After reading the fun, witty and addictive American Royals and the way it ended, I was sure I’d love the direction the next book would take the story and characters in. But I’m sorry to say that I struggled with Majesty this in ways that I hadn’t expected.

American Royals was a surprisingly feisty and entertaining soap opera and I was sure that Majesty would keep the highly enjoyable drama up. But where the drama in the first book was intriguing in a way similar to Gossip Girl, it was just over the top in this one. And where the romances were heartfelt and engaging in the first one, they were, with one exception, just illogical and unengaging in this book. The way, and how fast, the romantic feelings changed made them too shallow for me to really care for any of the relationships. I also felt like the characters changed from the first book. It’s hard to explain, but it was like they were all suddenly different persons somehow. I loved Nina in the first book, but here she was just so plain and all we got to know about her life was when she was swooning over a boy, which didn’t seem to fit her character from the first book at all. The same also goes for the way Beatrice kept focusing on her feelings for Teddy all the time, instead of the inner struggle between her desires and everyone’s expectations to always put America’s best before her own, that made her so relatable in the first book. And Jefferson, who I thought was kind of plain in the first book was now so plain that he was like a clean sheet of paper. Daphne on the other hand was even more of her horrible herself now, but sadly that only made me despise her so much that I had problems reading her chapters. I kept waiting for her evil behavior and scheming to come back to haunt her and for her to get a taste of her own medicine, but sadly the author (kind of) let her get away with it all, which felt quite upsetting.

What I really did enjoy though, was the character development that Beatrice and Sam went through though, and the way Beatrice wanted to form her role as a queen herself. I appreciated the discussions on gender inequality and sexism within monarchies and the way Beatrice wanted to prove to the world (and especially Lord Chamberlain) that a woman doesn’t need a man by her side to be able to rule. Some of my favorite parts of the book involved Beatrice telling the chamberlain off when he was a patronizing jerk. I also absolutely loved the new addition to the cast, Marshall. He was such a sweetheart and such a fun and relatable character that he made up for much of the other characters’ blandness. And the romance involving him was the one relationship I actually cared about in this book. Because of that, Majesty ended up being quite an okay read after all, but still very much a disappointment as to what I had hoped for.

Rating:
2.5 stars rounding up to 3

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​Author info:
Katharine McGee

This was such a fun, witty and addictive reimagination of American history into an alternative world where General George Washington was crowned after the Revolutionary War, and there’d been an American royal family ever since. It didn’t use the plotline as such to really add something new to the political discussion, but it was a highly enjoyable, feisty and entertaining soap opera with so much drama that I was completely hooked from the very first page!

The story follows the three royal siblings Crown Princess Beatrice and the younger twins Princess Samantha and Prince Jefferson, as well as their closest friends Nina and Jefferson’s ex girlfriend Daphne, and was told through their alternating POVs. There wasn’t that much of a plot to be honest, but more than enough drama nevertheless, with love triangles, secret relationships, scheming, jealousy and confusion, to keep up the suspense. I really enjoyed the different personalities of the characters (except one) and to get all of their individual stories. My favorite was definitely Beatrice and her struggles with everyone’s expectations and being forced into a life by birth, not by choice, and how she was raised to always put America’s best before her own.

“From now on, you are two people at once: Beatrice the girl, and Beatrice, heir to the Crown. When they want different things, the Crown must win. Always.”

I really appreciated how the not-so-glamorous sides to being royal were showed, and the discussions on gender inequality and sexism within monarchies. I think the story would have benefited from one less POV, to be able to go a bit deeper into the other three character’s stories, and if both Samantha’s and Beatrice’s romances could have been given some more building-up time. As it was now, we were suddenly told that they were in love, but didn’t really get to experience the awakening of the feelings. Especially in Samantha’s case it felt very unrealistic that one kiss would make her head over heels in love and certain that ‘he’ (keeping it vague to not risk any spoilers) was the big love of her life. I would have liked some more early interactions between them to make the romance believable.

But overall, this was a fun, fast-paced, highly enjoyable and completely addictive story that reminded me a lot of Gossip Girl in the way it was told. It’s not a book that will stay on your mind for long, but it was certainly good entertainment for the moment, and I can’t wait to continue this series!

Rating:
4 stars

Get your own copy:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Katharine McGee