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!