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Rivals by Katharine McGee Book Review

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.

Check out my book reviews for 2023!!

Horse by Geraldine Brooks  
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Hester by Laurie Pico Albanese
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Environmental and Sustainability Book Reviews 2022
Self-Improvement Book Reviews 2022
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
Not All Diamonds and Rosé by Dave Quinn
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 
Girls With Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman
Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
The Summer Series by Jenny Han
A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan
Verity by Colleen Hoover
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart 
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Majesty: American Royals 2 by Kathrine McGree
Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

Check out my book reviews for 2021!!

2021 Book Rankings

Beach Read By Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Educated by Tara Westover
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Klara and the Sun 
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
American Duchess by Karen Harper 
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry
Down the Habit Hole by Holly Madison Book Review
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Layla by Colleen Hoover

Check out my book reviews for 2020!!

Check out my book reviews for 2019!!

Check out my book reviews from 2018!!


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