Reasons for Reading This Book:
Margo Oshry posted on her Instagram story that the fourth book in the American Royals series, American Royals lV: Reign by Katharine McGee was about to be published. Once I saw her post I rushed over to my library website to request the branch to order the fourth and final book. In doing this I realized I had not read the third book in the series, American Royals lll: Rivals by Katharine McGee. Lucky for me Rivals was available so I checked that out to read in preparation for the final book. I read the first two books in the series, American Royals (1st), and Majesty (2nd) years ago when they were first published. Here are the links to my reviews of American Royals Book Review and Majesty: American Royals 2. I have not read Inheritance the prequel novella.
Content of This Book:
American Royals is a series about a world where the United States of America has a Royal family. Beatrice is the first reigning Queen of America. Her heirs are her sister Samantha and brother Jefferson, who are twins, but Sam is older. At this point in the series Princess Samantha is in love with Lord Marshall Davis, which poses a predicament because of their titles and whether they are willing to sacrifice their rank for one another or let love win. Beatrice is hosting her first League of Kings where she is proposing a climate bill. While at the conference she is surrounded by other royals and is learning to create friendships, which she hasn’t always had in the past. The unlikely pair of Nina and Daphane, Prince Jefferson’s ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend join forces to take down Lady Gabriella Madison. In this book relationships are tested, strangers become friends, and rivals become allies.
What I Liked About This Book:
Since it has been years since I last read a book in this series I was worried that I would struggle to follow or remember what happened in the previous books and that would prevent me from fully understanding the current plot. The author did a fantastic job of providing background of pieces of information from the previous books into this book to keep the reader up to date on the plot and characters. One thing that I remember most from the previous books was the sectioning or organization of the character’s narration. Each chapter is told from the point-of-view of one of the characters. As you will read in the next section, there is limited difference between the character’s voices or narration style, but I will say that the author does have specific aspects that differentiate the different characters. For example, Daphane usually describes a person by their appearance, rank, or drama when she first interacts with them or speaks about them. Another aspect of this book and this series that I have enjoyed is the character growth and maturity that the characters went through from the beginning of the series to the end. This is also the same for each book. Each character experiences life learning moments that changed something in them and then that change continued on for the rest of the book and series. Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was experiencing a new side of Beatrice. This side was Beatrice experiencing and navigating a friendship. This is something Beatrice has not experienced yet and it is interesting to read about her inner thoughts on how to act in this relationship and then see how she actually acts in the friendship. I will finish off this section by saying that I am a huge fan of Beatrice’s climate campaign at the League of Kings. As someone who works in an environmental career and has a degree in it, I appreciated that Katharine McGee had her campaign be relevant and for a cause that still needs lots of recognition and support to see changes in society and government.
What I Disliked About This Book:
As mentioned above, there is limited difference in the voice or narration style between the different characters. What I mean by this is the only way to differentiate between the different character’s narrations is by the title page and what is being talked about in the plot. Because the characters are all women and around the same age, they all speak in similar ways making their narration not very different from one another. An odd thing I picked up on is the word acutely is used a lot in this book. In relation to other books in the series, this one had stereotypical plot points from teen or adult dramas. There were a couple of things in the plot that I found too predictable and were not what I was expecting from Katharine McGee having read her other books. One last thing I will say about this book is that I have grown alongside these characters but now that I am in my mid-twenties I am ready to move.
Would I Recommend This Book?
In relation to the other four books in this series, this was not my favorite one. With that being said it is a crucial piece in the series that needs to be read. If you are reading the series then of course read this book before finishing Katharine McGee’s American Royals series. Overall I feel like this book was not as memorable as the other books in the series.
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2021 Book Rankings
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Check out my book reviews for 2019!!
September Book Review: Alex and Eliza: Love and War
August Book Review: Alex and Eliza: A Love Story
July Book Review: The Husband Hour
June Book Review: The Perfect Mother
May Book Review: Into the Water
April Book Review: Fangirl
March Book Review: Eleanor & Park
February Book Review: Turtles All The Way Down
January Book Review: The Becoming of Noah Shaw
Check out my book reviews from 2018!!
December Book Review: Presumed Innocent
November Book Review: Visible Empire
October Book Review: The Bees
September Book Review: The Silent Sister
August Book Review: Dark Places
August Book Review: Sharp Objects
July Book Review: The Widow
June Book Review: Allegedly
May Book Review: Wonder
April Book Review: Columbine
March Book Review: Gone Girl
February Book Review: The Woman in the Window
January Book Review: The Worst Hard Time
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