Member Reviews
Well, well well.... in typical fashion, I request based on cover and read the blurb after I'm done, so this book was such a delicious surprise for me!! Political romance MMF romance with all the heat, desire, angst, and suspense that kept me up way past my bedtime. It was such a unique twist/retelling of Camelot and I am so stoke this has been picked up by Bloom and the full triology is being re-released! I can't wait for the next installment.
American Queen by Sierra Simone is a Scandal-esque romance between Greer, Max (or Ash) and Embry eventually. Maxen is the President of the United States and his life-long friend Embry is Vice President.
Greer and Ash met years ago at a party. Greer's grandfather was part of POTUS years ago so she grew in that scene. As a teenager between 16-18 Greer sent some pretty embarrassing emails while he was deployed. The two had some run ins as they grew older but their relatuonship never progressed, eventually stopping altogether when Ash got engaged to another woman which led to Greer meeting Embry and losing her virginity to him.
Years later after Ash's wife passes away, Embry approaches Greer to propose a meeting between her and Ash.
Here, for me, things go a little left. Its clear Embry and Greer had a deep connection and although she's displeased with him abiit ghosting her, there's something there. When her and Ash reconnect it's a whirlwind.
I found so many issues with this book that ultimately led to me disliking it.
Initially, Greer is this intellectual and academically gifted woman. When these two men come back into her life, all these values and strengths vanish. She becomes a glorified trophy wife.
When it os revealed that Ash and Embry has been in some sort of relationship for over a decade and she catches them kissing. Even if she's attracted to them both in that moment, she was still cheated on. It seems like she turns a blind eye a lot and becomes naive almost, like a different person.
I've read a lot of dom/sub books but Ash just comes across as manipulative. The first sexual encounter between the three was not discussed properly. Embry was brought into the room and forced to observe the two. It seems Ash is the only one not uncomfortable. It crossed a line for me.
I don't plan on reading the rest of the trilogy. After seeing other reviews and summaries it doesn't appear to get better. Im glad others enjoyed the trilogy but for me, it was not.
I really enjoyed this book while I was actively reading it but I found it was an easy one to put down and not pick back up for weeks at at time. I liked all thee of our characters and my god was it steamy.
I am so so so incredibly excited to see this trilogy (and Sierra Simone generally) be recognized for the INCREDIBLE author she is and for the fantastic book that American Queen is, and that it's being traditionally published. Sierra is an absolute goddess of her genre and this is scorching hot and so very swoony!
I have to majorly thank Bloom Books for reminding me how much I loved American Queen by Sierra Simone. Since it’s being re-released into traditional publishing I had the honor of getting a review copy of each of the books in this series and I’ve enjoyed delving back into the New Camelot world.
Years ago when I read American Queen I never got around to reading the rest of this trilogy so I am more than excited to finally read them!
This book is a whole other level of spice and romance and I am loving it. I cannot wait to get to American Prince and see what happens after that major cliffhanger in American Queen
thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of American queen. this was part of a romance trilogy that was fantastic. I have been enjoying just blatant romance books lately and this was definitely one to check out.
I enjoyed this! Super steamy, and honestly, Embry was so baby. I liked Ash but honestly sometimes he gave me Tumblr dom vibes. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!
This was just okay. I had higher hopes for it, honestly. And I just could not get past the history between Ash and the senator.
please note that the topes/themes may contain spoilers
3.5 ⭐ rounded up to 4
POV: 1st person, single POV
HEA: no- cliffhanger
spice: lots of spicy scenes (FM, MM, MMF)
TWs: attempted SA, detailed BDSM scenes, death of parents (recounted), mental manipulation, incest, dubious consent, age gap (10 years), war themes, sexual harassment, kidnapping
standalone: book 1 of New Camelot series- should be read in order
final thoughts: this was a fun book with a ton of twists, turns, tropes. I don’t love that it ended on a cliffhanger, but I love that the rest of the series is written so I can jump right in and find out what happens. The sex scenes were great- detailed, well written, interesting- but the rest of the book struggled to keep my interest fully. Maybe it was all the war talk and all the “she’s the most gorgeous person in the world but doesn’t know it”. The rewrite of this series eliminated some of the war talk and got more into the “meat” of the conversations and changed around some verbiage to make it a more seamless read.
read this book if you love
🌈 LGBT+ representation
🪢 BDSM
💼 workplace romance
🌍 world building
😳 forbidden lovers
🎭 OW/OM drama
😏 kinky scenes
🔙 alternating timeline (past and present mixed)
💞 childhood crush
🤐 miscommunication
😬 angst
🥰 nicknames
📖 retelling (Camelot)
🌀 plot twists
🧗 cliffhanger
🔞 age gap (10 years- kisses and thoughts before 18)
💌 penpal vibes
💋menage/why choose
💘insta-love
Sierra Simone is SUCH a queen and I was so excited to get a copy of this title! I know it wasn't a new release, but the fact that she is being traditionally published is amazing! Ive been working my way through Sierras backlist, and this start of a new trilogy is everything that I could have wanted!
American Queen by Sierra Simone is the first book in the series. In this first book we meet Greer who comes from a long history of a family in politics. Enter Ash, the man who has taken Greer's heart. Move ahead in time and Ash is now the president. And so begins the story! WOW! I loved this book so much, I couldn't put it down. I love how the author ended book one making us all want book two IMMEDIATELY! I can't wait to dive into the next!
American Queen by Sierra Simone is the First book in the New Camelot Trilogy. This starts the story of Greer Galloway, Ash Colchester and Embry Moore. Greer was the Granddaughter of a Vice President so her family has a long history in politics. Greer meets Ash when she is a teenager and she feels a connection to the older man. When she is of legal age she thinks to make a move towards him but something happens that breaks her heart. This leads he to Ash who she ends up sleeping with. Now in their present day... Ash is the President and his best friend his is Vice President. This book does end setting us up for more of their story in the next book.
Honestly, this book was fine enough. I just don't think it was for me in particular. The whole romance basically just hinges on sexual attraction, and sexual attraction only. Like, how else do you explain do you explain these characters claiming to love each other after only one interaction? That just doesn't really work for me. I need more than just sex to be able to root for a romantic relationship. Especially because most of this book is just about the romance. There is a very small political subplot, but it takes up like max 10% of this book. So yeah, therefore I just never got super invested in this. That is all personal prefference though. I can totally understand why other people really enjoy this book. I do. In fact, I did myself quite a bit. It was very fanfic like, and intense. There was drama around every corner, and no one of it was serious stuff, and I had a blast. The endless amount of sex scenes could get a bit exhausting though. However, that again was just pure personal preference. I did quite like the characters and their developement, and their dynamics, even if it was a bit underdeveloped. I am quite excited to read the rest of the series though, and not only because of the massive cliffhanger at the end of this one.
This is my first Sierra Simone novel, and while it definitely will not be the last as I enjoyed most of this novel, I did find myself having to suspend belief quite a few times and just try to roll with the story line versus thinking too hard about it. Greer is the granddaughter of a past Vice President. She has grown up in the world of American politics and has learned how to read between the lines of what people are saying and really get a feel for what people aren’t saying outright, while reading their body language and their gratuitous words. Greer ends up meeting the future President Colchester and Vice President Moore on separate occasions, when she is 16 years old and 20 years old respectively. She falls in love with both of them and then waits ten years to act upon these feelings or respond to them in any way. (This is where I really had to suspend belief). Spice ensues from there, and I have to say, the last 25 percent of the book is really where I got hooked as the story ends on quite a cliffhanger.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.
I've heard about this book for a long time, but never got to reading it, and now I am glad I did. From the very first page, this book caught my attention.
Greer, Ash, and Emery are all interesting in their own right. Greer is so likable, she’s sweet and so kind. Ash is quite a force. His intensity and dominant force really swallowed me whole. I hope we get to see and learn more about him because I’m intrigued. Emery is somewhat of a mystery we don’t know much about. But I’m hopeful we will learn more later.
I have so many unanswered questions and I’m really excited to see where the rest of the series goes. There are literally endless possibilities.
I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is my first book by Sierra Simone but I must say.....I get it. I get the obsession. Half way through the book I went looking up her entire back list because I honestly need it now.
That being said American Queen was thrilling, fast paced and oh so very hot.
This may have been some of the best written spicy scenes I've read. The level of how well written and fluent it is, I can't even put into words.
The characters were well thought out and I found the exploration into kink tasteful.
Overall I really enjoyed this book.
Ohhhh. I am speechless. The writing is almost like lyrical poetry. The religious, political and sexy topics are written in a cohesive way. I appreciate only having Greer’s pov as an introduction to the characters and story.
There is nothing better to take your mind off of real politics than a super sexy, fictional political romance. Plus, this book was so much hotter than I thought it would be, but I should have known because Sierra Simone always brings the heat.
This story is nothing like I expected, but I was definitely along for the crazy, unexpected ride this story took. Greer was raised by her grandfather and was born in politics, so it wasn't surprising for her to find herself meeting the future President.
She met Max when she was young and he was immediately taken with her. They shared a stolen moment together when she was in boarding school, but they both grew up and in different directions. Max became a war hero and later President of the United States, while Greer was finishing her studies and becoming a professor.
Max's Vice President and best friend Embry also survived with him in the military and they formed a strong bond. Embry met Greer years later and shared a fantastic night, but never called her. Heartbroken by the two men she gave a piece of herself to Greer decides to move on. Years later the Vice President is summoning her to meet with Max, heartbreak aside she cannot turn him down.
American Queen quickly takes you on an unforgettable and unexpected journey! I was immediately pulled in and couldn't wait to see what happened next.
So I started this book thinking political romance, then was like holy hell this is hot, then was completely taken back by the unexpected twist. I am so excited to see what comes next for these three. I am excited for their love, but even more excited to see what will come in the next two installments. If you are a fan of sexy, you need to read this one!
ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
This book was not for me. The writing was beautiful, and the backdrop was perfectly described but I could not get into the characters or storyline.
American Queen is the first book of the New Camelot trilogy that is an MMF romance between Greer, Ash, and Embry.
The prologue immediately captured my attention and set the stage for the rest of the book. Sierra knows how to write romance, especially with powerful alpha heros and the heroines (and heros) that make them lose their minds. The plot of this story is very unique and makes the book have a powerful vibe.
Ash is the President of the USA and Embry is his VP, while Greer is Ash’s new love interest. Their positions of power and the forbidden aspects make the story exciting. Every character’s personalities are so different and with any relationship, there are ups and downs they have to overcome. I really enjoyed this story and it gives some insight into how exciting the rest of the books will be, yet also knowing there will be plot twists.