Reviews

American Royals by Katharine McGee

aguamarinabooks's review against another edition

4.0

Las historias de Beatriz y Samantha me han gustado muchisimo. La verdad empecé este libro sin mucha expectativa y me ha gustado mucho más de lo que pensaba. Hay mucho drama y historias de amor cruzadas etc. Es muy entretenido y me ha mantenido en vilo y con ganas de más. No se hace para nada pesado de leer.

claudiajanette's review against another edition

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

3.5

Fun read with elements of Princess Diaries, Gossip Girl, and Red White and Royal Blue. There are a lot of characters/plots happening simultaneously, which is both a pro and a con. I like Beatrice the best, and as the book went on I found myself more and more engrossed in Daphne’s storyline. Samantha annoyed me at times, I wanted to see more growth from her. I’m not sure if I’ll finish the series or not - but I’m leaning towards reading the next book because there are a couple plot lines I want to see resolved!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Classism

daisy27's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

katherinesigh's review against another edition

4.0

I loved each character’s POV and seeing them try to carve their own place in this world. There was a lot of fun romance too but I like how it didn’t overshadow character journeys

sirelligator's review against another edition

I love royal/political stories but I am very particular with them. There are a lot of tropes I hate in the genre and this book ticked off many of them. Most notably: characters who shirk the responsibility of their station whilst basking in the privileges it affords them without any care; characters who fail to recognize the power and privilege they have;

jealous younger siblings who see the pressure the parents put on the heir as attention; fake relationships that don’t become real, especially when the fake love interest is way better than the actual love interest. But what did me over in the end was the cheating. I guess you could argue sam, teddy, beatrice, and connor aren’t really cheating because teddy and beatrices relationship is fake, but they haven’t established the fact that it is fake with each other explicitly.

a lot of this is personal preference and i understand that it is realistic for the princesses and prince to have developed that way psychologically and all that but it doesn’t mean i want to read about it. I only really liked Nora, Daphne(a hate-love thing) and Beatrice, that was until the aforementioned

cheating beatrice engages in, as well as the fact that it was fairly obvious she and Teddy would not end up together.

Ultimately I dnf’d this book almost entirely for personal reasons, the writing style was eminently readable and the interpersonal dynamics were well handled, i just really didn’t like where everything was going and decided to jump ship. 

emilyturnsthepage's review against another edition

re-read complete!

arraine's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

readwithriahh's review

4.25

I ate this book up. I really, really enjoyed reading it. First of all, the premise of America having a royal family was so interesting to me. The fact that they are descendants of George Washington? Even more intriguing. I really enjoyed this book and while a lot of it was a cute, fluffy read I really enjoyed that it touched on some more serious social issues as well. I thought it was really nice that history wasn’t ignored or brushed under the rug in this book. Were the conversations had about the history of the country groundbreaking? No, but I wasn’t expecting them to be given the plot of the book. The fact that they were touched upon and acknowledged was nice though. The other thing that I absolutely loved about this book was the DRAMA. Once I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down. It is told from four different perspectives which I cannot lie in the beginning confused me a lot. But once you get to know the characters a bit better, the confusion eases up and you’re able to fully enjoy the story. Highly recommend this if you’re looking for a fluffy read.

jenngrandreads's review against another edition

5.0

This was such a fun, fast read! It’s so fun to think about what America would be like with a royal family! I can’t wait for book 2 to come out in the fall!!

pastelsux's review against another edition

4.0

(Read as part of the Eliot Rosewater nominee reading list challenge.)

AND THE 2022-23 LIST IS FINALLY DONE! American Royals was absolutely impossible to track down at the library, I was on the waiting list for MONTHS before I got it. And when I was first reading it, I didn’t get the hype. This was another one of those books that took me about halfway through to start getting really engaged in.

I think the book was at its strongest when it was at its bleakest or darkest— while the romances were alright, it was the politics that kept me reading. Daphne was definitely the most compelling character for me and I always looked forward to her chapters. I hope it’s something the next books will continue to focus on.