Rivals

Content warnings: sexism, breakups, dementia, car accident, betrayal, "trapping" a man with a pregnancy

Queen Beatrice is the first queen of the USA and must hold her own at a conference of the world's royalty.

Queen Beatrice Washington is America's first queen regnant in her twenties after the unexpected death of her father in previous books in the series. Her younger sister Samantha went from being a royal party girl and the "spare" to the heir overnight.

Beatrice and Samantha, as ruler and heir, are attending a conference of the world's royals at a minor American royal palace in Orange (California). Beatrice has the added strain of her country hosting the event in addition to it being her first time attending as a ruler. Samantha's younger-by-minutes twin brother Jefferson is the regent while his sisters are away at the conference. Noticeably absent from the conference is Teddy, Beatrice's fiancé and the future king consort of America.

At the conference, Beatrice begins making friends with Princess Louise, France's heir and current regent because the King of France is ill. Both women are their country's first queens regnant and they strike a bond over the issues surrounding outdated customs and sexism.

Back on the east coast, Jefferson is dating Daphne Dayton again while his ex-girlfriend Nina tries to remain friends with him. Nina and Daphne strike up an unlikely partnership in their hatred of Lady Gabriella Madison, daughter of the Duke of Virginia. In Gabriella's quest to win Jefferson, she has used her father's power to revoke Nina's college financial aid and to remove Daphne's father's title. Without her title, Daphne can never marry Prince Jefferson. Nina will struggle to remain friends with Jefferson (or to win him back) if she's not attending King's College with him.

Beatrice, Samantha, and Jefferson all have very complicated feelings and relationships in this novel and the three royals start to feel more adult after the loss of their father. Beatrice must deal with grief for her father, how to be a young queen, and how to help her fiancé find a purpose in his future role as king consort. Samantha is dating Marshall, the future Duke of Orange, whose family is reluctant to have their heir join the royal family and renounce his dukedom. Jefferson is still dating Daphne but has to deal with his feelings for Nina.

I still love the world-building of this series, with America as a monarchy after George Washington accepted the offer to be the King of America. Further explored in this novel is how the African-American Dukes of Orange (California) were once kings in their own right and became a duchy when joining with America. In this universe, Hawaii is still a sovereign nation and Canada and Mexico also have royal families. There is still a Tsar of Russia, and the Greek and German royal families are also still active.

Recommended for YA readers who love royal-watching and/or soap operas.

Katharine McGee is the bestselling author of the Thousandth Floor and American Royals series. She studied at Princeton and Stanford. McGee lives in Houston, Texas.

Series: American Royals, #3

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (print); Listening Library (audio)

Narrator: Brittany Pressley

Running Time: 12 hours

Length: 400 pages

Release Date: May 31, 2022

Representation: Black side characters, interracial romance, characters of many races as royalty

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a digital audio recording of this title from Penguin Random House Audio as a librarian review copy. I read the latter edition.