American Royals by Katharine McGee

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I loved Katharine McGee's Thousandth Floor series (although I still need to read the final book!) so I was excited to see that she had a new release coming out. American Royals is the story about the American Royal Family, or what the country would look like today if George Washington became king rather than president. 

Beatrice is laser-focused on her role as future Queen. Samantha is grappling with being the "extra," the future Queen's sister with no real point or direction in life. The younger brother Jeff is trying to have a normal love life with a commoner, and Nina (the commoner) is struggling with having a royal boyfriend and best friend (Sam). And outsider Daphne is just trying to get her clutches into everything.

This story was told from something like 5 different perspectives, some of which were more useful than the others. Beatrice reminded me a lot of Elizabeth in The Crown, accepting her duty without hesitation (most of the time). I thought Samantha was way too entitled, Jeff was clueless, Nina was naive, and Daphne was just plain cruel. I didn't really like any of the characters except for Beatrice, and even then I think it was more that I felt bad for her rather than truly liked her. I did like the pop culture references in this book, and occasional nods to the British Royal Family, but overall I was pretty let down.

I honestly don't know if this is supposed to be a standalone or the first in a series. If it's a standalone, I'm super disappointed in the ending. And if it's a series, unfortunately I'm not sure I liked it enough to continue. **Sidebar: Just looked it up. It's a series. Crap. ** 


Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

I received an ARC of this book at the ALA Annual Conference. American Royals by Katharine McGee is out now!

The Thousandth Floor Series by Katharine McGee

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If you like Gossip Girl and futuristic societies, boy do I have the series for you! I recently read both books currently available in The Thousandth Floor series by Katharine McGee (The Thousandth Floor and The Dazzling Heights), and loved every minute of them! The story follows a set of teenagers from different backgrounds living in The Tower, which is basically New York City built upward into one building. With one thousand floors, The Tower boasts schools, homes, hotels, restaurants, shopping, and even a "Central Park." Technology is insanely developed, as people now wear contacts that allow them to communicate with one another, and use hovercraft to get from place to place. Movies are now called holos, hair and makeup can be done at the push of a button, and in-home computers can do anything from picking out your outfit to procuring a glass of water for you before bed. 

Main characters include Leda, a formerly poor but now wealthy girl struggling with drugs; Eris, the Serena Van Der Woodson of the group who recently discovered a terrible family secret that turns her life upside down; Rylin, a less-affluent girl who takes a job cleaning the home of one of the hottest boys on the upper levels; Watt, a technology obsessed boy who takes hacking jobs to provide for his family; and Avery, who is as wealthy as they come and lives in the thousandth floor penthouse pining over the one boy she is never allowed to love.

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I loved that both books immediately started off with a death, then flashed back to the story leading up to it. The whole time you were left to wonder who the person was that ends up dead, only finding out at the very end. Each chapter is told focusing on one character or another, allowing the reader further insight into him or her, and showing us how the different social classes interact with and rely on one another. While sometimes this method of storytelling can be confusing, there were no gaps and each character's chapter flowed seamlessly from one to the next. The class relations were realistic, and I loved envisioning the technological playground that these teens called home. McGee paints a very realistic picture of how technology has advanced, and even though so many of these things are still far from reach, it was easy to imagine how they all fit into daily life in 2118.

A third book, The Towering Sky, is coming out this August, and right now this is set to be the last book in the series, but I have my fingers crossed for more! I could definitely see this being adapted into a TV series as well.

The Thousandth Floor Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Dazzling Heights Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars