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ikramxlek 's review for:
American Royals
by Katharine McGee
DNF SERIES @ 2/4
changed my mind on this one, i will not be reading more from this series.
An alternative history following the story of the royals of America if George Washington had been given a crown instead of the presidency. If you're looking for a fast-paced and easy-to-read YA romance that's reminiscent of Gossip Girl and The Royals, I think you might enjoy this.
I'll split up my review in two parts : the good and the bad.
Starting with the good :
- I LOVED the multiple POV's in this. It's one of my favorite things in books in general. It also really took me by surprise. I was reading the first few chapters and it kept on jumping from one character to the other. It was definitely what kept me reading and engaged throughout the story. It gave the sense that a lot what happening even when it wasn't necessarily the case.
- I think multiple POV's is a hard thing to pull off, especially in YA, because it's so easy for every character to sound the same and to lose the distinction between each of them. This really wasn't a problem in here. Every girl had her own personality and a different thing going on. My favorite POV was Daphne's. She's a terrible person but definitely the most interesting character. She added a lot to the story and was willing to do anything to become a princess. Then Beatrice. I really liked her as a character, being a future Queen and all. Also her romance with Connor was my favorite and the only one I really cared for. Then there's Samantha who's the second child of the King. She feels neglected and disposable since she was born, which results in here being reckless and impulsive, the complete opposite of her sister. It's a classic character, especially in stories about royalty, but I was here for it all the same. Nina's POV was my least favorite. Didn't care for it all that much. I mostly felt bad for her.
- I particularly enjoyed the writing in this book. It was easy to get through and somewhat addictive. Nothing pectacular but it was noteworthy all the same.
Now, onto the bad :
- I expected this book to be filled with tons and tons of drama and plotwists and lying and backstabbing. All the good stuff. Instead, I found the drama to be pretty tame and mostly very very predictable. I felt like the tone of the book was sometimes way more serious and melodramatic than necessary.There was nothing particularly jaw-dropping happening and most of the plot points were set up in a way that makes the outcome sooo obvious.
- As I said, i really liked the multiple POV's in the book and that's definitely what saved it for me. However, I wish we had gotten the POV's of the male protagonists as well. Maybe that would have helped them have an actual personality. ALL the male characters are so easily interchangeable. I don't remember the physical description for any of them but it doesn't matter. They might as well all look the same. The only purpose they serve to the story was for them to be the female characters' love interest. That's it. And I didn't care for any of them except maybe Connor.
- Which brings me to another point. EVERY SINGLE character HAD to be in a relationship. Even when it doesn't make any sense at all. I'm particularly thinking about Daphne. She's my favorite character. She's a total bitch and you can see how ruthless she can be to get what she want. So her thing with Ethan doesn't make any sense. I get that we're trying to idk humanize or something and show that he's her weakness or whatever. I could have gotten behind it if their romance wasn't soooo redundant with all the other ones happening.
- Some other things really bugged me like how dumb one of the male character was and how easily he was manipulated. And also how it could have easily been resolved but instead there was a lot of miscommunication and gaslighting.
This was originally supposed to be a 3 stars. Thats the actual rating in terms of quality. But overall i had a fun reading experience, the audiobook was good, and this was a fast read. Im hooked enough to want to read the second book. Despite all the flaws.
changed my mind on this one, i will not be reading more from this series.
An alternative history following the story of the royals of America if George Washington had been given a crown instead of the presidency. If you're looking for a fast-paced and easy-to-read YA romance that's reminiscent of Gossip Girl and The Royals, I think you might enjoy this.
I'll split up my review in two parts : the good and the bad.
Starting with the good :
- I LOVED the multiple POV's in this. It's one of my favorite things in books in general. It also really took me by surprise. I was reading the first few chapters and it kept on jumping from one character to the other. It was definitely what kept me reading and engaged throughout the story. It gave the sense that a lot what happening even when it wasn't necessarily the case.
- I think multiple POV's is a hard thing to pull off, especially in YA, because it's so easy for every character to sound the same and to lose the distinction between each of them. This really wasn't a problem in here. Every girl had her own personality and a different thing going on. My favorite POV was Daphne's. She's a terrible person but definitely the most interesting character. She added a lot to the story and was willing to do anything to become a princess. Then Beatrice. I really liked her as a character, being a future Queen and all. Also her romance with Connor was my favorite and the only one I really cared for. Then there's Samantha who's the second child of the King. She feels neglected and disposable since she was born, which results in here being reckless and impulsive, the complete opposite of her sister. It's a classic character, especially in stories about royalty, but I was here for it all the same. Nina's POV was my least favorite. Didn't care for it all that much. I mostly felt bad for her.
- I particularly enjoyed the writing in this book. It was easy to get through and somewhat addictive. Nothing pectacular but it was noteworthy all the same.
Now, onto the bad :
- I expected this book to be filled with tons and tons of drama and plotwists and lying and backstabbing. All the good stuff. Instead, I found the drama to be pretty tame and mostly very very predictable. I felt like the tone of the book was sometimes way more serious and melodramatic than necessary.There was nothing particularly jaw-dropping happening and most of the plot points were set up in a way that makes the outcome sooo obvious.
- As I said, i really liked the multiple POV's in the book and that's definitely what saved it for me. However, I wish we had gotten the POV's of the male protagonists as well. Maybe that would have helped them have an actual personality. ALL the male characters are so easily interchangeable. I don't remember the physical description for any of them but it doesn't matter. They might as well all look the same. The only purpose they serve to the story was for them to be the female characters' love interest. That's it. And I didn't care for any of them except maybe Connor.
- Which brings me to another point. EVERY SINGLE character HAD to be in a relationship. Even when it doesn't make any sense at all. I'm particularly thinking about Daphne. She's my favorite character. She's a total bitch and you can see how ruthless she can be to get what she want. So her thing with Ethan doesn't make any sense. I get that we're trying to idk humanize or something and show that he's her weakness or whatever. I could have gotten behind it if their romance wasn't soooo redundant with all the other ones happening.
- Some other things really bugged me like how dumb one of the male character was and how easily he was manipulated. And also how it could have easily been resolved but instead there was a lot of miscommunication and gaslighting.
This was originally supposed to be a 3 stars. Thats the actual rating in terms of quality. But overall i had a fun reading experience, the audiobook was good, and this was a fast read. Im hooked enough to want to read the second book. Despite all the flaws.