I 100% take the blame on my low rating of this one for the sole reason I went in blind and did not read what it was about. For some reason I didn’t realize this was contemporary and not historical fiction. Going to this with a historical fiction lens it was quite jarring and I think really affected my enjoyment level. I do not feel fair really giving this any star rating, as I believe if I would have gone in having read the synopsis I would not have been as disappointed. Overall this was not a bad book by any means and I would love to give it a reread once I get some distance from it. It definitely falls right in the middle for me right now. Thank you so much to the author and publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book. It is one I am looking forward to revisiting sometimes in the future when I am over my contemporary romance slump. ,

Dani, aka Duchess, is a strong, independent woman. She’s a famous rapper as well as a business owner, but she longs to have full control over her life and her business. When she’s invited to perform at a benefit concert for English royalty, she takes it as a chance to get away from a crazy musician who is trying to bring her down in the press. This concert will also allow her to have a ton of good press. What she doesn’t expect is Prince Jameson, a super attractive member of the royal family, who wants nothing to do with the concert and nothing to do with her, at least at first! The two struggle with balancing their personal and professional lives while keeping their families happy.

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This was an absolutely adorable romance. I LOVED Dani! She’s such a strong, kick ass female and I’d love to be her friend. Jameson was also such a fun character, even though I really didn’t like him at first. I loved the start of each chapter, since it started with song lyrics from Duchess’ songs or a famous quote. I also loved watching Dani and Jameson’s relationship grow. I’d love a sequel of this book!
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Thank you to @netgalley and @avonbooks for my eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!
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Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tracey Livesay is so good at writing women who are put in very thorny situations, often related to the way Black women are stereotyped and exploited, that create a lot of tension! I absolutely loved Dani--she's so self-assured and unapologetic-- and it was so fun to see her paired with a sexy royal professor. Even though it dealt with some heavy stuff, it still felt breezy and fun. Definitely my favorite Livesay book I've read to date!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc. Staci McIntyre wrote this review for her blog/podcast Lit Shit Podcast.

American royalty is a dual POV with our rapper and business woman Duchess (Dani) and Prince Jameson. Duchess is chosen to perform at a concert series celebrating his grandfather. As they spend time together their attraction is undeniable but what about the royal rules.

This book started out sooo strong! Love Dani, love her being a rapper, a strong female and created and sells her own skin care line specially made for black women. It all worked until she went to London and then it’s almost enemies to insta love which doesn’t work. But I like them separately as individual characters. Very well developed and so was the royal family. Did I eventually see the romance yes but it took a bit. Also unrealistic how they just go oh we didn’t think how we’d be together after this. The author did a good job I think portraying royals in this book.

However, plot lines weren’t tied up and a couple seem completely forgotten by the end of the book. Also the epilogue was a total disappointment. Not even about the main couple!

What brought me to this book in the first place was the cover. It's gorgeous. Secondly, the description intrigued me because we've never had a rapper and a royal falling for each other type of story before. Third, the story and writing enthralled me to the point I couldn't stop reading. I was literally thinking about what was going to happen next when I wasn't reading it. And the story gave me Harry and Meghan vibes at times.


I loved Dani and Jameson. It was easy rooting for them especially when they were authentically themselves and hella relatable. Though they were from different worlds they were great together. Dani was genuine, self assured, considerate, and empathetic. Jameson was caring, thoughtful, compassionate, and owned when he was wrong and took the steps to remedy it.


This book is a emotional ride. I found myself laughing, smiling, swooning, and getting teary eyed. It featured steamy parts of all levels.



Thanks to NetGalley and HarpersCollins Publishers for providing a copy.

If you're as obsessed with the British Royal family as I am, you MUST ( I repeat, MUST) read AMERICAN ROYALTY. This gives major Harry x Meghan vibes, which am I all here for. It was fun, sexy, and overall such an enjoyable read.

This one had me hooked from the beginning! I don’t often read a book this length in one day but I did with American Royalty.

AHH! American Royalty is a fresh take on the royal romance. Duchess, a successful American rapper, agrees to perform at a royal concert, honoring the late royal consort. She meets Prince Jameson, the Duke of Wessex, and despite their initial mutual dislike, they quickly warm up to each other and embark on a romantic fling, which neither of them expects to turn into something serious. Spoiler alert: they both catch major feelings.

This royally hot story is a perfect book for the steamy days of summer. It's escapism at its most regal--and I love that Duchess is such an unapologetic boss. She is strong, she is focused, she knows what she wants, and she makes things happen. But she also has a soft underbelly that Jameson uncovers and cherishes.

Their illicit romance has some significant ramifications for both the royal family and Duchess's reputation once their connection comes to light. The question then becomes is their love worth fighting for?

This book was so much fun. I absolutely loved it.

Thank you Avon and Netgalley for my advance review copy.

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked up American Royalty but a steamy romance between a Black female rapper and a prince was a decent surprise. I think I liked where the story was trying to go, but a lot of ideas that were being brought up didn't feel fully fleshed out or explored enough. Even their steamy moments and romance felt a bit out of nowhere. The Epilogue, although detached to me from the rest of the story, was an interesting point of view that I feel is the type of ending you'd only see at the end of a movie. If you're one who can suspend a lot of belief when it comes to romance, I think you'll enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really wanted to like this book, but it simply did not work for me. The idea and cover alone immediately drew me in and I absolutely loved the tropes of forced proximity and forbidden love. At times, there were really cute scenes that I enjoyed, but out of nowhere things would turn smutty and the shift felt a bit jarring to read. I had a hard time believing Dani and Jameson’s feelings for one another were more than just lust and I unfortunately was not totally routing for them to be together. Despite my experience, I can see why readers would love this book (especially if anyone is in the market for some spicy scenes), but it unfortunately was not for me.

Another one that is just not for me. The description caught my eye and I thought it might be a fun read. Didn't get very far with it before I put it on my Did not Finish pile. Thank you for the advanced look.

American Royalty is a steamy contemporary romance loosely inspired by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, if we switched out Meghan Markle with Megan Thee Stallion.

Prince Jameson has enjoyed his life staying out of the spotlight of the royal family, he would much rather spend his time teaching philosophy to university students. When the Queen puts Jameson in charge of hosting a concert to fundraise for charities in his deceased grandfather's honour, Jameson can't say no and is thrust into the spotlight. Not knowing any popular music, Jameson asks a student for suggestions and goes with the first choice, how could he go wrong with a singer named Duchess. Dani is an ambitious and hard working business women, while most people know her by her stage name Duchess when she's rapping on stage, she also has released a skin care line that focuses on people of colour. When an up and coming artist latches onto Dani's publicity and brings her image down, Dani will stop at nothing to bring her image back up and get the deal for her skin line.

I fell immediately in love with this book right at the beginning. The main characters really did have some strong chemistry and I loved reading about them getting to know one another. I definitely enjoyed the main characters on their own, and loved reading about the start of their relationship. I also must add that the spicy scenes were top notch!

This book had a very strong start, but weak finish. The ending felt a bit rushed and with little thought into how these characters would actually work together in the real world. While this book did an amazing job at the romance part, I would have like this book to a be a bit more realistic/believable.

Also, I could not tell if the epilogue was a set up for another book/spin-off or if it was just a "you get what you deserve moment" but it felt a bit unnecessary, and has me questioning if this is the last time we will see Dani and Jameson.

Overall, if this book had a stronger ending it would have definitely been a 5 star read because I was obsessed with Dani and Jameson right from the beginning. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves reading about the royals or for fans of Meghan and Harry.

Meet Dani, a.k.a. Duchess, a well-known black rapper who is looking to expand her empire and create a skincare line centered around black women. Meet recluse philosophy professor Jameson, a.k.a. Prince Jameson. When Dani is caught up in a celebrity scandal, that can take away her dream. She finds out that she has been invited to rap in a tribute concert for the former King of England. There she meets Jameson, who has been dragged from his quiet life and thrust into the spotlight by his grandmother, the queen, after one too many embarrassing coverages of her children.

In the first chapter, where the prince was introduced, please tell me why the narration in my head was Lady Whistledown. The prince definitely surprised me, and I loved every minute of it. I loved that he wanted to just be normal and live outside of the spotlight and didn’t use his position to get what he wanted. Dani was well-rounded and an amazing representation of how you don't have to be one thing or the other. You can be both. I loved the enemies-to-lovers sparky banter between Dani and Jameson, and I absolutely loved how the author established the nuances and diction of speech without it being overly in-your-face and overdone.

I need part 2. Like, not a spin-off with another character, but a part 2. We saw them fall in love in this book, and I need to see them manage and combine their two worlds.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a slight enemies-to-lovers twist and snarky characters with a little jealousy thrown in.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an ARC for my honest opinion.

Sidenote: If this is what the monarchy is like, I don't want to be a long-lost princess smh

I really enjoyed this book which is kind of a Prince Harry and Meghan Markle retelling about a rapper who is in a risk of her reputation and a prince who wants to be out of the spotlight hires her for the concert only there is an attraction between them. I love stories like this with royalty and steamy romance so I knew I had to read this book. Livesay did an amazing job with this book from being bits and pieces of Harry and Meghan’s story and creating their own in this book. The writing style was well done as I was hooked from the first pace but the pacing I have to say was a bit fast especially when it came to the romance. Usually I hate politics but I loved how balanced out it was with the other part of the story like family and love. This book is also written in both characters POV which readers will love.

The main characters in this book are Dani and Jameson. Dani is a confident, badass rapper with her reputation going downhill and Jameson is a price but also a professor who wants to live a life spotlight free. I enjoyed both characters a lot as they were so well written. Even though we might not be royalty or famous, I felt connected and attached to these characters. They developed a lot in this story and let’s say that I enjoyed their bickering a lot. There were also many side characters in this book who were very involved with the story. Then comes the romance which is forced proximity and enemies to lovers. My two fav tropes but not handled so well. It was way too fast and you couldn’t feel the slow burn and romance development as much. It was still great but could have been better though all the steamy scenes made up for it.

The ending was well done with an amazing epilogue. This was such a cute read with royalty! The only problem I had was just the romance but other then that this book was great. I totally see why this book is at airports but I don’t know how people can read the steamy scenes next to someone lol. I totally recommend this book because who doesn’t want to read a book similar to Harry and Meghan’s story that is steamy and fun. This book is perfect for The Hating Game and Tessa Bailey.

This was royal fan fiction with an American female rapper meeting and falling in love with a British prince. I wanted to root for their romance more, but their feelings for each other “developed” quickly and not convincingly. So it was hard for me to be invested in their story, when their entanglement seemingly came out of nowhere. The book was fun and a decent read, but it wasn’t one that really satisfied my romance book thirst. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy for review.

3.5 stars. American Royalty is a story about a prince and a rapper who meet and fall in love. It felt very strongly based on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship at the beginning, and I enjoyed the book significantly more after the allusions to the real life romance waned and it became its own story.

Duchess is a rapper who wants to control her own life. She wanted to become rich and famous when she was a child shunted from relative to relative, so that she had full autonomy. Unfortunately, in the music industry, she had to tamp down her artistic visions in favor of any of the other people involved in the production. Her other venture, a skin care line for black women, is on the verge of being purchased by a major beauty brand, but negative publicity spurred by a jealous wannabe is ruining the acquisition. Feeling a lack of control over all aspects of her life, Duchess receives and accepts the invitation to perform at a tribute concert on behalf of the royal family and spends a month with Prince Jameson. Sparks fly and romance ensues.

Prince Jameson is a very reluctant royal. An academic, he was coerced into being the face of the royal tribute concert by his grandmother, despite his lack of desire to be a working royal. The dynamic between him and his family is tense and Jameson is perfectly happy to live his life away from the demands and spotlight. Duchess arrives at his house and her realness breaks through his shell. Sparks fly and romance ensues.

And why do female artists need to wear skimpy dresses or leotards, be fully glammed up, wear sky high heels, and have to dance and do acrobatics while wearing that? Men can wear ratty jeans and t-shirts and it’s their look. They play the guitar and sway on stage. I appreciated the author’s descriptions of the costumes and wardrobe because I think she might agree with my opinions on this topic.

American rapper Danielle (aka Duchess) is on the verge of signing a deal for her skincare line that will give her the control over her life that she claims. But when an incident with a pop star goes viral, she needs to reboot her image or lose the deal.

Prince Jameson prefers being a professor then a prince and rarely participates in royal life. But with relatives so prone to scandal, the Queen needs him to take charge of ensuring the royal image remains pristine. Even if it means he has to be in charge of a charity concert honoring his late grandfather.

Jameson spitefully picks an American rapper only to end up falling for her.

Unfortunately, this story just wasn't a winner for me. It was good, especially at the start with a lot of promise. I liked Dani and Jameson separately, but I just didn't get the connection between them. They had a lot of sexual tension and chemistry. However, I didn't see much beyond it and the jump to a full-blown relationship rather than friends with benefits felt more like insta-love to me. Especially because the L word got dropped so suddenly

Part of this for me was because they don't even meet until about a quarter of the way through the book. And they didn't even like each other initially. Then the ending felt incredibly rushed so there just wasn't enough of a relationship for me to root for them at the end.

It was still entertaining and I liked the characters even though it just wasn't it for me.

3 Stars

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Have you ever wanted to look into the multiverse for a time when Prince Harry met Meg Thee Stallion, and it was lust at first sight? Then this book is for you.

It was spicy, funny, and has some really cute moments.

American Royalty is about Duchess who is an American female rapper who gets asked to perform at a concert for the Queen of England's late husband. Duchess or Dani which is her real name decides to go to England early for bit a respite because she has been working non stop. Dani is housed at Prince Jameson's country home and the two immediately hit it off and the spicy scenes come quickly! I thought this one was just ok, I never really felt the chemistry between Dani and Jameson. I did enjoy the baking and references to The Great British Bake Off in this one. If you love books with royalty then this one might be worth picking up, Im not a huge fan of that trope but I love Tracey's writing so wanted to pick this one up. Thank you Avon for my #gifted copy for review!

For the most part, I really enjoyed this royal romance. Knowing that the is Megan and Harry fanfic essentially, it is difficult to read this and not automatically think of their actual relationship versus this one where it’s clearly embellished.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Dani/Duchess and Jamison. The back and for banter was well done.

My only two gripes for this book were:

1) I didn’t like when the audiobook narrators were in their own POV and then tried to talk as if it was the other person especially because of the different accents. It just didn’t work.

2) I’m all for talking dirty during the steamy scenes but the things coming out of their months were just cringe worthy.