American Queen by Sierra Simone – A Book Review

Spoiler-Free Overview

Greer Galloway grew up in the political social scene, as the granddaughter of a previous Vice President. While she’s good at acting the part of a socialite, she’d much rather stay at home and be the quiet, bookish girl. At a political function she attends with her grandfather, she meets the handsome and charismatic Maxen Ashley Colchester, aka Ash. At sixteen, Greer has her first kiss with the beautiful soldier, sparking a teenage obsession for the man.

As time passes, Greer can’t forget her crush and even sends him emails depicting her life in boarding school and her fantasies with him. Only Ash is at war and never responds to her. So, Greer forces herself to forget and  goes about her life, studying medieval literature and eventually becoming a college professor.

Until, Ash is voted President of the United States and seeks out Greer again. She’s nervous but willing to rekindle their past. They waste no time jumping into a new relationship. And Greer builds an unsteady friendship with the Vice President, Embry Moore.

Liz’s Thoughts and Feelings

I’ve read one Sierra Simone book before, Priest, so I was prepared for a lot of spice. Which I got. But I wasn’t prepared for how icky I felt when the book was done. The book is full of BDSM and degradation kink, which is all fine. But some scenes are too graphic in how these acts are depicted, mostly around pain.

Ash is far too controlling, and I can’t find it in me to root for his relationship with Greer. I knew going into the book that there was going to be an age gap, and I was all on board. Until I read that their relationship started when she was sixteen and he’s in his late twenties. From that moment, it was all obsession, which I could accept from Greer since she was sixteen, but not from Ash. When you’re in your late twenties, you should not be obsessing over a sixteen-year-old. 

And obsession was all this book gave us. There was no or little romance between Greer and Ash. Honestly, there was more between Greer and Embry. At least they had a couple of cute scenes. 

On to the writing, it’s written in flashbacks. We see Greer at seven, sixteen / seventeen, twenty, and finally twenty five. The plot hops around between these ages. I don’t mind that, but it does make the beginning of the book move slowly, even though it opens with Greer and Ash’s wedding. 

For the side characters, Embry (who probably isn’t considered a side character but that doesn’t happen until later in the book) is the most likable. Merlin is confusing, and I hated almost every scene with him. Who tells a seven-year-old girl to ‘keep her kisses to herself’. Inappropriate, good sir! Abilene obviously has something going on. My guess is she’s a sympathizer for the war with… honestly, I can’t remember and I don’t have the physical book to look it up. 

So, let’s talk about this political thriller subplot. It gives reasons why Ash stays away from Greer for so long. It gives both Ash and Embry some backstory. And, honestly, I don’t care about it at all. That’s all I can say. It’s generic and boring.

I’m complaining a lot about this book, but if you want a spicy MMF novel and you can hold out through the first half of the book, go for it. The best reference I can give is that it’s like Fifty Shades of Grey but cranked up to eleven.