Genre: Contemporary Romance Age Range: YA Star Rating: 4 stars Series: yes - first book (duology, I think)
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.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Thoughts:
I was so surprised to find I liked this book. It’s a contemporary (albeit an alternate universe) and a romance. That’s two immediate strikes against it, but I couldn’t put it down. It was, simply, a lot of fun. Very different from what I’d been reading (and struggling to read), and the change of tone and genre seemed to be exactly what I needed.
It also contains the only romance trope I really like; a Princes and her Guard falling in love. I love it because the reasons why they can’t be together are external (society and their conflicting jobs). This means the drama isn’t contrived around a communications break down or something equally frustrating.
The other romances were OK, again with mainly circumstances being the barriers – a political engagement, the media, or another character trying to break up the relationship. I think that really helped my enjoyment of the book as it’s normally stupid decisions that put me off romance in books.
As characters go, I like three of the four ladies (Beatrice, Sam and Nina). They seemed nice and genuinely doing what they think is best for both others and themselves. Daphne, however, is horrible. She wants a crown, and she’ll do anything to make that happen. I was glad she had the least page time, and when she was on page, I was rooting for her to fail, so I devoured her chapters just hoping someone would put her in her place.
Until I hit halfway through and went looking for the acknowledgements, I thought it was a standalone. However, there’s another books and I’m very glad as the ending upends everyone’s lives. I’m excited for the next book, to see if the characters I want to be together will be.
Read my reviews of other books by Katharine McGee:
American Royals (this series):
- MAJESTY (#2)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 