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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I massively enjoyed this even when it was cheesy and dumb. Super, super quick read and really engaging.
Spoilers for American Royals!
Thank God for that introduction. That introduction was good stuff! I’m a sucker for alternate histories, roads not traveled, and the idea of an American monarchy helping to prop up global monarchies was worth considering, especially given it originated from one man signing on the dotted line.
To detract from some terrible romantic elements, I looked for as many world building details as I could find. Washington the city was more like New York City. There was no state religion. Kings filed legislation with the Houses of Congress and serve as Commander in Chief. Okey dokey.
Now let’s get to our four leads, plus Jeff.
Daphne is a piece of shit, and Jeff dates her for three years before this novel. When Nina, who seems reasoned, thoughtful, and who in her capacity as Jeff’s current girlfriend tells him Daphne just confessed to Nina that she, Daphne, is a huge piece of shit, Jeff refuses to believe Nina, thinks she must have imagined it, and all but asks her if it’s that time of the month.
That’s all I needed to know about Daphne and Jeff, the former of which narrated a quarter of the book.
Nina’s character makes little sense. She’s the commoner who is best friends with the princess and who is dating the prince. Given this is the 21st century and everyone has a cell phone and she’s the daughter of a public figure and spends a significant amount of time at the palace, you’d think their friendships and relationships would be common knowledge, but this is written like Nina lives a double life. When Samantha comes to pick her up she ducks down in the back of the car so she’s not seen with the royals and her own dorm room is scrubbed of any connection to them. It’s weirdly written, explicitly, that her commoner friends have no idea of her double life. Got it.
So when’s her romance with the prince is exposed, her commoner friends buy it instantly and aren’t the least bit surprised.. Fantastic attention to detail. Not even a “You know the Princess?!” moment.
Beatrice is the heir apparent, who is in love with her bodyguard, but she is pressured to marry someone more suitable due to her father’s declining health, so she dumps the bodyguard. Sorry, she doesn’t, she continues to sleep with him until the last possible moment. She then decides she made a bad call, makes plans to leave her fiancé AT THEIR ENGAGEMENT PARTY and marry her bodyguard. Her sister Samantha is thrilled, because she’s in love with the fiancé. Strike that, she met him once, made out with him, had chemistry, so of course that means the same thing in this narrative. Anyway, Beatrice then decides to marry her fiancé because of her father’s declining health, so she dumps the bodyguard.
That’s not a duplicate. She’s just incredibly indecisive.
Even when her father is on his literal deathbed tells her she should use her best judgement when making life decisions, she doesn’t even think for a moment he means that she should actually use her best judgement and decides to marry whoever the family wants.
Prediction. If she ever marries the bodyguard, and anything happens that stresses her out, she’s going to leave him and do whatever the family wants.
I’m hoping the sequel redeems this misfire, and if not for the alternate universe this would be an easy 2 star rating. It feels like there’s good bones here for a happily ever after, but the story pivoted to make everyone miserable and let the bad guy win, and then it just ends. I’m assuming this was announced as the beginning of a series at the time, because it’s otherwise a hopeless read with little point.
Thank God for that introduction. That introduction was good stuff! I’m a sucker for alternate histories, roads not traveled, and the idea of an American monarchy helping to prop up global monarchies was worth considering, especially given it originated from one man signing on the dotted line.
To detract from some terrible romantic elements, I looked for as many world building details as I could find. Washington the city was more like New York City. There was no state religion. Kings filed legislation with the Houses of Congress and serve as Commander in Chief. Okey dokey.
Now let’s get to our four leads, plus Jeff.
Daphne is a piece of shit, and Jeff dates her for three years before this novel. When Nina, who seems reasoned, thoughtful, and who in her capacity as Jeff’s current girlfriend tells him Daphne just confessed to Nina that she, Daphne, is a huge piece of shit, Jeff refuses to believe Nina, thinks she must have imagined it, and all but asks her if it’s that time of the month.
That’s all I needed to know about Daphne and Jeff, the former of which narrated a quarter of the book.
Nina’s character makes little sense. She’s the commoner who is best friends with the princess and who is dating the prince. Given this is the 21st century and everyone has a cell phone and she’s the daughter of a public figure and spends a significant amount of time at the palace, you’d think their friendships and relationships would be common knowledge, but this is written like Nina lives a double life. When Samantha comes to pick her up she ducks down in the back of the car so she’s not seen with the royals and her own dorm room is scrubbed of any connection to them. It’s weirdly written, explicitly, that her commoner friends have no idea of her double life. Got it.
So when’s her romance with the prince is exposed, her commoner friends buy it instantly and aren’t the least bit surprised.. Fantastic attention to detail. Not even a “You know the Princess?!” moment.
Beatrice is the heir apparent, who is in love with her bodyguard, but she is pressured to marry someone more suitable due to her father’s declining health, so she dumps the bodyguard. Sorry, she doesn’t, she continues to sleep with him until the last possible moment. She then decides she made a bad call, makes plans to leave her fiancé AT THEIR ENGAGEMENT PARTY and marry her bodyguard. Her sister Samantha is thrilled, because she’s in love with the fiancé. Strike that, she met him once, made out with him, had chemistry, so of course that means the same thing in this narrative. Anyway, Beatrice then decides to marry her fiancé because of her father’s declining health, so she dumps the bodyguard.
That’s not a duplicate. She’s just incredibly indecisive.
Even when her father is on his literal deathbed tells her she should use her best judgement when making life decisions, she doesn’t even think for a moment he means that she should actually use her best judgement and decides to marry whoever the family wants.
Prediction. If she ever marries the bodyguard, and anything happens that stresses her out, she’s going to leave him and do whatever the family wants.
I’m hoping the sequel redeems this misfire, and if not for the alternate universe this would be an easy 2 star rating. It feels like there’s good bones here for a happily ever after, but the story pivoted to make everyone miserable and let the bad guy win, and then it just ends. I’m assuming this was announced as the beginning of a series at the time, because it’s otherwise a hopeless read with little point.
Super fun concept. Would love it if the author had spent less time on the silly love story drama and more time on the history of the American monarchy. I would love a prequel!
I needed this switch up. While I do feel like much of the book was lifted from The Crown, it was still a good fun read. I loved all the different stories happening at once. I’m ready to read the next book and see where the story goes. I’m over both Nina and Daphne. Nina needs a backbone and Daphne needs to be taken down a peg or five. Jeff is a dumb boy plain and simple. Ethan… I want to know more about him.
This was fun, but not exactly what I was expecting. There was a lot more relationship drama than I expected, and less about what America would look like with a monarchy. Definitely more of a HS book than MS.
sure it's a bit cheesy and feels like a YA teen romance drama, but the characters feel real and empathetic (even the ones we're not supposed to like). I could not put this book down and loved it thoroughly, I'll be reading the series :)
There were times throughout this book where relationships felt rushed and forced, and since the book was all about relationships, I felt it was necessary to dock a star from this rating.
That being said, the story was light and fun and easy to get lost in. If the rest of the series were out right now, I have no doubt that I would already be tearing through the pages of the next book. I am quite curious to see where the story goes and how the characters change as they deal with the outcome of this novel, so here’s hoping the wait is not too long!
That being said, the story was light and fun and easy to get lost in. If the rest of the series were out right now, I have no doubt that I would already be tearing through the pages of the next book. I am quite curious to see where the story goes and how the characters change as they deal with the outcome of this novel, so here’s hoping the wait is not too long!
Everyone raves about this... I have to admit I found it pretty empty of any real plot, I struggled to care about the characters and their issues or any of the twists that were supposed to shock me. I was hoping for something similar to The Selection, but that was NOT what I got.
4 povs like watchhing a season of keeping up with thw kardashians kinda slow