Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Princess Beatrice realizes what’s expected of her as heir apparent—and it is not riding in cars, alone, with her Revere Guard. But what the Crown doesn’t know won’t hurt it…right?

Princess Samantha is already bored of her own graduation party. She swears she isn’t looking for trouble, but when the king and queen are away, the spare will play….

Nina never dreamed of acting on her feelings for Prince Jefferson. Tonight, though, anything seems possible: even a prince and a commoner.

Meanwhile, Daphne is hiding more than one secret beneath her perfect exterior. A royal party might just be the window of opportunity she needs—until everything comes crashing down.

84 pages, ebook

First published May 3, 2022

About the author

Katharine McGee

16 books6,071 followers
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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1,530 (13%)
4 stars
3,785 (34%)
3 stars
4,824 (43%)
2 stars
834 (7%)
1 star
123 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 858 reviews
Profile Image for Isabel Bonilla.
61 reviews22 followers
June 6, 2022
I would sell my kidney for Jeff's POV on the night things changed with Nina.

PS, I really liked this prequel and feel like there is unresolved tension between Jeff and Nina!!! I think that Conor and Daphne are going to end up together. And hopefully Liam will make an appearance in the next book with Sam.
Profile Image for Marti .
264 reviews155 followers
November 25, 2022
I guess the whole series is an alright series for me.
Profile Image for Ashlee (bookswithnopictures).
1,202 reviews87 followers
February 23, 2022
I know I'm not the only one who about lost my mind when the third book for American Royals was announced. Book two was so good but that ending made me want to strangle a certain character we all love to hate. Dipping my toes into this world again through this novella was the delightful listen I had to have to get back into the swing of things.
Katharine rewinds the story to the night everything seems to shake up for her cast of characters. She explores in more detail the driving factors behind each girl's personality and what sets up her American Royals world. It made me have a little bit of a boo-boo lip reminding me once again I picked the wrong love interest in a certain love triangle. (Is that vague enough?) I still love him and can only hope he returns in some fashion for the next book.
Any time I hear Brittany Pressley's voice, I immediately think of this series. She is so great at handling the multiple POV's of Beatrice, Sam, Nina, and Daphne. I'm too excited to read book three to wait but am going to have to reread it through her narration as soon as it becomes available.
Thank you to PRHA audio for the alc. All thoughts in this review are my own.
Profile Image for Monte Price.
787 reviews2,337 followers
June 5, 2022
Katharine McGee just knows how to write this series in such a way that I eat up every single installment. It didn't matter to me that so much of the events of this book were things that readers already knew happened, I think that getting to see them play out was still a good time so it works for fans already and it really sets the tone for people who want to get into the series and hit the ground running with American Royals.

I did feel like that was a bit of a subtle nod to things that were going to happen in Rivals, which makes sense given when this particular novella was released, but that could also be just me projecting because I listened to this after having read that third book, so anything is possible.

This series is just fun. The characters are all archetypes that I enjoy following, and it's nice to revisit them just as the shit is starting to hit the fan. Can't lie, having listened I'm so tempted to pick the series back up and give it another read through because I just love them all so much and the journey that I know is in front of them.

McGee could write these books forever and I would eat them up until I'm relaxing in the retirement village. Definitely need some more novellas so I can add the hardback bindup to my shelf pls and thank you.
Profile Image for shannon✨.
1,458 reviews45 followers
June 5, 2022
It was fine, nothing bad, but I probably would’ve liked it better if could’ve read it before the first book in the series.
Profile Image for emily.
165 reviews136 followers
October 8, 2022
A nice little novella prequel to tie things together

I just wish Jeff had a bit more of a brain tbh 😂
Profile Image for soap.
160 reviews26 followers
May 10, 2022
2.5
i wrote lengthy reviews for each of the two other books alr but here is where i will be criticizing the characters some more (mainly nina sorry bestie 🤞)


— nina —
babe 🖐️
u were and are my favourite of the series. and its probably just the way Katherine McGee write her, but her whole personality revolved around jeff (and ethan in Majesty). we basically only get her pov in when shes dealing with the romance aspect of her life. but especially in here, all she could think about was jeff. she kept seeking his validation (male validation 😟☹️👎)


— daphne —
none of my opinions in this book has changed from american royals or majesty. i have nothing to say here lmao


— sam —
girl istfg if we get a love triangle between her, marshall, and liam i will 🕳️🚶


— beatrice —
ngl she is my least favourite character of all the povs (as in her povs are my least favourite and she is my least favourite of nina, daphne, sam, and her ykyk??)
but yeah idk tho maybe i just disliked her a lot more here bc i dont like connor 🤭


— the whole nina&jeff thing —
even the best couple of the series has its flaws. uhh so like,,,,yeah one of my toxic traits is that i will still be partially ignoring the fact that jeff and daphne both cheat on each other while still together. like, ik it was kinda already known that daphne and jeff broke up that night, but it wasn't official official soooo yeah cheating is cheating 😥‼️
i lowkey wanted jeff's pov but oh well 😕
Profile Image for Sara.
160 reviews3 followers
June 4, 2022
anything for the goodreads goal
Profile Image for Laura.
390 reviews237 followers
May 6, 2022
4/5⭐️

I genuinely really enjoyed this!!!
I always wondered about that night, the night that basically everything changed, so getting almost a 100 pages of it is a luxury. I know the whole series is from the girls’ perspective, but I really do wish we had read Jeff’s pov from that night, I want to know what he was thinking and what his relationship with Daphne was at the moment.
And Nina was a character that I loved in the other books but didn’t care for her in this one, however… SAM. Omg I love her even more than before!! her whole adventure with Liam was nice, I hope she ends up getting her song and that they get to see each other again.
I also want to declare myself as a Bee+Connor shipper, I don’t care about what happened in the second book!!! They were soooo adorable in this one aghhh love them

This series isn’t like the best series ever, but I live for the drama and it’s a nice story, really entertaining! Can’t wait to finally read the third book when it comes out :)
Profile Image for Isabella (isabunchofbooks).
520 reviews51 followers
March 4, 2022
This is an interesting book to talk about - it's a short novella that takes place before the events of American Royals (book 1).

This was a really fun time because I love this series so much, but it was also... odd. So, I was lucky enough to read an early copy of American Royals III: Rivals a few months ago, so my perspective on this may be different, but I'm not sure what this novella is meant to accomplish other than getting people excited for book three, since it was originally a duology and only recently announced that it would be a 4-book series, and book three is coming out 2 years after book two. While this book does give you a *very* brief introduction to a character that is very important in book three, it just feels weirdly unnecessary? Here's why: the events that this novella is chronicling have been discussed at length in the first book. None of the stuff in here is new information. Additionally, Beatrice's chapters are exclusively about her falling for Connor, and if you've read book 2, you'll know why that feels odd.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
947 reviews876 followers
June 8, 2022
This is a great little prequel to the series, I appreciated the insight and the character backgrounds. Listened to it on audio and really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Jenn.
1,884 reviews316 followers
July 4, 2024
There's a prequel?? How did I not know this existed? I've been waiting for the 3rd book to come out for what seems like forever yet I didn't even know this baby was in existence.

The American Royals series is a what if scenario where what if instead of George Washington becoming President of the US, he set himself up as king. The Washington family have led the US ever since and these books are about the first female Washington to become Queen. I adore this family and just want to devour anything about them so this prequel was perfect.

Over the course of the two books there is one night that is often eluded to. We get little brief snippets of what happened just so we know enough to know shit went down. In Inheritance, McGee takes us back to that night and dives right into what each character went through. But, omg, would it have killed McGee to include Jeff's POV from that night because that boy - what was he thinking??

Also, nothing will EVER make me like Daphne. This woman is absolutely horrible and so freaking entitled. Being in her head is painful and did nothing to endear me to her. I really just want her to fall far from grace.
Profile Image for Shannon.
6,103 reviews345 followers
March 1, 2022
A short, but long-awaited insight into the night that changed everyone's lives and put in motion all the events that took place during book one and two of the American Royals series. I'm a huge Beatrice and her bodyguard's forbidden romance - their brief storyline was definitely my favorite. This is a perfect snack to get us all ready for the upcoming Rivals and the finale of this highly entertaining series! Great on audio narrated by Brittany Pressley!!
Profile Image for Jamie Rosenblit.
1,030 reviews637 followers
May 7, 2022
So fun to delve back into this world in this quick novella! Looking forward to starting Rivals ASAP!
Profile Image for Melissa.
667 reviews888 followers
August 11, 2022
I now understand more a couple of events that were mentioned in the books!

And still, my same remark remains... Will we, one day, see more of Jeff?

Profile Image for Courtney.
972 reviews10 followers
May 5, 2022
3.5 stars

We don't really get much new from this story that wasn't told in flashbacks in previous books. That being said, it gets 11/10 for building my excitement for Rivals.
June 14, 2023
*3.5

age recommendation: 14+
mostly clean

"She needed to go face it all, because this was her inheritance, wasn't it? Loneliness and falsehoods, pretending that everything was okay even when her life was coming apart at the seams."

Inheritance is a prequel novella to the American Royals series that details exactly what happened at the royal twins' graduation party prior to the first book. We follow the same four perspectives as the other books: Beatrice, the heir to the throne; Samantha, the spare; Daphne, the prince's girlfriend; and Nina, Samantha's best friend who is in love with the prince.

Even though this novel is a prequel, I don't think it's a great introduction to the series for most people. I think it would be best to read the first two books in the series and then this one, since this book is lacking a bit of context and introduction to the characters. That said, it was really interesting to see everyone's takes on "the night that changed everything."

The bulk of the story takes place at Princess Samantha and Prince Jefferson's graduation party. It begins like all of their other drab, repetitive parties full of people they don't really care to see, and ends with everyone having gone through some sort of change. While all this is happening, we also get to see Beatrice away at a different royal event and how she really feels about being the future queen.

Overall, while I think this book provided some insight into each of the characters, I don't think it's a great introduction to the series for new readers and in the end I didn't find it to be particularly interesting or revolutionary.
Profile Image for Madigan Likes to Read.
1,183 reviews96 followers
May 30, 2022
On it's own, this is a great prequel. And that's why I allot it four stars.

However, reading this prequel underlines my assessment at the end of book 2. Starting here and carrying through the end of book 2, these characters end in exactly the same place they begin, learning almost nothing along the way.

Will this stop me from reading book 3? Heck no! Gimme!
Profile Image for Jo ✿.
283 reviews64 followers
January 11, 2023
One night changed everything. This was a great intro into this series! Definitely got me interested. I do have a favorite (Sam) and I’m looking forward to jumping into book 1!
Profile Image for katie.
270 reviews253 followers
May 1, 2024
i love this series so it was so fun to go back into this world! it was also so crazy to see all the changes the main characters have went through since the start of the series to where i am now. this novellas follows the night of sam and jeff’s graduation part which was referenced quite a bit in book one so i loved being able to finally see how everything played out.
Profile Image for Nina Furrtheloveofbooks.
194 reviews64 followers
July 19, 2022
If you read book two in the series then there is no need to read this novella. The main points were all covered there. The audiobook was great and kept me engaged but the book was just not something that was ever needed.

Thank you to @phraudio for the complimentary copy
Profile Image for zaraa.
404 reviews
May 19, 2022
two full stars only and only for beatrice and connor, can’t believe authors ruin the potential of their own couple themselves— part of me is still hoping for connor’s return in the series otherwise what a WASTED potential.
Profile Image for gabby ୨୧.
314 reviews42 followers
March 21, 2023
2 stars

y'all i don't even know how to string my words into sentences. this book was a hot mess. i'm so sorry. i know how hard it is to write a novel so maybe it's my fault for doing this to myself. i read the books that go along with this a year ago, because none of this made any sense. it jumped from perspective to perspective in a snap. just as i was settling into a perspective, the author switched it up.
the only saving grace is that this was a novella and not an actual novel because i don't think i would have been able to last through the entire book.
i love mcgee's work, but this just didn't work for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 858 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.