LOVED American Royals. I was intrigued by the alternate history angle, but kept reading for the well-developed characters. Each character has a distinct voice and I found myself rooting for each of them as the story unfolded. The setting was well imagined but did not overshadow the plot. I will certainly be purchasing this for my library and I hope to see a sequel!

The concept of an American Royal Family is what really piqued my interest in this book. Although I'm not a fan of books that take place in a political setting, this book didn't really focus much on it other than the simple notion of Beatrice being the first woman to rule over America. It doesn't get deep into politics which is probably why I was able to enjoy it so much because too much can make me bored with the story. 

I'm not sure why, but the summary of this book was awfully confusing to me, but to simplify the characters, there are a total of four perspectives: Beatrice (the eldest child and first in line for the throne), Samantha (second daughter and the older twin to Prince Jefferson), Nina (Samantha's best friend who is a commoner), and Daphne (Prince Jefferson's ex-girlfriend). Out of all of these characters, Beatrice by far was my favorite, while Samantha and Daphne were my least favorite. Beatrice is painted to the public and to her family as a strong, smart, and elegant young woman who seemingly has it all. She is loved by almost everyone, but what makes her such a great character is that she tries her best to put her country first rather than herself. She makes so many self-sacrifices to stay in line with her role that no one notices how much she is suffering. In contrast, Samantha, on the other hand, is the spare to the throne, so she lives her life with more liberties than Beatrice ever had. Unfortunately, she isn't that pleasant of a character because she is basically a rebellious, self-centered, spoiled brat. She does redeem herself later on in the book, but still, the number of chapters that I had to read to get to that point was annoying. I'm a bit neutral about Nina because she is the most "normal" out of the girls because she's a commoner, but that was it. Her perspective just seemed normal, average even. I wasn't as excited as when a Beatrice chapter came up but was more grateful when a Samantha/Daphne didn't. Speaking of Daphne, she is simply defined as a gold-digger...or title-digger? Basically, all she cares is for a royal title and since she can only get one through Prince Jefferson, you can only imagine what her goals are.

The general tone of the story is very "Gossip Girl"-ly as there is drama between almost every character and of course there's the romance that just complicates things. Some romances I liked, others not so much or I just didn't really care for. I didn't know that this book was part of a duology, and since this ended on such a cliffhanger, I'm definitely going to be reading the sequel because I NEED A RESOLUTION! Overall, this was a fun, easy, quick read.

I love a good royal read and this story did not disappoint. It had all the elements of a perfect beach read: the perfect big sister with a secret, the wild child, the jealous ex-girlfriend... I look forward to book #2.

American Royals is a what if story: what if the United States was a monarchy and what if the heir to the throne was a young woman who would be the first woman to reign. And what if she was struggling with the conflict of doing right by her country or pleasing her heart. Add younger siblings and a cast of friends and romantic interests intertwined and you have a a frothy novel just right for weekend reading. It’s a tad predictable but I’ll still read the next book in the series when it’s available.

Enjoyed that the book was written from multiple character perspectives. I feel like the characters are very real and believable. I’m guessing there will be another in the series?

Did I travel back to early 2000′s YA and read a book? Because I feel like I did. American Royals is definitely a fish out of water book that does not read like a book from 2019 wherein the YA community is awash in diversity, multi-faceted characters, and stellar writing. It’s similar enough to Red, White, and Royal Blue in that it follows the life of teenage/young 20′s royals in modern times but the similarities end there and woobuddy, do the vast differences spring to life.

There are four POV’s in this book: Beatrice, princess and soon to be first queen of America who’s not happy about it; Samantha, princess and Beatrice’s little sister who is jealous and bitter; Nina, token POC and Samantha’s BFF who’s secretly in love with Samantha’s twin brother Jefferson; and then there’s Daphne, token bitch who wants to be a princess, Jefferson’s ex, and will do anything to change that.  Those all seem like generic one liner ways to describe these characters but honestly, that’s pretty much it. They are all supremely one dimensional with barely any growth throughout the book. 

Nina is described as Hispanic in the book but there’s not a differentiation of how she’s Hispanic. Is she Cuban? Peuto Rican? What? There is literally nothing about her culture in this book. She doesn’t talk about how she was raised, apart from having lesbian moms, and there is no mention of her cultural background until it’s used against her. Strip the Hispanic descriptor from her and she’s another white character. It’s like someone told the author her story was too white so she threw the word ‘Hispanic’ in there to make it more diverse. The only other POC character is a Japanese girl named Himari who’s in a freaking coma!

Samantha reads like the whiny little sister who’s jealous that the older sibling gets all the attention. She’s the quintessential middle child. At first you think that’s all there’s going to be about her but as the book goes on you see more and more of her personality. She has distinct likes/hobbies: history, fashion, skiing, and traveling. She actually matures, grows up, and learns how she not only wants to contribute to the world but who she wants to be as a person.In comparison to the other characters, she’s the most fleshed out well rounded character in this book. I’d have rather read a whole book from her POV.

Speaking of history, you would think that a book that’s basically an alternate universe America would have a thriving history rife with interesting factoids that would suck you in. I should have known better than to expect that from a YA contemporary novel but I was highly disappointed that we didn’t get more history of this book’s America. The biggest thing that made me the most irate is there’s no mention of African American’s or Native American’s. Um...how? This country is built upon the degradation and slaughter of those peoples, how do you leave them out of your AU America? You could have totally flipped the script and given them a super prosperous history and story. I know it’s not important to the actual plot of the book but, damn. I would have really liked to have seen that.

Not only that but the book is super sexist as well. America doesn’t get her first queen until now, what I would assume is 2019 in the book, there’s no mention of any high level females who have any power whatsoever, Beatrice’s mother the queen is talked about as if she’s the essential right hand to the king but there’s no specific mention of how, AND at one point a man who’s the crown’s representative makes this comment:  “The crown can’t condone premarital relations.” Um, excuse me, what? There’s also snide remarks made here and there about hemlines, clothing choices, and girls being sexually promiscuous, but never any mention of that to the guys. It was very off putting and annoying. Again, it was a missed opportunity with the author where she could have totally flipped the script.

Plot wise this book read like a season of Gossip Girl. There’s a big bad secret about the only other POC character who’s in a coma. What happened to her? Did someone try to kill her? Who did? Why? It’s barely mentioned among the whining and raging hormones, but it’s there. You eventually find out why she’s in a coma by the end of the book and it sort of leaves it as a cliffhanger, too. As the first book in a series, this book really does a lot of built up to what I think will be the overall story arc to the series.

All in all, this book is a total miss for me. It didn’t scratch any of the itches that the description mentioned, none of the characters are interesting enough to make me pick up the sequel, the writing is average and there’s nothing in the plot line that I couldn’t already guess.

I went in expecting this to be a breezy read and, spoiler, it wasn’t! This is definitely a soap opera in book form; it even leaves you with an ambiguous ending, so you’ll need to wait for book 2 to see how it all shakes out. 

Basically, this wasn’t terrible, but certainly wasn’t what I was expecting!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for this E-arc!

American Royals is a United States in which George Washington did not become the first president, but instead the first king of America. It follows the modern day children of the king and the people most important to them. With Beatrice set to be the first Queen of America she has many unique challenges to face including the fact that she can not follow her own heart or truly make her own decisions. Her twin siblings, Samantha and Jefferson, face their own struggles when it comes to their heart and facing who they are.

I enjoyed the way the book switched perspectives so you could see each characters individual struggles , and how they eventually came together to support one another. I thought the world in which the US had a monarchy was intriguing to read and think about. However, the conflict caused by the idea of marrying a commoner with the recent marriage of Harry and Meghan seems a bit out of place now. I do understand the struggles with adjusting to a life you did not choose in the public eye. I wish there was one romance that was explored that didn't feel like a forbidden love, and am hoping that the future books give that to me in spades with happy characters. Overall, I liked the east flow of the writing style and that I was able to capture each character's personality based on how Katharine wrote their chapters. I would have loved a Connor POV chapters so we could know if he knew what his love would truly mean for his future. I also felt that their romance was the most developed since we were able to see flashbacks that established them as friends first. I wish we got to hear more about the twins and Nina when they were younger instead of just Nina not being in love with Jeff and then waking up one day to realize she was. For a book focused a lot of romance the romance wasn't deeply explained in a way that made me feel investing which is why I am giving the book a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for GoodReads.

It's been a while since I've read a book that I literally couldn't put down because I HAD to know what happened next. And that ending! Uggghhhh! Ultimate frustration.

I NEED THE NEXT BOOK NOW, PLEASE.

I will say the 4 different POVs is a bit annoying, and there are times I want to strangle some of these characters, but overall, it was a compelling read that I'd recommend to anyone who likes royalty-based books.

Hello, I will be posting this review to my Instagram, Goodreads, and blog on August 28th, 2019. I will add the links when they are live. Thank you!

Title: American Royals
Author: Katherine McGee
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019
eARC provided by publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.



Synopsis: "What if America had a royal family? If you can't get enough of Harry and Meghan or Kate and William, meet American princesses Beatrice and Samantha.

Two princesses vying for the ultimate crown. 
Two girls vying for the prince's heart. 
This is the story of the American royals.

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. Like most royal families, the Washingtons have an heir and a spare. A future monarch and a backup battery. Each child knows exactly what is expected of them. But these aren't just any royals. They're American. And their country was born of rebellion.

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.

The duty. The intrigue. The Crown. New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee imagines an alternate version of the modern world, one where the glittering age of monarchies has not yet faded--and where love is still powerful enough to change the course of history." (Goodreads)



My Review:
My expectations for this book were a lot different than what I actually read. Unfortunately, it wasn't in a good way and I ended up not enjoying it as much as I thought I was going to.

The plot is quite unique and one that hasn't been done before, as far as I know. Its one reason why I was intrigued by it. The book was more plot driven in my opinion and the characters seemed to lack because of this. The plot twists were obvious and didn't make me feel anything for the characters that were involved. I thought that there would be some type of political talk or something of that matter but the plot is really all about the drama.

There are four point-of-views that this book follows: Beatrice, Samantha, Nina, and Daphne. There was nothing that really set them apart and I didn't find myself enjoying reading about them. There wasn't any character development and sometimes I can overlook this but since the plot didn't keep me interested it was just hard to get through it.

Overall, I liked the idea for this book and the creativity of it but to me it was just lacking in certain areas. I am sure that others will enjoy it more than me so definitely check it out if it piques your interest!

This was such an interesting concept (it reminded me a bit like the Royals series by Rachel Hawkins) but it was SUCH a fun read! I literally got accepted for an ARC yesterday evening and I already finished!

I loved this story so much! The alternating POVs (a Katharine McGee specialty) gave me so much from each character. The “what if America was a monarchy” angle was everything. Very Chasing Liberty-esque. I hope this becomes a full series and I cannot wait to see what is next from this phenomenal author!

An interesting take on what if American history unfolded differently. Slight romantic suspense, with each point of view change just making you want what's best for each character. I am interested to see what were to unfold in a sequel.

I tore through this book so quickly and just couldn't put it down -- I have so many incredible things to say about it, so be prepared for a really fangirly-type review! So without further ado, let's get into it:

As the summary explains, this story is set in a world where instead of being made president after the American Revolution, George Washington is made America's very first king. So the story is set in modern-day America, with Princess Beatrice getting ready to become America's first queen instead of Queen-consort, ever since a decree was passed that made the firstborn child the immediate heir, regardless of their sex. But Beatrice has more on her shoulders than she wants, suddenly finding herself overwhelmed with responsibilities. And her two younger siblings, twins Sam and Jeff, have a lot more going on in their personal lives than the media would find at the surface. So this story is dealing with each of their personal struggles, as well as the struggles of those who are closest (and also trying to be closest) to them, and what goes on behind the closed doors of the royal palace is more than anybody expected. 

You guys, I absolutely *adored* this book. As someone who is a huge fan of The Selection series and will fall head-over-heels for any type of royal drama story, i knew that this one was going to be great for me. However, I didn't expect to love it AS much as I did, to the point that I can't stop screaming about it, so that was a pleasant surprise! I tore through this book because it was so incredible and I just always wanted to know what was going to happen next. I also really liked the fact that the story was told from an array of different perspectives (such as Beatrice, Samantha, Daphne, Nina, etc.), because you really got to see how miscommunication played a role in the drama, and you also learn more about the characters than the surface-level descriptions you may have gotten if you never got a chance to get into their head. It definitely makes for a really fascinating reading experience, but it wasn't hard to follow along with at all!

Like I said, this book just gave me major Selection vibes in the best of ways. Especially when it comes down to Beatrice and having to take the next steps of her life putting her country in mind instead of her heart. And like I said, I'm a sucker for any type of royal story, so all of the glitz and glamour and beautiful ball gowns and royal events were like candy to me, I ate them up so fast. I've seriously been pitching this book to anyone who would listen to me, because I know so many of my friends that loved The Selection would absolutely love this one, too.

(MAJOR spoilers in this paragraph -- skip to the next one to avoid them!) 
Okay, so I normally refrain from discussing a book's ending in my review, but I really need to talk about this one for a second, because it gave me literal chills as I finished reading it. I was super sad when the king died because I can't even imagine the pain and anguish they all must be feeling, but that moment where everyone is bowing to Beatrice and the city is silent and she realizes that she's the new queen? I felt literal chills popping up on my arms because it was such an intense, incredible, beautifully written scene. I loved the way that it seemed to wrap up this first book nicely while still promising the continuation of the story in the next book. It wasn't an absolute nail-biting cliffhanger, it left it off on a point of curiosity and worry but also felt wrapped up, in a way? I don't know if I'm making sense, but I loved it all the same.

Overall, I absolutely adored AMERICAN ROYALS, and I can't speak highly enough about it. If you're a fan of The Selection series, then I'd definitely recommend picking this one up, because you get all of that royal drama and heartache and glamour, but in an even more modern setting, which adds to the allure of it. I tore through this book so quickly because I seriously couldn't put it down and I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. So yes, I'd absolutely, 100% recommend adding this book to your TBR *right now* (and the Goodreads button is right at the top of this review post, so you have no excuses!). This was such an incredible book and it left me with SUCH a book hangover -- I know I can't wait to get my hands on the next one, and I'll eagerly be awaiting its announcement!

I enjoyed seeing it as American royalty. Daphne was evil. Bee and Sam were sisters and both found love with commoners. Kept me reading to see what happens. I enjoyed the romances and seeing them all find love with different men. I enjoyed this twist on american royals.

At first, I thought that this would be a fun look at the "what if " America had a king.  The problem was not the book itself, but the ending.  NOTHING is resolved.  It is the same wishy-washy feelings that the characters had at the beginning... only now we have read and gotten to know them.  I'm sure it was a set up for a sequel or a series, but it annoyed me.  The only thing that did happen is that the dying king died.

do not recommend. I was hoping this would be better then the authors other works which I wasn’t a fan of but it sadly fell short.

Well, first of all, what a surprise. I mean, I thought it would just be all fluffy and romance and not too substantial. But, as it turns out, there were some interesting tidbits that made it a richer read than I anticipated. Between those bits and the premise of a monarchy straight outta the revolution, I’m hooked. I don’t know if it’s considered YA, but I think I’ll buy it for my library, as it’s full of teens being “royally” entertaining. 🤓💜📚

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.

Seriously, pre-order this book right now. I cannot get enough of it! Fingers crossed it’ll be an Owlcrate box because I’d love another royal-themed box!

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for an Arc of this fine book I was so excited that o recognize book as I have heard a lot about it! Let me start it by saying that I am so happy to find out this is a series, this book had all the drama I could want and I ate it up it was a quick read for me and I can’t wait to see how things are resolved in the sequel!