Y'all, this was WAY spicier than I was anticipating or have been used to in my romance reads. Honestly, for about the first 1/4 of the book I thought that I was going to hate this - but it turned it around by the halfway point. I know it's supposed to be giving Harry and Meghan vibes, but I kept envisioning Duchess as Rihanna. I found this as a nice, lightly emotional, and 3 spicy peppers out of 5 romance read. I enjoyed the little 'The Great British Bake Off' shoutout since I am also obsessed with that show.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyage for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

American Royalty is the well-known author Tracey Livesay's thirteenth novel, and boy, is it steamy! The book jacket compares it to Harry and Meghan's love relationship. I agree with that in a few aspects, but for the most part, it felt like the book Red, White & Royal Blue.

Synopsis:
Dani "Duchess" Nelson is an ultra-sexy rapper. The Queen of England asks her grandson Prince Jameson "Jay" to arrange a tribute concert in honor of the Queen's late husband. When he obtains Dani for the event, Jameson is unaware that Dani's theme may not meet his grandmother's approval. He soon finds out the name "Duchess" does not always refer to royal behavior.

Jameson and Dani are a fun couple, and the banter between the two is entertaining. The romantic attraction is pretty explicit. Dani is a powerhouse with a dynamite personality compared to Jameson's more reclusive nature. The book offers the perfect balance of charm and humor that romance readers adore.

American Royalty is available on June 28th.
Trigger Warnings: Language, Sexually Explicit Scenes

Thank you, NetGalley and (Avon and Harper Voyager) Avon, for allowing me to review this delightful romance. I appreciate your kindness.

I admired Dani and her confidence. I loved how she wouldn’t compromise who she was for anybody. She made a great match to the prince and I loved how they both wanted to live their lives their way. I had to keep reading to see what would happen to them in the end since there was so much at risk.

I disagree with the advertisement implying similarities with Prince Harry and Princess Meghan Markle. The only thing they had in common is being a royal interracial couple. The ladies are entertainers but that is not even a fair comparison because of the different levels and lifestyles. Dani is a famous superstar rapper while Meghan is an actress.

Now this story is super cute and romantic. The fact that Jameson and Dani are as far apart as the continents they live on, yet they mixed very well.

Trying to fight his interest and desire for her Jameson presented himself as a jerk…but Duchess gave it right back. She needed this time to recover and repair the damage to her image and she was not for his games. Then he caught a glimpse of Dani’s true personality and had to have her. This was a fun read and entertaining story of how two strangers can blend and fall in love. No matter the differences and challenges love will inspire you to win! The plot twist at the end was a great redemption moment!!! If the author is willing a novella would be greatly appreciated to get a update.

Dani, who goes by the stage name Duchess, is a rapper who unfairly needs to clean up her image to sell her beloved skincare line, Mela-Skin, to an elite beauty company. An up-and-coming popstar has started a feud with her, making Duchess out to be the villain. When the British royal family invites her to perform at a charity concert in honor of the Queen's late husband, she sees the perfect opportunity to shine.

Meanwhile, Jameson, a prince not set to directly inherit the throne, is living a quiet life as a philosophy professor. But after a number of royal scandals, the Queen decides he needs to become a working royal and help run this star-studded event. Part of his duties means choosing a performer to invite. Jameson has no idea who a good choice would be, and goes with a student's suggestion of Duchess, a woman hew as unfamiliar with before.

When Dani has to stay on Jameson's estate during preparations, sparks fly, at first through butting heads and then between the sheets. (Let's note that this doesn't happen until 27% way through the novel - oof!, IMO.) But the two know this has to be a secret, short-term fling. Jameson's family will never accept Dani, and he doesn't want to be in the spotlight for too long anyway. And Dani can't afford to get wrapped up in another scandal. Of course, in the weeks leading up to the concert and its surrounding events, feelings develop, and the secret becomes harder and harder to keep. Can these two really walk away from one another after all is said and done?

While I loved the concept of American Royalty and was drawn to the gorgeous cover, the execution left something to be desired. I struggled with the writing style, which often omitted dialogue tags, making it hard for me to tell who was speaking during scenes with three or more characters. I also could tell this wasn't the most well-researched. I've read other royal romances before where the authors really know their stuff, so I went in with high expectations and a little knowledge myself. Finally, I am all for extra horniness in my romance, but there are times when sexiness fits better than others. I had trouble emotionally connecting to Dani and Jameson's romance, even though I adored them as individual characters for their drive and strong personalities, because of the juxtaposition of extreme emotion with sexy thoughts. Sure, emotion and sex can go hand-in-hand, but every time I was feeling the characters' joy or sadness, they'd be ready to start going at it again, seemingly driven more by hormones than the emotional intensity of their connection. It really made it difficult for me to care if these two had their HEA.

All in all, this was a fun read, and I think if you like your romance extra steamy it might be worth a shot. The characters are memorable and Dani especially shines. Unfortunately for me, I was impervious to the steam and this one did nothing for me, making it a 2 star read.

Genuinely enjoyed this book. First of all the cover caught my eye. I enjoyed the chemistry between the main characters. Was a fun read

I adored everything about this book.i want to be able to read it again for the first time.. I love a royal story and an interracial couple but when you have a royal and a rapper whole fall in love I zm here for it.

Dani is a self-made independent women who is ready totake charge of her career. The opportunity to perform at a benefit concert hosted by the queen was to good to pass up.

Jamieson never wanted to be in the lime light and he's dodged it for a while but he's been called go manage this event.

I loved absolutely everything about this... Dani and Jamieson are super cute together. The spicy scene was hot hot hot. The supporting character could have a story of their own as well. I can only hope for it.

This will be a constant reread over and over

Unfortunately, I did not like the 24% of the book that I managed to get through. I didn't like any of the characters or plot lines that were happening. Especially the random white woman who is constantly attacking Dani and trying to ruin her image along with the major company that wanted Dani to apologize despite not doing anything wrong. I also didn’t really love the royal family. It seemed really careless that Jameson chose Duchess for the concert without knowing any of her music. I didn’t appreciate the way he referred to her as a stripper and I feel like any interaction between Duchess and Julian would have been very uncomfortable. I'm sure all of it gets resolved in the end but I was not going to make it through almost 500 pages.

Really wanted to like this book and I see some potential with how amazing the Duchess is, but certain parts of this story are making it really hard for me t get through. I really hate how Prince James treats Dani. I'm about 50% through the book, and all I've seen so far is him outwardly treating her like trash while inwardly lusting after her. It's really quite disturbing to me and making it so hard for me to read rn, so currently I think this will be a dnf for me, although maybe if I can get over his treatment of Dani I may continue???

I love how GIRLBOSS Dani is and wow the Duchess can spit some fire 🔥 But lowkey, some of the things she does (though unintentional) REALLY bother me. For example, she uses James’ FIRST EDITION books as an iPad stand in the kitchen and gets flour and other stuff ALL OVER IT. Like even if she didn’t know these were first editions, why would someone go all the way to another persons library to choose s e v e r a l fancy looking books to use as a tablet stand when you can really just prop that baby up on anything that’s heavy?? Like use a pitcher or something, the book aficionado in me is screaming at this heresy. AND then, she opens the very special champagne that holds extreme sentimental value to the prince, and while I understand she would have no idea how much it means for him, why would you as a guest go straight for the super fancy, rare champagne that only has two bottles left when mans a) has a housekeeper and staff that can choose a good one for you and b) claims to have over 1200 bottles of wine. Like girl, respect for loving the bubbly but I feel like it’s soooo super rude as a houseguest to just go for the fancy stuff without first asking permission???

But however (periodically) bad Dani is, James is soooo much worse. It kinda disturbs me how much he lusts after her (both before he meets her in person and after they start interacting). While y’all know I LOVE a good masturbation scene, something about these ones were just very very icky to me. And I LOVE enemies-to-lovers. It is by far one of my most loved tropes, but the enemy part has to be founded, and the transition has to be logical. In this book, I really don’t get why James acts soooo rude to her in the beginning??? Like mans admits why he acts like a dick to her, but it just makes no sense to me why his Reason manifests to such nasty behavior. And the entire time he’s like “oh why did I treat her like that, I never treat people like that, I need to be more polite” but then the next time they interact, he goes back to being a dick?? Like awareness is only step 1 dude, you need to work on yourself a bit.

Overall, saw the potential for a good book, the premise is interesting and the Duchess lines are really popping. It has the setup for a fun enemies-to-lovers, but for now, the Prince's disgusting treatment of Dani is really turning me off this read.

I've read quite a few royal romances but nothing quite like this. I loved Dani's inner monologue so much and the chemistry between her and the prince was amazing! I think my favorite part was the banter, it was so good. I was hooked once I read the description and saw the cover and this book definitely delivered! I absolutely cannot wait to buy the physical copy.

Thank you Avon Books and Net Galley for the arc!

Have you ever cut jalapenos, and immediately afterward, you touch your eyes? You feel that spicy burning sensation that makes your eyes water and your face feel hot. That is the best way I can describe American Royalty by Tracey Livesay. It was a hilarious, painful, spine-tingling experience that, by the end, I wholeheartedly forget all that sweat dripping suffering and wanted to do it all over again. My hands were sweating reading this one. Royalty. American Rapper. Drama. Sass. ENTANGLEMENTS. Multiple POV. Black Representation. Hands down the best Monarch book I have read to date. I can't wait for how uncomfortably good the audiobook will be! Add this one to your TBR.

A full review with spoilers will be posted on my blog on June 28th

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the advance readers' copy for American Royalty in exchange for my honest review.

With American Royalty?, Tracey Livesay has written an epic romance worthy of a big-screen adaptation. I dare you to read this without doing a bit of fantasy-casting. Dani is fierce, savvy, and big-hearted - the perfect partner for Jameson, a man imprisoned by his own sense of duty and obligation. Together, they explode like all of the Fourth of July and Guy Fawkes Day fireworks have been set off at once, burning up the page from the moment they meet. For anyone obsessed with royalty or just looking for a perfect, modern-day fairytale, this book delivers.

Great idea, but I couldn’t connect with our main characters at all. Unfortunately not for me but it will work if you are looking for a good quick read. I only made it a few pages in , but the character voice and writing didn’t grab me. Maybe it is because I’m not a fan of royal romances in books though

This book had everything I love—celebrity culture, royals, a lot of British-isms. I was just hooked and LOVED how much these two wanted each other!

American Royalty was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, so when I received an arc of it, I was ecstatic. Sadly, I had a few issues with the book that resulted in a generous three-star rating.

My first issue was something that I don't normally have a huge issue with, I just don't think it worked well within the context of this story. Dani and Jameson's connection is very insta love-y. The two characters don't even officially meet until 25% through the book, but they are having sex and confessing their feelings by the halfway mark of the book. This brings up another issue that I had. For a romance book, the characters don't share a very strong romantic connection. Their feelings are rooted in lust for each other, which wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that they try and take their lust and disguise it as love for one another. When we finally do get to them confessing their feelings for each other, it feels too late in the story. I would have rather had them have a frank conversation about their feelings earlier.

I am a sucker for books about royalty, which is why I was so excited for this book. But for a book so firmly rooted in royalty, the royal family is not realistic at all. Especially since it is a thinly veiled caricature of the Windsors. Normally I love it when an author takes some liberties, but these liberties just didn't work for me. I am not normally one to criticize my romance reading for being too unrealistic because romance is the highest form of escapism, but this was too unrealistic to not call attention to it.

Some of the dialogue is weirdly stilted and awkward. The characters were saying things that you would never say in real life. There were times when I would skip half the dialogue because it made me cringe so badly. Going along with this, the inner monologues of Dani and Jameson were also ridiculous. Dani's consisted mostly of her saying "oh I am so wet" over and over and Jameson's was the same thing just replace "wet" with "hard." It was ridiculous.

I was willing to overlook all of these, but I think my real issue came down to the fact that I didn't feel like Dani or Jameson had any real personality or chemistry. I felt like you could have inserted any number of characters in their place and still would have had the same story. There is always a conversation in the book community where people will ask what book couples' relationship doesn't last outside of the timeline of their book. I hate to say it, but I don't think Dani and Jameson would last outside of the events of their book.

Something I did like, though, was the plot and actions in the story. I loved the backdrop of the charity benefit. I thought it was unique and a fun way to push the characters together. The dates that Jameson planned for Dani were also adorable and the high point of the romance in this book.

I think I would give Tracey Livesay's writing another chance because I did think her writing style was fun, I just don't think this was the book for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc.

I love Tracey Livesay's writing and this still was better than I expected! I found the dynamic between the two MCs to be very charming and believable even though they were in a very unbelievable setting - which is what I need from these kinds of plots. It also did the quintessential romance job of making me want stories for a bunch of side characters.

While I was reading, I kept thinking that this book is what hapens when "Eve" would have met Prince Harry instead of Maximillian. LOL. I was so overjoyed by the book. It was so good. Enemies to lovers is my fav trope. Dani was such a fierce and fun heroine who knew who she was and what she wanted.

Duchess is a Black woman taking over the American hip hop scene and she is focused on taking her brand to the next level. Silly gossip is threatening everything, and she needs something big to get her plan back on track. When the British Royal Family reaches out to have her perform at a massive benefit concert, she knows it could be just the thing. Arriving early for some R&R, Duchess is ready to sit back and relax except for the very annoying (and hot) Jameson who isn’t being a very gracious host. Their tension threatens to boil over into a full out brawl, or maybe just a roll in the hay!

This was an incredibly sexy romp and a really fun read. Duchess is such a self assured woman which I really enjoyed reading. She does not taking anything from anyone and is a savvy businesswoman to boot, she truly has it all. I enjoyed reading about her and Jameson falling for each other and the setting of the royal concert and all of the festivities was so fun. Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable story and great characters! I would definitely read more from this author in the future.

This was a super quick, fun and easy read for me. Really enjoyed the characters and their complexity. The book/ story felt a bit rushed in some places (for me of course) but I feel like it just worked for this story. If you're looking for a quick and fun read I would definitely recommend this one! Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC!

I really liked the idea of this story. A lot of royalty tropes have to do with mistaken identity, but this one was different. Unfortunately the execution fell flat.
The pacing was really strange. We spent scattered months, almost a year, with the main characters before they even meet. Then once they do meet, there's no chemistry. At least, I didn't buy it. The fact that Jameson was lusting over Dani for months before she arrived really bothered me. There's no other way for me to describe it other than gross.
I did enjoy the discussions Dani and Jameson had about Black women's beauty routines. I wish they had been spread out more and not lumped together. And also that Jameson didn't turn them into jokes.
There wasn't really any conflict depicted. Yes his family was the worst but the actual conflict that was shown on page was weak. But again, I think it was a pacing issue. It didn't really come to a head until 94% which is entirely too late.
Overall, it was fine, but nothing too memorable.