A review by bookcasey
American Queen by Sierra Simone

The cover might remind me of a Kiera Cass book, but the content does not. The library description I read didn’t prepare me for the content. Age gaps, especially with a minor, are a big turn off for me. I kept reading because the premise of the characters and the prologue could have been interesting, but  it only got increasingly unappealing to me (see content warnings).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Incest and War

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

There is an age gap that is more extreme because

the entire plot hinges on a man in his mid/late twenties being sexually obsessed with a barely-sixteen year old girl for a decade.

There is also mention and some description of sex between

half siblings and between one of those half-siblings and the other’s step-sibling.

One character is dominant and

enjoys inflicting pain (belt-whipping, not like a couple cute spanks) on sexual partners, to the point where another character cries through most or all of the sex scenes.