While this book has been out for a few years, I thought Katharine McGee’s American Royals was the perfect selection for July’s book of the month. Each month, we like to pick a book that features young adult characters, ideas, or themes and show it off on Dreaming Upwards. This month, in honor of the Fourth of July, we have a fantastic alternative history book!
Summary
American Royals explores an alternate history in which George Washington became king of the United States. It does so through the viewpoints of four girls: Beatrice, the Crown Princess; Samantha, the younger princess; Nina, Samantha’s best friend; and Daphne, Prince Jeffrey’s ambitious ex-girlfriend. We follow Beatrice as she faces the weight of balancing “Beatrice the girl” and “Beatrice, the heir to the Crown” with a new relationship. Samantha finds her own romance, although it doesn’t come without complications. Nina, too, must figure out how to balance her normal college life with her palace life, and she must navigate a budding romance. Daphne, seeks to do whatever it takes to win Prince Jeffrey back and secure her place in the monarchy. The novel follows these four in a soapy and dramatic exploration of what America could have been.
Review + Rating
I truly enjoyed American Royals. The cover is beautiful and is very true to Beatrice’s character–chicly elegant. While I will preface this by saying that this book isn’t particularly thought-provoking, I will say that it is a fantastic premise and a great escape. If that’s what you’re looking for, and if you’re looking for something in the vein of The Selection (but with slightly older characters), this might be for you.
American Royals does a fantastic job of balancing the characters out. In all, McGee excels at using them to complement each other and show a diversity of thought. They’re all similar ages (18-21) and primarily from the same upper-class background, but they all read very differently. For me, this was very enjoyable. With Beatrice, we get this struggle between a sense of duty to country and her wants and responsibilities, as well as a maturity. Nina gives us a more grounded, un-entitled perspective. Daphne felt a little flat to me, but her ambition does define her throughout the book. My one complaint lies with Samantha, as I didn’t feel that McGee did anything to make her “disgruntled spare” stereotype unique.
And Then the Romances…
If you like the CW, you’ll probably like this book. Everyone, naturally, is involved in a romance. However, none of them felt particularly deep. While Beatrice’s relationship reads more authentically because it was given more time to develop, the other three romances felt more forced, convenient, and shallow. Samantha’s romance in particular was annoying because of the whole love-at-first-sight cliché, but that might just be me.
Funny enough, most of the complaints I’ve seen with this book focus on the romance. The plot does primarily focus on each girl’s relationship, and for as much as I appreciate a good romance, I have to agree with many of the critics here. I would have to reread, but I doubt this book would pass the Bechdel test. While we do see Beatrice doing some royal duties and Nina doing normal college stuff, the story is, at its heart, focused on the romance.
But the World Building!
I enjoyed the small details that really brought the concept of a monarchy to life, and I wish McGee would have put more of these in there. She did an excellent job of not info-dumping, and I appreciated how she briefly traced the lineage and explained how the monarchy came to be throughout. This was super interesting to me, and the obsession with the American monarchy portrayed in the book is accurate as to how I would imagine it. I liked that she briefly explored how it affected other countries’ governmental systems, and I really would have loved to see more of the political action.
As someone who studied politics and international relations in college, this was a unique read. As someone who lived in the area where this took place, it was even more interesting. I loved the small things that existed in our world (Wawa’s) and the things that only existed in their world (the obsession with cherries). For me, it was super cool to think about what historical events would have changed to lead to that alternate history. If only for this, I’d recommend reading it.
And Concluding…
At times, the drama in American Royals may have fallen a little flat and the plot lines may have been cliché, but overall, it was an entertaining read. I’ve seen it reviewed as a “soapy drama,” and I think this is accurate. It had its good parts and it had its bad parts, but I would rate it a net positive. It was the perfect entertaining, escapist read, and overall, I would definitely recommend it.
Good for People Who Like:
- CW dramas
- US history
- Alternate history
- Love triangles
- Soapy drama
- Travel
- Royalty
- Multiple POVs
