I needed to catch up on the American Royals series in anticipation of book 4 coming at the end of summer. And this one was a doozy.

My favorite parts of this book:
👑 More of the siblings and their storylines
👑 An unlikely friendship between two of the characters - giving specifics might be considered a spoiler 🤷🏻‍♀️ - but I loved their banter

Rivals ended on quite the cliffhanger as Katharine McGee likes to do so I can’t wait to see how the series wraps up.

Thank you to @randomhousekids and @NetGalley for the e-arc to review.

Omg 😱 This book completely changed my perspective on Daphne. I was rooting for her throughout the book and wished Nina and Daphne would stay together and forget about freaking Jeff. I can't sympathize with a man who creates hostility between people and does not know how to decide what he really wants.

*I really hated the second book with all my heart, but this one was another different story
3.5 stars

This was another good novel in the American Royalty series. I loved the character growth during this book. But was a little disappointed when most of it was wiped out. Still looking forward to the last one.

With the king’s coronation this past weekend and recently receiving an ARC of Reign, I realized I had never read Rivals! I fixed that ASAP and it was incredible. It ends on such a cliffhanger!!

Queen Beatrice is trying to prove herself and step out of her father’s shadow. She’s representing America at the League of Kings and trying to make a name for herself. But she’s also very lonely and finds a friend in Princess Louise of France. They understand what it’s like to be a monarch. Beatrice is committed to her engagement and future with Teddy, but it’s hard as he prepares to renounce his role as the Duke of Boston to his younger brother. Beatrice needs to make sure she’s truly over Connor and committed to Teddy.

Princess Samantha is still happily dating Marshall, the Duke of Orange, but the press have had a lot of comments on their interracial dating. He will also have to give up his dukedom if they marry and his family is getting in the way. It’s making it a lot harder for them to just be together. I really feel for Sam and Marshall who just want to do their own thing privately, but because of who they are, they have too much spotlight thrown on them.

Prince Jefferson is still dating the wretched Daphne. But she has a difficult time after her father was found gambling and it’s been threatened to strip their family of their nobility. They already don’t have much money and this would be humiliating for Daphne. She finds an odd friend in her former rival Nina who has also recently lost her scholarship to King’s College. They are in cahoots together to take down yet another rival, Lady Gabriella Madison. They put aside their differences and realize they have a lot in common.

This book has so much going on and it was so fascinating to see Daphne and Nina team up and it almost humanizes Daphne. But she’s still evil and had a major twist at the end of the novel! I can’t wait to see what’s she’s up to next.

Thank you so much to @katharinemcgee and @getunderlined for my copy of the book. The fourth book in the American Royals series, Reign is out August 29, 2023!

Unfortunately, I cannot give feedback on this title as i couldn't finish the first book in the series. This has great potential however, and the Gossip Girl esque tones are sure to delight readers worldwide!!

Katharine McGee has done it again with another great addition to the series! Her books are always so fun (and I love the concept of an alternate world where the US became a monarchy down the George Washington line), but also get at lots of deeper ideas. So many characters went through major changes and growth this book, and with that cliffhanger at the end I can’t wait for book 4!

I was thrilled to read American Royals III: Rivals by Katharine McGee, which I received as an ARC from Net Galley.

The story picked up from book two almost exactly where I had anticipated it would and pushed forward with now-Queen Beatrice, her princess-sister Samantha, her prince-brother Jefferson, Nina, Daphne, and introduced the newest girl-we-love-to-hate, Gabriella. Beatrice has to negotiate what it means to be a ruler, a leader, in the void created by her father's passing, and discovers it to be a role she both loves and hates while she hosts the League of Kings, a G8-type of meeting with rulers from all member nations. Beatrice encounters friendship, betrayal, disappointment, and triumph in equal measure while in this role.

Simultaneously, Prince Jefferson and Princess Samantha work their way through their own situations, mostly in the areas of romance and companionship, and Nina, Daphne, and Gabriella converge and explode a nest of deceit and intrigue.

The subtitle Rivals works on so many levels in this book among the myriad characters. The twists and turns are plentiful and not disappointing. I really enjoyed the novel and am even more happy that there will be a fourth installment when I had only anticipated a trilogy. Looking forward to the next volume in this series.

I love this series! I love the concept of America having a royal family, and I couldn't wait to see what the characters from the series were up to this time around. It seemed like everyone was getting along and everyone was finally starting to find happiness and then...BAM...the ending. The ending was a total shock! Now I have to wait for book four.

I couldn’t put this book down, as usual. But I think it’s true that you can have too much of a good thing. Will I read the next one & anything this author does? Absolutely. This one missed the mark for me. It was more of a filler book than a book to move the series forward.

I absolutely adore Katherine McGee. I binged books 1 and 2 in a weekend before she came to speak to the Bad Bitch Book Club. I think she’s one of the best contemporary writers of our time. And I love this series.

I just have loved watching these characters develop. Such a fun premise that has really bloomed. Already excited for the next one!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this phenomenal ARC. I was delighted to read the third installment of this gripping, delicious series, and this threequel did not disappoint. I love how McGee crafts this vivid world of a monarchy within an alternate present day America with such detail and a ripped-from-the-headlines approach to our central three siblings. I also love how Daphne finally felt like the well-rounded character she deserved to be. I cannot wait for Reign (IV).

So so fun. Like candy for the brain (but not the kind you feel guilty about). It’s smart and clever and I’m looking forward to more in this series!

Thank you to Penguin Random house for letting me write this belated review. (I'm so sorry) This book was well worth the wait! I'm truly obsessed with this series and can't give it enough praise. Katharine McGee definitely knows how to write the perfect American Crown setting. As the title says- RIVALS....is truly an american rivalry. This book did NOT disappoint my expectations and I can't wait for the fourth installment!

Rival is the third book in the American Royals series, and it delivers. I felt that there was a lot of growth within our group of characters, especially Daphne who has historically been my least favorite of the characters. I really enjoy this world, the characters and how each book has had their own "stories" within the greater story. This books does end on another cliff hanger so looking forward to jumping back into this world when the next installment is out. This is my official plea for Nina and Jeff to end up together before the end of this series!

Thank you, Net Galley and publishers, for the ARC in exchange for the honest review of #AmericanRoyalsIIIRivals

I would have read this book if I had gotten an ARC or not, however, this book series as a whole is not one that I am anxiously awaiting the next book. I do still enjoy them though. They're good, zone-out books to reimagine the US as a monarchy and the drama that would accompany it. Queen Beatrice has to navigate love and being a young queen. Nina, Daphanie, Jeff, and all of the others navigate college and love lives being spilled across the front pages, but also their royal/almost royal duties.

Based off of the title and cover I was expecting more of a rivalry between Beatrice and another Princess or Queen but that wasn’t really the case. Besides that, I really enjoyed the third book of the American Royals series. But that ending….there’s got to be a fourth in the works!!

Like many third books in a series, this one just didn’t quite hit the mark of the first two. Still lovable, still a great YA pick.

I finished the book 12hrs after a zoom talk with the author, so some details were a little spoiled for me, but the big cliffhanger wasn't, and OH IT'S GOOD. I did see some things coming but not this one...

Two things bugged me in the book.
1) Where's Queen Adelaide? Her 3 kids are grieving too, at an age where everyone makes mistakes. She should've been right there with them, even if she thought they didn't need them, they do. We always do.
2) Not enough of Jeff perspective. I would have love to know what he's thinking...

And honestly, Gabriella is vile. And I will finish with one thing: Communication is everything....

I read this book with the Chick Lit Book Club. Many thanks to PenguinTeen Canada for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This conclusion to the the American Royals series was everything I needed and then some! The drama and romance are so addicting I couldn’t put it down!