The world of royalty is fascinating and exploring the concept of royalty in America is a smart way of covering the topic. I enjoyed this more than expected. I thought it would be light and fluffy, an excuse to write about the rich and famous, but there was some depth to the story. In a world where the USA chose a monarchy instead of a democracy, she explores the impact on the personal lives of the royal family. The eldest daughter has the responsibility and strain of living up to expectations put on her, training as the future queen. Will she be able to follow her heart or fulfill her duty? The second daughter is wild and controversial, rejecting her constraints. And the third royal, a son, appears oblivious to any scheming and a bit naive.

It feels like the royals or Britain and Monaco have provided material for the characters, demonstrating the challenges they face. Overall the story is woven well and very readable. Like a compulsive soap opera I was hooked to see the fates of these likeable characters.

This book is Gossip Girl mixed with The Crown and I loved it!

Set in an alternate reality where instead of becoming the first President, George Washington became the first King of America, American Royals tells the story of the younger generation. After a change in the law, Princess Beatrice is set to become the first queen of America and the pressure is on to find a suitable husband and secure the future of the monarchy. Twins, Princess Samantha and Prince Jefferson are trying to find a role for themselves after taking a gap year before going to university.

The young royals and their friends are beautiful and rich and glamorous. With chapters told from different character's, the reader sees the life of the royal family from both the inside and the outside. Love, duty, reputation and the conflict between public and private lives make compulsive reading.

Without spoiling the book, the ending
is perfectly set up for the sequel which is published in 2020 and I am definitely looking forward to finding out what happens next.

Thanks Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

When being Royal, only means more complications.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story, revolving around the Royal princesses and prince, at an important time in their lives.
Princess Beatrice is heir to the throne, she has spent her entire life being prom and proper, proving that she is the sensible choice. She is the first female heir, and will have to deal with underlying misogyny that flares up, even in this modern day. To try and make the transition as smooth as possible, she agrees with her parents' instructions that she should be married, so she can be seen to have the support of a man before she takes the crown.

Princess Samantha is the spare. She knows that she is not needed, so she lives her life to the max, bending or breaking every rule. Samantha is constantly frustrated that the media and her own family treat her like a walking scandal, whereas her twin brother is adored for doing the exact same thing. She is tired of being compared to her perfect older sister, and everything being about Beatrice. For once, Samantha finds something she really wants, only for that to be stolen away, too.

Prince Jeff doesn't get to narrate his own story, instead it falls to the two women in his life.
Nina is a lifelong friend of the twins, and she has always acknowledged that she is a nobody next to the royals. She has spent her life living in the shadows, and as she has gone to college, she has purposefully hidden her connection with the royal family. The problem is that, she is in love with Jeff, and he likes her too. Nina has to decide if that is enough to step into the spotlight and take on crazy media-driven world of the royals.

Daphne is Jeff's ex and she is perfect. She has the pedigree, she has the poise, and she has the love of the people. Everybody expects her to marry the prince and become the newest princess, and Daphne will do anything it takes to make that happen.
After all, isn't the prince the ultimate goal? Even at the expense of your own happiness?

It was so much fun to see how everything played out.
I thought the four narrators worked really well together, and it was really easy to slip back into their particular stories.
To begin with, I thought I'd like party-girl-Sam and nobody-Nina's parts best, but I was mildly surprised to find boring-Beatrice as my favourite, followed by conniving-Daphne. These characters were more than what they seemed, bound by duty and expectations - Bea wasn't as boring, and Daphne wasn't as heartless as they seemed.

I thought this was a stand-alone, and I was disappointed to find out it was a series.
In the second half of the book, some of the plotlines get a bit repetitive, and there was a point where it felt like everything could have been satisfactorily settled, but the author changed their mind.
I was disappointed, I thought it could have ended really strongly, and it was unnecessary to string it out any further. That being said, I will probably continue with the series.

The premise was quite interesting. The book is told in four perspectives - Beatrice, Samantha, Nina, and Daphne - and how their lives are intertwined in the royal family, either by birth, duty, and relations. There was a lot happening but it mainly focuses on the romance aspect of things.

I thought the writing was a bit basic at the start, but the author does a good job painting a picture of how these four women are, their thoughts and their objectives. It can be a bit info-dumping at times.

The drama unfolding in their lives could be viewed as a bit predictable, but the ending of the book seemed pretty traumatic - though it does nudge the point to an end.

This is honestly the perfect beach book. It's light, it's funny, its naughty - its everything you want for a bit of holiday escapism, or just something fun to read in the sun.

I completely agree with it being for both adults and teens, as theres nothing too inappropriate in it for teens, but its also not overly written for the younger. Maybe at the level of gossip girl, or a tiny bit younger than that - definitely not one for kids, but nothing inappropriate for teens, especially older ones.

I've somehow never heard of her other series, but after reading this, I will be getting hold of it as soon as possible. The perfect piece of escapism in a time where everything can feel a bit heavy and depressing. Yes, some might say its a bit silly, but I loved it, and would highly recommend.

If America had a Royal family, they would be the American Royals. An enjoyable read for older teens (sex references, alcohol, relationships) about a fictional royal family which draws on British Royal history and etiquette. The relationships between key characters are well imagined, dealing with love across commoner/royalty divide, putting the Crown first, what it means to be Royal and gold diggers!
This reminded me of Gossip Girl, with the high class lifestyle, complicated relationships and the family life that everyone can relate to regardless of background.
I will recommend this to my older students and I look forward to reading the next instalment!

"Beatrice wasn't living a story. She was living history, and history went on forever."

* *
2 / 5

McGee's other series, The Thousandth Floor, is a guilty pleasure of mine. I loved the drama, the glitz, the glamour, the rumours, the intrigue, and the imaginative setting. Instead of being set in a futuristic tower, American Royals takes the premise "what if George Washington made himself King?" and runs with it. Well, it's more of a shuffle. 

"From now on, you are two people at once: Beatrice the girl, and Beatrice, heir to the Crown. When they want different things, the Crown must win. Always."

Princess Beatrice Washington will be the first Queen of America. That means, she's got to find a man. But not just any man. A suitable one. Problem is, she's in love with her commoner guard; Beatrice meets a bunch of eligible blokes anyway and ends up picking Teddy. Her younger sister Samantha snogs Teddy in a closet and is annoyed that, once again, Beatrice can have pretty much whatever she wants because she's the heir and Sam is the spare. Sam's twin, Jeff, is the last of the trio in the line of succession and so he does pretty much whatever he wants. His big problem is balancing his ex-girlfriend Daphne, beloved by royalty and the media, with his new flame Nina, who is both a commoner and Sam's best friend.

Wild, right? So American Royals is told only from the point of view of the four women involved here: Beatrice, Sam, Nina, and Daphne. I thought this was kinda cool, but didn't really see what the point of hearing from Daphne was; daughter of a Baron, Daphne wants to rise socially and so will do anything to get Jeff back. Her chapters are just lots of plotting, basically, and could've been cut. Beatrice is probably the most interesting of the four. She's serious and committed to the crown, never putting a toe out of line. She even agrees to go on dates with eligible young men that she feels no romantic attraction for. She's in a tough spot and I sympathised with her, but the whole guard romance was so unconvincing.

"You are going to be the very first Queen of America. You have a steeper road to climb than all the eleven kings who came before you."

The big problem with American Royals is that it is basically four cliche straight romances. In fact, McGee hits virtually every variety of romance going: there's the girl who needs to choose the 'right' boy over the 'wrong' one (Beatrice); the girl dating above her station who isn't 'good enough' (Nina); the girl who wants someone who is dating someone else (Sam); and the girl who is dating to grab power (Daphne). It gets pretty dull fast.

The other issue I had was how unbelievable many of the events felt. I'm British so I won't comment on the premise of the book - America having a royal family - because I'm entirely unfamiliar with American history. But there's stuff like the King not telling his wife anything important, Samantha becoming infatuated after a tipsy snog, the twin's apparent lack of anything important to do ever, other than attending parties.

"There was something about the sight, something bright and glittering and full of promise."

I liked some aspects of this book, like the sisterly moments towards the end, and the way that Beatrice, for the most part, puts her duty first and acts like a sensible young woman. But mostly American Royals felt very uninspired and superficial.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

I feel as if i’ve been waiting for this book on a fictitious American royal family. There was an element of predictability but the story telling was so good I didn’t care. Love, scandal, a scheming villain, unsuitable suitors and torn loyalties. So much to love about this story. Can’t wait for the next one

Princess Beatrice is next in line to the throne, she’s going to be the first queen of America, and has been training for it all of her life. She’s pretty much perfect. Then the other two siblings, twins Sam and Jeff are more rebellious, because they can be. Sams best friend Nina doesnt tell anyone she knows the princess. It makes life easier that way. Then theres Daphne, Jeffs ex girlfriend. She wants him back.. He broke up with her but shes sure she can salvage the relationship. We learn so much about both Beatrice and Sam in this book, along with Daphne, you can get caught up in the politics, and frivolities of their world from all viewpoints.

This does feel so much like gossip girl. There was so many times I was expecting there to be a Serena or Blair moment, but luckily in situations where I thought It pop up, it never did, And I really like that.

Its hard not to compare to the lives of William and Harry a little. William being the future king with all his responsibility and pressure from the media compared to Harry, the Sparrow, who has been caught acting like a normal person, escaped to the military and frequently is refered to as the one ‘breaking protocol’.

I must admit I had a moment of panic when I realised I had almost finish the book, because I didnt know there was a second book planned. Thankfully on the last page theres a note telling you book two is coming in september 2020. I dont want to have to wait that long.

This was a novel read. The fact that America is under a monarchy means that history has unfolded in a very different way for America. As a YA book, I thought it was fun, if a little lacking in substance. If you enjoy TV shows like Gossip Girl, I think you’ll love this!

This is a very silly and fluffy YA novel about a fictional American royal family and their complicated love lives. Katherine McGee makes little effort to flesh out the alternative history of America other than silly details about King George I and cherry pie, which is probably for the best, as it could quickly have become offensive. Instead, she focuses on her central teenage characters: dutiful Beatrice, heir to the throne, who will be the first female to rule in her own right; her rebellious sister Samantha; and Samantha's 'commoner' best friend, Latin-American Nina, who finds herself falling in love with Samantha's royal brother, Jeff. Both the romantic entanglements in this novel and the characters' ultimate destinies are telegraphed from page one, as is the ultimate resolution (obviously, I haven't read book two so this isn't a spoiler, but this is obviously going to end with either Queen Samantha or a republic, right?)

McGee's previous Thousandth Floor trilogy, about the lives of the super-rich inhabitants of a thousand-floor skyscraper in a futuristic New York, was equally silly but more compelling because of its richer world-building, even if that world-building centred almost entirely around a single building. It was also more cleverly plotted, with many of the final resolutions in the third novel feeling genuinely surprising. American Royals feels much less original - it's strongly reminiscent of Kiera Cass's Selection novels, although McGee wisely doesn't attempt to write a dystopia. Of course, it could still take a very different turn in book two, but this novel feels like ridiculous escapism rather than a set-up for anything more serious. Recommended for holiday reading if you like this kind of thing.

I was really quite enjoying this fun, frothy story of an American royal family in the 21st century. I had already put aside any scepticism that the US would have a monarchy at all, because sometimes you just have to accept the original premise of a book, so that was no problem. And really, there was a lot to like in this book. Told from the point of view of four girls who are either in or adjacent to the royal family, we've got two princesses, the best friend of one princess, and the ex-girlfriend of the prince. Things get complicated when you realise that one princess has already kissed the guy who's dating the other princess, who is actually in love with someone else, and the best friend is secretly really into the prince, but the ex-girlfriend is having none of that. Scandals ensue, and loyalties are tested, all controlled by the strict requirements of royal protocol and decorum, and maintaining the image of the royal family above all else.
The four girls who take us through this luxe world of balls and gowns are very different, and have entirely conflicting goals, values, and priorities. As the action moves along, and relationships are developed, we start to see the clashing desires of each girl and how that's going to impact their lives going forward.
I actually really enjoyed 95% of this book. Yes, it was silly, and yes, it was almost entirely driven by straight relationships and was somewhat lacking in diversity (although Nina, the best friend, does have two moms), butI did kind of expect that. This was never going to be an issues-driven book which is a hard-hitting deconstruction of police violence, and it was probably also never going to be a searing criticism of royalty and the system of peers and nobility. But that was all okay, because that wasn't really what I was looking for with this one.
So. Yes. I was really enjoying this book. Scandals, broken hearts, crossed wires, protocol, all was chugging along nicely. In terms of feel, there were serious echoes here of The Selection series, particularly The Heir - probably because both books focus on the first female heir to the throne and her search for a suitable partner to support her reign. There was even the added similarity of royal twins - although a different position in the family. And, actually, American Royals has the same problem as I had with The Heir, and the main reason I knocked it down to three stars. It doesn't actually conclude. The book ends on a huge cliffhanger.
Now, I don't really have a problem with cliffhangers in general. They can be a good way to add tension to the book and change how all of the characters will act. But if you are going to have a cliffhanger, you need to have some plot threads resolved beforehand. Or even seemingly resolved, for the cliffhanger to throw them into turmoil.
That didn't happen here. Nothing is resolved. Nobody's relationship knows where it's going. Nobody is happy. There was no sense of satisfaction here at all. Rather, I finished this book with a pretty disappointed 'ugh', because honestly, after the time I had invested in getting to know these characters, being cut off in the middle of their story was really very frustrating. It felt like a cheap trick, and one that I've seen too often.
I also rate it a lot less in this book - the first in a series - than in the Heir, which was the fourth. By the time you get that far in, you're more invested in the characters, and willing to wait to see how things will develop. To throw it in at the end of the first book is disappointing, and not what I was hoping for.
For a book that I had really enjoyed up until the very end, the final pages left a sour taste, and have really coloured my overall view.

I adored this book - it was such a fun read and I was instantly obsessed with the fabulously glamorous world the American royals inhabited. The characters felt properly realised, and not 2D, and their actions were believable. And that ending, talk about a cliffhanger - I can't wait for book two.

I was really excited about reading this book. However it was not what I expected, and not for the better. I did not like the characters, they were just annoying and negative. The writing was not for me. It just felt dry and it was not the great contemporary that I thought it was.

Really loved this; good summer read, fun characterisations and a gossipy-best friend tone that makes it a quick read but one that I looked forward to coming back to.

Good all-round read. Loved the whole idea of an American royal family. Hope there will be more books.

This was an interesting book to read, at the start I thought I had it all figured out and knew which way the plot was going so I wasn’t fully invested but it surprised me... it will teach me for presuming things! The last 1/3 of the book was really gripping and that’s when it got good for me. Suddenly there where things coming to light that made it slightly darker than anticipated and actually made me like it more (I am a sucker for a dark undercurrent). So I can’t wait to see what happens in book two. I was shouting at the characters in this one quite a bit and I wonder if I will be doing the same the second time round! It is a testament to good writing though and shows the talent of the author as I could only do it if I was fully invested. A good start and I hope Book two builds on it.

What a lot of fun this was. Warning though, it's the first in the series so don't expect any resolution - and do expect to buy the second because it's Gossip Girl addictive.

What if, rather than becoming a republic, America had crowned George Washington as king? With no republic as an example would the rest of the world have kept their monarchies and how would America differ from the world we know today? In some ways, titles aside, very little. Technology, the education system, social media are all familiar, only there's a royal family in the White House. Oh, and the royal 21st century is far more inclusive than the republican one with African American and Native American ducal dynasties and no one batting an eyelid at married pairs of Dukes or Countesses. In one respect though the royal dynasty is very traditional. Up to the present day only a male could inherit the throne, and marriage is arranged to someone with the right background and credentials. Princess Beatrice is set to break the first of the traditions, but at just twenty one, the second is sacrosanct.

American Royal is told from the viewpoint of four girls; Princess Beatrice, heir to the throne and conscious that she always has to be perfect in every way; Samantha her youngest sister, the wild spare, Daphne, their brother, Jefferson's ex, ready to do whatever it takes to get back into his life and Nina, Sam's best friend.

It's all ridiculously camp, but in the best way. Daphne is still at school as she plots and schemes her way towards a proposal, poor lost Sam has only just left school and Beatrice has barely graduated College before she's given a list of suitors. The only sour note is Nina who plays the poor little me card a little too often for my liking. I'm not sure why the only daughter of a Government bigwig feels like such a poor relation all the time, or why she needs a College scholarship when both parents have great jobs and she is a terrible friend to Sam at least three times in the book. I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to be #teamDaphne but at least she has backbone behind that flawless, sociopathic beauty!

I'd have liked a little more of a look at the world outside the palace and to see more ways this alternate future influenced the last 200 odd years, but for a soap operaish YA romance, American Royals ticks all the right boxes and I can't wait for the next instalment.

This book was okay. I mostly picked it up as I found Katherine McGee's Thousandth Floor series really interesting but this book wasn't quite up to those standards. It was enjoyable enough and I got through it without a struggle but its hard to say what I really think about it.

For one thing some of the laws tied with royalty didn't make much sense when you consider other real royal families...

Sam and Jeff were probably the best characters but even they had their moments.

I'm honestly not certain if I'll pick the next book up but we'll see.

This book is SO MUCH FUN.

It’s set in an alternate American timeline where George Washington became royalty instead and follows the current royal family in Washington. Feelings about royalty aside (staunch small r-republican here) this makes for a great read. Yes it’s ridiculous. Yes it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure. But if you liked Crazy Rich Asians or Gossip Girl then you’ll love this. I hope it’s marketed to a YA audience though I think it’ll have some crossover too.

(Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)