American Royals IV: Reign Book Review
A queen’s life hangs in the balance, and her siblings’ decisions—about what to do, and most of all, who to love—could change the course of history. Romance. Duty. Power…only one can triumph in this stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling American Royals series.
America’s royal family is in shambles. Queen Beatrice is in a coma and Princess Samantha has gone missing—from the look of things, she ran away with her boyfriend, Lord Marshall Davis. Which means that Prince Jefferson is currently on the throne. For some in America, it’s exactly what they wanted: a King ruling the country. And for Daphne Deighton, who has tricked Jefferson into dating her again, it’s the ultimate dream come true.
Surely this is all just temporary. Won’t Beatrice wake up and reclaim her rightful place? Samantha can’t really be gone…can she? And Prince Jefferson will never truly be over his childhood crush, Nina Gonzalez. Right?
For the Washington family, the stakes are higher than ever. Love might save the throne….if secrets don’t destroy everything first.
American Royals IV: Reign
by Katherine McGee
Published: 2023
American Royals IV: Reign is the last installment of Katherine McGee’s American Royals series. Last we heard of the young royals at the end of the third book, Beatrice was unconscious after a car accident, Samantha had set aside her royal role to get away for a while, Nina gets her financial aid back but loses her new friend Daphne, who is at Jefferson’s side when he takes the oath to be acting king while Beatrice is comatose.
Character Analysis
Reign opens with our four POV characters about a month after Rivals ended. Unknown to the rest of the world and even her family, Sam and Marshall have taken jobs in Hawaii under false names and disguises. They’re making it on their own and loving the idyllic beach life. It’s not until Sam checks her text messages does she learn about her sister’s accident. Leaving Marshall in Hawaii with the promise to return, she heads to the capital only to find her title has been taken away. No longer a princess, Sam lives like an ordinary person.
Daphne, pretending to be pregnant, is on the cusp of everything she’s been working for. Engaged to Jefferson at last, they’re on their way down the aisle. Only problem is, someone is sending her and Ethan blackmail messages. They have to work together to figure out who it is before her secrets are exposed and everything is ruined. But we all know it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Daphne to not get what she thinks she wants.
Nina, leading the most normal life of the four girls, is back at college and gets roped into starring in a play. Little does she know, but the new guy on campus casted as her counterpart in the play, is another royal, James. While wary of getting involved with another prince, James is down to earth and doesn’t have paparazzi after him at every turn. He even encourages her to apply for a study-abroad program she didn’t think she had a chance of getting.
Last, Beatrice awakens from her coma but has lost a year’s worth of memories. Why is Teddy here? Where is Connor? Why are people calling her Your Majesty? She gets back in the groove of running the country again, with Teddy helping her remember people and legislation. She has to fend off Madison, who would like to dethrone her and let Jefferson rule.
Critique
The rotating POV characters have always kept me turning pages in this series. Daphne in particular is the character I want to keep reading about. I never related to her, but her story was consistently the most entertaining. Simultaneously, I wanted her secrets to come out but also for her to get a HEA with Ethan. She was always herself around her. I started to wonder if Daphne was Katherine McGee’s favorite character to write. We got to see her story more.
For me, Nina was in the background in this book. The readers were told what she’d been up to. Jefferson, for his part, has never seemed worth the fuss for Nina and Daphne. He did have more personality in this book. It was clear he still had feelings for Nina. With two princes attracted to her, Nina verges on becoming a Mary Sue.
Beatrice was most interesting to me in the first book, when she had a secret relationship with her bodyguard, Conner. I was hooked and eager to see what would happen next. The second book was a let down when I finally got to the point of accepting Conner was not going to be around. Teddy has never really done much for me. He’s just nice. However, I was excited at the end of the book when I realized what they were going to do. Even though Beatrice’s story wasn’t always satisfying to me, I was content with how her story wrapped.
Samantha spent much of the book working in the real world and figuring out how normal people live. She had the help of Liam, a guy she met on the night of the infamous graduation party. It’s helpful to have read the prequel to the series, American Royals: Inheritance. While not necessary, Liam will be familiar. In the end, Sam has ambitions that she never considered before. I was happy with her ending.
Final Thoughts
Throughout this series, I was hooked and disappointed, but I kept reading because I cared enough to know what happened to the characters. It started as love stories, though the girls didn’t all end up in relationships. There was some ambiguity, but the promise that they had bright, happy futures. Overall, I did enjoy the series and read each book as soon as I could get my hands on them.
You can purchase American Royals IV: Reign from Amazon.
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