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A review by starryorbit12
American Royals by Katharine McGee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 56%.
This books has an interesting premise that fails to explore to focus on badly developed romances with underdeveloped and aggravating characters. You have this all this potential with a alternate history timeline, and all the author really does is swap the presidency with a monarchy and implement a class system. The author also mostly uses the monarchy for the aesthetic while barely exploring what that means duty and politics wise. Frankly, the only duties the author does explore are ones that force Beatrice's arranged marriage plotline anyways.
Almost all the characters were either annoying, horrible, or bland.
Beatrice is passive and indecisive despite the fact she supposed to be a future ruler. She constantly defers to her parents want for "traditional and appropriate" ruler even though her being Queen defies all that in the first place. Everytime she tries to make a decision for herself she ends up letting the people around her or public opinion sway her back to the "traditional" option. She feels more like a sad puppet than ruler making history. I wouldn't put her in charge of a class project let alone a country.
Samantha is self-centered and privileged. She doesn't feel like people notice her as the spare. Instead of expressing this to her family, she acts out irresponsible and impulsively for attention. She complains everything is about Beatrice while making everything about her. She just laments about "being second" while the people around her keep telling her they have real problems that she never takes the time to consider. Teddy is dealing with financial and political ruin for his entire family, and she wants him risk that because they made out once in a closet. She never considers her sister's responsibilities while she gets to do whatever she wants. She never considers how privileged she is to never have to deal out with the fallout from her stunts or how they hurt the people around her.
Daphne is social climber that whiny and obnoxious. She literally only wants to be with Jefferson to be a princess and that is her only goal in life. Everything she does is to be a princess, and she just wants the title and power for the luxury and social status. She talks about their relationship like a script that has deviated, and she acts as if she is owed Jefferson and a title. She talks about other women as if they soley existed as competition for Jefferson, and that she is inherently better while she desperately throws herself at him. It's heavily implied she is the one who put her one female friend "that she thought was different" into a coma once she found out she also liked Jefferson at this point, and this book is so predictable with it's beats that I am sure that is the case. She sells stories about others just to get better press, she is constantly scheming to get her Jefferson back like he is object. She doesn't even speak like she likes or even cares about him. She talks about him like he is toy or a prop for her image. Yet, the author constantly seems to act like we are meant to sympathize we her while she commits literal crime after crime to get back the man and title she thinks is owed to her.
Nina is the only one who thinks about the bigger picture and others, but she is constantly pushed over by the royals. She comes to events she doesn't want to because Samantha wants her there. Jefferson makes out with her and then sends her home the next morning alone while he goes off on a several month travel tour. He doesn't speak to her at all, despite phones existing in the timeline. He acts like they should just pick up where they left off, and she finds out he also left her that morning because he also hadn't broken up with his girlfriend yet at the time he made out with her. She is hurt, yet she constantly let's him invade her space when she doesn't want to see him. She forgives and dates him will little apology and no promise for changed before.
The male characters are all bland. Ethan is literally just there. He is meant to be Jefferson's best friend, but we rarely see them together. He really just exists for romantic tension with Daphne and push her plots along. Teddy and Jefferson are medicore.
Connor has the most development both in his backstory and relationship with Beatrice. The whole "royalty can't be with a commoner" felt like a terrible obstacle though. Your telling me the monarchy evolved enough that we have gay and interracial couples, but commoners is too far? Your telling the press wouldn't dig "The Bodyguard who loved his country and Queen too much" and that the people would'nt love seeing someone like them next to the throne. Royals only marrying each other is also how many monarchy's ended up with a lot of inbreeding.
Slavery is also deigned to a throwaway line basically. Sexism is used as prop to spur plotlines but never addressed head on. People treat Sam worse than Jefferson despite being twins and doing the same things, but this is only used for Sam's angst rather than actually addressing the double standards. People don't want a Queen on the throne and that's behind the pressure for Beatrice to marry a man before ending up on the throne. Yet, no one does anything about it and there no nuanced discussions about it. Beatrice could succeed without a King but they use a convient parent illness and secist peer pressure make it seems like she has to marry.
The author seems to forget this is a monarchy in place when referring to public opinion. Politicians do whatever they can to appease the public because they need them for re-election. Beatrice is going to be Queen. If the public doesn't like her, it doesn't change that she is in charge. She could literally just tell her parents to stop using there illness to guilt trip into getting married and succeed without a King. It might be radical because she is the first queen and there no man behind the throne at all, but she would literally be the highest power in the land. She could then change the rule about royals and commoners this leaving her free to purse and potentially marry Connor. She doesn't because she is spineless, but there is still a perfectly good option there that gets ignored because romantic angst.
The overall plot itself really just boils down to several, "I like this person but can't be with them for X reason because plot" with increasingly underdeveloped romances with increasingly shitty characters. There was also no time for depth with four POV characters either with the way they were balanced.
Almost all the characters were either annoying, horrible, or bland.
Beatrice is passive and indecisive despite the fact she supposed to be a future ruler. She constantly defers to her parents want for "traditional and appropriate" ruler even though her being Queen defies all that in the first place. Everytime she tries to make a decision for herself she ends up letting the people around her or public opinion sway her back to the "traditional" option. She feels more like a sad puppet than ruler making history. I wouldn't put her in charge of a class project let alone a country.
Samantha is self-centered and privileged. She doesn't feel like people notice her as the spare. Instead of expressing this to her family, she acts out irresponsible and impulsively for attention. She complains everything is about Beatrice while making everything about her. She just laments about "being second" while the people around her keep telling her they have real problems that she never takes the time to consider. Teddy is dealing with financial and political ruin for his entire family, and she wants him risk that because they made out once in a closet. She never considers her sister's responsibilities while she gets to do whatever she wants. She never considers how privileged she is to never have to deal out with the fallout from her stunts or how they hurt the people around her.
Daphne is social climber that whiny and obnoxious. She literally only wants to be with Jefferson to be a princess and that is her only goal in life. Everything she does is to be a princess, and she just wants the title and power for the luxury and social status. She talks about their relationship like a script that has deviated, and she acts as if she is owed Jefferson and a title. She talks about other women as if they soley existed as competition for Jefferson, and that she is inherently better while she desperately throws herself at him. It's heavily implied she is the one who put her one female friend "that she thought was different" into a coma once she found out she also liked Jefferson at this point, and this book is so predictable with it's beats that I am sure that is the case. She sells stories about others just to get better press, she is constantly scheming to get her Jefferson back like he is object. She doesn't even speak like she likes or even cares about him. She talks about him like he is toy or a prop for her image. Yet, the author constantly seems to act like we are meant to sympathize we her while she commits literal crime after crime to get back the man and title she thinks is owed to her.
Nina is the only one who thinks about the bigger picture and others, but she is constantly pushed over by the royals. She comes to events she doesn't want to because Samantha wants her there. Jefferson makes out with her and then sends her home the next morning alone while he goes off on a several month travel tour. He doesn't speak to her at all, despite phones existing in the timeline. He acts like they should just pick up where they left off, and she finds out he also left her that morning because he also hadn't broken up with his girlfriend yet at the time he made out with her. She is hurt, yet she constantly let's him invade her space when she doesn't want to see him. She forgives and dates him will little apology and no promise for changed before.
The male characters are all bland. Ethan is literally just there. He is meant to be Jefferson's best friend, but we rarely see them together. He really just exists for romantic tension with Daphne and push her plots along. Teddy and Jefferson are medicore.
Connor has the most development both in his backstory and relationship with Beatrice. The whole "royalty can't be with a commoner" felt like a terrible obstacle though. Your telling me the monarchy evolved enough that we have gay and interracial couples, but commoners is too far? Your telling the press wouldn't dig "The Bodyguard who loved his country and Queen too much" and that the people would'nt love seeing someone like them next to the throne. Royals only marrying each other is also how many monarchy's ended up with a lot of inbreeding.
Slavery is also deigned to a throwaway line basically. Sexism is used as prop to spur plotlines but never addressed head on. People treat Sam worse than Jefferson despite being twins and doing the same things, but this is only used for Sam's angst rather than actually addressing the double standards. People don't want a Queen on the throne and that's behind the pressure for Beatrice to marry a man before ending up on the throne. Yet, no one does anything about it and there no nuanced discussions about it. Beatrice could succeed without a King but they use a convient parent illness and secist peer pressure make it seems like she has to marry.
The author seems to forget this is a monarchy in place when referring to public opinion. Politicians do whatever they can to appease the public because they need them for re-election. Beatrice is going to be Queen. If the public doesn't like her, it doesn't change that she is in charge. She could literally just tell her parents to stop using there illness to guilt trip into getting married and succeed without a King. It might be radical because she is the first queen and there no man behind the throne at all, but she would literally be the highest power in the land. She could then change the rule about royals and commoners this leaving her free to purse and potentially marry Connor. She doesn't because she is spineless, but there is still a perfectly good option there that gets ignored because romantic angst.
The overall plot itself really just boils down to several, "I like this person but can't be with them for X reason because plot" with increasingly underdeveloped romances with increasingly shitty characters. There was also no time for depth with four POV characters either with the way they were balanced.