Majesty (American Royals, #2) by Katharine McGee | A very good conclusion to the duology!

This is not my usual type of book, but OMG… it was just as addictive as the first installment! «Majesty» picks up right after the events of the first book, «American Royals», which I read and reviewed last year. If you haven’t read it, I wouldn’t recommend reading this review. Even though I’ll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, the blurb for the second book does give away a lot of things that happen in the first one.

I mentioned in my review of the first book that reading this story reminded me a lot of my favorite TV shows – «Gossip Girl» and «The Royals». There was just enough drama to keep me flipping pages as fast as possible without being overly-exhausting to read.

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goodreads blurb (American Royals):

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.

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Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK 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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Surprisingly, both of the books in this dualogy received 4 stars from me. However, I did enjoy «Majesty» a little bit more than «American Royals».

For this review, I thought I’d look back at my critiques of the first book and see if the second one improved some of the aspects I wanted, and if it did something different, and also if there was any change in how much I liked/disliked certain characters. 

After reading «American Royals», my main “critiques” were:

• It was too long (almost 450 pages) and still had a cliffhanger ending;
• There were quite a few love triangles, which I’m not a fan of;
• Some eye-rolling moments, especially when it came to the drama between the characters. 

Let’s see if «Majesty» improved on any of these points! 

1 – Unlike installments in fantasy series that tend to get thicker and thicker, «Majesty» had a nice reduction of pages! It was only 320 pages long and it felt good to fly through it. There weren’t any boring moments. The story was paced quite well and actually benefitted from having fewer pages, in my opinion. I prefer it when authors are more succinct with their story-telling and shorter books do force them to stay focused on the main plotline without unnecessary deviations. 

And of course, there is NO cliffhanger! I was very happy to wrap this story up. There is a possibility for Katharine McGee to explore the future stories of some of the characters, particularly Samantha’s and Nina’s, but overall I was very satisfied with how things ended. 👍

2 – NO LOVE TRIANGLES! I’m pretty sure there wasn’t any. 🙌 (let me know if I missed any geometric figures in the numerous relationships of the royals family and their friends!) One of the main reasons I stopped reading Cassandra Clare books were love triangles. I just can’t stand them. So of course I was very excited to find out that Katharine McGee spun her story in a way that was still exciting to read (without the triangles) but that also allowed me to root for multiple people at the same time, as I wanted them all to live their “happy ever after”!

3 – «Majesty» was still full of drama, but I didn’t roll my eyes. Not even once! 🥂 Lots of drama, but also lots of heartwarming and “awww” moments that just melt my heart. I even shed a few happy tears and was swooned by many romantic gestures and dialogues. ❤ 

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Now! Did I change my opinion about the characters? 

The answer is yes! In the first book, both princesses felt a little bit underwhelming and very cliché. So my “favorite” character or the most interesting one was Daphne. But that definitely changed after the events of book 2. I really loved Beatrice and how much of her character development we got to see. Sam was still my least favorite one, although her romance was one of the most exciting.

My rating:
★★★★☆

If you ever read and loved the Selection series, or love TV shows full of drama, definitely give these books a go! There were some heartwarming moments, some steamier relationships, and some funny interactions (I chuckled multiple times!) that left me craving more. I’d love to read other Katharine McGee books and see if they have a similar tone and humor. 

Have you read any Katharine McGee books? Which one would you recommend? Let me know in the comments below!

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