5 majestic stars for the triumphant return of our favorite Americans Royals and friends in Rivals: American Royals III by Katharine McGee!
Synopsis:
Beatrice is queen, and for the American royal family, everything is about to change.
Relationships will be tested.
Princess Samantha is in love with Lord Marshall Davis—but the more serious they get, the more complicated things become. Is Sam destined to repeat her string of broken relationships…and this time will the broken heart be her own?
Strangers will become friends.
Beatrice is representing America at the greatest convocation of kings and queens in the world. When she meets a glamorous foreign princess, she gets drawn into the inner circle…but at what cost?
And rivals will become allies.
Nina and Daphne have spent years competing for Prince Jefferson. Now they have something in common: they both want to take down manipulative Lady Gabriella Madison. Can these enemies join forces, or will old rivalries stand in the way?
Learning there was going to be a third book in the American Royals series was exciting. Being approved for the ARC on NetGalley? Well, that was unbelievable! A friend of mine introduced me to the first book in the series and I devoured it, as well as the second one and now the third one.
For those of you not familiar with this series (shame on you! j/k, but seriously...), the premise of the book is a simple one. After the colonies won their independence from Britain, what if, when asked to be king, George Washington said yes? A simple concept, yes, but also very very intriguing. If George Washington had said yes to being king and it passed down through the Washington line, how much of history as we know it today would have been changed? I find it a fascinating question. What would our government look like? Would the country be better off than it is now?
To me, it seems pretty clear that the author has taken some inspiration from how the monarch and government work in the U.K., but it's not a total carbon copy of it. There are elements of it, but also parts of how the U.S. government actually works, and then parts she's just made up. For me, it all works. I can envision this version of the United States where Hawaii refused to give up its monarch and dukedoms and so on still keeping the country divided into the haves and have-nots. Paired with a royal family you can believe in and you have a winning combination for this book-loving history nerd.
This book picks up not long after the second one ends and since I want you to read this series, I'm not going to spoil anything. But as the book opens, we see that Beatrice is trying her hardest to stand up for herself as Queen and that Samantha, having returned from taking over the royal tour, has grown up some and is trying to find out who she is and what she really wants. In reality, Jefferson is...just Jefferson through the majority of the book. He's the spare royal, he's starting college, and he's just as naively good-natured as always. I have a very strong feeling he's going to get his moment to shine in the fourth book, but for now, it's still the Washington women, along with Samantha's best friend Nina and Jefferson's conniving girlfriend Daphne, that steal the book.
In a series entitled American Royals, the royal family is always going to have a prominent part in the plot, but for me, it's Daphne and especially Nina's chapters that are my favorite. In this book, we get an even better glimpse into how desperate Daphne is and how much relies on her relationship with Jefferson working out. Her character is developed more and there are even moments where I found myself, if not rooting for her, then at least not actively rooting against her. But with desperation in the forefront of her life, Daphne just can't seem to stop being Daphne and by the end of the book, I was back to full-on hating her. It will be interesting to see how she backpedals out of her current predicament.
Nina is hands down my favorite character. She grew up with Beatrice, Sam, and Jeff because one of her moms worked with the royal family so she's a part of that world without actually being a part of it. She knows the real Washington family and not just who they are as royals. She's loved Prince Jefferson for most of her life. She's just...normal. Her family holds no titles and is not financially well off. It automatically puts her and her family in the category of the "have-nots" according to the aristocracy. Despite all she's been through though, Nina is a truly caring young woman. She's forgiving, hardworking, and incredibly loyal. She brings some of the much-needed diversity to the story and I am 100% rooting for her to win. Win what, you might be asking? Well pick up the books and find out. Then I'll have someone to talk about that cliff-hanger with!
Because Nina is my absolute favorite in this series, I paid homage to her with a big bowl of guacamole for my review of the last book. Since she remains, in my opinion, the absolute best part of this series, I chose to continue honoring her by whipping up a giant batch of peanut butter M&M cookies. See, there's something you should know about Nina. There are a lot of things she loves (i.e. her family, books, Jefferson), but there's a very good chance her love of M&Ms may be top of the list. I love peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to sub out the chocolate chips in favor of Nina's beloved M&Ms. The results were fantastic! Soft and chewy peanut butter cookies with just the right amount of M&Ms running through them. For the peanut butter cookies, I used a recipe from Simply Recipes (https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/peanut_butter_cookies/ Instagram: @simplyrecipes) and just added the candy to the dough at the end. I have a feeling these cookies would be Nina's new favorite study treat!
Thanks for stopping by!
-Kim
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