Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

American Royals by Katharine McGee

20 reviews

lucyatoz's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

American Royals by Katharine McGee is an alternate history story of America if George Washington had become a King rather than a President. 

It is a really interesting premise for a story, telling the tale from four very different points of view - Princess Beatrice, the heir, Princess Samantha, the spare, Daphne Deighton, ex-girlfriend to Jefferson, the youngest child of King George IV, and Nina Gonzalez, daughter of a cabinet minster and best friend to Princess Samantha. 

It is full of teenage angst and romance, with lots of characters and plots crossing over each other, as they each try to figure out their place in their rarefied world of Royalty. I was a little disappointed with the ending although I appreciate that this gave it a lead into the next book in the series.   

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for the 52 Book Club Summer Reading Challenge 2024, for prompt 12, gymnastics rings, jewellery on the cover.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

novella42's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, and Alcohol

saoirse_the_thespian's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

American Royals is truly a masterpiece and is so underhyped. The world is created so beautiful with a plot that will have you staying up way too late to read. A great read if you want YA with royalty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

christygsp's review against another edition

3.5

Interesting premise and characters BUT too many plots. 
No main plot with sub plots, just five smaller plots all happening at once that are all interconnected. Following three royal kids with two outsiders that have other outsiders connected to those was exhausting. 
Everyone loves someone they can’t be with because of “family” or “expectations” or “crossed lovers syndrome”. Frustrating and heart twisting (not in a good way) all I got was aggravated and YET I still liked it. I still found the characters and idea of an American royal family engaging. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

luna_cash's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

i didn’t love it,

i feel like why spend the entire book biulding up these romances to get rid of them. i know who everyone ends up with but honestly i’m not sure i care. i’m probably not going to read the rest of these books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

there’s both cheating

and someone being drugged leading to a medical injury

colorful_lulu's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

How relatable and painful Beatrice and Sam are. I didn’t find Nina too relatable but Bea and Sam was so relatable it fuckin hurts. <spoilers> King George IV’a death was so painful tho

Can I kick Daphne in the nose? No? But I though everyone hated her!!!

Like she LITERALLY thinks about how she slept with her pray ex-boyfriends best friend while trying to get back to the ex, while the ex’s father who also happens to be HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS is literally dying of lung cancer.

Please, please, please fuck off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

ashlikes's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

rhythmofryn's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was a rough book for me because of the heart-wrenching decisions required by the characters. The more I learn about royalty, the more I’m convinced I would never ever want a crown. I get too emotional over characters and I aches for every character who had to choose between what they truly wanted and what was expected of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny

reddeddy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail