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!!! Please, please, please fuck off.
Can I kick Daphne in the nose? No? But I though everyone hated her!!!
Spoiler
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Cancer, Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Alcohol, Stalking, Bullying, and Drug abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Racism
isitcertain's review
emotional
inspiring
tense
slow-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? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Infidelity
Moderate: Bullying, Terminal illness, Cancer, Alcohol, and Toxic friendship
haleybre's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Cancer, Alcohol, Bullying, and Infidelity
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Classism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Infidelity
Moderate: Stalking, Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexism
Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Pregnancy, Racism, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders
iamthelizardqueen's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolutely loved this
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, and Death
effthecanon's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
American Royals has an excellent idea behind it: What would America be like if we had a royal family? I think that's such a fascinating question to ask and explore so this one had been on my list for a while before I finally got to reading it.
All in all, it was a solidly fine read. It was a three-star read for me until the final couple of chapters. I think the author did an incredible job of bringing lots of emotion to the end of the book so it bumped up an extra half a star on that alone. I found myself not really being able to feel like I had a grasp on the characters because we were bouncing from one to another so quickly so I would have preferred not having the story told from 4 different perspectives (maybe just 2 or 3 would have felt less rushed). I also found myself not particularly intrigued with the mystery subplot, I think that could have been handled more clandestinely - it was a lot of telling rather than showing or feeling. But the romances were really sweet (even if they felt rushed as well) and I liked the father-daughter relationships we see between the King and Beatrice and Samantha. I just really wish the story had slowed down a little bit and really let us get a feel for the characters.
I still really enjoyed it and will happily be reading the next in the series!
All in all, it was a solidly fine read. It was a three-star read for me until the final couple of chapters. I think the author did an incredible job of bringing lots of emotion to the end of the book so it bumped up an extra half a star on that alone. I found myself not really being able to feel like I had a grasp on the characters because we were bouncing from one to another so quickly so I would have preferred not having the story told from 4 different perspectives (maybe just 2 or 3 would have felt less rushed). I also found myself not particularly intrigued with the mystery subplot, I think that could have been handled more clandestinely - it was a lot of telling rather than showing or feeling. But the romances were really sweet (even if they felt rushed as well) and I liked the father-daughter relationships we see between the King and Beatrice and Samantha. I just really wish the story had slowed down a little bit and really let us get a feel for the characters.
I still really enjoyed it and will happily be reading the next in the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Bullying, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent
reddeddy's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Bullying, Classism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Drug abuse, Body shaming, Colonisation, Sexism, Dysphoria, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Xenophobia, Injury/injury detail, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Blood, and Slavery
fire_wolf's review
- 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
3.5
“Writers got to pick the endings of their novels, but Beatrice wasn’t living a story. She was living history, and history went on forever.”
― Katharine McGee, American Royals
Oh my god. That's all I can comprehend right now. I started this book thinking it might be somewhat similar to another book i.e. Red White and Royal Blue. But no, it isn't, at least for me it's not. This book shows all of the cliche's when it comes to being a ruler. I mean we all are sort of familiar with it. And when I say cliche's I mean:
The heir to the throne not wanting to be the ruler
The sibling being a rebel but secretly wishing to be noticed and also be the monarchy
But for me there was a lot. I started this book thinking it would be about how a princess was training to be a queen one day and let me know you it wasn't just this
SPOLIER FREE REVIEW:
There was 3 prominent tropes that I could find in this book that is bodyguard trope, forbidden romance, friends to lovers . I did take a bit of a time to finish this I admit but the times when I was reading this book, I could not put it down. It definitely captured my attention a lot of the times. But at the same time I did also cringe a lot for some of the parts (maybe its just me, Idk). Before I started this book I searched it up just to know what it would be about and I found something that said this was for fans of Prince Harry and Meghan or Prince William and Kate and after reading this book, yeah I agree, it is for fans of the royal family.
SPOILER REVIEW:
I was definitely simping for Jeff and Nina and Beatrice and Connor (mostly the latter). But neither of them happened.
But I think my most favorite thing in this whole book is the starting and the ending i.e the last line in the prologue, I'm gonna be honest it made me feel like I'm watching a movie and the title just rolled in and the ending I normally don't love hang cliffers (Yes! I'm looking at you Riordan) but I have to give it to Katherine McGee for ending it in the most coolest way.
Overall I definitely do recommend that you read it, you may like it or not but I did like it. So 3.5/5 for me!
― Katharine McGee, American Royals
Oh my god. That's all I can comprehend right now. I started this book thinking it might be somewhat similar to another book i.e. Red White and Royal Blue. But no, it isn't, at least for me it's not. This book shows all of the cliche's when it comes to being a ruler. I mean we all are sort of familiar with it. And when I say cliche's I mean:
The heir to the throne not wanting to be the ruler
The sibling being a rebel but secretly wishing to be noticed and also be the monarchy
But for me there was a lot. I started this book thinking it would be about how a princess was training to be a queen one day and let me know you it wasn't just this
SPOLIER FREE REVIEW:
There was 3 prominent tropes that I could find in this book that is bodyguard trope, forbidden romance, friends to lovers . I did take a bit of a time to finish this I admit but the times when I was reading this book, I could not put it down. It definitely captured my attention a lot of the times. But at the same time I did also cringe a lot for some of the parts (maybe its just me, Idk). Before I started this book I searched it up just to know what it would be about and I found something that said this was for fans of Prince Harry and Meghan or Prince William and Kate and after reading this book, yeah I agree, it is for fans of the royal family.
SPOILER REVIEW:
Spoiler
Okay in this spoiler review I have some stuff to talk about. First of all, now this is the reason why I gave it 3.5 stars and not 5, I hated how it was sort of like an on and off relationship between Bee and Connor, it kinda pissed me off a lot. Second of all, I hate Daphne so much, like Nina said, she doesn't want the head just the crown on it but at the same time I kinda feel sorry for her because its her mom that is making her do these things, like if she didn't control her daughter's life maybe her daughter wouldn't have turned out to be so bad?I was definitely simping for Jeff and Nina and Beatrice and Connor (mostly the latter). But neither of them happened.
But I think my most favorite thing in this whole book is the starting and the ending i.e the last line in the prologue, I'm gonna be honest it made me feel like I'm watching a movie and the title just rolled in and the ending I normally don't love hang cliffers (Yes! I'm looking at you Riordan) but I have to give it to Katherine McGee for ending it in the most coolest way.
Overall I definitely do recommend that you read it, you may like it or not but I did like it. So 3.5/5 for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Cancer
mollythefishmonger's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Bullying
Moderate: Death of parent and Body shaming
Minor: Cancer
veronicatabor's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Cancer
Minor: Bullying and Gaslighting