American Royals by Katharine McGee
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Date: 05 February 2022
Rating: 2 stars
I am unabashedly into tell-all, scandalous, Peeping Tom vibes, shows, tv series, books and even articles. I have devoured all seasons of The Crown twice already and I will probably do it once again before the next season is out. I consume Taylor Jenkins Reid's book like they are chocolates and I'm an addict. There is nothing I like better than to get a glimpse into the secretive, glamorous and often political world of royalty and celebrity, the lines between which have never been as blurred as they are today. So, imagine my glee when I found out there was a series of books that delves into the world of the fictional royal family of America. Alas, I was met only with cold disappointment.
In American Royals, McGee imagines what would happen if George Washington became the King of America and the country had a monarchy instead of the democracy it has today. The books follows the Washington family, generations of whom have ruled over America from the palace version of the White House. The book starts with 21-year old Beatrice, the heir to the throne, being told by her parents that she must choose a husband for herself among the list of suitable options that they provide her. She must do so as soon as possible because not only is she off age but she will one day become the first Queen of the country and she has a duty to select the best king consort. The book focuses on three other girls with connections to the Washingtons, along with Beatrice. There is spunky and rebellious 18-year old Samantha, Beatrice's younger sister and the 'spare' to her 'heir', who is fed up of living in the shadow of her elder sister. Nina Gomez is the 18-year old commoner best friend of Samantha who is unwillingly thrust into the limelight when she decides to act on her feelings for her best friend's twin, the beloved Prince Jefferson. And finally, there is Daphne Deighton, the ambitious and status hungry ex-girlfriend of Jefferson who is ready to do whatever it takes to become his girlfriend once again.
The idea of this book had such potential and yet it did nothing new. It took old tropes that every show or book about royalty has and then churned them together to give the same old story. The heir who feels boxed in by rules and expectations... the straying spare who craves the spotlight... the commoner who resents attention from the world... the handsome prince with two women fighting over him... the manipulative b*tch with a heart of gold. It's like the author had a list of stereotypes and she wanted to tick all of them off. Guess what? She was successful.
As someone who watches The Crown for the story and not only for how cute Josh O'Connor looks even when he's being a jerk and of course Matt Smith's cute butt, I couldn't help but notice the similarities in the stories. The king who keeps his sickness a secret because he wishes to protect his family and citizens and the young princess who must be ready to accept the weight of the crown before she is ready to felt straight like it was out of the show just tweaked slightly with American references. They even had a Princess Margaret character in Samantha. Except none of the characters had the depth that the show has. It felt like I had read the book before. There was nothing new. Which is a shame because there was so much that could have been done with the concept.
When you have a concept like an American royalty you would expect them to behave and have rules that align with the idea of America. A country is a character and we can all agree that if this is the case then America and Great Britain cannot be more different. The society, culture, norms and behaviour of a country must reflect on whatever fictional royalty you make for the country. Yet, the Washingtons felt like a watered down version of the Windsors. I mean I would rather watch the tv show The Royals then. At least it's got the added advantage of being really scandalous and has William Mosley in it.
The entire time that I was reading this book I kept thinking of all the different directions in which the story could have gone and it didn't. Why didn't we have more of Princess Margaret? How is the country ruled and what kind of political implications does having a king have? Why was the rule about having a queen not changed earlier? I acknowledge that it is a Young Adult book and the genre comes with certain constraints and limitations. I'm not asking for Matt Smith's butt or smut, I'm asking for depth and twists. Every plot twist in the story I saw coming. Foreshadowing is one thing and basically giving away the twist that is going to come in the last chapter from the first chapter is a completely different thing. The only reason I would read the next books in the series would be to see if I'm right about what all is going to happen. I can guess the ending of the story even after reading the first book which is not how you want it.
One thing that I noticed while reading this book was its habit of having POCs among the courtiers. Random characters were giving Chinese, Native American, Indian, etc., names but no characteristics of these communities. If colour blind casting was a thing in books then this would be the number one example. Bridgerton vibes anyone? Except at least in Bridgerton in both the seasons one main character is a person of colour. In this book everyone in the main cast with the exception of Nina is white. She is Latina but you would not guess it by anything other than her name. She has two moms and none of the other main characters belong to the LGBTQ community. It felt like the author selected one character and decided to make her the token representative character. And the other side character whose name was more than just mentioned in passing who was a person of colour was in a hospital bed for almost the entire book. Can we just admit that the book would have been a much better one if Beatrice did fall in love with her Royal Guard, but instead of being a Caucasian, blue-eyed guy the guard was a butch Indian girl? I would love to see someone try to write the complications of trying to have the first Queen consort and what kind of oppositions would prop up since the author mentioned at least three times that the American monarchy had nothing to do with the church.
Also why do none of the relationships in this book have any kind of build-up? We get one page of explanation before Beatrice is ready to throw caution to the wind and leave everything for Connor. Sam goes through the entire book sulking about the fact that Beatrice 'snagged' Teddy for herself when she knows him for a sum total of an hour, most of which she spent in a closet kissing him. Yes, Jefferson and Nina are childhood friends so they are the perfect set up for the whole friends to lovers trope but Jefferson is a jerk. Why are two girls vying for him? He does nothing for two weeks to help Nina after the whole tabloid debacle. He doesn't seem that angry about the literal hate she is facing. When Nina brings up the nasty things Daphne has done and confessed to doing he just point blank refuses to believe her. I mean who sides with their ex over the word of their significant other and still we are supposed to root for Nina and Jefferson to get back together? And, why does Ethan love Daphne? He has no reason to be acting like a creepy, kicked dog who turns up only to save Daphne in moments when she is about to embarrass herself. He has no other character and there is zero build up as to why is he in love with her. Also as a side note, what a horrible friend Ethan is to Jefferson. Not only did he sleep with Daphne while she was still dating his so-called best friend, he also doesn't tell Jefferson that Daphne is planning to go to all lengths if it means getting Jefferson back. He doesn't even warn Nina about it! And yes, such bad characters do exist and should be included in a work of fiction. I don't expect all characters to be goody two shoes who do only the right thing but then don't set them up in such a way that makes it clear that the author wants us to root for them. At this point I don't want any of the characters to get with their significant others.
Today I realised why they say it is easier to write about a book that you didn't like than it is write about a book that you liked. This book was genuinely a disappointment. Maybe I'm just going to go ahead and start watching The Royals to get rid of said disappointment. You might want to pick up Red, White and Royal Blue instead for some better stories in a similar genre.