The drama amidst America's royal family continues in the third installment of American Royals. We get a glimpse into Beatrice as Queen, Sam as heir to the throne, Daphne continuing to fight for Jefferson, and Nina trying to live a normal life while still being a constant presence at the palace.

One of my favorite things about YA texts is the subtlety used to address bigger issues. This novel is no different. Gender roles and power & privilege are two important topics that are continually discussed and brought to the surface throughout.

Without giving too much away, I'm so excited to have read this one, and, like McGee says in her acknowledgments at the end, "I can't wait to see where the journey takes us!" Thank you to Random House & NetGalley for the ARC. (And #TeamSam)

So glad to see this series continuing! I just love living in this world and spending more time with each of the characters---especially Beatrice and Sam! Still warming up to Daphne, but her and Nina had such an interesting relationship throughout this one. I love love love Marshall and the ending for this felt so perfect for them--I hope we get to see their next steps. Thanks, Katharine McGee, for letting us swim around in this world a bit longer!

American Royal III: Rivals
By Katharine McGee

The book is fantastic. I enjoyed every bit of this story!
This is probably the fastest I've read a digital ARC in my entire life.
This delightful modern American monarchy, was so much fun to read.
The writing is fun and engaging with so much heart.
American Royal III: Rivals was every bit as wonderfully vibrant, dramatic, exciting and completely royal in every way possible.
The drama was amazing and I felt myself rooting for characters throughout the novel! 
These brilliant beautiful characters
I enjoyed this book so much. Light, fun and a real pleasure to read.
Overall, this series is thrilling and addictive!

Random House Books for Young Readers,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

I LOVED this book! It's so clear that Katharine puts in the work to make this alternate reality really fleshed out and fully 3-D. Samantha was my favorite of this book, I really enjoyed seeing her growth. I will say I don't feel the Rivals title with Beatrice and Louise who look like they are pictured, but I believe it with Nina/Daphne/Gabriella more. Really didn't expect the ending though and very much need a fourth book! Would love to see Beatrice both confident in her role and relationship.

Oh my gosh the ending of this book! I should start by saying I pick up less than a dozen YA books a year so I no longer feel like I have a great read on the genre, but somehow when the first book came out I got sucked into the idea of American royalty and had to read. Just like the previous two I read this in one day because I just had to know what happened and like book two this one irritated me as well! I am a sucker and will inevitably read the fourth book, but there is something so difficult for me as a romance reader to read about/love a relationship in one book and then have it completely switched up. I think that is just a personal issue and clearly I still devoured this book. I will definitely keep recommending this series just with a few catches so people don't experience the same agony I have if that is not for them.

Another excellent installment of American Royals. My high school kids will be eagerly awaiting it! This series gets stronger and stronger and I am sure the fourth installment will be excellnet

Rivals picks up where Majesty left off, exploring the aftermath of our favorite characters' happily ever afters. Beatrice, now Queen of America, navigates new political waters while exploring her relationship with Teddy. Samantha and Marshall suddenly face new challenges from different directions, and Nina and Daphne find that old enemies may make the best new allies. Can the American Royals fight to hold on to what they love, or will the gilded cage of their positions succeed in trapping them in its grip?

What I love most about this series is its unpredictability. There is no adhering to the sometimes boring rule that the love interest at the start of the series is going to be the love interest at the end of the series. Rivals continues this unpredictability, with many plot twists that were creative and out of the box. The author went in several different directions that I never would've thought were possible to explore, and that made the novel very exciting. I finished it in one sitting, so it was clear that I was hooked from beginning to end. The only reason this novel didn't get five stars from me is that some of the characters' actions started to feel a bit repetitive, which negated some of their development.

Thank you to Random House Children's Books and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was by far one of the better installments in the series. There are definitely elements to the plot that I wished I could have seen expounded upon. In so many ways this was a lot more quiet. It's less focused on big changes happening as it was on characters growing, testing out new dynamics and seeing how they are all still chaffing against the roles they've placed themselves in.

I love these books so much, I love the world of mess and schemeing and controlled chaos that they all exist in.

AND THAT ENDING....

When I read Majesty I was so sad to think that I had to say goodbye to the characters and the world when there was so much more story I could see. While this is not at all where I thought things were going to go, I am very much curious to see how these events play out. It is the perfect level of soapyness that I want from this series, that I have come to expect and feeling like a quartet is inevitable after having read this is definitely going to help get me through the rest of this year.