October 2, 2020

Book Review: American Royals (American Royals #1)


If you're on the hunt for a story to escape into, American Royals may be just what you need. This story imagines a world where George Washington was crowned king instead of president, resulting in a monarchy and line of succession that remains unbroken up until today. Readers are offered four different female perspectives, each with a tie to the royal family:

  • Beatrice, the proper eldest princess who has been groomed all her life to become queen
  • Samantha, the free-spirited princess who tends to be overlooked in favor of her sister and brother
  • Nina, a commoner who has been friends with Sam and her twin Jefferson since childhood
  • Daphne, the ambitious young lady who was dating Jefferson for years until he broke up with her

As you can imagine, each young woman has a lot on their plate. American Royals follows the four as they confront their own desires, obstacles and relationships in a series of events that definitely don't lack for drama (and it's very much à la Gossip Girl or any other contemporary teen drama you can think of). 

Having read two of McGee's previous novels, I fully expected to get swept up in the glitz, glamour and darkness of this story... and that's exactly what happened. McGee's writing is so easy to consume that I read this one pretty fast, despite the fact that it was lengthier than I'd anticipated. The plot does take some dramatic turns, which is unsurprising considering the amount of secrets and pettiness that abound, and not unexpected if you've dipped your toe into similar teen dramas. But I enjoyed the alternate history, the characters (particularly Beatrice and Nina of the four narrators), the relationships and, yes, I enjoyed all the drama too. 

It was a welcome reprieve to escape into a fictional world like the one in American Royals at the time that I'd picked it up. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it! I'm curious about how it all wraps up in the sequel (which came out fairly recently), and I definitely plan on checking it out.

Pub Info: September 3, 2019 by Random House | Add it on Goodreads | Buy the book!

1 Comments:

  1. I've been seeing this on my Twitter tl lately. I am glad I got to read a review of it, awesome btw! I am now interested to read it, just added this on my Kindle.

    Yani at Litfae

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment! I love seeing what you have to say, and will try to reply (here or on Twitter) as soon as I can :)