Reviews tagging 'Classism'

American Royalty by Tracey Livesay

10 reviews

mari1532's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

#23for23 (learn more at:https://www.23for23.net/)

I own a hard copy of this book but listened to the audiobook from my library. 

Brief Summary: Danielle Nelson is a musical powerhouse who consistently hits the top of the charts as her alter ego Duchess. However, Danielle is hoping to expand her horizons beyond Hip-Hop. As she contemplates making a career move she is dragged into the press by a pop diva with little talent. As Danielle tries to not give the issue any attention she is forced to confront the fact that the negative press she has nothing to do with is hurting her career. However, fate intervenes when she is asked to perform at a royal charity event.

Prince Jameson hates the press and his position within the royal family. He does his best to stay out of the limelight and focus on the job he loves. However, with the charity benefit for his late grandfather months away, his grandmother the Queen has ordered him to step into the spotlight and helm the project. As Jameson fumbles about the planning of the event he accidentally invites an American Hip-Hop superstar, Duchess.

When Danielle and Jameson first meet things do not go according to plan. However, the more time they spend together the harder it is for them to not feel the chemistry building between them. As they try and navigate their own lives and careers they also have to ensure that they don't draw attention away from the charity benefit. But some things are unavoidable.   

Thoughts:
This book was one of if not my absolute favourite books of the year! Livesay wrote an emotionally charged hot story about an American Hip-Hop star and a British Prince and I loved absolutely every minute of this book. 

The chemistry between Danielle and Jameson was a level 6. However, Livesay's writing made the characters and their love story deeper than their sexual attraction to each other, she made them real well-rounded, relatable humans. When you consider one of the characters is a Prince and the other a massive celebrity is hard to do. As a result, they were both lovable characters who you were rooting for. 

The subplots in this book were also wild and kept the pace and the drama of the story going. 

This book is excellent. I highly recommend it!!!!

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kaseythefairy's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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solacelight's review

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Things Jameson should have done to not come off like a racist, sexist person.
1. Not being immediately, disturbingly attracted to Dani in a way that oversexualizes her and borderline dehumanizes her.
2. Not assuming she's a living breathing stereotype
3. Not been incredibly and consistently rude
4. Not be a monarchist (maybe this is too much to expect from a prince but a girl can dream)

Things Dani should have done to be a mildly more considerate person to herself
1. Not slept with a man who sees her as nothing more than a sex object with a semi-okay personality (this would be considerate to herself.)
2. That's it.

Anyways, on top of this feeling icky to me in terms of how Dani is treated as a character by her love interest, the writing felt very inconsistent and shallow and I never got a good sense of either Dani or Jameson. The stakes felt very low, neither seemed to make good decisions ever, and frankly I don't think they would EVER be good together. I think I also am far too disgusted by the existence of the royal family to feel okay with reading a book where a major storyline is preserving it in such a modern context. It feels TOO connected to the real world with the very obvious parallels. Would love if Jameson had been a considerate person who genuinely wanted nothing to do with the monarchy and saw Dani as a full human being. And then ending was not good.

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ashlikes's review

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25


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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Tldr; Dani and Jameson are great, this is some of the better smut I’ve read, and I look forward to a sequel. :)

Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/american-royalty.

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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bedtimesandbooks's review

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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hazelgirl21's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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vicktorea's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cute, sweet and royally spicy!

I really enjoyed this! I loved the FMC, Dani! She was confident and unapologetically herself - a Black queen! I loved the Blackness of this book! 🙌🏽

I also liked the MMC. Jameson. He was a little bland but I loved how prim and proper he was on the outside but was able to be himself around Dani. He was definitely a gentleman in the street and a freak in the sheets 🔥.

My main criticism is how the Brits were written at times. I would’ve appreciated more attention to details surrounding British colloquialisms - the basics were there but that tad extra research would’ve made things that much more believable. For example, one of the Royal British characters said something like “I should’ve known […] when you got an attitude”; a Royal would never speak that way and I found it cringey. I also didn’t find it believable that the queen’s children, who were well into their 50s, behaved like teens. They just seemed so crass and low class with the way their scandals were described. I would’ve found it more believable if their “scandals” had been been older events that had been discovered but for them to be having the way they were at 50 made zero sense.

Overall, I found this entertaining and I really enjoyed the romance between Dani & Jameson !

Thank you so much to HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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sarahholliday's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was a fun, fairly predictable (given that it's loosely based on Harry and Meghan) romance. Loads of steam, some really endearing moments between the two main characters, and a really interesting look at the realities of life as someone living in the spotlight. Wish we'd actually gotten to see more of the quieter moments of them falling in love, but it was still a lovely read.

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