Book Review | American Royals by Katherine McGee

I honestly don’t know how to voice my opinions.

Hey everyone! I just finished American Royals while eating lunch and honestly the end was so heart wrenching. I honestly am not sure how I feel about the book except the fact that it was really different from books I am used to reading.

Isn’t this cover an absolute beauty? I rarely like people on the cover, but this one is really pretty!

Synopsis:
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.

Okay, so first off, I had never heard of the fact that George Washington had been offered a crown. But this was definitely interesting to read about.

The writing style was a little confusing at first since the author uses multiple female POVs, all in the third person. But as the novel progresses, you begin to get the hang of it and it actually is good as you get to look at different perspectives. I could also comprehend the way the author wrote the novel very easily and it appealed to me. My only complaint is that at some points the way the different POVs were written felt a little similar, but that might be because all of them are girls.

The plot, as I said previously, is sorta unique. I mean it has the royalty trope (duh), but then it also has a very faint love triangle trope, a splash of fake-dating and then there are all the relationships. I love how it has all been roped together without being too messy.

The main characters were Beatrice, Samantha, Jefferson (members of the royal family), Daphne (who wished to marry Jeff) and Nina (Samantha’s best friend). Except them there were three other male protagonists- Ethan (Jeff’s best friend), Theodore Eaton and Connor (Beatrice’s bodyguard). The characters were all so different and the book also covered the power-hungry aspect through Daphne very well. This is something that wasn’t very prominent in Royals by Rachel Hawkins or The Selection. I mean, it was there, but I like how the author created an entire character who embodied power hungry aspects of people.

I loved the chemistry between all the couples- it was actually there. There was one couple who’s chemistry isn’t that great, but I won’t say which one in fear of spoilers.

Now that I am trying to write a novel myself, I realise that this book would have incredibly difficult to write, so I applaud the author for doing such a great job. But then there was something missing in the novel- something I can’t quite place my finger on.

I would absolutely recommend it to every YA lover and also anyone who likes reading about kings and queens. I honestly cannot wait to read the second book!

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.75

Have you read the book? Will you read it? Is it on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

P.S.- Upon finishing this book, I realised that I quite like the royalty trope. So, if you have any recs in the trope, lemme know!!!!

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