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piperrhoads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol and Toxic friendship
saoirse_the_thespian's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
American Royals is truly a masterpiece and is so underhyped. The world is created so beautiful with a plot that will have you staying up way too late to read. A great read if you want YA with royalty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Bullying
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Cancer, and Stalking
Minor: Death of parent
luna_cash's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
i didn’t love it, i feel like why spend the entire book biulding up these romances to get rid of them. i know who everyone ends up with but honestly i’m not sure i care. i’m probably not going to read the rest of these books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
there’s both cheatingisitcertain's review
emotional
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Toxic friendship
rhythmofryn's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-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
2.5
This was a rough book for me because of the heart-wrenching decisions required by the characters. The more I learn about royalty, the more I’m convinced I would never ever want a crown. I get too emotional over characters and I aches for every character who had to choose between what they truly wanted and what was expected of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol and Toxic friendship
Minor: Misogyny
reddeddy's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Bullying, Classism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Drug abuse, Body shaming, Colonisation, Sexism, Dysphoria, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Blood, and Slavery
keysmashhh's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Plot: 4/5
Character: 4/5
Relationships: 3/5
World-Building: 3/5
Genre: 3.5/5
Plot: Most parts of the plot made sense and were paced really well, the only part I was sceptical of was Nina and Sam's resolution - to me, it felt like they made up too quickly without really addressing the issues of their friendship. The ending though! :0 I both saw it coming and didn't, even if it was a little predictable that didn't stop me from getting goosebumps when everyone bowed.
Character: Jeff was my favourite character, it was slightly frustrating that we never got a chapter from his perspective as I feel that could have really helped me get on board with his relationship with Nina. Nina was a likeable enough character however I did get frustrated at her actions. Although he was a minor character Ethan also intrigued me, I would have liked maybe one or two chapters from his POV (maybe about him and Daphne) Daphne was an unlikable character but I understood her motivations. Beatrice was an interesting character that definitely grew on me. Teddy, I really liked him, I just kind of felt he got lost amongst the rest of the stronger personalities - I'm hoping we see more of him in Book 2. In terms of Diversity, I felt it lacked in POC and Queer characters (other than Nina and her parents) - I think a plotline where one of the royals has to explore the implications of having a queer relationship in America would have been really impactful and added a different sort of storyline.
Relationships: Some of them were alright (Ethan and Daphne's complicated relationship really interested me, I have to say Jeff and Nina's got a little too boring but them splitting up made it more interesting.
World-Building: An amazing premise, I liked the small hints at America's history we got through conversations with Bea and the King - I would have loved to know more about the history of this distorted America
Genre: Young Adult. Contemporary. Romance. - a genre filled with cliches and tropes - the royalty trope will always be fascinating to me. I liked the romance features (THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!) but I felt that sometimes it was the only thing anyone was talking about. The moments of solidarity between Bea and Sam felt so genuinely real and I liked it but I felt that some scenes had so much emphasis on the romance that we lost the friendships a little bit, I would have loved to see a scene where Teddy, Jeff and Ethan hung out or Sam met Nina's college friends.
Character: 4/5
Relationships: 3/5
World-Building: 3/5
Genre: 3.5/5
Plot: Most parts of the plot made sense and were paced really well, the only part I was sceptical of was Nina and Sam's resolution - to me, it felt like they made up too quickly without really addressing the issues of their friendship. The ending though! :0 I both saw it coming and didn't, even if it was a little predictable that didn't stop me from getting goosebumps when everyone bowed.
Character: Jeff was my favourite character, it was slightly frustrating that we never got a chapter from his perspective as I feel that could have really helped me get on board with his relationship with Nina. Nina was a likeable enough character however I did get frustrated at her actions. Although he was a minor character Ethan also intrigued me, I would have liked maybe one or two chapters from his POV (maybe about him and Daphne) Daphne was an unlikable character but I understood her motivations. Beatrice was an interesting character that definitely grew on me. Teddy, I really liked him, I just kind of felt he got lost amongst the rest of the stronger personalities - I'm hoping we see more of him in Book 2. In terms of Diversity, I felt it lacked in POC and Queer characters (other than Nina and her parents) - I think a plotline where one of the royals has to explore the implications of having a queer relationship in America would have been really impactful and added a different sort of storyline.
Relationships: Some of them were alright (Ethan and Daphne's complicated relationship really interested me, I have to say Jeff and Nina's got a little too boring but them splitting up made it more interesting.
World-Building: An amazing premise, I liked the small hints at America's history we got through conversations with Bea and the King - I would have loved to know more about the history of this distorted America
Genre: Young Adult. Contemporary. Romance. - a genre filled with cliches and tropes - the royalty trope will always be fascinating to me. I liked the romance features (THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!) but I felt that sometimes it was the only thing anyone was talking about. The moments of solidarity between Bea and Sam felt so genuinely real and I liked it but I felt that some scenes had so much emphasis on the romance that we lost the friendships a little bit, I would have loved to see a scene where Teddy, Jeff and Ethan hung out or Sam met Nina's college friends.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Alcohol and Drug use
elskabee's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
There just wasn't enough that I enjoyed about it to give it a better rating but it's not terrible, 3 is a respectable rating. It was a reasonably fun audiobook to listen to while cooking, but it's not a series that I'll be continuing either.
Unfortunately, the book suffered from focusing on too many characters and so only superficially dealt with each characters conflicts and romance. In fact, it was really difficult for the first 50% of the book to keep track of each character (who they are, who they like, their personality) because there's FOUR character perspectives that it's roughly equally split between and they're all young women who are either in the royal family or closely tied to it. Not to mention everyone is cheating on everyone (not judging but it makes it even harder to keep track) or in some other secret relationship. So why did we need four characters?
I also don't feel like this needed to be a royalty focused book? So much time is spent on relationship drama and hardly any on the royalty stuff? It's just kind of a backdrop that has only some impact on the plot so it felt more Gossip Girl than say, Red, White, and Royal Blue. I honestly think this would make a better TV show than book series just because of the way it's structured. But that's just my opinion lol
Unfortunately, the book suffered from focusing on too many characters and so only superficially dealt with each characters conflicts and romance. In fact, it was really difficult for the first 50% of the book to keep track of each character (who they are, who they like, their personality) because there's FOUR character perspectives that it's roughly equally split between and they're all young women who are either in the royal family or closely tied to it. Not to mention everyone is cheating on everyone (not judging but it makes it even harder to keep track) or in some other secret relationship. So why did we need four characters?
I also don't feel like this needed to be a royalty focused book? So much time is spent on relationship drama and hardly any on the royalty stuff? It's just kind of a backdrop that has only some impact on the plot so it felt more Gossip Girl than say, Red, White, and Royal Blue. I honestly think this would make a better TV show than book series just because of the way it's structured. But that's just my opinion lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexism
alexbowie03's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
this book was really good; I did have alot of trouble getting into it in the beginning though. I found the beginning really slow but once things started to pick up it was really enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Grief, Sexism, Stalking, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Blood
Minor: Blood, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
claudiamacpherson's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Basically, if Gossip Girl were about royalty. Drama, politics, backstabbing, and trading partners… <i>American Royals</i> has it all. Pretty much everyone is obnoxious and spoiled...but you can’t help but like them anyway (except you, Daphne. You suck). Maybe it’s the eldest daughter in me, but Beatrice was my favorite character by far. This was a super quick read, and had so many tropes that, while slightly overused, are still fun to see. I kind of hated the sisters-fighting-over-a-guy storyline. It makes me uncomfortable and feels very unrealistic—what kind of sister would do that??
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):Cliffhanger-y! I hadn’t realized that there was a sequel, so I was expecting more resolution...good thing I got the next one from the library super quick!
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship