I was intrigued by the question "What if Washington had established a monarchy instead of a democracy during the founding of America?" and hoped the book would spend a lot of time on world-building. That aspect was lacking a bit, unfortunately, and the pacing and narrative were reminiscent of Gossip Girl, but I don't think McGee was trying to make it anything beyond that.

It was a fun, soapy YA read, but OOF, that cliffhanger...I almost don't want to read the next one out of spite.

I can't wait for the next book in this series! Very reminiscent of Gossip Girl but with royals. It's a light easy read which is perfect. The end did feel a little rushed so I hope the author doesn't do that in the next one, especially since this will be a series there is no need to rush the ending.

2.5 stars, rounded up

What if America hadn't gone the radical route of elected government officials and democracy, and instead had offered George Washington a crown and he had inexplicably taken it?

This is the intriguing alternate history of a world that could have been, with the royal siblings—Crown Princess Beatrice, twins Samantha and Jefferson—and their friend Nina, navigating the world of love, romance, expectations and social media.

It's very gossipy and filled with the glitz, glamor, gossip and grit of the royalty and celebrity worlds, with everything we obsess about in celebrities transformed into the aristocracy.

While I did enjoy the storyline and the characters—I really, really enjoyed the characters, although Beatrice got on my nerves for transforming from dutiful future monarch into a love-struck brat—I wished that the world had been better developed.

Seriously, do not go into this for the world-building.

It's alternate history, but in a world that is still based on the history that had gone before.

And because of that, I had some serious problems with this alternate history.

In this world, the major monarchies still rule—the Hanovers, the Bourbons, the Romanovs, etc—and apparently the world wars never happened thanks to a world-wide peace pact signed in 1895. This take on history—that the democratic and communist revolutions would never have happened without the American Revolution—is fascinating, flawed and very, very scary.

Okay, so this is essentially Gossip Girl with royalty.

Hear me out.

This book absolutely ignores the consequences and rippling aftereffects of colonialism and imperialism, and places a blind eye towards the power of representative government. Basically—monarchy good, rule of the people bad. It ignores all of the horrific things done by monarchs with the blithe observation that a benevolent monarchy is good because well, those people are good and meant to rule.

Also, the thing that really, really bothered me throughout this entire book was the absolute lack of slavery or American Indians.

Apparently, America exists and is divided into duchies instead of states, with a reach that seems to go all the way to the west coast (with a slight nod to Spanish and French colonization in the naming), but there's not really much history covered than that?

The fact that George Washington was a slave owner was not mentioned a single time.

Slavery was not mentioned a single time.

The colonization of America and the erasure of American Indians was not mentioned.

There was not a single Black character in this entire book (that I noticed, I could be wrong).

There were only two prominent characters of color in the book, and one was in a coma the entire time. The other—Nina—was a diversity checklist of a Hispanic (not Latinx) girl with burnished sienna skin who had queer moms. While I'm glad for the representation, it was tokenization.

Anywho.

I'm probably reading too much into this, but I was hoping for more.

I did enjoy the storyline and was entertained—mostly because I'm trash for all things royal and I have no shame about it—even if the alternate history aspect was deeply troubling and not well thought out.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This was a fun fictional take on history. What if America was a monarchy ruled by the Washingtons instead of the democracy it has always been? What would our royal family be like? Since I am a big fan of the royal family, particularly princes Wlliam and Harry, it was fun to step into this imaginary world with princesses Beatrice and Samantha and prince Jefferson. Each of them have a different role to fill to do their duty to their country, but they are all young and love abounds. There are so many romantic stories going on here, it is a romantic's dream book, so I definitely enjoyed it. I thought the ending was a little abrupt and the characters stories weren't tied up neatly the way I would have like so I am crossing my fingers for a sequel! Since I have been interested the royal family (both current and historical) for much of my life, I did see a lot of parallels in this story vs. the English royal family, but it was interesting to see it kind of expounded upon and how the players of the story felt since we can never actually get into the brains of the actual royal family. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys following the royal family, romantic story lines, or young adult ficiton.

What if George Washington had become king rather than president? That’s the question this YA romance attempts to answer. After more than 200 years the Washington line is still going strong and preparing to crown their first queen with Princess Beatrice. She, on the other hand, is having inconvenient feeling towards her bodyguard. Meanwhile, her younger twin siblings, Princess Samantha and Prince Jefferson are having royal romance troubles of their own.
Told from the point of view of four female characters, don’t look for too much depth in this book. That’s not a bad thing at all. It achieves what it sets out to be: a fun rom-com. It appeals to the lizard part of our brains that want to see our mean girls wonderfully mean and our good girls clever and fun. This is the love child of Gossip Girl and The Princess Diaries I never knew I wanted.

I was bored reading this - it felt like one huge cliche and I couldn't wait for it to end. The premise was so good that I really hoped and expected for more but it just turned into a lot of predictable outcomes and a lot of petty, typical YA stuff. I didn't love it and I'm not sure whether I would read book two. Hope you have better luck!

American Royals comes out next month on September 3, 2019, and you can purchase HERE. If you liked The Selection, you may like this - I felt like they had a similar vibe.

Even as a child, Nina had instinctively known that she had to give way to Sam. Not necessarily because she was royal, though that was certainly part of it. But Sam had enough personality for two people--which always made Nina feel like she needed to back down a bit, to compensate. Sam was unpredictable and irrepressible and laughing and mischievous. She had always been the one to set their plans, come up with their schemes. And she expected Nina to follow her lead without question.

After the American Revolution, George Washington accepted the crown. Generations later, his family is still ruling America. When Beatrice, the heir apparent, learns that her father is dying from cancer, must choose a husband, to help rule beside her. Samantha chafes at her role in society, and resents being the spare to the throne. Samantha's twin Jefferson, handsome and intelligent, falls for Samantha's best friend, who he dates in secret.

This was a fun and quick read. The characters were well developed and the plot seemed realistic. I think young adults will love this series and demand a sequel. Overall, well worth picking up.

First things first: I really, really disliked this book. I had high hopes for it, but wow did it fall short.

I'm a big royals watcher (I could do a TED talk force-ranking the Royal Families of Europe), so I was interested in an alternative universe where the U.S. became a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic. There's so much potential! Unfortunately, there was little-to-no world-building to give context to the American Royal Family. Apart from a few throw-away lines about how most of Europe is also run by monarchies/empires (which ... there is a difference, historically. But the book seems to elide the two; it's all very vague), there is enough information on how, exactly, American history has been changed by switching out a president for a king.

Then there's the actual plot. I've recently gotten into contemporary romance novels, so I understand that extreme coincidence is a cornerstone of such books. However. All three of the royal children are involved in an incredibly tangled love knot at the same time? Ridiculous. Sure, royals lead rather sheltered lives, but do they honestly only interact with the same 5 people? Beatrice went to Harvard, surely she met at least one person who a) didn't work for her or b) was involved with her siblings.

And then there's the ending, or rather lack of it. I rolled my eyes so hard I nearly gave myself a headache. This book is so clearly designed to be a part of a series, that I can only assume McGee didn't bother fleshing out either the universe or her characters in this first installment because she had others in the pipeline.

Tl;dr: the writing is mediocre, the plot is insipid, and to call the characters cliche would be giving them more nuance than they actually have. What a waste of time.

Oh and a purely petty note: none of the names make sense: Beatrice feels too European; Jefferson is the surname of a Founding Father and president who never existed (it's like naming a British princess "Grey" after Lady Jane); and saying "Teddy like the bear" is <b>total nonsense because the teddy bear comes from a story about Theodore Roosevelt, a President WHO NEVER EXISTED IN THIS UNIVERSE.</b>

*ARC provided by NetGalley

This was a fun and captivating look into the lives of teen royals, IF America's founders had turned it into a monarchy. The author draws you into the imagined life of the royal family members with plenty of drama to keep you wanting more. My only complaint was that the story ended too soon.

Imagine if America's founders traded one monarchy for another, and the descendants of George Washington were still on the throne today? Such is the premise for this modern romance by Katharine McGee centering on the next generation of Washingtons - Beatrice, the first member of the family who will be queen now that the law no longer favors sons; Samantha, a twin who acts out because she feels like no one takes her seriously and she's only around as a set of spare parts; and Jeff, Sam's twin (and technically younger brother) who is recently out of a long term relationship and is the country's most eligible bachelor. Beatrice and Sam narrate chapters, as do Nina - Sam's life long best friend, a commoner with unprecedented access to a world she's not quite a part of - and Daphne - Jeff's ex who is determined to win him back, no matter what. I breezed through this book in a day and enjoyed it. In a lot of ways, the fictional monarchy here reminded me very much of Rachel Hawkins' Royals series. Unlike in those books, however, this one does not have a tidy ending - if readers want to know how events and relationships turn out, we will have to wait for book 2. That's not typically the case for stories with romance at the center, so I was frustrated by that, but I'll still be adding the next installment to my TBR.

This book manages to make the cheesy/dramatic teen romance work really well! I'm not usually one to like those types of books but I think the alternate history aspect made it believable and like a guilty pleasure read. If you are looking for deep historical fiction this one is not for you but I think this would make a quick and fun read that is heavy on the romance but also toys with the idea of what would America look like if it had become a Monarchy instead of a democracy. It keeps it semi-intellectual while also having the main characters kissing in a coat closet - I ended up enjoying this mix :)

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House Children's for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

What would American look like, if George Washington had been our first king instead of our first president? This was the very question Katharine McGee answered in her spectacular book, American Royals.

Though technically a fantasy, this book feels contemporary as it is set in our current time in a slightly different America. In this America, Washington's descendants rule from their palace, and it was such a treat to spend time in their world.

I was a HUGE fan of McGee's Thousandth Floor series, and was over the moon, when I heard she was writing a series featuring royals. Let me tell you, this book was everything I was hoping for and then some. I came here looking for more of the delicious drama that McGee had previously dazzled me with, and I was delighted to find an abundance of it.

The story was told via four points of view

• Beatrice - the first female heir to the throne, who was struggling with putting crown before self due to matters of the heart.

• Samantha - the spare, who was being denied the one she wanted and living in the shadow of her sister.

• Nina - Samantha's best friend, who got in over her head with her love match as she was not up to the challenges of navigating the royal world.

• Daphne - the social climber, who was bent on getting her princess plan back on track.
I have been known to laud books with low drama, but here, I found more was better. I loved the all the forbidden love, the sneaking around, the subterfuge, and the plotting, but the heart of this book, for me, was the characters and their struggles.

I found each character to be fully formed, and loved that they were all really human and had flaws. They may have lived in a class way above me, but they were dealing with many of the same problems we do everyday, and I found them all very relatable and easy to like. Even the "villain" of the group was created in a way, that I was able to feel some sort of empathy for her.

There were also many relationships examined throughout the story. We got into the family dynamics, the friendships, and the romantic relationships within this group, which are all a bit more complicated, when they were between a royal and commoner. A lot of the characters' dilemmas were related to trying to reconcile their modern beliefs with the archaic laws they were expected to follow.

I have seen people call the ending "predictable", but I DON'T CARE! It was done with so much emotion and dramatic flair, I was shedding tears and wishing I had the next book on hand.

If you are looking for a soapy and delicious drama stacked with fabulous characters -- look no further, because American Royals can deliver that with the bonus of an emotional punch.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. I could NOT put this one down! The author imagines a United States where when America won the Revolutionary War, it made George Washington king. Now, thanks to legislature passed by her grandfather, Beatrice Washington is preparing to one day take the throne as the first governing queen of America. She also has twin younger siblings, who are a bit wilder and free-spirited. The story follows their romantic (and political) lives and it is killing me to have to wait for the sequel. This one comes out on 9/3, so be sure to pre-order it for readers in grades 8+. So, so good.

4.5 stars!

I think it is a great accomplishment when an author makes me care about teenage drama, when normally I would hate hearing about it. It reminds me of The Selection in a way, because I thought I would hate the story of girls vying for one guy's attention, but I ended up loving it. I experienced the same feeling with this book; I wouldn't normally care in real life, but oh do I care about what is going on with these characters! Sam, Nina, Beatrice, and Daphne provide the four points of view, and I loved everyone I was supposed to love and utterly HATED and DESPISED Daphne for being a cruel, conniving, insidious, b-i-t-c-h. She is the girl every guy needs to steal clear of, and yet I still occasionally felt sorry for her, and for the guy who is more like her than anyone else, but whom she ignores in favor of gaining a title and crown and prestige. I loved the intrigue, even though I thought I wouldn't. Although Beatrice's love interest was cliche, the relationship didn't feel forced or unnatural. Nina is the most "normal" of the girls, and yet I found myself frustrated with her for not going after who she wanted more, especially when she actually cares about Jeff as a person, unlike Daphne.

This book was a roller-coaster ride, and I loved that all these girls' lives are intertwined whether they realize it and want it or not. I think the only POV that could have been more polished was Sam's, because everyone kept talking about how strong of a force she is, but her own POV didn't feel that way. It felt like she was on the sidelines for a lot of the book, and so her infatuation and "relationship" with Teddy didn't make sense. Their meeting and interactions felt too superficial for me to understand why Sam suddenly fixates on him, especially when she has been known as the flirty one. And Teddy being drawn to her wasn't fleshed out enough for me to understand why they are so desperate to be together.

I almost wish we could have had a POV from Jeff, just to see what he is thinking about the two very different girls he is entangled with.

I am not surprised by how the book ended, but it is still a doozy of a cliffhanger in my opinion. I want Beatrice to follow her heart instead of her mind, and to not ruin her relationship with her sister by the choices she makes. I do not know how I am going to be able to wait however long for the next book!

After the Revolutionary War, the people of America asked General Washington to become their king. He accepted and two hundred and fifty years later his heir is still sitting on the throne. Introduce Princess Beatrice … she has been groomed her entire life to become America’s first queen regnant. Beatrice knows what is expected of her and her parents say it is time to find a husband. Her sister, Princess Samantha, is the spare to the heir. She thinks she has found a guy for her heart until her sister chooses him to be her boyfriend. Prince Jefferson is Samantha’s twin and the third in the line of succession. If the rules hadn’t been changed, though, he would be the next king. He has two girls who would like to become his princess and he is trying to come to grips with what his heart wants.

American Royals is the first book in the American Royals series. The story is told in alternating chapters by various characters and the reader will learn secrets that the other characters have to go without. There is the usual backstabbing and rumor milling, yet there is more at stake. These young adults have a realm that is watching every move and the love the people have can be very finicky. American Royals is a very fun read and those who enjoyed The Selection series will find these pages exactly what they were looking for. I can’t wait for the next book to be released!

Looking for a unique romance? Not afraid to delve into not 1, not two, but FOUR POV? Do you find alternate history lessons interesting? Well, you've found your next read!

This novel read like a drama you'd see on CW or one of the streaming services. It was entertaining to take a ride on the political drama train! The made-up history became a little daunting to flip through, it didn't make the story for me and I would have been fine, but it didn't break the story either.

The characters were what made the plot-all three of them converged and came to a head at the end. Did they develop through the story? Some did while others didn't. Were they highly dimensional-not so much to me.

It was an entertaining read, it did keep me invested, and it DID leave me trying to find more pages... it abruptly ends, so yes, there is a cliffhanger.

3.5 savvy crowns for this royal read.

I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was absolutely intrigued by the premise as a lover of romance books. I also really like the idea of an American royal family. The Selection series was one of the first series I read and I was obsessed with the royal aspect and the romance. This book seemed amazing and it lived up to my expectations.

The book is narrated in four points of view. I ended up genuinely liking all the narrators, even though they each have their own flaws and make mistakes. Their storylines were very predictable but the characters make you care about them and you get invested in their stories anyway.

I think that if you are a fan of romance then you will really enjoy this read like I did. Beatrice and Samatha supported and encouraged each other once their misunderstandings of each other got cleared up and it was really heartwarming. Jefferson and Nina's storyline was really cute even though it was really predictable. Daphne even managed to get me to empathize with her and I think that I related to her the most with her overcontrolling parents. This book is really character driven without any plot twists or surprises but its a really heartwarming read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Skimmed after 20% and read the ending. - A fluffy, frothy teen royal romance with all the substance of a tulle dress: it takes up a lot of space but has very little weight. It is so insubstantial and unoffensive it borders on problematic - while the idea of an alternative American history is one ripe with potential, the author gives so little worldbuilding context that the reader is baffled as to how we got from 1776 to modern day in this alternative timeline. Even as a white reader, black Americans felt like the elephant in the room... certainly, they must exist, but where are they? How did abolition - arguably one of the largest events in America's history - happen in this timeline? Slavery and the Civil War are noticeably absent from discussion, and other than a Hispanic character and a Japanese character in a coma, the cast is populated by pretty white people. The romances and relationships were so utterly predictable that I didn't feel compelled to finish even to get the satisfaction of seeing romantic tensions fulfilled. To top it off, this book - already too long and stuffed with too many POVs - has an unresolved ending, clearly setting up for an unnecessary sequel. Recommended only for fans of the most over-the-top melodrama and romantic fluff.

The Quick Cut: A following of four girls in a world where the U.S. has a King instead of a President. The Royal life brings a set of complications.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Random House for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Even though the United States is a democracy, we still seem absolutely obsessed with Royalty. Something about the concept just makes us fascinated with the lifestyle, the platform, and the unique regality to it all. So can you imagine what would have happened if America was founded with a monarchy instead of a Presidency? That's the world of Beatrice and Samantha.

Beatrice is the next monarch of the United States. With her father currently on the throne and the rules recently changed to no longer bypass women in the succession of the throne, she is the upcoming ruler... and it's coming faster than anyone knows. She is quickly looking for a man to marry before her father passes. When that man turns out to be someone her sister Samantha loves, the drama breaks loose as Beatrice struggles to hold life together and Samantha tries to get what she wants.

Can I say how much I loved this concept? I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet, but as soon as I read the summary the intrigue was there. Unfortunately, it didn't last as long as I liked. There are a number of factors that hold this story back from being a total winner and the biggest one is the issue of too many narrators.

There are four interchangeable narrators in this book: Beatrice (the next monarch), Samantha (the younger princess), Nina (Samantha's best friend and non-royal), & Daphne (royal gunning for Beatrice and Samantha's brother Jeff's heart). It's too many complex storylines to jam in between them all to care about while getting to know the characters and continue a main story.

Which is another issue I ended up feeling fairly jilted about by the end. When I got close to the end, I started to seriously wonder how they could possibly wrap up storylines in the diminishing page numbers they had and truthfully? They don't. In many ways, the story is abruptly ended to continue the storylines in the next book. I get it, that's what the next one is for. However, you have to give the reader some satisfaction otherwise it feels exactly how it did: abrupt and startling.

With a more than a few issues, this story still has a shining premise to talk about.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

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.