Reign

American Royals #4

by Katharine McGee

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.

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Audiobook, Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Royalty

415 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2023

About the author

Katharine McGee is the New York Times bestselling author of American Royals and The Thousandth Floor trilogy. She studied English and French literature at Princeton University and has an MBA from Stanford. She lives in her hometown of Houston, TX with her husband.

Reviews

[Claudia Lomelí · Rating 4 out of 5]

creo que es la entrega más débil de todas y muchas cosas no hicieron total sentido, pero amé volver a ver a estos personajes y saber cómo acaba su historia. dapnhe terminó siendo mi favorita de todas (y sigo sigo soportar a nina, pero bueno). ya en el wrap up les contaré un poco más :)…

[Becca Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect way to wrap up one of my all-time favorite series. So much drama, satisfying endings for each main character, and tons of cameos from every fave from past installments. I truly hope this series gets adapted into a movie franchise some day. It would be incredible.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book series equivalent of a 2000s CW drama.

[Mariam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does anyone else feel like they just read the same book 4 different times? I honestly don’t feel like there was any point in bothering to make this a series…

[Giana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it’s going to be called Reign

Update: It is Reign

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

[Monte Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Objectively this might be the weakest entry... at least in terms of my personal enjoyment... But I think that this series has always delivered on the plot twists and the super interconnected nature of these women's lives. It's truly my go to series for melodrama and I'll forever be thankful that it exists.

The book definitely deals with the implications of the last book's ending, but the entire time it very much feels like we are moving toward a conclusion. It's like when you're watching the season finale of a show that was announced as ending and so the last couple of episodes the old favorites get brought back and get a cameo so they can be part of the send off. While there are certainly a few new threads introduced a lot of time is spent making sure that we are addressing what was already left dangling in true American Royals fashion; with schemes galore.

Of all the books I read in a year this series continues to be the one that feels just screaming for adaptation. Though the fact that all the books technically take place over the course of roughly a year could toss a wrinkle in the production, but... I'm willing to overlook that particular detail if the writers room is. It's really no different than a lot of epic fantasy that gets adapted...

Either way, this series always feels like coming home, and while the last two installments served as something of a surprise addition, this feels like a more definite conclusion. Though in a world like this I think that the door is always open, particularly thanks to some events in the epilogue.

So no, it might not be the strongest book in the series, but it was still delivering me exactly what I look for in this series and if you haven't already picked it up and are looking for a fun good time then look no further than this series.

[v🦋 · Rating 2 out of 5]

alright i need to know what katharine has against nina and jeff but especially nina. i don’t like that it was revealed that nina was the one “blackmailing” daphne and ethan i don’t think nina would ever do something like that especially when the reason was something lame like “you and ethan love each other, you don’t love jeff” really??? i’m also really disappointed that nina and jeff don’t definitively end up together. although, the last chapter does provide some hope that they will eventually get back together. don’t get me wrong i think they needed their space but it would have been nice to them get back together and add real development to their relationship. i’m just sad because i have loved their storyline since the first book. their tropes were great but lately it seems as though the author does really not like them together. nina always gets a new love interest and apparently jeff must act like a mindless idiot every book. just once it would be nice to see him actually see through daphnes act and not just get engaged to her because he thinks it’s the right thing to do, especially when this whole series we have seen daphne constantly playing jeff. considering the fact that he still loves nina it would have been better if their storyline was about them working on getting back together. instead nina got a random new love interest and jeff was forced to be engaged to daphne for the majority of this book. i wish the final book actually provided some good development for both characters and their relationship. i like that nina went to oxford and everything but i think i wanted more and that the characters needed more.


as for the other characters i think mostly everyone got a great ending. i love beatrice and teddy and their wedding was very cute. i’m glad sam and marshall are together as well. this book did give sams character a perfect ending. although some of the writing choices for her character in the beginning were interesting to say the least. i don’t think bringing back liam or at least sam staying at his house was necessary and i don’t think sam would want to do that when she was still with marshall it seemed like the author didn’t know what to do with sam and wanted to isolate her from her family and that was all she could come up with.?. as for beatrice’s amnesia plot that took up the majority of her storyline this book… it seemed a little pointless and was definitely a cliche, wish that there was something more interesting for beatrice in this book.


i think daphne is an interesting character and she was great in this book. but she definitely got off way too easily, does jeff even know she was never pregnant and that she was lying and playing him the majority of their relationship?? i don’t see why nina would ever want to be friends her i think it would be better if they had closure and mutual respect yes, but a friendship is just not realistic. i really don’t like that daphne got like zero consequences for her actions. there was no pay off. jeff never even finds out all that she did.


this turned out to be a very long rant lol i never leave long reviews like this but i am definitely disappointed in how this series ended considering i have been reading it for years i definitely expected something a little better for my beloved characters.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I fear this was the worst book out of all 4! A couple things REALLY bothered me:

- Daphne’s “pregnancy”: You are telling me that the entire royal family, their staff included, would let Daphne and Jeff get engaged BEFORE they confirm she’s pregnant at all?!

- Nina being the anonymous email sender: I think everyone was OOC in this book but this was really out of left field. I really do not believe Nina would have blackmailed Daphne and Ethan!! Her explanation was a cop out and very odd.

- Daphne’s scheming: I am BAFFLED that there was ZERO resolution in terms of Jeff finding out about Daphne’s manipulation of him. Am I supposed to believe that he never finds out about any of her lies, ESPECIALLY the fake pregnancy, and on top of all that, she actually gets some redemption at the end?!?! I also hated that Himari barely got any justice so I guess we really are just letting the main villain in this series get off scot free!!!!

The previous books in this series were not the best but still entertaining, while this book was a nosedive into the dumpster. As I mentioned previously, I found pretty much every character to have some weird OOC moments. Jeff coming into his own as the heir but essentially being a total idiot emotionally is another one that stands out to me. For my own sanity, I won’t even get into the amnesia plot line!

This book did not really meet my expectations, but the sad part is the bar was not that high. I was subconsciously motivated to return to this series because of all the Red, White, and Royal Blue content I have been consuming, but I think I will go back to that for any of my American royal family needs and attempt to forget this mess!

[Mae · Rating 2 out of 5]

THANK F*CK I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS BOOK. Very disappointed review to come later lol

[Jokasty Lapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

And that’s a wrap…finally 😂 I wouldn’t say I needed this last book . But I had to finish the series. They just were not good. The characters did not grow and it felt so redundant the whole time. I love royal family story lines and they don’t always need to make sense but this series just fell so short for what it could have been.

[Apryl Sparks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of course there are no consequences for all these terrible people.

[✨Julie✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gotta praise Katharine McGee for managing to write dramatic characters that are still highly likable. Even the “villains” have enough redeeming qualities to earn my sympathy. I doubt I could forgive all of their actions but I can at least understand their motivations. This is what strong character development looks like. 👏🏻👏🏻

I was surprised to learn that this is the final book in the series. The ending left a lot of things unfinished and I feel like there’s still a lot of story to tell. In all fairness, it would likely take several more books and some considerable time hops to wrap up all the loose ends. I guess I will just have to draw my own conclusions for this series.

3.5 stars rounded down

________________________________________________

Realizing I don’t have a very clear recollection of what happened in the previous books… 🤔😅

[Leoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 🌟
•
Happy to finally have concluded this series. Somehow this started out as a lighter, fluffy fairytail-esque alternate reality and turned into an emotional drawing storyline. I liked how not every situation with the characters were straight forward and not as concluded as I myself might’ve hoped for (we all know I mean Nina and her new love triangle). Hopefully we will get to revisite this world sometimes soon, but as for now I appreciate the messages conveyed and shed just a few tears.

06.02.2023:
Update: It was announced the book‘s gonna be called “Reign” and will hit the stores August 29th! Exitiiiing!!

31.12.2022:
Just here to say how desperate I want this to be released. That ending really was… something.

Nooow moving on to drop my predictions on Part 4:
- With the clues given, I’m also convinced it will be titled “Reign”.
- Ethan will reappear.
- Daphne needs to turn her being late into a real pregnancy now that Jeff is temporarily crowned - with the help of Ethan perhaps?
- Jeff and Nina somehow get involved again, I previously thought it would be to them being close on campus, but now I’m not so sure anymore.


As to stuff I’m hoping and praying for:
- Beatrice (ALIVE and HEALTHY!) and Teddy steady and stable
- Jeff and Nina committing serious this time…
- …with the blessing of Daphne, …
- …who finally acknowledges her feelings for Ethan.
- Previously named four people not being awkward about the whole partner swap situation.
- Sam returning to the States (as the Duchess of Orange?), but with less love drama and emphasis on her friendship with Nina.

[Janssen]

This was a solid ending to the series - really enjoyable for me.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series died a horrible death.

[Maroua Zaatour (Mirou) ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Why did this series have to end? 🥹

[⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆ Kim ⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a crazy way to end a series! I haven’t had a book in a long while that’s made me stay up until 3 AM to finish so the fact that Reign did is a good thing and a great way to kick off 2025.

I think it's better to split this review into each of the four women we get POVs from in the story to get my full thoughts out.

Beatrice: I felt bad for her the entire time. I'm not going to go into much detail about her POV to avoid spoilers since I think hers had the most interesting plotline, but I loved how she was able to build up her confidence and her abilities to rule, while also allowing her to, for the first time, rely on her loved ones and put her trust in them when she needs them the most. We see her for a lot of the series as this cold, stoic, "I-put-my-job-before-my-personal-needs" person who also has an "I have to do this myself" attitude because America is entering an unprecedented time- the next ruler in line is not a king, but a queen, and she has to work twice as hard to get people to respect her. They say, "Heavy is the head that wears the crown," and Beatrice fits this perfectly as she faces a lot of obstacles throughout the story. Despite it all, I admired her resilience and I enjoyed reading about how she navigated through them and learned what it means to love someone. (We all need a Teddy in our lives.)

Samantha: It was refreshing to see her navigate through life as any other normal person. I think it's odd that Sam is on the cover of the book given the circumstances she comes across in the story, but I laughed so much reading her POV. I didn't like how she and Marshall drifted apart for most of the story after we heard so much about the two in previous books in the series, but I appreciated her friendship with Liam and how he helped her grow as a person. I don't like how he kissed her because he just assumed that she and Marshall broke up and he was down bad for her, but I liked how he was able to handle rejection like a good sport and they were able to remain friends. She very much gave Princess Diana and "the people's princess" vibes to me. Her journey in finding herself and where she fits in the world after she's been deemed the "black sheep" of the royal family throughout the entire series was real and relatable.

Nina: I honestly thought her POV was the most bland out of the 4 POVs because she isn't royalty or anyone with a title so she was the most down-to-earth, so I liked her POV the least. Her POV was too...normal? I don't know how to better describe it other than her POV was just her living a generally normal life of a college student (minus the fact that her best friend is American royalty and she grew up around the royal family her entire life). I liked her relationship and her interactions with Jamie; he was nothing but green flags all around. I also liked how she broke out of her shell in this book and started living for herself and doing things she wanted to do.

The one thing I'll say I hate about her POV, and it's honestly not even entirely her fault, in my opinion, is how she still has feelings for Jeff but she wants to continue to date and hook up with Jamie without a label. I honestly don't understand the logic behind her thinking, so let's talk about it.

At the end of the story, Nina tells Jamie that she changed her mind about them officially being boyfriend and girlfriend, and she asks him if it would be okay to remove the label and take things slow. After all, he is the Crown Prince of Canada and she doesn't want to be in another Jeff situation where the cameras are constantly on her and her life is constantly on display. Honestly, I get it. I would hate for my privacy to be stripped from me. However, the epilogue from Nina's POV admits that her not putting a label on her and Jamie, even after 6-7 months, leaves an avenue open for Jeff to date her again if they both want to, which I think is what she lowkey wants. She says that Jamie constantly goes out of his way to visit her in England, send her flowers, go to Shakespeare plays together, and all this stuff to "court" her and win her over after she said she didn't want a label on their relationship, but one look from Jeff and she's a crying, blubbering mess and wants him back while you have a literal green flag of a guy trying to win you over? Girl, STAND UP!

And no, I don't think Jeff should've led her on and kissed her in the last book and then gotten engaged to Daphne the next day. I know Daphne had her motives behind that and I can see how Jeff would feel that his hand was forced into deciding to get engaged, but that's like, a classic move out of the fuckboy handbook. However, Nina CONSTANTLY thinks about Jeff when she's with Jamie and I don't think Jamie deserves that because that's essentially emotional cheating right there.

Daphne: I think I enjoyed reading her POV the most. I didn't like her at first; she was too sneaky and conniving. However, I think I enjoyed her character growth the most which made her POV the best to read. I liked how she realized that she was meant to do more than be a trophy girlfriend and a cog in the much larger machine for her power-hungry parents. I knew she was smart, but I enjoyed reading about her and coming to realize that she is, herself, an intelligent young woman with dreams and ambitions beyond wearing a bunch of fancy gowns and tiaras and doing interviews.

I think she had the most satisfying ending out of all 4 women in the series. Her ambition and her desire to be more, the will to live for herself, and her determination to write the next chapters in her own story instead of following what she thought she wanted and what her parents wanted for her had me cheering for her the entire time. It was honestly quite satisfying seeing her use her ambition and intelligence towards something worthwhile and impactful in the epilogue. While I don't agree with her decision to hook up with Ethan multiple times while she was dating Jeff, I was honestly rooting for her and Ethan the entire time. I also don't agree with her baby trapping Jeff into staying with her by faking a pregnancy, that was nasty work.

Also, go Nina lol. She was nasty for basically encouraging Daphne to cheat on Jeff with Ethan but her playing matchmaker was the plot twist of the century that I didn't see coming.

For all four of them, I liked how their stories ended. All of them felt incomplete to some extent which made me a little uneasy at first because this is the last book in the series and I doubt Katharine McGee may return to the American Royals universe to do a follow-up book or novella that takes place 5-10 years after the events of the series. However, I think that the epilogue leaving all of their POVs somewhat incomplete leaves the reader to imagine what happens to all of them later on was a good thing. There were many times when I was reading this series and forgot that these women were not that much older or younger than me; Beatrice and I are around the same age and Sam, Daphne, and Nina are all a year or two younger. Your twenties should be a time of exploration- finding out who you are as an adult, navigating the adult world for the first time, falling in love or falling out of it, making mistakes and learning from them, and just learning how you fit in this giant world of ours. I think all four of the main characters fit this in their own perfectly imperfect ways.

Like I did in Rivals, I took one star off for Jeff and Gabriella. Jeff never fails to impress me on how much of a hole he can dig himself into with all the issues he causes and I swear Gabriella was here solely for rage bait purposes. (If any of you have watched Outer Banks on Netflix, Gabriella gives the same vibes as Ruthie. If you know, you know.) I know Gabriella doesn't make that much of an appearance in Reign compared to Rivals, she still irritated me to no end every time she showed up.

As for Jeff...my guy, if you can't even write your own wedding speech and wedding vows on how much you love your fianceé, you don't deserve to get married. Like, be so for real, he read that wedding speech with his entire chest and didn't think about how nothing he said in the speech was accurate? He seems like the kind of guy who'd use ChatGPT to write his wedding vows if he didn't have anyone else to help him out. I know he was under a lot of pressure in this book and he probably had the most action and issues in this book alone than he did in the entire series combined besides his love triangle with Nina and Daphne, he needs a giant whack on the head from Beatrice, Sam, or even his mother. I swear he ruined everything he's involved in. He ruined Nina and Daphne's friendship and probably played a hand in Jamie's parents' divorce and this is what I can remember off the top of my head. The only thing he ruined for the BETTER was telling Beatrice that Madison was going to rally votes against her to get her dethroned.

Overall, I enjoyed the ride that this series gave me for the last 4-5 years and I'll miss reading about the Washington family. I can't wait to see what Katharine McGee has in store next! I hope this gets turned into a TV series or something because I would absolutely binge watch every episode.

4 stars
—
Trigger warnings: mentions of death of a family member, cancer, traumatic car accident, amnesia, infidelity/cheating

[B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t even…describe how utterly disappointing and awful this was. This whole book was a repeat of the first, and everyone regressing in all of the amazing progress they had made throughout. I kept yelling “how fucking stupid” every other chapter and I just couldn’t even bring myself to CARE about any of them anymore. 0/10 reason for this to have dragged on so long. It should’ve been a damn trilogy.

[Berit☀️✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect ending to a royally fun series! I really enjoyed this last book in the series, I thought everybodies storyline ended just how it should have! 👑

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series and so happy that she chose to go out on a high note and finish it, rather than dragging it out until it lost momentum. I think everyone got a great ending, but I have to admit that I was super stressed until pretty much the end. I kind of feel like Daphne's Terrible Awful Secret should have been exposed, at last to a few select people that it affected, and I think that Beatrice overreacted to The One Thing. But i was otherwise very satisfied!

[Erin Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book to finish on Coronation Day!

[Gerardine Betancourt · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I choose to love him, and that is better than never getting to love at all.”
This series of books has been one full of ups and downs.
*Royals was a five-star for me. It entertained me a lot. Originally, if I'm not mistaken, it was a single book, and the author decided to continue with a series.
*Majesty was my least favorite book. It seems that the author did not know what she wanted to do with the characters. Honestly, it was a book with poor execution and little imagination from the author.
*Rivals the third book was 3.5 stars for me. This book completely changed my image of Daphne, who became my favorite character after being the worst.
* In this last book, Spoilers ahead, I did not like that the author introduced a new romance to Nina like really? we dont need in the last book a new character to create another love triangle with Nina, a character so annoying that she believed to be the only quirky girl who likes to read Jane Austen. I also found Beatrice losing her memory so cliche, I can't believe that the author didn't came up with something more original than that.
In conclusion, I liked the book, but the ending was a little predictable.
3.5 stars

[Reneé · Rating 1 out of 5]

I truly think this is the worst book I’ve ever read, and I read the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce book.

All of these characters are horrible except for two, and one wasn’t even in the book and the other got their entire character development taken away. Also characters got redeemed when they did REALLY SHITTY THINGS WITH ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONSEQUENCES. Listen I love a redemption arc, but I need to see groveling and consequences BUT THERE WAS NONE. And the cheating. I hate it here.

If you are wondering why I continued this atrocious series, it’s because my best friend loves these books and wanted me to read them. I love her so I’ll make the sacrifice, but also thank god for 3x speed audiobooks.

I’m so glad this series is over, but also wtf why leave characters relationships in CLIFFHANGERS AT THE END OF THE SERIES. I’m so mad yet so happy I never have to read another book in this dumb series.

[Charity (Booktrovert Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many times I finish a series and just sincerely wish it wouldn't end. Katherine McGee wrapped this series up so nicely. Yet I want so much more from these characters that you you watch grow throughout the series. I simply just didn't want it to end.

This will remain my ultimate favorite series that I would cherish and happy to reread again. I am hoping one day Katherine McGee will write a new series and we see a cross over of these characters again.

I hope Nina doesn't go back to Jeff. He is a Yo-Yo. He can't make up his freakin mind.

even though Nina decided to be with Jaime, she still opened that door to be with 'Friends' with Jeff. I feel like with Nina's history, most likely will be with Jeff again. lol

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[Esme · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐

I needed this book today, It's just literally gossip girl drama but make it royalty and its just 👌🏻

I loved the way it ended, all the loose ends were tied in a nice way and if you know me you know I love me a HEA lol

[Jamie Rosenblit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect conclusion to a series I’ve had so much fun with over the years! Sad to say goodbye to my favorite American Royals!

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last 3% gave me open-ended hope for my ship.

[Sarah Swann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! I love how everything wrapped up and we now have a full picture of the whole story. I loved the way things wove together and unfolded. This series is just so much fun and I loved the characters. What a great ending to the series!

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sat on writing this review for almost a week mainly because I just wasn't sure what I thought of the last book. I remember when I read the first book, I devoured it. It was fun and promising and I was excited to see where it would go. But as I read through each book, I found that my enjoyment just kept going down and down while my annoyance and frustrations kept going up. Each book was the same, nothing changed. Sam felt like she didn't have a place in her world, Jeff loved Nina, no wait, he loved Daphne, Daphne lied and schemed, Nina loved Jeff then she didn't then she did, Beatrice loved Connor, oh but what about Teddy? But Connor - then Teddy! I was over by the end.

There was so much potential in this series and I felt that all just went away as plot lines were recycled. I never knew who we were rooting for as the author just kept throwing couples at us. Like seriously? How is this still happening 4 books in? That, and how are these characters not growing?

The back and forth with Jeff/Daphne/Nina was beyond ridiculous. There was no reason to keep this going for so long. Jeff just looked like a complete idiot with how he let Daphne treat him. And honestly, were we supposed to feel for her? Because I never did. I hated how she got away with everything horrible that she did. Like bringing in an even meaner girl was going to make me just be like, oh that Daphne isn't half bad.

Then there's the entire story line with Sam. Seriously? After everything she went through with Marshall in the second book we're just supposed to believe she would leave him in Hawaii and stay with this other dude? Nope, I don't buy it. It was drama for the sake of drama and it felt cheap.

And don't even get me started on Beatrice's amnesia and how we had to bring back the Connor drama again. Everything was just so played out by this point that it was extremely frustrating. She didn't deserve Teddy.

And where were any of the male personalities?

Overall, started strong but quickly went downhill. Disappointing.

[Katie Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good! But I really think this book was a waste of time. I don’t feel like the story progressed at all, and I feel like it could have ended at the end of book 3. That ended was so good. It could have finished itself there.