I must say, this book was far better than the first one, despite lack of character development among the tellers of our story, lack of solid world building around what is an interesting story idea and what seems like plagiarism of Netflix’s The Crown.

Firstly, I want to discuss the main couples:

Bee and Teddy:
- slay
- i miss and long for a slow-paced feeling of falling in love in my personal life so this was nice. If there was no hint of them having sex towards the end, it would be even better
- it is nice to see a mature couple. Despite the circumstances such as Bee’s guilt over her father’s death and the challenges of getting over of both characters’ previous love interests, the two have founded their relationship on mutual respect and genuine friendship. I felt that they both were able to grow as people by coming together and it was enjoyable to read

Daphne and Jeff
- not slaying at all
- dumb af
- underdeveloped, i hope the third book ruins it and i am looking forward to it

Daphne and Ethan
- ngl i was rooting for them. When Ethan rejected her at the wedding, I felt sympathy for Daphne because it hurts like hell to tell someone you love them in a moment of weakness and then having them stomp on it
- katharine miss gurl please reunite them and just get rid of jeff

Nina and Ethan
- literally traumatising
- i rooted for them for 30 seconds when they gushed over venice
- made me go from not caring about ethan whatsoever other than him provoking daphne into mischief (i like that in a man) to despising him completely and calling to riot
- nina is a character that is so forgetful i am surprised when a chapter about her pops up. HOWEVER, that poor girl deserves a break from Daphne and her manipulation over the two guys that have shown any interest in her. I am glad she grew a pair and stood up for herself
- if they get back together i will rip my hair out. Don’t be so weak Nina!!!!

Samantha and Marshall
- slay
- unoriginal but i like them together the same way i like bee and teddy together
- both characters are similar in some ways and compliment each other in places where they are unalike. Their scandalous nature and levels of self-awareness that allows them to understand why they are so scandalous is my favourite thing about this book. Irl, it is satisfying to realise something important about yourself with someone just like you, therefore it is satisfying to read how Sam learns to understand herself.
- i hope they get married idgaf



Secondly, what I did not like:
- the dialogue: cliche as f..k, unoriginal and i feel like teenagers just… don’t.. talk… like that ! I believe in trusting your own intuition - if something doesn’t feel natural, it probably isn’t. That is how my gut felt reading how characters interacted (apart from maybe that confrontational scene with Nina and Daphne)

- the world building is crap. The author took an interesting concept - monarchy in the US - and has done nothing with it. I won’t go into how undeveloped the system in the US is in the book or the lack of awareness of global history as I am not a historian or expert in democratic systems, but I cannot help but frown with confusion and disappointment. The author went to Princeton and Standford, two prestigious schools in the world, and it seems like not once did it occur to her in her studies of literature and speculation of ‘castle envy’ that she must critically approach storytelling and historical accuracy. This may be my humble onion, but if you want to present an alternative universe, it must be researched and presented convincingly, even if the point of focus is teen drama (which I am all for, and I am sure my fellow readers are as well).


To conclude my essay no one asked for,

I am looking forward to the third book. I will read it and share my thoughts. However, I wish for the author to understand that meanwhile we do read drama and comedy to switch off from our daily lives, this does not exempt the author from critique. Readers still want to read something original and refreshing, without closing the book with too many unanswered questions.