May is the kind of girl I would want to be friends with…and while she may have grown up with royalty, she has a solid head on her shoulders. As wedding season abounds, it’s a mad dash to marry a prince! This fun story dives deep into the royal world in a unique and enchanting manner that will draw readers in.

Katharine McGee, one of my favorite YA authors who knows how to write drama filled historical fiction, returns with A Queen's Game. McGee tells the tale of three princesses. First is Helene, the ousted princess of France who’s caught the eye of the future King of England. Then there's Alix: the stoic beauty and granddaughter of the queen, intended to marry the future king. And finally there's May: the poor granddaughter of the queen, who’s been treated as an outsider her whole life and is plotting to win over the future king. Nothing can go wrong with three strong willed women fighting to live their lives as they wish. Just add some illicit romances and blackmail! A Queen's Game is a solid 4 star read, and I look forward to seeing where McGee will take this in the future!

Three women in Victorian England are living in a man's world, where everything hinges on the quality of your marriage. This is a quick and easy historical fiction that was a joy to read - and I can't wait to see how the characters stories conclude.

Thank you to the publisher for sending a copy of the book to review

I enjoyed reading A Queen's Game by Katharine McGee. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

A Queen's Game by Katharine McGee was a delightful story! I adore the time period this was set in, and each of the 3 POV's were so unique and interesting, I couldn't put this book down. The ending had me frantically flipping for my story so I hope this will end up with a sequel....
Overall, this was my first Katharine McGee book and I am excited to read more from her! Thank you to Netgalley, Katharine McGee and Random House Children's for this ARC!

Thank you to Random House and Get Underlined for the free book.
This book was a fun look into 19th-century Europe. While these stories are fictionalized, the author’s note mentioned they are inspired by truth, and honestly who doesn’t love a royal love triangle? Here we see 3 of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters look for love and their place in the world. Of course, there is drama, there are secrets, and some wild family dynamics. This book was a lot of fun and with that ending, I am hoping it is a series.

Well, done! This is historical fiction with real people. They are all dead and you can easily google their stories. They aren't all happy endings either. In fact, they are quite sad. I essentially went into this book knowing the ending. Despite all that I was utterly addicted. I found myself engaged in the story and wishing for different choices from the characters. That's a real testament to McGee's writing. She makes you want to follow the story even if you know how it ends. I found myself thinking about it and googling different characters when I wasn't reading. Thank you for making history fun! I did have some pacing issues with it, but I anticipate those being improved in the next book. McGee had a lot of ground to cover to set us up for multiple romances in one novel while keeping to the historical timeline.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this eARC!

I'm not sure anyone is doing it like McGee. Her books are so compulsively readable and what she does here with actual HISTORY is sort of remarkable. I know exactly what happens and yet she still kept me on the edge of my seat and inexplicably left me with a cliffhanger? For actual history! It's very impressive. I think fans of American Royals will really love this book (start of a series). McGee manages to keep everything that was present in American Royals in this book which is essentially YA historical romance "retelling" of Victorian royal politics. The book follows three very real historical figures, Alix of Hesse, Helene d'Orleans and May of Teck. You may not think you know these names but if you've ever watched the animated Anastasia then you are more familiar than you think.

For the most I was able to shut off my "but actually" brain and enjoy this CW version of Victorian history. All the juicy romance and palace intrigue of American Royals is present here. All three women in this book fall into similar categories as American Royals as well so even if this is based on real history and also is set in a very different time period, a lot of it remains in the same wheel house. WHich is mostly a good thing because McGee is very adept at crafting interesting stories that will have you turning pages.

Generally I liked all three POV characters. I think of the three May of Teck will prove the most divisive because as she is written on page, she is sort of a villain character. I find myself sympathetic to her on page counterpart because of the place she is in society and the only options available to her. As always with McGee's books, the men tend to fade into the background even as they play major romantic leads. Prince Eddy in particular, for how much he is present on the page, is not very interesting and is more interesting as a vehicle for drama than he is as a character. Also *spoilers for HISTORY* I find myself trying to not get that attached to Eddy (and Alix either but that's another story...).

This was very fun and diverting and I look forward to the next installment. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

An heir to the throne with…Affairs. Gossip. Scandal. Betrayal.

Some players want love and others just want a title.

A YA with royals is my FAVORITE!

It ends on a cliffhanger and I 100% recommend!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

This books was full of twist and turns, provided all the drama, romance, secrets, mystery, while also giving an inside look into royal life.
I loved the multiple POVs of all the princesses and how everyone had their own secrets. I also enjoyed watching them all basically compete for the prince's hand in marriage. It was interesting how they were all so interested in a title and status that they barely even knew the prince as a human being.
The prince also had his fair share of secrets and was doing lots of things he probably shouldn't have been doing. I love how much drama he brought to the table and that it wasn't just about the princesses.
I also really enjoyed Agnes' character, she threw some interesting curve balls into the mix and I would love to see a book from her POV eventually.
By the end I had gotten so attached to these characters and really didn't want this one to end. I so hope this author will make this a series, because I would really like to continue following this story!
I was absolutely honored to receive this arc from Katharine McGee and Netgalley and my opinions are my own!

I loved the characters but i think Helene was my favorite. It was fun to see who was going to end up with whom. I kept wondering which characters were real. Good job of throwing rocks into each couples happiness. It ended with open questions so i am assuming there will be a sequel. I need to know more about Agnes.

A Queen‘s Game is exactly the type of book I want to recommend to my students. I want a fun, fast, delightful book with history (not perfect history, but it’s getting the point across). I read the entire last American royal series and so I was really intrigued that they were gonna go back into the Victorian era with real life Royals this time. This book was super cute. Definitely not as soapy as the last series but what can you do? It’s actual will history. Definitely recommend this book!

Thank you, #netgalley the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Alix, Héléne, and May are all single, a little older than those usually looking for husbands, and are each expected to marry someone they do not want to marry. Each of them desperately does want to get married, though, as they are each escaping different things. Up for grabs is the future King of England and several other high level princes who each girl is perfect for....it's just their matchmakers have not gotten them in the correct order yet.

This book reminded me of a Victorian romance I read often when I was younger, "Mayfair" by Nancy Fitzgerald.. This is a great book to add to this genre; the romance parts would probably be okay for older middle school kids. I was a little confused when I realized this book intended to be a series. I'm curious where McGee is going to take it because she had everything wrapped up towards the end of the book, and at the end changed gears and shook all the romances up again.

I loved this! Katharine McGee’s American Royals series was so fun and I’m so glad she decided to delve into historical fiction, and use some real life royals. A Queen’s Game is such a fun, quick read but still has really great character development and some cool story arcs. Even though it’s loosely based on real royals, it’s not predictable at all. What a delight, I hope there’s more to come!

What an absolute treat this book was! I loved the authors previous series, and this was a great start to a new world!
Nothing pleases me more than royal drama and princesses fighting over princes!! I had such a great time reading this one and really enjoyed the 3 perspectives.
We left on a bit of an open ending so I’m hopeful for book 2!

I enjoyed this! I didn’t know how I felt at first, getting to know the characters. But I like the personalities of the three princesses and their challenges. I feel so bad for them in a lot of ways. I’m excited to see where the story goes. I think I liked American Royals a little better, but this was still good!

Katharine McGee is queen of flawed female characters. I absolutely loved the way she created such complex and interwoven stories in American Royals, so was excited for this book.

The way I pity, adore and hate May of Teck all at once…

If you like the old, marriage mart vibes of Bridgeton, but want a slightly more modern twist, you will love A Queens Game. Sitting on the edge of my seat until the next book gets here!!

This book was so fun! If you liked American Royals you will love this book! It really reads like American Royals but historical fiction, heavy on the fiction. The characters are historical figures but the drama and romance is flowing throughout the book, regardless of the historical accuracy. But Katharine McGee is incredible at writing engaging characters, so I didn't mind the historical inaccuracies at all. Even her annoying characters are so engaging that I loved all of the main characters, even when they were making terrible decisions. I hope this is just the first book in the series. I am not ready to be done with these characters and these romance plotlines yet.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm going to have such a hard time reviewing this, but here we go.

Let me preface this with the fact that I'm a huge McGee fan. American Royals will be one of my go-to recs for teens who love some historically-inspired drama.

I wanted to love this as much as AR. I'm admittedly not as interested in European history, but McGee does her homework. As an adult reader, it was enjoyable. The writing is fantastic, the history is easily digestible, but goodness gracious I can't in good conscience tell a teacher to keep this on their shelves. There are *at minimum* three scenes where I had an eyebrow raised wondering if I'd want a teen reading this in front of me in a classroom. Short answer: no. The romance is just a litttleeeee too open door for my tastes. I don't think teen readers shouldn't read it, it's not that bad, I just would not want to shelve it at school. That's my official take. Read what you want at home. I'm just going to suggest keeping scenes that toe the open door line out of your classroom library. There are several here.

So, that's my review. I'll probably keep reading as there will inevitably be more, but I won't be recommending this to educators, unfortunately.

I loved Katharine McGee’s American Royals series, and I was excited to read A Queen’s Game. Both are full of escapist glitz, glamour, romance, and political drama. While the American Royals series envisions a fictional world in which America was founded as a monarchy, A Queen’s Game explores some real life European monarchies, which made it feel less like an escapist fantasy.

In A Queen’s Game, Alix begins a flirtation with the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. I couldn’t get into their romantic relationship because any time they were together, I wanted to yell at Alix, “NO NO, RUN AWAY FROM HIM. THIS WILL NOT END WELL FOR YOU.” Nicholas, of course, was executed along with his family by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

I struggled also with the female relationships in this story. I can only think of one relationship that passes the Bechdel test, and the only one that does is proven to be driven by manipulation for political gain. I wanted more “women supporting women” rather than women soley focusing on their marriage prospects. Of course, I understand that women were in a totally different position in Victorian England to modern day, but I still was wishing for more genuine female friendship here.

A Queen’s Game transitions between Alix, Hélène, and May’s points of view. This certainly added to the dramatic irony, particularly around Alix and Hélène’s relationships with Eddy. This did highlight for me that I felt that May was the weakest of the characters. May makes a friend in an American, Agnes, but lets Agnes boss her around and take control. Alix and Hélène both seemed much more able to fight for their own interests.

I enjoyed the snippets of history of European monarchy given in A Queen’s Game. Reading this book lead me down a rabbit hole looking up what actually happened to the real life people portrayed in the novel (and how some of these relationships really turned out). I already wanted a sequel based on how this book ends, but now that I know the history, I really want to see how it plays out in McGee’s version of the story.

After reading A Queen’s Game and the American Royals series, I am curious to see what McGee tackles next. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be as fun and enjoyable as her other work.