American Royals by Katharine McGee
Genre: New Adult Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
What if America had a royal family?
When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne.
As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America's first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling.
Nobody cares about the spare except when she's breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn't care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her.
And then there's Samantha's twin, Prince Jefferson. If he'd been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart.
MY OPINION: ****
I started out this book not expecting to love it. I was a huge fan of Casey McQuiston's
Red, White, and Royal Blue and this book was recommended after reading it.
I liked it well enough but it had its faults that made it not reach the high expectations Red, White, and Royal Blue set for me. I was wavering between rating it three- or four-stars but the ending solidified the 3.5-star rating in the end for me.
The second book isn't coming out until September so I'm going to try to make this a more detailed review so that I remember what happens when I start the second book. It ended with a cliffhanger that makes me very interested in reading more if only to get the satisfying conclusion this book was missing.
SETTING/PLOT:
The book is set in an alternate universe of what America would be like if the government system was a monarchy. This was an interesting idea and there were many quips about the failures of a republic that I found myself laughing at and highlighting in my ebook. The book centers around the queen-in-training Beatrice and the many romantic escapades of her and her sister and brother.
CHARACTERS:
Beatrice. She's set to be the first Queen of America, as in the past, the law stated that it could only be men. She has a lot on her shoulders and has a lot of expectations. Her parents are trying to force her to choose a husband before it's her time to be queen. They set a list of potential men and she meets one, the charming Theodore (aka Teddy) that seems perfect for the crown. However, Beatrice has fallen in love with her Royal Revere Guard, Connor (who I adored), who is a commoner. This is a fairly obvious trope, I would think, with the royal falling for a commoner, and I can't wait to see how that plays out in the next book.
Samantha. Sam is Beatrice's younger sister who is known for her madcap, wild escapades that are not at all princess-perfect like Beatrice. At a royal party, she meets Teddy (yes, the same one as Beatrice's fiancé) and they have a random make-out session in a coatroom before Teddy ever meets Beatrice. Samantha and Beatrice start out with a tense-filled relationship that is only worsened by Samantha's feeling of betrayal when she finds out that her sister is going to marry the man she loves.
Nina. Nina is Samantha's best friend and Samantha's twin brother Jefferson's girlfriend. Nina is also a commoner, and only knows the royal family because her mother works for them. Nina is hesitant to step into a relationship with the Royal Prince, especially as he's the golden boy and has had a pretty serious picture-perfect relationship with princess-in-training Daphne. When Nina's and Jefferson's secret relationship is exposed to the world, Nina is bombarded with hate-filled sentiments from all of America, most especially from Daphne. I felt bad for her throughout the whole novel and I'm still rooting for her and Jeff in the next book.
Daphne. She was definitely one of my least-favorite characters of the novel in the beginning mainly because of her personality. However, by the end, I had started to understand her a bit better, especially when you realize that it's her parents who are forcing her to do whatever she can to get Jefferson back and become the princess she has always been training to be. However, I found Daphne shallow and annoying, especially when you find out the truth behind her ex-best-friend Himari who is currently in an eighth-month-coma that is Daphne's doing.
Connor. Connor was definitely my favorite male love interest of the novel because I really felt how genuine his feelings for Beatrice were. I loved his loyalty and his fierce determination to protect the woman he loved, and I almost cried for him throughout the novel as I watched the pain he was forced to deal with.
Teddy. He wasn't my favorite character. I felt like he was fake and I didn't see the appeal of him at all. I do like how he stood by Beatrice but he was also just kind of... there.
Jefferson. I did love his character but I wish we could have seen more of him and not through one of the girls who are in love/infatuated with either him or his power. I would have enjoyed seeing his perspective but alas.
CRITIQUES
My least favorite thing about the book was the relationships, which I am sad to say because that's usually my favorite part about books. They all felt FAKE. Every single one of them felt fake and flimsy and cheap.
Beatrice and Connor were getting there but I felt like they started really fast, despite the mention of them having a history of friendship. I would have liked to see more of that friendship before jumping straight into a passionate romance. I did the thing out of all of them, they felt the most authentic in their feelings for each other but of course, they are also the most doomed.
Teddy and Samantha were my least favorite couple. They met once, kissed a bit, and suddenly they're in love?? What?? As mentioned throughout the novel, Samantha has the tendency to think she's caught feelings and then moving on and I felt like Teddy was one of those situations in that she wasn't as in love as she says she was. I just didn't like their relationship because of how rushed and fake it all felt. Maybe if we had Teddy's perspective.. but I don't know if I could read through it because of how bland and basic his personality was..
Nina and Jefferson were cute. They obviously had a history in the past that they finally built up into a full-blown romance. However, I didn't like how they both didn't stand by each other when things got hard, especially Jefferson. I felt like they were more of a fling than anything and I hope that in the second book, I start to feel more of a relationship between them.
Daphne and Ethan were okay but I felt like they were more of a lust-filled relationship than anything. I barely saw any genuine conversations between them and if they were in contact with each other, it was Daphne pushing Ethan away, Ethan warning Daphne about Jefferson, or them dancing and doing.. other stuff. I also hope that this relationship is more developed in the second book because I am 99.99% sure that Daphne and Jefferson are not going to be a thing.
The last thing I would like to say is that I didn't like the choice of character's perspectives to tell the story from. Beatrice made sense, Samantha made sense, but I did not like reading from Nina's or Daphne's point of view. Daphne's did help elaborate on a side relationship but again, it felt inconsequential and didn't need to truly be in there. I would have preferred seeing Jefferson or Teddy's perspective or even just the sisters. However, that is just my opinion so I might have been the only person who felt like that.
I ended up loving the book as a whole. It was very drama-filled and focused highly on relationships more than plot. However, it was fun and quick to read and the book itself was organized and well-written overall. I would recommend this book to readers looking for a romantic, dramatic, contemporary novel about princesses and their fates.
Main Character: Beatrice, Samantha, Daphne, Nina
Sidekick(s): Jefferson, Teddy, Ethan, etc
Villain(s): Daphne, manipulation, death, love, class differences, etc
Contemporary Elements: This book was set in an alternate universe but was real to life.
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