Let’s start this post off with a little known fact about my tastes in books: it’s low-brow TRASH. I love happy endings. I love trash romances and am OBSESSED with dystopian young adult fiction. I don’t read books usually to feel edified. I want to be entertained and sometimes left with a crazy cliffhanger so that I just have to immediately start the next in the series. Just keep that in mind when you read my book reviews. I don’t need you coming in the comments for me.
TLDR Review
- Author: Katherine McGee
- Published: September 2019
- Genre: Young Adult Fiction
- Synopsis: This book imagines if Georgia Washington was offered kingship after the American Revolution, he took the founding fathers up on the idea. The book is set during the modern-day reign of the Washington monarchs of America.. A lovely cast of characters!
- Sami’s rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Content Rating: G
- I AM DYING FOR THE SEQUEL.
- Bonus: This book got a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2019).
Synopsis from Author
What if America had a royal family?
When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne.
As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America’s first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling.
Nobody cares about the spare except when she’s breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn’t care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her.
And then there’s Samantha’s twin, Prince Jefferson. If he’d been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart.
My Review
fav quote:
“Elect the king or queen – what a funny concept. Everyone knew the elections only worked for judges and Congress. Making the executive branch pander to the people, go out begging for votes – that could only end in disaster. That structure would attract the wrong sort of people: power-hungry people with twisted agendas.”
American Royals by Katherine McGee
— Beatrice Washington
Y’all – I literally cackled when I read that above quote. I wanted to send it to my sister with zero context but I didn’t because I didn’t want to stop reading for that discussion. I am not pointing any fingers, but man, I just love authors sometimes.
I love this book. SAH goooood.
American Royals did it for me and checked all my fav kind of boxes:
- An easy, breezy yet entertaining read
- Full of romance hijinks
- A royal element
- Well-written characters that just seem so AUTHENTIC!
Count Sami in because that is my catnip. I devoured it in two days.
This book takes the premise that George Washington was America’s first king and flashes forward to 250ish years with House Washington still sitting on the throne. Maybe I have lived under a literary rock but this American Royals (see what I did there?) idea was such a breath of fresh air. It was something I have never seen in another book before and quite frankly, I offend myself that as a two-degree History graduate, I never even contemplated. Not even once.
What I loved most about this book is the female-centric focus. Each chapter toggled between 4 character’s POV:
- Beatrice, age 21 and heir apparent to the throne. She will become the first female who will reign in America due to a new law put in place by her grandfather. She is the “perfect” first child character. She also has a big ol’ secret which shows she is not-so-perfect.
- Samantha, age 18, twin to Jefferson, and the “spare” princess who is such a Prince Harry character if there ever was one. She is very wild and middle-child-esque. She is a snark queen and I am HERE.FOR.IT.
- Nina, best friend of Sam who lives in the periphery of her royal friend. She is a normal civilian that causes a little kerfuffle by who she dates- especially cause no one knows her proximity to the royal family.
- Daphne, ex-girlfriend of Jefferson and a backstabbing blah blah blah who is determined to get back with Jeff and get the resulting prestige of getting a prince on lock. She is, of course, über pretty and überrrrr two-faced. You gotta admire her work ethic cause this chica stops at nothing.
Without giving to much away, I was all *heart-eye emoji* with Connor and his garden scene. I am totally convinced Teddy is supposed to be Kennedy family adjace. And I am here for the diversity and representation whether via Nina’s parents or with the Ducal representations.
This book gets a gold star and I am DYING for the sequel because there cannot be a sequel with that ending!
What should I read next?
xx,
Sami
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As always, ideas and opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.
The cool aunt. Plant novice who loves to travel to cool places, eat unadventurous food, and take pretty photos.
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