American Royals by Katharine McGee

-

I love Katharine McGee, and I loved her series The Thousandth Floor. But I am absolutely obsessed with anything having to do with royals, and a Katie McGee book about America reimagined as a monarchy? Sign me the fuck up! This was my most anticipated book of 2019, and I am so grateful to have gotten my hands on a finished copy.

American Royals imagines that, instead of being the first President, George Washington was the first king of America. Fast-forward to present-day, and we follow the current American royals. There's Beatrice, who is poised to become the first Queen of America. Sam, Beatrice's younger sister and the spare. There's Nina, a commoner and Sam's best friend. And then there's Daphne, a scheming aristocrat desperate to capture the heart of Jeff, Sam's twin brother.

There's not much beyond that I can say about the plot with out spoiling anything, but if, like me, you love anything involving royals, this is the book for you! And it's not just romance and drama; it's quite deep and heartbreaking and it talks a lot about what it means to sacrifice personal happiness for the greater good (or is it?).

Katie clearly did a lot of research on American history, and it definitely pays off! My favorite part of this book was definitely the world-building and the history and research that went into creating this book. I loved reading about, in passing, past American royals and their interesting personal histories. It's not surprising, because, in my opinion, Katie is the queen of interesting worlds/settings with incredibly interesting histories. I will literally read anything she writes!

American Royals is definitely character-driven, and Beatrice ended up being my favorite character, and I was the most invested in her storyline. A character like Beatrice, I feel, can often be written as a boring rule follower who conforms to societal expectations, but Katie made her such an interesting and dynamic character. I also loved the elements of feminism incorporated into her storyline; she is going to be America's first queen, and there is a lot of discussion about how, because of this, there will not only be people rooting for her to fail, but she will always stand for something bigger than herself.

If there is anything to criticize about this book, it would be that I felt like the main characters in American Royals are quite similar to the main characters in The Thousandth Floor; I could match each character in one book with a character in the other. It wasn't a big deal, but it was something I noticed. Additionally, for a book about American history and George Washington's descendants, slavery wasn't mentioned at all. I did reach out to the editor, though, and she assured me that changes had been made to address this issue on the finished copy.

All in all, I loved this book, and I need book two NOW.


XOXO,

Isabella


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins: The Book I Am Most Conflicted About

-
Image
TW:  child abuse, racism, domestic violence, sexual assault... I'm probably not even remembering all the trigger warnings because there are so many of them. Just know that this is not a book for the faint of heart.   Oh boy. I don't know what to say about this one. Actually, I do, I just don't know how to articulate it in writing. So. This book follows 6 teens in Tuscon, Arizona. It is told through a mix of verse and prose, though mainly prose. We are told at the beginning of the book that one of the characters, and all of them have motive to do so, acquires as gun. And one of them shoots and someone dies. The 6 teens are very different: we have 2 teen parents; 2 white nationalists; a disabled, fat, LGBTQ character; and a latino character. An interesting this about this book is that it is told from the perspective of Violence, somewhat similar to how The Book Thief is narrated by Death. At times I even forgot that the book was from a character perspective becau...
Read more

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult: The Most Timely Book

-
Image
Wow. There could not be a more timely time to read this book than now. A Spark of Light is definitely one of my favorite books of the year- I couldn't tell you if this book or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is my favorite book of the year. This book is centered around the abortion debate in America, and it follows a large cast of characters with conflicting view points on the issue. Essentially, the novel takes place in Mississippi at a women's health clinic. A man walks into the clinic and opens fire, taking hostages. A man named Hugh, a police hostage negotiator, is called to the scene, wherein he receives a message from his teenage daughter, Wren, saying that she is inside the clinic. Wren is not alone, and she and Hugh are not the only perspectives we hear from in this novel: a nurse who takes charge to save a wounded woman, a woman who has come to the clinic to have her pregnancy terminated, a pro-life protester disguised as a patient, the doctor who performs a...
Read more

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

-
Image
First, I just want to say that this cover is GORGEOUS. I'm not going to lie about the fact that I may have bought the book itself solely because of the cover. But the book itself is amazing, and I highly recommend it! We follow our two main characters, Penny and Sam. Penny is a college freshman who hoped to become a writer, and Sam is a struggling aspiring filmmaker. The two have a somewhat awkward first encounter, but exchange numbers nonetheless. The keep in constant contact through text without the awkwardness of actually having to see each other. Like I said, I really, really liked this book. It deals with a variety of tough subjects, and I really appreciated the authentic realness of the novel. The pop culture references were really fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the story where Penny is crafting her own novel, and the excerpts that are included. I'll link an article about Mary H.K. Choi and Emergency Contact here , as I think it's really worth ...
Read more