intrigante e come lettura svago va più che bene. Aspetto di leggere il seguito asap!