Book: 3.5-4/5
Steam: 3/5 (multiple open door descriptive scenes

I was pleasantly surprised by this one - especially about the steam!! (you never know with these illustrated covers). This was my first Tracey Livesay and I'll be checking out more of her work.

I loved Dani and Prince Jameson so much. There were so many subtle ways that indicated they were falling for eachother even before they were willing to admit it to themselves (when she suddenly started calling him Jay and he didn't seem to think twice about it). I have to admit I swooned quite a bit, I liked that Jameson wasn't anywhere near as stuffy as he first appeared, especially when he finally made a move. He was so incredibly sweet, how could he possibly think his gestures were anything other than grand and romantic. "Just keeping her occupied." Sure lol.

There were a lot of things happening in the story that I didn't really care too much about - mostly because they seemed like "this is just the business" additions although I'm sure the author just wanted to scratch the surface enough for awareness of Dani's life and not to expose the music business as a whole. Still, it felt like everything with her manager resolved so quickly. Everything seemed to happen very quickly (the bulk of the story only takes place over the course of a month). I wanted more! More of Dani (what's to become of her singing?). More of Prince Jameson (everything about him). I was a bit disappointed to not get more time with Dani and Prince Jameson in the epilogue. Especially because well - if I wasn't getting Dani and Jay could I at least get something about the other two potential couples I cared about?

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. #AmericanRoyalty #NetGalley

American royalty is about a rapper named Dani who is trying to clean up her image that social media and a new popstar are trying to destroy. She stumbles upon a great opportunity to do just that when she's invited to perform for the Royal family. Dani is unexpectedly forced to stay with the Prince to keep a low profile. What she didn't expect was to fall for him.

I unfortunately did not enjoy this book. I'm sure fans of the Royal family will find this book fun to read but it just wasn't for me. I loved Dani's character and her internal monologue. Prince Jameson provided wonderfully steamy scenes. It certainly has a likeness to the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's limelight. I just found it a little one line. You knew what was going to happen from beginning to end.

Thank you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary romance which has two likeable characters, an American female hip hop music artist/entrepreneur for the heroine and a British prince who prefers working as a university philosophy professor for the hero. Obviously very different people, but when thrown together, they find themselves with an attraction that just won't quit despite repeatedly vowing to keep things casual. The question is can love survive in this high-stakes atmosphere where both have a lot to lose, and are they willing to fight for it? The epilogue suggests author Tracey Livesay is not yet finished with this world, and I am hoping for a sequel.

*spoilers included*

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

We follow Dani aka Duchess and Jay aka Prince Jameson as their two incredibly different worlds collide. Dani’s a high profile rapper trying to break into a different lane with her successful line of Mela-Skin, while Prince Jameson was trying to live a normal life as a professor before his grandma, the Queen, recruits him to be involved in a charity/concert event to honor his late grandfather’s previous work and life.

Dani goes to London early because of drama and stress from discourse with Samantha Banks, a fellow entertainer, and the problems it created with Dani’s endeavour for her new line. She stays with Prince Jameson and from there we see their relationship blossom despite all the impossibilities that prevent their relationship from being a romantic one rather than sexual.

I think it is an interesting story with an interesting concept. Dani is not a typical protagonist that gets displayed in mainstream media often so she provides wonderful representation. She’s a delightful character, totally blunt and sure of herself because of her hard upbringing, while being both humble and confident. It’s awesome to see her flourish and continue to grow and adapt to her circumstances. Even though she’s a mainstream rapper, the core of who she is rings true and relatable to most. Any woman can find some piece of themself in Dani because she is so multidimensional.

Prince Jameson, once he develops a romantic relationship with Dani is a lot more tolerable and likeable because the way he tries to protect Dani is, although misguided, sweet. Ultimately though, he is what knocked down my rating. I found it extremely uncomfortable of how sexual this man was. It is one thing to find someone desirable and be extremely attracted to them, it is another to not even be able to skmply look at a person without getting aroused. It was a bit overkill, especially since Dani didn’t match his energy. She was clearly attracted to him too but she was not over the top in the way he was. I found her attraction to him to be normal.

I also wasn’t fond of how, truly and deep down, he wasn’t all that different from his father. He oversexualizes Dani and during their first encounter, after only having several conversations, he instigates it. Then Dani thinks he pretty much used her for her body because he wasn’t initially nice to her, and it is never discussed again. It would have been a lot more comfortable of an interaction if 1. they had some heart-to-hearts and got to know eachother before hooking up (because it wouldnt have made it seem like Prince Jameson was sexualizing her to the extreme) or 2. Dani matched that same level of attraction because it would have been able to come off as some intense attraction that made them unable to stop. I have no problems with casual hookups, attraction to people, desires, whatever, it just feels so odd in this book.

From there, their attraction to each other is great and enjoyable. They have crazy chemistry, especially how they grew up so differently but they still have so much in common on deep stuff that matters. They are truly a wonderful match and I was rooting for them in the rest of the book. My heart was wrenching at times because they truly have everything stacked against them.

Overall, I think this book caters to a very specific niche of people and I can see it being a favorite amongst romance, royalty, and spice readers. It has all the elements those types of readers will enjoy.

This book was fun, and fast paced once you really get into it!

What I loved:
- a moment of silence for the ABSOLUTELY STUNNING COVER ART !!!!!
- ROYALTY AND CELEBRITY ROMANCE?!?!?
- Dani's character is brilliant, she is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, she is witty, smart and funny
-Hate to love
-forced proximity
- BANTERING
-INTERRACIAL ROMANCE
- Dani and Jameson fit each other so well, they balance each other out. I love the way Dani likes to push Jameson and get him to be more adventurous. Jameson did annoy me (he just acted so spoiled and way too grumpy in the beginning) but he grew on me and by about 60% in the book, he was so sweet to Dani. Their dates were so cute


The only thing that made me confused was how hard it was to follow with the story line, I felt like there were a lot of names mentioned very early on and I just got lost.

Rate: 4/5

A huge thank you Netgalley and the published for this ARC :))

This was an absolute blast to read. The main character especially was someone that I was so excited to root for, loved her and the depth Livesay gave her. This felt like an early 2000’s romcom in the very best way.

While this book was entertaining and overall fun to read, I did have some issues with it.
I really enjoyed the time between Jay and Dani in the house and when they are first getting to know each other . The spice in this book was good and the cover is just stunning ! The concept of this book was also something I enjoyed ! I loved the idea of a rap star falling in love with a Prince! I just don't think the concept was done extremely well
This book seemed to be trying to do an enemies to lovers trope between Jay and Dani , but there just didn't seem to be chemistry between the two characters. Their relationship didn't really have any swoony moments , other than the baking tent, which was probably my favorite scene. After the baking tent it seemed a bit like insta-love.
I felt very mutual about both of the characters. neither of them really stood out to me to be a favorite. I honestly will probably forget about them in a week or two. The plot also wasn't the best... Dani's problem with Samantha seemed a bit childish. Basically there didn't seem to be one big plot just a bunch of little issues that seemed a bit cliché

Well written but the characters rushed into an intimate relationship way too fast for me. I like the idea of a royal finding love with a commoner but I wish the "chase" would have lasted longer.

Tracey Livesay gives us the perfect combination of sugar, spice, themes we need to reflect through the story of Duchess and Prince Jameson. It showcased perfectly how the sparkly outside of someone in the public eye isn't all of what they are. We get to fall in love with Dani and Jay for who they are when the cameras aren't flashing while we see them fall in love with each other and trying to resist their chemistry.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be honest the last 10% of this story SAVED this book for me. I was so excited to read a romance based off of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, that centered around a rapper no less, but this book didn’t put enough emphasis on developing the romance between the two characters.

The two main characters don’t even meet until 30% through the book which doesn’t give much time for a believable relationship to develop. Prince Jameson, the love interest, is immediately physically attracted to Dani (AKA Duchess) and it seems to be ALL he talks about and notices about her until the last like 25% of the book. It was less so in a sexy way….and more so in a fetishizing type of way???? Either way it just rubbed me completely the wrong way. There were definitely a few cute moments between the two of them but the whole time I was reading the book I was like why should I care? They made it clear this is only a physical relationship and there is zero chemistry to suggest otherwise.

I did think the plot for this book was good but I don’t feel that the author utilized the plot to its full potential. She spent so much time setting up Dani and Prince Jameson as characters with their own worlds but all of the immediately fell to the back burner to them having sex which would have been fine if they had this great, irresistible chemistry but it really just read as they both just thought the other was EXTREMELY hot and that’s all.

The 10% of the book was my favorite because the plot is finally reintroduced in a significant way and you’re unsure of what will happen next but then…it’s just…over. Even the epilogue doesn’t center around Dani and Prince Jameson so we genuinely don’t know what happens to them.

I will say that the spicy scenes were great and fun to read it. They weren’t fully enjoyable to me thought because I really value that emotional connection between the two characters and it just wasn’t there between Dani and Prince Jameson.

All in all, I give this book 3 ⭐️. I think it had a lot of potential but just couldn’t quite get there.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exhange for an honest review!!!


I knew I wanted to read this book as soon as I saw the cover and read the synopsis.

Things I loved:

(1) I enjoyed the Third POV dual perspective. I always love seeing the love interest’s thoughts and arcs that involve the MC and are separate too.

(2) Dani (Duchess) and Jameson are great main characters. Their chemistry was hot and magnetic!!!!

(3) I love the song lyrics and quotes used at the top of each chapter. It made it feel more personal to whoever was being focused on in the moment and the general message of the scene.

(4) The dialogue was sharp and full of life.

(5) The side characters felt fully realized.

(6) The plot overall was good and fast-paced.

Things that were in the middle

My only gripes with the book was that I felt the third act was rushed.

*3.5 stars* I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was initially drawn to this book based on the fact that it focused on royalty, which is one of my favorite sub genres of romance to read! I also was intrigued about the comparisons to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. I was able to fly through this book very quickly! Although at times the pacing of scenes felt a bit rushed and I would have loved to see them explored in more depth, the chemistry between the main characters, Duchess aka Dani and Prince Jameson, kept me smiling throughout the whole story. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, and I’m excited to read other books by this author!

Some of what didn't work here for me is personal and some of it I think is more objective in terms of things that didn't work.

My biggest objective gripe is that I never believed that the romance was ever going to work outside the scope of the bubble Dani and Jameson found themselves in the two weeks or so before the actual benefit concert. Part of that was definitely seeing Jameson's lust before she was ever there presently and then how quickly their physical relationship developed before we saw the start to have conversations where Jameson wasn't thinking about how hard he was in his internal monologue or Dani thinking about how wet she was in hers. Even once the narrative started to include more date like features it never came across as their relationship becoming something more and simply a story trying to fit into what romance readers expect from a romance when it didn't really fit either character.

Stories were one character uses another to fix their public image I think are definitely a dime a dozen, but I'm not sure how well that trope works in this specific context; that of a royal romance. Namely because I think the book waited entirely too long to try and touch on how their romance could work in a world where they were together and how them being together would actually play into Dani's ultimate goal of cleaning up her image to transition into a full time running of Mela-Skin and only rapping occasionally on the side.

The third act conflict came into play entirely too late and felt entirely rushed. Again, with little thought into how these characters would actually work together outside the context of the bubble they'd been living in for the past two-ish weeks. The epilogue felt entirely unneeded and completely detached from the rest of the book; feeling like setup for some kind of follow up that I'm not sure anyone would actually want? Especially given how little that character and that particular plot thread had to do with the actual narrative.

Ultimately there were scenes here that I thought were really strong and worked well. For me though none of them felt like they were worth reading through so many more scenes that I didn't think worked or serviced characters or their motivations. Instead it felt more akin to puppets, forced to do things in service of a structure that didn't actual suit them. I'm sure that other readers will actually get more out of this than I did, and I would recommend it to people that had already been looking forward to this title but that's really it.

This was bonkers in the best way. I loved both the main characters and most of the plot worked pretty well. The last chapter was especially savage, it was such a good way to end it. Things I did not like: that it took so long for the 2 characters to set eyes on each other. I also didn’t love that Jameson goes from cold to hot about Dani in almost no time, he seems like perusing her is a bad idea and then changes his mind super quickly, which was out of character. I loved the insider-y feel to the book and thought the royals were a bit too awful but it made for good drama.

The moment I heard about American Royalty weeks ago I just knew I HAD to read it. The premise sounded so good which is different for me because usually I steer clear of any kind of royal romance. It's just not my thing and not just in books but in real life too. I've never woken up early to watch a royal wedding, I don't take a second glance if they're on a magazine and I don't swoon over princes and princesses.


Let's start with Dani aka Duchess she's a rapper I feel like I would support if she wasn't fictional. She wants to be more than the perception, she even started her own beauty care line, she's a boss and I absolutely flew through her chapters.

Prince Jameson. Yeah, I really hate to say this but I struggled with him really hard in the beginning, he came off really pompus and rude and honestly his family wasnt much different. So basically his grandmother has come up with the idea of the royal family curating a concert, which actually turns into a week of activities because it will make them look good (because most of the family have been in the news for their shenanigans) but also in the name of her husband who has passed and that the only reason why Jameson agrees because he adored his grandfather and all of the amazing work he did.

Dani and the prince don't meet until like 25% and it was a rocky start but once things get heated up....well let's just say I definitely couldn't put it down!

Dani, aka “Duchess,” is a sexy American rapper with some negative PR issues that threaten to derail all of her dreams and plans for a truly free life beyond the stage. Prince Jameson is a hot, reclusive English prince who has managed to live relatively under the public radar and wants nothing to do with the royal machine and his family’s plots and schemes. But when the Queen decides to rehab the monarchy’s image with a huge benefit concert, and taps the prince to be the face, it sets up the perfect opportunity for Dani to rehab her own image and get some much needed time away from the spotlight in the English countryside. Although Dani and Jameson initially can't stand each other, it isn't long before they can't deny their physical attraction and end up in a hot and steamy secret fling that changes both of their lives and even the English monarchy in the process.

The good: This book was a perfect weekend read. It will be a great beach read and delivers heavy on the chemistry (read that as sex lol). The character’s inner dialogues were also very funny at times. I also liked the character development. Dani was very relatable and it felt like she was just one of my homegirls. I also appreciated the author’s attention to detail in describing all the work that it takes entertainers to get into their persona, if they have one. Likewise with Jameson, even though he had a rough childhood, the author never wrote him as whiny or annoying, and took subtle moments to highlight the snobbery and privilege that’s also inherent with English monarchy and how they treat the “common folk.”

The bad: Not much. But I will say that this novel has been billed as very reminiscent of Meghan and Harry’s romance - and aside from the American girl/English prince component, that's pretty much where the similarities end. So I don't find that to be an accurate selling point. Also, I did think the ending was a bit rushed. The book wraps up pretty quickly after the climax, but I would have loved to see more of Dani and Jameson after the dust settled.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and worth checking out when it drops this summer. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the e-ARC.

I've read quite a few royal romances in recent years, and Tracey Livesay's American Royalty has easily catapulted itself into my list of favorites. Dani "Duchess" Nelson was such a funny, smart, and fully actualized character, and Livesay's portrayal of the rabid media attention and absurd pomp 'n' circumstance of the royals were entertaining. Plus the steamy scenes (while a lil' quick) were hoooot!

There were a few things I wanted more of here and there, like a little more personality from Jameson at times and a slower pace at the start of this romance. (We all know how much I love romances that ~breathe~ a little bit.) I'd say this is in the 3.5-4-star range for me, but I'm rounding up because UGH I LOVE ME A ROYAL ROMANCE.

I was sold on this book as soon as I saw the cover. Royals? Interracial couple? Class differences? Inspired by Meghan and Harry? I couldn't wait to shove this in my eyeballs.

Duchess a well-known world-famous American rapper is invited to a memorial concert honoring a member of the British monarchy. She arrives too early and is lodged at the royal prince's country home. Forced proximity ensues.

I adored Dani or Duchess the rapper. Her character was well developed, her motivations understandable. She was easily the best part of the book for me. Aside from her, this book was a real struggle for me to get through. First, the pacing. The MCs don't meet until over 20% into the book. The first 50% drags pretty badly but I can deal with pacing issues if I'm invested in the characters. Unfortunately, besides Dani, I could find nothing attractive about Jameson. He was a one-dimensional grump and there was no other development other than he hated his royal life and he was mad about it.

He treated Dani like crap at first and blew up at her over the stupidest things. For example, she opened a bottle of champagne that was special to him (she had no way of knowing this) and he fussed at her like a moth smelling grandpa. Such a turn-off. I don't like my heroes to be ornery misers. He had some serious Get Off My Lawn! energy and that is not sexy.

Around 50% of the book, it finally gets going. Jameson undergoes a total personality transplant and becomes this super sweet dude and they have these cute dates and basically boink like bunnies. A lot of it is told and not shown. Although the few sex scenes there are pretty hot. Except one where the unfortunate word anus is used 🤢

I was also amused by all the 90's references. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Boyz II Men. I don't think there were any references to any current artists or movies which was weird since I'm assuming Dani was in her twenties.

I really wanted to love this book. It had all of my catnip. But unfortunately, the one-dimensional hero with the personality of a geriatric grump did not work for me on any level.

⭐⭐⭐/5
🔥🔥🔥/5



I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book had me at the cover. Okay, it had me at Tracey Livesay, but that cover…I went in blind and all I can say is WOW! I loved Dani from page one and Jay soon after. The research that obviously went into both the music world and the royals added to the story in such a wonderful way! A great book I highly recommend!

3.5 / 5 stars - this was a pretty good romcom overall

Our two main characters were Prince Jameson and Dani, aka Duchess. Dani was a very nuanced character who had to raise herself as a child and had to work hard for every success she had. The book opens with Dani working in the music industry and struggling to grow the skincare business that she had built from the ground up.

Meanwhile, there's the prince. In comparison, I found James to be either whiny or boring. He was by far his most interesting when he interacted with Dani. I will say, their scenes together when he played the cute boyfriend were very enjoyable to read. I feel like him whining about having to be a prince who is followed by paparazzi everywhere he goes, and all this responsibility he has was absolutely ridiculous. Like buddy, you're a prince. I get that you had no choice being born into it, but do you even comprehend how much good you can accomplish with the position of power you have? I just wanted more from him than to complain whenever he had the chance.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the steamier scenes were written weirdly. I don't know if this was the editor's choice or not, but the scenes would just be cut off and fade to black at the oddest moments. You'd have all this buildup, but before they finished, the scene would cut and open to the next chapter. The first time they're together, we're getting all this detail, and all of a sudden the chapter just ends.

I felt like the pacing was weird too. All of the drama happened at the very end of the book. It felt like it was being thrown in there just to be thrown in there. Because of that, the ending bit felt rushed.

All that being said I loved the epilogue. It was the cherry on top of this book sundae. Dani and James as a couple were cute, and I liked them together. I would recommend this to anyone who loves rom coms, or someone interested in reading more romance books.