American Royalty has an interesting setup. Livesay takes a note out of the romance of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry but gives this a Megan Thee Stallion twist to it. What drew me to this is that premise and what had me anticipating this is that the heroine is a rap artist. I want more heroines like Duchess. A Black woman pursuing and molding her powerful and creative ambitions in a misogynistic industry. What fell apart for me comes down to author/reader chemistry. I found the author's writing to be clunky, making it difficult to smoothly sink into this romance. The characters lacked the sort of depth that makes me interested in those little bits of them. Romance really requires good dialogue. The humor and dialogue felt very really awkward. Since the writing felt very clunky that really made the one liners, dialogue, and character interactions worse. The author presented the idea of a Meghan Markle/Prince Harry over the internal, intimate emotions they feel. That's obvious in how feminism feels more like it was made into a stage act than something the author wanted to dig into with nuance and depth. Ultimately, American Royalty felt more like an interesting idea that didn't pull through on building an enjoyable romance for me, especially given it takes so long for the couple to meet.

Shelf Awareness PRO: Celebrity and royalty come together (literally and figuratively) in Tracey Livesay's steamy romance novel, American Royalty, which draws inspiration from the love story of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle without once feeling derivative in doing so.

Dani has spent years building a hip hop career as Duchess, known internationally not only for her talent, but for her seductive dance moves and scant clothing. The latter, though, are dictated by the men who manage her career, not her. "She wasn't ashamed of her sexuality.... But she was also aware that she viewed it differently than the men who controlled her career and dominated the industry did." In need of a break and space to think about the future of her career, she leaps at the invitation to perform at a royal concert in England in memory of the queen's late husband. What she doesn't expect to find there is Prince Jameson, who looks to Dani "like a sex god trying to masquerade as a mortal professor," or a queen desperate for good press to turn around the family fortune.

In the weeks leading up to the concert, Jameson and Dani spend more and more time together, until the undeniable attraction between them becomes impossible to ignore--an attraction that Livesay explores in great detail throughout American Royalty ("Who'd known the prim and proper Prince could do what he did? And say what he said? She'd thought it would be a little more... vanilla"). What starts off as a very hot fling gets increasingly more serious as the two develop feelings for each other--feelings they are desperate to keep secret from the royal family and, perhaps more importantly, the press, which has the potential to ruin them both with a misplaced story.

This layering of the power of media attention to shape the lives of those it focuses on shifts American Royalty into something larger than the story of these two unlikely lovers, exploring family and duty, privilege and race, and the potential harm caused by losing control of one's own story, despite all the perks that may come with being famous as rapper or royal. Despite (or perhaps because of) all the odds stacked against "the black Rapper and the white Prince," though, readers will find it impossible not to root for a happy ending in this irresistible, sexy romance about two star-crossed lovers and the lengths to which they will go to get--and stay--together. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Shelf Talker: A sexy contemporary romance draws inspiration from the real-life story of Prince Harry and Duchess Megan Markle, as a (fictional) British royal falls into unlikely love with an American hip hop star.

This book is pretty much just Prince Harry and Meghan Markel fan fiction. If you are a fan of them you should read this book. Since this is based off of the real life Prince Harry and Meghan this book is exactly what you expect it to be. There are a few spicy parts in this book. I really enjoyed this one.

3.5, rounded down.

SUPER strong start, but a weak finish marred by insta-love (well, weird "enemies" to "oops my fingers are inside you") and weird time jumps. There were a lot of things going on, and while I loved Dani's character and the commentary on the racist royal family and about Black women in the music (and business) industry, I felt that there were a lot of plotlines that were either swept under the rug or resolved too quickly.

And the ending was...um, okay. Hopefully things will go well in the end?

But I did like the epilogue. And the sex scenes were hot.

This was a SUPER steamy, open door, forced proximity, interracial royal romance between Jamieson, a Prince Harry like British royal and Dani ("Duchess"), a Beyonce-like American rapper.

In England for a benefit concert, Duchess is hiding out the week before the show trying to relax from her life in the spotlight. The only problem is, she's staying in a remote cottage with none other than the hot reclusive royal prince.

The chemistry between these two is off the charts but can they make a real relationship work?? Definitely recommended for fans of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and great on audio. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more by Tracey Livesay. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy.

I really really wanted to love this book. The premise sounded amazing; a prince who doesn't want the spotlight at all and an American Rapper who mistakenly gets asked to perform for the royals. I did not believe the romance one bit. It just came out of nowhere without any real chemistry between the two main characters. I will say that the smut was great in this book. There was a lot of jealousy between the two characters that seemed to be the main plot and it dragged out the book. If the two of them would just have a conversation, it would have been fine and we could have more chemistry. If you are looking for a book that doesn't have an amazing plot but a ton of smut with lots of drama, then this is the book for you.

First, let me say that this is probably the most gorgeous cover to exist in 2022 and illustrator Erick Davila performed one hell of a job with aiding my visuals for Prince Jameson and Duchess. Just as you can imagine from the cover, these two are hot and heavy from the beginning immediately ratcheting up the spice level of this contemporary romance. I knew from the get-go that this story was modeled somewhat on the real-life story of Duchess Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, but even so, I attempted to keep an open mind about it letting the characters guide the story.

Dani “Duchess” was a breath of fresh air as a entrepreneurial modern woman, thoroughly confident, quintessentially black, and gorgeously smart. I love a strong heroine and Duchess is no ordinary choice for a traditional romance. Her character juxtaposed smartly with the tight buttoned-up perception of the royal family and she served as the perfect foil to Jameson’s traditional white privileged royal. But just as Tracey Livesay proves that female rappers should not be judged so quickly by their social personas, so too does Jameson prove to be the solid quiet strong Prince that is very much unlike his gallivanting relatives.

What I struggled with slightly is what Dani’s friend Nyla captures, in essence worrying that Dani and Jameson are attempting to turn lust into a meaningful relationship. I believed the chemistry between the two, but kept feeling like nothing could come of their relationship beyond the confines of Primrose Park. And I couldn’t help wonder if it should? The theme of “love conquering all” runs strong throughout, but maybe I’m a little bit too much of a realist to think that these infatuated love birds could make it on their own (and don’t we wonder the same about Meghan and Harry?) I believe that Livesay worked through each challenge Dani and Jameson were faced with (paparazzi, the Queen, fame-stealers, image, gossip-rags, etc.) and deftly addressed each in a meaningful way. I only hope that these two could exist on just their feelings and love with their head as much as their hearts. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Duchess (aka Dani) and Jameson (aka Jay) both know what it's like to have a very public persona, and a very private one. Dani is a hot, ambitious rapper who is also trying to branch out and explore other avenues of success. Jameson is the Queen's grandson, but not in direct line to the throne. In what feels like a hallmark movie like set up, our two main characters meet in an unlikely scenario and can't deny their attraction for each other. I loved this story, and the obstacles this couple faced that brought them closer together. Two strong characters and witty dialogue! (also don't let the hallmark movie like set up fool you, this book has 2 spicy chili peppers rating!)

The premise of this book was very exciting to me, thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC.
This book centers around Duchess a famous American rapper and Prince Jameson. While I can appreciate the premise of trying to tell a story similar to that of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, I found this storyline lacking in development of a sweet, sexy, romantic relationship between the characters. I found the buildup of angst and connection between Duchess and Jameson very rushed and not believable. There wasn’t enough time spent on the characters encounters with each other to warrant a swoon worthy reading experience. I had a really hard time caring for the characters. Some of the dialogue and interactions between Duchess and Jameson were cringy and hard to emotionally connect with. I found myself wanting more from the storyline and it just wasn’t delivering. I did enjoy the author’s writing style and will definitely check out more of their books but overall this book was just ok.

American Royalty will ricochet to the top of the bestseller list. Well paced with two stunning leads, this book capitalizes on the past twenty years of controversy surrounding the British monarchy by displaying a stunning romance. Tracey Livesay hits every mark, and adds the perfect amount of spice to the heavy topics she addresses with perfection. This story may not be have any astounding twists, but it is beyond good with a romance that seems just as fateful as the monarchy itself.

A very spicy book!! I was really shocked during some of the pages and thought it was a good plot. I loved the diverse characters in this book. A good read for fans of any type of spicy romance and royalty themed books!

Four stars. It feels more like 3.5 but I liked it enough to round up. Nicely paced, spicy, funny and fun. I found some of Duchess' lyrics lacking and there was something missing from their romance. Maybe more development? I did enjoy the instant sexual chemistry. I enjoyed the read and I will check out more by her. The Bossip headlines were top tier.

American Royalty is an interesting romance and I am still undecided on how I feel about it. I think it comes down to the fact that I liked these characters as individuals, especially Dani, but I wasn't connected to them as a couple. This is definitely "lust at first sight", even though they don't meet until 30% of the book. I thought they had great sexual chemistry but never felt a deep emotional connection. Maybe that is because their entire relationship takes place over the course of two weeks? I also thought the Prince was a complete jerk at first!

That said, I loved the setup and everything that Dani stood for. Reading about her career as a rapper, her passion for her skincare line, and seeing how she was treated by the media were the most interesting aspects on the novel, in my opinion. I wish we got more closure on what happened with her skincare line!

The royal family stuff was interesting enough but overly dramatic and I am struggling to see how this relationship will work long term!

This was one of my most anticipated books for this year and it did not disappoint.

This book was amazing and very entertaining.
Here's what I love about this book:
-Dani's character
-It was a page-turner
-Loved the smut, the scenes were hot
-It had drama, lots of drama and I ate it up
-Dani and Jameson together were perfect
-The secret glances
-The banter between Dani and Jameson
-I feel like the way the royal family interacted with each other was real.

This was my first book by this author and I can't wait to read more from them.

Hopefully, I get to see more of Dani and Jameson.

This book is so good! Duchess is a rap star getting bad PR because of a doctored video posted by a competing singer. Jameson is a prince who has tried to avoid the spotlight as a professor of philosophy. When the Queen pushes him to participate in a concert in honor of his grandfather, he recommends Duchess as one of the acts based on her stage name alone.

This book really delves into the media and paparazzi and loss of privacy for anyone with celebrity. It does so in a way that felt nuanced and served as the basis for an emotional connection between the two. Their interactions were steamy with great chemistry, and they ultimately had a romance that felt like it was based on their similar views.

But my favorite parts are all about Duchess. She is such a smart business woman (even if she does not see herself that way enough). And she leads a line of skin care for women of color that sounds so essential and necessary.

My only wish is that the ending were more complete. It felt rushed, and the epilogue didn't address that for me.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

I loved the premise of this, but the pacing made the relationship between the main couple hard to get into. I get what Livesay was trying to do--give us the full Harry and Megan romance in novel format--but when the central couple doesn't even meet until 20% of the way through, and then there's an attempt at a reluctant slow-burn, and then a whirlwind affair, and then the narrative of how to deal with the public in announcing a long-term relationship....it's too much for one novel. I felt like we had a great sense of Dani as a character, but I didn't care about her relationship with Jameson AT ALL--and I wish I'd just either read a slower burn (a rare take from me) or the meet cute portion had happened quickly enough to dwell on the public aspect, because both was just too much for the novel to support and adequately explore.

A great royal romance with fantastic characters but wasn’t the complete package.

It had been too long since I read a Tracy Livesay romance and I was SO excited for this one, it made my list of the most anticipated romance books of 2022.

I’d say that overall I enjoyed it but a few things unfortunately kept me from rating it higher.

A Great Storyline

I love how Livesay used Prince Henry and Meghan Markle as her muses for this royal romance.

We are first introduced to Jameson who is a reluctant member of the royal family.

Jameson is content living as a professor, out of the limelight of his royal family which has been marred by scandals.

When the Queen decides to host a celebration of her late husband’s life, she gives Jameson no choice but to be the royal liaison to the event.

A concert is one piece of the celebration and without knowing anything about musical acts, suggests that Duchess, on a suggestion from a student, perform.

Unbeknownst to him she is a rapper who is then invited to stay in his house for the two weeks of the royal celebration.

Strong Characters

Livesay did a great job with her character development in this romance.
By the time Duchess and Jameson met, I had a really good understanding of who each of these characters were, what they struggled with and what their dreams were as well.

I totally fell for Jameson and his quiet ways but Duchess was a force that stole the show for me. I loved her climb to fame, her entrepreneurial spirit and her desire to live her life on her own terms.

While a bit of an opposites attract story, I loved them even more together. Their first meeting did NOT go well which set up a bit of an enemies to lovers vibe, but that didn’t last long.

I’ll admit however that I really cringed at the moment that they became more. It just seemed so out of character for Jameson and a bit abrupt from how they had been acting toward one another.

Had there been a different way to get them together, I think I would have enjoyed this more but that moment of disconnect just left me a bit off-kilter for the rest of the book.

From then on, Jameson was also quite the different man that I had initially pegged him to be and which he projects to the public. Behind closed doors with Dani, this man was quite the dirty talker! 😊

While it was quite the disconnect from who I thought he was, I totally jumped on board with it because these two were hot and steamy together.

Stories Left Unfinished

While I loved Dani and Jameson’s whirlwind romance (which only covers 2 weeks), I was disappointed by the ending because there were so many side stories that were left unfinished.

What happened to Dani’s skincare business?
Did the truth about Samantha finally come out and vindicate Dani?
Is Jameson going to be able to continue teaching?
How are they really going to make their relationship work?

If some of these side stories (which were pretty big plot points in my opinion to propel Dani’s storyline) had more of a conclusion to them I think I would have rated this higher, but instead I was just sort of left to wonder and it left me feeling unfulfilled once I hit the end.

While I totally recommend this as a steamy read for the amazing romance between Dani and Jameson, I wish it all came together more solidly.

If you love royal romances, romances with musicians and a steamy forced proximity story, give it a read!

*Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I’m DNFing this one at 50%. In theory, this is right up my alley. I love royal romances! I was excited that it was an interracial couple, intrigued by the similarities to Harry & Meghan. But in practice, I was bored stiff. Major yawn. I could not get into this. I wanted to like the characters but never did, just didn’t enjoy the story, and thought the technical aspect of the writing could stand some improvement. It felt a little rudimentary and didn’t do anything to elevate the material. There were no romantic parts in the first half of the book and the sexy parts were… weird. I never got to a point where I wanted to root for these people to get together. Once they started having a sexual relationship, I still couldn’t understand why they were interested in one another.

Circling back to the royal comparisons, if The Royal We gave us Will & Kate fanfic, this one is definitely trying to give us Harry & Meghan. In fact, the blurb on the back makes direct a comparison to Harry and Meghan’s royal romance. I just have to say that right from the very first page, there is little similarity between the book’s FMC ‘Duchess’ and Meghan Markle. The book is about a royal prince who marries a black American woman, and that’s pretty much the only similarity as far as I could tell.

Dani “Duchess” Nelson is a rapper & hip hop star who is more akin to Cardi B. Her lyrics are raunchy, her videos are lewd. But she’s tired of the powerlessness and objectification she’s subjected to within the music industry. She’s ready to leave it all behind to put her full attention into her successful skin care business.

Prince Jameson, Duke of Wessex, is the analogue for Prince Harry, and we know this because 1) he doesn’t want to be part of the Royal Family, and 2) one of his parents was tragically killed in an accident when he was a teen.

Both Dani and Jameson are looking for independence and autonomy, which I thought was a great way to introduce them that held a lot of potential. What they find is a physical attraction to one another despite not exactly getting off on the right foot. This part of the book just took forever to come together and kind of lost me.

I did appreciate that the story tackles topics like racism, misogyny/misogynoir, objectification, and hyper sexualization. I liked that the relationship was interracial - and that Jameson acknowledged and made an effort to learn about the cultural differences between him and Dani.

So aside from using Harry & Meghan to sell this book, it had a lot of potential but just didn’t live up to it in my opinion.

I thought this book had a really strong start but then the insta love was just too fast. I think the reader had to rely on the sex scenes to create the chemistry and with it being a forbidden romance, some slow burn love could have been used here. I did LIKE the steam, the social commentary and the opposites attract characters.

Dani is an American rapper who is in the midst of a publicity nightmare when she is invited to perform at a British royal event. She arrives early and is given a place to stay with Prince Jameson. Cue insta-lust.

I tried very hard to enjoy this but the characters take way too long to meet, and though there is plenty of potential with the two of them sharing a home together before the performance... insta-lust just ruins everything for me. Jameson seems like he will be an interesting love interest from the start because he is studious and avoids his royal duties, but all I learned about him through the bulk of this story is that he thinks Dani is soooo hot. *shrugs* Dani is better developed with more depth, but this wasn't enough to save the story for me.
The sex scenes were incredibly abrupt. There was not enough build up or time spent showing their emotional connection, and by the time the book is over I am still unconvinced that this pair is a good idea. The conflicts are predictable and the resolution was way too simple.

I usually find contemporary romances about royals pretty irresistible, but this one was just missing the emotional connection for me. I was also mildly scandalized by the rap lyrics at the start of the chapters. I am all about steamy scenes, but raunchy lyrics bring out the ol' grandma in me!