American Royals by Katharine McGee | Scandals, drama and gossip of the American monarchy!

When I was just out of high school, I was obsessed with the Gossip Girl TV show with Blake Lively as Serena and Leighton Meester as Blair, this TV show was the most stylish drama of my youth. It was actually my high school boyfriend who introduced me to the show, I remember that we watched some episodes together.

If you’ve never seen Gossip Girl, it’s the most addicting show that follows the lives of privileged teens in the upper east side, NYC. I was always wondered what was the budget of this series considering the settings and some of the most iconic wardrobes. I loved Serena’s style ❤ 

Much later, I’ve watched a couple of episodes of another TV show, called «The Royals». Basically, again the drama infused story about the royal family showcasing all the luxury but also the lack of privacy that comes with that life. 

«American Royals» is a perfect mix of these two shows, following the lives of royal children – Princess Beatrice, the eldest and the heir to the throne, and Princess Samantha and Prince Jeff – the twins who are always loud and in trouble. Every family, especially royal, needs a couple of troublemakers.

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goodreads blurb:

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.

The power. The drama. 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  | AMAZON UK – US |  BOOKDEPOSITORY  | AUTHOR’S WEBSITE

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Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the company or its affiliates in any way.

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Princess Beatrice will be the first-ever female monarch in the history of America. Her grandfather abolished the rule where the succession to the throne was passed to the elder male and instead proclaimed that from here onwards it would be the eldest child. 

Beatrice spent all her life preparing for the future she had no choice at. The royal children rarely get to choose their lives, especially the heirs to the throne.

WHAT I LIKED:

1 – I picked it up hoping to get a fast-paced addicting drama, and that’s exactly what I got. This isn’t my usual type of book. The last time I read something so scandalously dramatic was probably the Selection series. And we all know how addicting it is!

Lately, I’ve been experiencing these “almost reading slumps”, when I’m not exactly in a reading slump yet, but I can already feel it approaching. As a cure, I needed something quick, fun and entertaining and that’s what «American Royals» is like. 

2 – There was so much drama! To the point where I just wanted to roll my eyes every time someone mentioned the words “privacy” and “choice”. I could list this as something I didn’t like but I actually… kinda… enjoyed it?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It felt like I was binge-watching some episodes of a soap opera. Where I didn’t really care about the characters but at the same time I couldn’t stop and pull myself out of the story. 

3 – We read the story from multiple points of view, all of them had a certain appeal and represented different struggles:

• Beatrice and her path to the throne;
• Samantha who is struggling to be the second, the “spare” and is trying to understand who she really it; 
• Nina – Sam’s “commoner” friend. It was interesting to see how the royal way of life could affect those around them; and
• Daphne, the privileged young woman who’s been climbing the social ladder from a very early age. 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

1 – This book is very long for what it is – almost 450 pages, and we still got the cliffhanger ending! Why?! I was so not happy about that. I know that there will be at least one more book – American Roayls 2, but I needed at least SOME arcs to come to the end! Otherwise, I was left feeling like I wasted my time reading these 450 pages because I didn’t get any closure at the end. 

To be fair, one of the plotlines/mysteries was revealed at the very end, but I already suspected what it was anyway, so the author just confirmed what was already kinda obvious. 

2 – It wouldn’t be fair to this book to complaint about romance when I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. But I just can’t stand love triangles. «American Royals» doesn’t really have a LOVE triangle, but there are a lot of triangles, squares and other geometrical figures in the relationships. 

My rating:
★★★★☆

I’m giving this book 4 stars purely for my enjoyment. There were quite a lot of little issues here and there, but I still had tons of fun reading this book, even though it took me a fair chunk of it to actually get into the story.

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK OR PLANNING TO?

LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS DOWN BELOW!

OTHER BOOKS BY KATHARINE MCGEE:

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