American Royals by Katharine McGee

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

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

5 of 5 stars

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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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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 August, 2019: Finished reading
  • 18 August, 2019: Reviewed