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whatjuliareads 's review for:
American Royals
by Katharine McGee
This is a book that I've seen kicking about a few times and always wondered about, so when I saw a hardcover copy in a $5 bin, obviously I had to give it a shot. I was recently watching Young Royals (still not finished) and I've enjoyed ridiculous stories about nobility and the gentry as a rule, so this seemed like a good shot.
This book is just good fun. I enjoyed the ridiculousness of the characters and the miscommunication and the very two-way problems that these characters faced - the POV character wasn't immediately in the right and the victim just because she was the POV character, they made mistakes and had to grow (to varying degrees). The sheer messiness of things and the lack of easy sweeping solutions was a pleasant surprise and I was so happy to see women supporting each other and not just as rivals (there was plenty of that, but female friendship was a strong theme).
One thing I have to ask though, is why do authors seemed convinced that it is hipster and unique to write notes on paper?? I graduated my first degree in 2016 and my second in 2018 and electronic note taking was still very much the exception to the rule. Maybe it's an American thing, but I swear every "cool" and "sweet" college girl is the last one writing with pen and paper in American novels!
Overall, I really enjoyed this for fun light reading. I hope that the later books delve deeper into some of the issues that this book brought up but passed over quickly (misogynistic double standards, the relationship between current leadership and past atrocities, race). This is not an issues novel and I don't necessarily want it to become one, but I'd love to see some of it come through more within the characters. Look forward to the next book!
This book is just good fun. I enjoyed the ridiculousness of the characters and the miscommunication and the very two-way problems that these characters faced - the POV character wasn't immediately in the right and the victim just because she was the POV character, they made mistakes and had to grow (to varying degrees). The sheer messiness of things and the lack of easy sweeping solutions was a pleasant surprise and I was so happy to see women supporting each other and not just as rivals (there was plenty of that, but female friendship was a strong theme).
One thing I have to ask though, is why do authors seemed convinced that it is hipster and unique to write notes on paper?? I graduated my first degree in 2016 and my second in 2018 and electronic note taking was still very much the exception to the rule. Maybe it's an American thing, but I swear every "cool" and "sweet" college girl is the last one writing with pen and paper in American novels!
Overall, I really enjoyed this for fun light reading. I hope that the later books delve deeper into some of the issues that this book brought up but passed over quickly (misogynistic double standards, the relationship between current leadership and past atrocities, race). This is not an issues novel and I don't necessarily want it to become one, but I'd love to see some of it come through more within the characters. Look forward to the next book!