American Royals (American Royals, #1)

by Katharine McGee

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES • 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. Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown. Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue and The Royal We!

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.

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.

"The lives of the American royal family will hook you in the very first pages and never let go. Relatable, believable, fantastical, aspirational, and completely addictive." --Sara Shepard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars and Perfectionists series

• ISBN10: 1984830171
• ISBN13: 9781984830173
• Publish Date: 3 September 2019 (first published 1 January 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781984830173

Reviews

[mrs_mander_reads]

I really liked this! I didn't think I would, just because the alternate history aspect is kind of subversive to what I'm used to (which I guess is the whole point?). But the story is compelling and I'm planning to read #2.

[Steph L]

A fun Alternate History

This book is fun because it reads like a soap opera on the page. This book had so much drama, and I was so living for it. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to follow these characters and their plots more.

[katie]

Review will be posted soon at http://kaitplusbooks.com!

[girlinthepages]

American Royals was a book I was SO excited for, actually went to the store and purchased a hardcover of, and then procrastinated for several months on actually reading, lol. I think it was an instance of being SO excited for a book but worrying I might be let down so I put off actually reading it (despite a few attempts at starting). I finally finished it through a combination of reading the hardcover and listening to the audio, and while I enjoyed reading it, it definitely didn't live up to all of my (admittedly very high) expectations.

If you've hung around my blog for a while, you probably know that contemporary books with a focus on royalty are my favorites. From The Princess Diaries to The Royal We, I'll read pretty much anything with a the premise of modern day royals. When I found out that American Royals was also going to contain an alternate history version of America, one where we had become a monarchy with good old King George Washington, I was so excited! The cover was also stunning and I loved how under the dust jacket the hardcover was even red, white and blue. Suffice to say I was REALLY looking forward to reading this one.

The story itself follows four POV characters: Beatrice, heir to the throne of America, Samantha, her rebellious little sister, Daphne, Prince Jefferson's on/off again social climbing girlfriend, and Nina, Samantha's best friend who is a "commoner" and who's mother works for the government. While I appreciated the inclusion of various female narrators of different backgrounds, I just wasn't very interested in all of them. Beatrice's POV was the most intriguing because she was the heir (and set to be the first Queen inheriting the throne) and Daphne's was interesting due to her ruthlessness in pursuing marriage with Jefferson, but Samantha's narrative came off feeling very petty and immature and Nina just bored me. Their stories all wove together, however I would have rather seen a POV from Jefferson, or the King or Queen to break things up. This book also read very YA to me, which is not a bad thing (I know I am not the target audience) but many of the plot points were very predictable and lacked originality (show spoiler)[Such as the heir who doesn't want to marry an aristocrat, the spare who thinks her sibling has it so great and that she is overlooked, the "I never asked for this" internal monologue from almost every character, etc. ] (hide spoiler) There was also a love triangle/quadrangle (or a few, I suppose) that were none too original and took up most of the plot of the book, which wasn't exactly what I was expecting (I was hoping for more political intrigue, I guess).

There was also a lot less alternate history than I was expecting. I was so excited whenever a nugget would be tossed out (such as how the Revere Guard was formed, what America's relations are like now with other countries, how the Royal family refuses to drink tea- LOL) but I still had SO many questions about the world building, especially when it came to how the country was divided up, because there were Dukes of cities (like Boston) but also states (like Texas) and I couldn't really get a grasp on the structure of the aristocracy. I appreciate that the author didn't info-dump but I'm hoping in the next book we'll get more alternate history facts!

Overall: I enjoyed American Royals for what it was to me- a overly dramatic YA novel with a fun alternate history setting that put too much focus on romance and main characters that could have been fleshed out more. I'll definitely be reading the sequel and hoping it gives the series more spice and intrigue as this book ended on quite the cliffhanger, but I really do hope we see some more plot development outside the various love triangles.

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[vagasker]

The drama, I lived for it! This book was a bit of a slow start for me but it got me hooked a fourth way in and it didn't let me go. I liked that the characters were not one dimensional so even the meanest ones got some of my sympathy. I can't wait for the next book because there is so much unresolved drama still and I need to know!!

[Ashley]

If you've read The Thousandth Floor, you probably go into American Royals with expectations. Those expectations will almost certainly be met. I hoped for a very specific vibe from this book—basically rich kid drama—and that's exactly what I got. It was very much in the same vein as The Thousandth Floor, just with different circumstances. It was full of drama, forbidden love, and read very much like "The Crown".

I'm definitely looking forward to the next book!

[Sam@WLABB]

What would American look like, if George Washington had been our first king instead of our first president? This was the very question Katharine McGee answered in her spectacular book, American Royals.

Though technically a fantasy, this book felt contemporary, as it is set in our current time in a slightly different America. In this America, Washington's descendants ruled from their palace, and it was such a treat to spend time in their world.

I was a HUGE fan of McGee's Thousandth Floor series, and was over the moon, when I heard she was writing a series featuring royals. Let me tell you, this book was everything I was hoping for and then some. I came here looking for more of the delicious drama that McGee had previously dazzled me with, and I was delighted to find an abundance of it.

The story was told via four points of view

• Beatrice - the first female heir to the throne, who was struggling with putting crown before self due to matters of the heart.

• Samantha - the spare, who was being denied the one she wanted and living in the shadow of her sister.

• Nina - Samantha's best friend, who got in over her head with her love match, as she was not up to the challenges of navigating the royal world.

• Daphne - the social climber, who was bent on getting her princess plan back on track.

I have been known to laud books with low drama, but here, I found more was better. I could not get enough of all the forbidden love, the sneaking around, the subterfuge, and the plotting, but the heart of this book, for me, was the characters and their struggles.

I found each character to be fully formed, and loved that they were all really human and flawed. They may have lived in a class way above me, but they were dealing with many of the same everyday problems we all do, and I found everyone very relatable and easy to like. Even the "villain" of the group was created in a way, that I was able to feel some sort of empathy for her.

There were also many relationships examined throughout the story. We got into the family dynamics, the friendships, and the romantic entanglements within this group, which were all a bit more complicated, when they were between a royal and commoner. A lot of the characters' dilemmas were related to trying to reconcile their modern beliefs with the archaic laws they were expected to follow, and that created some major conflicts of the heart.

I have seen people call the ending "predictable", but I DON'T CARE! It was done with so much emotion and dramatic flair, I was shedding tears and wishing I had the next book on hand.

If you are looking for a soapy and delicious drama stacked with fabulous characters -- look no further, because American Royals can deliver all that with the bonus of an emotional punch.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight .

I loved every freaking minute of this book. It's one of the most fun and compulsively readable books I've had the pleasure to read. It's full of heart, and full of the best kind of drama. It's basically a well-written soap opera, and I am not mad. I am just going to gush about all the reasons I love it, yeah?

• • Family (and friends) first. There is just such an incredible focus on family and friend dynamics. And don't get me wrong, there is a lot going on, and it's not always happy. But it felt very authentic, because of that. The thing that mattered most at the end of the day? These people genuinely loved each other.



• • All the romance! Oh, this was fun. Who is going to end up with who? Idk, your guess is as good as mine! But I shipped so. many. couples. Even some of the "bad guys"! And the way the relationships were written... it draws you in, and makes you root for the pairs. SO many swoons!



• • The alternate US History is just so fun. And honestly, it's very believable! How far could we have been from this type of governance? I have no idea, but it's certainly something that I could see! And imagining us having a similar political landscape as the British is just plain interesting. Especially seeing how much everyone enjoys following the Royal Family, this works so well.



• • It's beyond charming, well-written, and frankly just plain entertaining. It's probably not going to provide life-changing insight, but it's full of wonderful characters and relationships, so there you go.

Bottom Line: If this doesn't become a legitimate TV drama, I'm suing. It's a new favorite, no question. Need. Sequel. Now.