American Royals by Katharine McGee
Description: “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.
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. And their country was born of rebellion.
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. “
Review: Recently I’ve fallen into a book slump. Nothing was really catching my attention until I started reading “American Royals.” This is the first book in a series about the American royal family (yes, America is a monarchy) and is told from the narrative of 4 different female characters. At times I find multiple narrators frustrating but I think in this case it added more to the story. All of the narrators were not created equally, some were multifaceted and you saw a lot of character development, while others fell flat for me. Princess Beatrice and Princess Samantha were by far my favorite characters. At times I even thought about skipping ahead to their next chapters. Both of the Princesses are multidimensional. There is a lot more to them than meets the eye and that is examined throughout the book. The other two narrators are Nina and Daphne. Nina is the best friend of Princess Samantha and love interest to Samantha’s twin, Prince Jeff. Nina is your typical college student who just so happens to have a mom who works for the King and is best friends with a Princess. Although Nina is supposed to come across as the girl next door, I did find her to be too self deprecating and even bratty. She has a lot going for her but is the first one to tear herself down and what’s the deal with her wanting to keep her oldest, best friend a secret? Next there is Daphne, the ex-girlfriend of Prince Jeff and your typical evil villain. While Daphne’s story was interesting, it was also predictable. There wasn’t as much character development for these two characters, especially Nina, and I wish there was more. Hopefully the next book in the series will round them out better.
This story reminded me of a mix of “The Princess Diaries” and “Gossip Girl”. There is royalty, drama and romance. One of the big differences for me between “Gossip Girl” and this story is that although there is a lot of forbidden romance there are no steamy parts. There are some descriptions of kissing but the few times that sex is directly mentioned it is glossed over. I personally would have liked more dirty details, especially since I think this book is more for people in their 20s (all of the characters are college aged) than teens. I did think that some of the romantic relationships were unnecessary and took away from the heart of the story. There was almost too much forbidden love for me. Ultimate this book is about showing how complicated people’s live are, especially for those in the public eye.
I found “American Royals” to be a quick, intriguing read. This book is perfect for people who love watching and reading about the royal family. I would also recommend this book to those who like romance without all the details. I think both teens and adults will enjoy this book. I would not recommend it to history buffs, they might have a hard time getting over the concept of America having a royal family.
*please note that I received an advanced copy of the book from NetGalley