American Royals

This was...interesting? I liked the fun alternate history. A lot of times alternate history focuses on war/ politics whereas as this largely avoided that. I liked the interplay of the siblings, but I wish we had gotten a little more Jefferson. I felt like a decent amount of plot focused on him, but I never felt like I properly knew him as a character. Overall, a decent page turner but it lacked the punch of Crazy Rich Asians.

Princess Beatrice: will be the country's first queen to ever take the throne.

Samantha: can't care too deeply about anything but a boy who is off-limits

Daphne: is trying to get back with princes Jefferson and be come a princess

Nine: the daughter of the Minister of the Treasury and friend with Samantha

American Royals is A story that follows four girls and they history evolving royalty. One of them is soon to be the country's first queen. The second one is a princess who doesn't much care for following the rules. The three one is friend with the princess who doesn't care about following rules. And who is not in the royalty social life. The last one is the ex of the prince and who American loves.

So I need a second part to this book so bad. Omg I have so much questions about the ending and I need to know how they life is going to be now with everything that happened. Please don't do this to me.

So for Daphne is so cancelled bye. I never thought I will be so mad with a character in a book before. But Daphne got me so mad. I don't like her at all.

I've never read this author's The Thousandth Floor series, especially because it has a lot of mixed reviews and I didn't feel like investing my time in it. But the alternate reality version America in this new book felt very interesting and I thought it'll be a great foray into the author's works. After really adoring RWRB (which is also like an AU version of America), I thought this book will be equally fun, but it's very unfair to even try to compare the two books. I'm actually not sure what I'm going to say below in my review coz I'm very unsure about my feelings and really playing by the ear.

Let me start off with the positives. The writing is very compelling and easy to follow, I never got bored and didn't exactly wanna put it down either - which is kind of an accomplishment because I didn't actually like the characters or the story but I still wanted to know what was going to happen. Now for what I didn't like.... I definitely wanted to know a little more about the history of this alternate America, why Washington decided to become a King and how has the monarchy shaped the country - but we don't get any of that. The main characters are the descendants of GW and current rulers, and that's all we get to know. We get a little about the various Dukes and Earls and Viscounts that make up this America, and some references to previous Royal scandals, but that's about the extent of the worldbuilding. I'm probably expecting too much from a YA romance novel, but I found it rather jarring that there's no mention of the history of slavery and how it was abolished (because there's no civil war and obviously no Lincoln in this world). Out of the four POV characters, one is a commoner who also happens to be a Latina with lesbian parents - her whole family felt like the token diverse part added to this novel. The only other POC character is a Japanese-American teenager who is in a coma throughout the novel. So you can guess why I'm a bit disappointed at how tone deaf this novel seems to be. I understand that the author wanted to write a teenage drama but that doesn't mean the book can't have depth or should necessarily only be superficial and frivolous.

There are four POVs in this novel which actually surprised me because it's not easy keeping track of so many storylines. It took me a while to remember who was who but it got easy gradually. The only character who seemed atleast a bit developed and had some depth was Beatrice, the heir to the crown and first future Queen of America. She struggles with always trying to be perfect and never having the choice to make any decisions for herself because her whole life is tied to the crown and country. I could truly sympathize with her when she couldn't even fall in love with the person she wanted. Her younger sister Samantha came across as a mostly entitled privileged girl who was jealous of all the attention her sister got. Sam's twin Jeff seemed like a clueless teenager whom I got to know nothing about except that he has two girls fighting over him. Nina is the only commoner POV we get and I liked that she was a grounded character for the most part, not at all swayed my the trappings of royalty despite being the twins' friend since childhoood. I just wish she had more to her story than just revolving around the royals. Daphne is the final POV, who is from a noble family and will do anything to marry Jeff. She is the villain of the story and the source of a lot of girl hate and meanness (which I don't like). I especially hated her parents because I'm sure they are responsible for her being that way. There is a lot of drama and romantic entanglements throughout the story, but I frankly could care less who ended up with whom.

Ultimately, this book can be summed up as American royalty version of Gossip girl - full of drama and love triangles and backstabbing mean girls. If that premise interests you, then this is a perfect book for you. It's fast paced and entertaining and pretty easy to finish in a single sitting. But if you like your YA romances to have a bit more depth and be less superficial, then I don't think this one is for you. This is also not a standalone and ends with a cliffhanger, so keep that mind when you decide to pick it up. But even that predictable ending is not enticing enough for me to continue with this series.

4.5/5 stars

4.5✨ uhhhhhhhh i only have two things to say: 1. gimme the sequel now 2. CONNOR!

This is some pretty great escapist fun, along the lines of a soap opera in book form. If you're looking for a light read this is a good choice, however, I was really bummed that the ending is just one big cliffhanger. You get to the end and realize it's just all just been one long setup for the next book, none of the storylines or romantic entanglements have resolution. If I'd known that I probably would have waited until I could read both books together.

I'm all for the royal dramas & gossips (even when it's fiction).
Though most of the main characters are so entitled, spoiled, selfish and self-centered, (the only half decent one is princess Beatrice) I still couldn't stop reading. If this is a TV series, I would binge-watch it for sure.
But why did the author feel the need to pair up every single character in this book? Why does everyone like someone and that someone happens to like someone else or is forced to be in a relationship with someone they don't love? I guess the real royals are that messed up too.

Characters that I dislike:
Sam (2nd princess) what a jealous brat! She was so mean to her sister Beatrice over a guy she had only made out with twice.
Nina (Sam's best fren) though Daphne is a manipulative bitch, she is no better for almost sleeping w the prince while he is still dating Daph.
Jeff (prince) what a love-blind useless prince.
Hey I didn't dislike Daphne even though she is the antagonist. I somewhat admire her determination & dedication.

3.5 ⭐ – honestly if you don't want drama don't read this. Just over here gloating that my life is less complicated

Isn't this a fun idea: What if George Washington had accepted the role of king rather than president? What if his clan continued to rule America as kings until modern times? How would America look and feel if America was governed by a large network of kings, queens, dukes, and other members of royalty? What would it be like to be one of those royals, in the continual public spotlight? What if one of those royals wanted to date someone who was not so royal?

The world the author has created seems so real that I felt most of the time that I was reading a contemporary fiction novel rather than a fantasy. The characters are young adults, and each is struggling with some aspect of the world of royals that conflicts with his personal worldview. Beatrice is heir to the throne, and she will be first to rule as queen in her own right. Her parents push her to find a suitable royal spouse, and she reluctantly begins to seek out potential husbands, though she has already found herself deeply attracted to one who is outside the possible royal spouse loop. Her brother and sister are considered “spares,” and they are given much more freedom to act and love and speak out in their world. There are also the friends of the royals, some of whom are minor royals themselves and some of whom are not, and they also have their own conflicts and troubles. Add to this mix a few intrigues and secrets, and you will find you can't stop turning pages.

The author can't resist throwing a few delicious bones to those of us living in these real political times: “Elect the king or queen—what a funny concept. Everyone knew that elections only worked for judges and Congress. Making the executive branch pander to the people, go out begging for votes—that would only end in disaster. That structure would attract the wrong sort of people: power-hungry people with twisted agendas.”Love it.

The nobler characters, like that of Beatrice and her father and Teddy, offer a wonderful picture of what a kingdom could be like, while a look at the overly ambitious folks, like Daphne, almost made me want to throw away the queenly crowns and princess castles of my little granddaughter and her peers. Ah, but the glittery world of priceless jewels, and servants for every task, along with the glory of unlimited power will always, though sometimes against our better judgment, draw us back into this fascinating world. And this author has brought this fairytale dream right into our own America—a delightful ride of a book, and the author leaves us headed down one of the steepest ramps of the roller coaster at the conclusion, eagerly awaiting book two of the series.

The weiting was mid
Hated the ending and such

2024 Reflection Time: Now that I'm older, wiser (maybe), and have read way worse things than this, I don't think this is as bad as plenty of other books out there. Yes, it's trashy, but it's entertaining trash and that's what matters to me. I know I said I wouldn't be reading the following books but my interest has been reignited I miss Nina my beloved (and I will still probably be skimming Daphne's chapters). Gonna leave my original review up because it's iconic as fuck bye.

2022 Review:

Take all of the shitty people from the British royal family (aka anyone but Diana and Meghan) and make them American. Now add a dash of Gossip Girl (which I hate), a pinch of The Bachelorette (which I also hate), a hint of The Selection, and a few splashes of Dance Moms-level drama. Don't forget to toss in a few pick-me girls (except for you, Nina Gonzalez). That is the recipe for American Royals.

Now if this sounds good to you, that's great! I'm happy for you and hope you enjoy this. But to me, this sounds like a load of flaming garbage and I wish I had known this before buying a box of cereal for it. So I hope Nina Gonzalez is doing well in the next books, because I'm not reading them.

(And just as a warning, Daphne Deighton is one of the most disgusting, vile, and self-absorbed characters I've ever had the displeasure of reading about, so if you do decide to read this make sure to skip her chapters.)

No but genuinely, someone tell me what happens to Nina in the next books. I don't care about spoilers and I need to know.

But also I kinda had fun with it and I may read book two if I'm ever in the mood to read some flaming hot dramatic garbage a la The Selection lmao

TL;DR: Concept was cool, execution was shit.

Original Rating: 2 Stars

Pre-Reading Updates: i heard this is trashy like trashier than the selection ooo i'm like 99% sure i'm gonna hate this lmao

i finished this so fast wtf this is so addicting

3.75

1.5. The writing, the plot, the characters- none of it is good. Everything is incredibly shallow.

Started reading this as premise is quite unique for a YA series. Pleasantly surprised at the storyline and worldbuilding (although a bit slow at times), but still good enough to keep me interested in wanting to read more.

Curious to see how series progresses