Title: American Royals
Author: Katherine McGee
Genre: Contemporary YA
Format: Paperback
Length: 448 pages
Series: American Royals #1
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 3rd September 2019
My Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
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:
American Royals is a novel that is built on an interesting concept – what if instead of becoming president, George Washington was given a crown? The House of Washington has been on the throne since the Revolutionary War.
The novel follows Princess Beatrice, the next in line for the American crown. Beatrice has been preparing for the role her entire life, always doing what is expected of her, rather than what she wants to do.
Her younger siblings, twins Jefferson and Samantha, are ‘the spares’, they (seem to) have it easier however they both are struggling with their identities, and what they can and can’t do. Samantha is in love with someone she can’t have, while Jeff is in love with a woman who wants to avoid the attention, she’ll get from dating a prince.
Nina is the outsider, the commoner who is best friends with Princess Samantha. It’s interesting to see her life outside of the royal family and explore the other friendships that she has.
I was engrossed in this world from the beginning. It is told from different viewpoints and each of the narrators have their own distinct voice which allowed us to get an insight into the different characters, and truly engage with them. McGee has created a compelling story; it had a good pace and within a day I had reached the end of the novel and was desperate for more. Imagine my disappointment to discover I must wait until Autumn for book 2.
