American Royals

AMERICAN ROYALS is an utterly delightful look into the royal family that never was. McGee gifts her readers with a great cast of characters you will love and love to hate. It has been a while since I have sat down with a non-mystery book so entertaining, uniquely refreshing, and downright binge-able.If you are like me, then you love stories that at their core are about the characters and their development. Within the pages of this book, you will get this and more. By the author writing multiple perspectives, the reader gets to see the whole picture. It never once becomes too much or confusing. Everything blends seamlessly into a vignette of what it is like to be American royalty.The only negative about this book was that I was expecting the story to wrap up when I finished it. At the time when I read it, I didn’t know it was going to be a series. Now that I do, I am excited to see the direction all the characters can go in.Now, I usually don’t recommend teen/young adult books to everyone, but AMERICAN ROYALS stands its ground as a positively charming read for all ages. It has it all. It has secret love affairs and scheming exes. It has the struggles to be whom everyone expects you to be, and the burdens placed on those in power. It has jealousy over the crown and over what is perceived to be had. It has true love, loss, and some cheekiness is thrown in there for fun.I cannot wait to see what the royal family is going to do now!

Maybe I have read too many other alternative universe stories about royalty, but I found it difficult to follow the extremely predictable plotline of this book and the cliched writing. I am sure that I have read certain passages before. For me, the extremely interesting premise could not overcome these flaws.

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.

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!

As a fan of Katharine McGee’s The Thousandth Floor series, I was eager to read American Royals and see whether it would be as glitzy and as treacherous as her previous books, and it didn’t disappoint.Written in McGee’s typical style, the story is told from four different points of view which gives us an insight into the plans and motivation of all four girls.We have Beatrice, heir to the American throne and the girl who will become the first ever Queen of America. Her sister Samantha, the wild child “spare” who doesn’t seem to play by the royal rules. Nina, Samantha’s ’commoner’ best friend and Daphne the ex-girlfriend of Samantha’s twin brother, Prince Jefferson.All four girls find themselves in the spotlight for different reasons and none of them truly feels in control of their own lives but in the glamorous world of the American royal family, all of them know that the Crown comes first.Now this book is not going to be for everyone and will never be considered a classic work of literature however if you are looking for some fictional escapism and good old fashioned back stabbing fun, then look no further. The story is full of cliches and doesn’t break any new ground as far as this genre is concerned, but what McGee does is bring these cliches to life and execute them brilliantly!The characters are multifaceted and flawed in their own ways and even Daphne (who is a piece of work btw) has her moment of clarity.I did see glimpses of The Thousandth Floor characters in these girls: Beatrice is reminiscent of Avery, Samantha reminded me of Eris and Daphne definitely brought to mind Lida! For me that wasn’t a bad thing as I really enjoyed those characters however I know that might put some people off.Overall I loved this unique idea of changing American history and switching from a President and First Family to a King and Royal family. I loved that so much of the royal traditions we’re taking from our own British monarchy and adapted to suit the American culture.The ending of the book left me wanting more which I always think is testament to a great read - 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (rounded up to 5)Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Penguin Random House UK Children’s) for providing a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

This book is not the kind of book I usually go for but hey it was free so I thought it would pass the time! And I really enjoyed it! If you can get over the fact that in this world America is a monarchist state and does NOT appear to be a constitutional monarchy like the UK then the grafting of the modern day on to a traditional monarchy isn’t too difficult to believe for a while! Some things grated. The author didn’t always appear to know much about royal protocols ,or perhaps to me as a Brit who has always had a monarchy, they were simply too different and appear rather gauche. Other things too. For example, a point was made about the king having crowned himself( unlike the UK where the Archbishop of Canterbury crowns the monarch). The Russian Tsars always did this so nothing remarkable there unless to emphasise that in THIS society (unlike Imperial Russia) an official, state sponsored Church/religion plays no part. Rarely if ever the case in reality! But all that aside, it was a great escapist and quite romantic read! And, yes, I’ll read the next one!

I really liked the idea of this book: how would the United States look like, if they had a monarchy instead of a democracy. Unfortunately, this is only a weak backdrop to a really kitsch teenage love story. The writing is good and it's a quick read, but didn't give me much and seems quite immature.The story is about the three kids of the royal family and their aspirations and their love live. Beatrice as the first born child will inherit the crown as the first ever queen. So she has been trained all her life and is a well-behaved princess. Her two siblings - twins - are not bound to the same level of scrutiny, so they life an easier life, going on trips around the world for leisure and such.Beatrice is supposed to pick a future husband from a bunch of esteemed bachelors, but she's secretly in love with someone else, her sister is having a fling with the guy she's supposed to be married to and her brother is torn between an old flame and a new girl. All of them are always head over heels in love, dying without the other, every touch tingling and every kiss the best in the world. This for me is just a bit too kitsch and makes it sound like a teenage love story and nothing more.Another annoying aspect is that none of the story lines are resolved at the end of the book and you're basically forced to read the second book in the series as well to get any kind of closure (and who knows, there might be a third).I don't think I'll read the second instalment, I feel I can already guess what might happen and not sure I'm interested in those soap opera teenage kitsch story lines.

Upon starting the book I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it and wondered if it would be a predictable chick lit. However there were many twists and turns and I found myself engrossed in the story. When I got to the end and found myself left with a Cliffhanger ending I was gutted to realise I have to wait until the sequel is released next year. This is one of the books I'm most looking forward to reading when it comes out!Fans of the the Asian series Crazy Rich Girlfriend will really enjoy this take on an American royal family

Note: received a review copy from the publishers on NetgalleyFirst things first, I’m very happy there’s another book after this one!The book is told entirely from the perspective of four female characters; Beatrice (Heir to the throne), Samantha-Sam (the spare), Nina (Sam’s friend, and also happens to be in love with Jefferson, Sam’s twin brother), and Daphne (ex girlfriend of the prince will do whatever it takes to get him back). They drive the story with their ambitions, loves, secrets, and how they all intertwine. There are many secrets yet to be revealed and I can’t wait for the next book