The Last Great American Dynasty

by Lisa Rae Yamagishi

Dear Reader,Inspired by the collision of characters, imagery, and lore of Taylor Swift’s song lyrics, this coming-of-age story is for every Swiftie who can relate to the unbearable feelings of love and loss - all too well.Thirteen-year-old Betty has just lost her grandma, got dumped by her best friend, was ghosted by her summer crush James, and suddenly finds herself all alone in her new high school. Seeking refuge in the approval of her favorite teacher, Betty reluctantly agrees to help write music for the school’s Christmas concert. In the process, she discovers old letters and sheet music left behind by her grandmother, Marjorie, which include clues to solve the mystery of Rebekah Harkness and the diamonds of “The Last Great American Dynasty.”

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

89 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2023

Reviews

[ray ౨ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

hate review no. 2

0 HORRIBLE STARS

First of all I would like to say DO NOT read this book. You may be thinking, well even tho there’s bad reviews it seems like a quick, easy read so I’ll give it a try! I mean, maybe I’ll like it, I see five star reviews :)

But don’t. Trust me.

Ok, that might have sounded harsh. Usually when I don’t like a book I still think you shouldn’t let my opinion influence you so much that it decides whether or not you read a book. But there are so much things I just cannot support in this book.

So, first of all this writing sucked. Like, 12 yo wattpad sucky. It reminds me of my writing in elementary school (except I could spell compliment correctly and have no typos ☺️). Yep, the author who’s a high school English teacher spelled compliment wrong 😑 And she would spend a whole entire paragraph describing something, as if she was trying to reach a word count on Google Docs.

Next, the ages. I know that the author made Betty 13 bc it’s Taylor Swift’s lucky number (at least I hope she did) it is giving p3d0 that her bf is 17. Oh, and Betty is in high school yet also in 8th grade. And she also has a crush on a married man that has children 🥰 It is so disgusting she’s 13 and is taking pictures. Since Betty is 13 the conflicts in this book is just dumb middle school drama. This issue was the breaking point for me. I felt absolutely uncomfortable reading this.

This novella has absolutely no plot whatsoever. We switched povs often, and nothing in the chapters had a climax or anything. Again, it was mostly some rlly bad middle school drama. Everything that happened came out of nowhere. Some stuff was talked about in one chapter and never mentioned again 🤨 There was no main conflict (or maybe even just regular conflicts) and no resolutions I can think of. At least in other novellas I get what’s going on but this just felt choppy.

And about the Taylor references? Those were forced and also came out of nowhere. There was a chapter called “Champagne Problems” that wasn’t even in Betty’s pov that was not significant to the story at all and it was abt a proposal which wasn’t talked about at all later in the story. If you want a book with Taylor references I heard The Summer of Broken Rules was based around her songs. So read that. Or read Better Than the Movies. But not this.

Betty was also sooooo annoying. Like, hello 👋 ur 13, act like it

I’m really disappointed with this book.

pre-read
🫶🏻🐍🦋🩶
Taylor Swift references, novella, and free on kindle?!?!? Sign me up ✍️ buddy read with my bestie Vivie

[Adamaantia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Betty CAN'T be 13

[Miranda Baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Swiftie I wanted to like this…I really really did….but alas….I did not. The little Easter egg lyrics were cute but it was just SOOOO inconsistent and so many things just didn’t make sense.

[Mónica · Rating 4 out of 5]

~4.5 stars~

[Inês · Rating 4 out of 5]

This double perspective book follows the lives of Betty and Marjorie, Betty’s grandmother. Marjorie was a young woman in 1944 who had just said goodbye to her boyfriend John who went out to war. As she is walking along the train station she stumbles upon a woman called Rebekah. They start talking and after a little while Rebekah invites Marjorie to stay at her Holiday House, where she would invite dancers and artists and she believed Marjorie would be a great fit. Marjorie ends up spending her summer with Rebekah and learning all about who she was.
Years later we learn about Betty who has just lost her grandmother, Marjorie. Betty had a summer love with James who has been ignoring her prior to the first week of school. During the first week, Betty has a fallout with her best friend Ivy who started to ignore her and hang out with her new friend Grace. Betty soon becomes attached to a teacher who invites her for his club of songwriting to which she accepts. We follow along Betty’s journey through the tough times during highschool as a freshman and her discoveries of what Marjorie had left for her.

Review:
This book is definitely for us swifties. It is a cute fast paced novella with tons of taylor swift references which I loved. This was a very sweet novella that made me smile all throughout my reading journey and I read it in one sitting. It is quite a simple story and there’s nothing that amazed me or surprised me yet I still enjoyed this light read. If you’re a swiftie, definitely give this one a go. I wish the story was longer and went more in depth in certain parts.

[Ashley Da · Rating 1 out of 5]

I agree that this was a complete miss in regard to both plot/story line and Betty's age. It feels like the author wanted to capitalize on Taylor's story of Betty, James and Augustine without any care of concern of building plot or developing character; most likely because it's not her story to tell and her poor attempt at following Taylor's storyline or clues about the characters she created for Folklore. Betty being 13? Absolutely not and absolutely predatory (as mentioned in another comment) of James. There are tons of clues in Taylor's songs about them being no where near 13 and to write it as so is wildly inappropriate. The author mentions in the comments about a sequel where Betty is 18 which doesn't really solve the problem of her being 13 in book 1. There's no way a 13 year old is embroiled in a love triangle. How embarassing to write it that way; it's an insult to Swifties who crave a book like this (and creating that inappropriate imagery) and to Taylor for assuming she wrote the passionate and heartbreaking songs in Folklore about a 13 year old and two 17-19 year olds.

[Alese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute novella, perfect for Swifties

That was cute. As a swiftie, I want more! I like how the author encompasses most of Taylor's lyrics from Folklore.

[Izabella౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this books so much its so cute and perfect for a swiftie I love how she put together different songs pov and how she used different songs and lyrics into two storys that conects

[_lucy grace_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this had been edited a little better, it would be gold. Oh, and the fact that Betty is 13 and somehow able to drive and in highschool. And the 4 year age gap. It made me emotional when Betty was on the beach at the end, so yeah.

[Kaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is literally the definition of “short, but sweet”. I really wanted to read some Swiftie lore and this sort of ate. The plot line seemed very accurate based off of the songs and I enjoyed the hidden song names. However, I feel like there could have been more details, but I may be just biased on having more pages to read LOL.

[christin · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be honest, this was probably a waste of money!
Writing style was bad in my opinion, the tremendous plot holes where so annoying and I didn't even really get the story. It didn't feel like it was one whole story rather than two little stories that didn't have anything in common. There was no peak of the storyline, everything was quite boring and I zoned out so many times while reading.
I was really hyped before reading this because I really liked the idea of the concept but it just wasn't executed in a good way at all.
And as many many said before... HOW IS BETTY 13?! I'm sorry but no!! It felt wrong the whole entire time!
I'm so sorry for the author if she really is a big fan but for some reason I have the feeling this was just a way to get something out of the Swift hype.

[Taylor Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cool concept but it's really weird and inappropriate that Betty is 13. Any true Swiftie knows that Taylor wrote about a teenage love triangle and alluded to their age in her songs - James is 17 as stated in the song Betty, Augustine is at least 16 because James hops into the car she's driving which starts the love affair, and Betty is old enough to be having house parties and getting kissed on front porches. It also says that Betty switches her homeroom because of James, alluding to them being in the same grade/class. So as a reader I'm a little confused by the authors choice in making Betty significantly younger than James. I find it greatly inappropriate and not at all aligned with Taylor's vision of Betty, James and Augustine. Would any parent, or Taylor while writing Folklore, think it's ok for a 13 year old to date a 17 year old? In Cardigan (Betty's perspective song) she speaks of feeling like an old cardigan, thrown away by others but James knows her value. Would a 13 year old have the experience to feel like that? It is a bad writing choice and leaves a bad mental image in readers minds to think that a 13 year old is involved in a love triangle with such passion and emotion as heard in the songs Betty, Cardigan, August, and potentially Illicit Affairs.

[Amelia Slover · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t need any “closure” for this poorly written book. Swifties, don’t waste your time.
Chapter 5 starts off saying: “the first month of school went by quickly for Betty”.
A couple pages later: “The rest of the first week of school”…
This author also tried to take every possible song reference and shove it in a book without adding any substance.
“She was forced to swallow, hoping Mr. Stephen’s wouldn’t see her neck muscles tense up and back down again to gulp down her nervousness” - a high school freshman nervous and into her 30 something year old teacher.
“Come on! We’re going to miss the sunset”
“She looked at the lake as the sun was a few minutes from going over the mountain” - if the sun is going OVER the mountain, it’s a sunrise not a sunset.

IT KEEPS GETTING WORSE. The amount of grammatical errors I’ve reported on the Kindle. Did this book not have an editor?

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s a little bit worrying that the author is a teacher and is writing about a relationship between a 13 year old and a 17 year old like it is okay. This aside, the plot was full of inconsistencies and the prose seems like it hasn’t been run by an editor or reviewed at all. Wasn’t a fan, which is a shame as I really wanted to like this based on the premise.

[Amanda Rieck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how the author turned Taylor Swift songs into small stories!!

[Brittni Gragg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read if you’re a die hard Swiftie!!!! It goes back and forth from Majorie to Betty and tells a great story of their lives.

[Lizzie Lunsford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genuinely only gave it 1 star because of Taylor. I… have no words. I’ve read a looooottt of fanfic over the years and this read worse than that.

[Ashley Licht · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so badly wanted to like this but it was really poorly written. I thought it was written by a child so I felt bad. But nope, it was written by an adult lol.

A lot of grammatical errors, the plot was *nonexistent* confusing. It drove me insane that the chapters just went back in forth in time with absolutely no warning. Couldn’t we have at least gotten the years under the chapter or something?? Please tell me in what way was it a good idea for a 13 year old to be driving almost 3 hours away by herself and even in the snow! There was no reconciliation or even a confrontation with Ivy? It tried too hard to have all the song title and lyrics in there. I’m happy it was a short read or I wouldn’t DNF it. What a way to start the new year, with a bad book.

I read the reviews and figured I’d try it for myself. But here is your warning not to be like me. Just skip this one

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

not only is this book clearly not edited (there are 2 different types of spacing between the lines), its also incoherent and, frankly, an insult who every swiftie alive. the author chose characters and plots from taylors folklore album and just threw them all into one big pile without ever thinking about it once. why was betty 13, but james was 17? why was marjorie, taylors real-life grandma, bettys grandma too? why was rebekka, a real life person, suddenly this weird lady who just let a random woman live with her? the inconsistent plot beside, this book is just poorly written. ive read better p*rn on wattpad than this. its a simple and lazy cashgrab, where the author just hopes, that every swiftie will eat this pile of garbage up, but every swiftie who atleast has decent media literacy would know that this has no right being even considered as something taylor-related. the author should hone their craft if they want to put out something like this, or stick to writing fanfiction on wattpad. (which is not an attack to people who write fanfiction, but atleast they dont charge you money for the garbage they put out)

[Staci Lamason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way the author weaved Rebekah, Marjorie, and Betty's lives and stories together. I smiled a lot throughout reading, enjoying all the song references throughout. It was a short and very enjoyable read.

I think with some more revision and editing some of the song references could've fit in better. A few felt awkward and forced. Some felt like they would've fit more naturally in other places or should have come from other characters. I struggled with the dialogue between Rebekah and Marjorie. All of their exchanges felt too casual and modern considering it was supposed to be taking place in 1944.

[Brittany Simmons · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I can commend the author on including as many song references as possible, that’s about the best thing I can say about this novella. The author is a teacher, which is concerning for a number of reasons: 1. The brief mention of Betty’s interest in Mr. Stephens is creepy, and 2. A teacher should be able to do a better job of at least editing and correcting the dozens of mistakes (grammatical, timeline errors, etc). 3. The fact that Betty is 13 is pretty problematic. Definitely a disappointing read.

[Jackie Tipton · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

Cute book and an easy read. It’s obviously geared towards a younger audience which raises some concerns with Betty’s age (although clearly the author was just incorporating Taylor’s favorite number). It was entertaining to pick out the lyrics used throughout the book. Worth a read for any Swiftie.

[Corrine Zelaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute trash lol. I was expecting a nice short sweet book about Betty and james which I guess this was but you can just tell she was trying to force Taylor’s lyrics into the story. Very poorly written. So terrible it was funny.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute short story for any Swiftie. There are tons of references to Taylor’s songs, of course. I loved how Betty was incorporated with Ivy, James, and Emma. Loved the Stephen reference too. I also really enjoyed the secondary story with Marjorie and Rebekah. A fun read for Swifties!

[Hannah Duckett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a sweet short story for the swifties out there. Its storyline pulls from the last great American dynasty and Betty. The stories are intertwined with nods to other songs along the way. It was a beautiful piece of work and I’m so pleased I got to experience it.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and sweet story!

This was obviously written by a true and loyal Swiftie and surrounds one of Taylor's fabulous songs, interspersed with titles from other hit songs! If you enjoy music and especially if you're a Taylor Swift fan, this book is great!

[eRin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but it was absolutely terrible. No plot, just the author trying to get as many Taylor Swift references crammed in as possible. If that was the goal, she did quite well. But the writing is terrible and it was a chore to get through this quick read.

[123Gillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

- Taylor coded (ofc)
- Cute short story
- Great short read to help reach your reading goal

[Kandance B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book. Not a huge fan of writing but enjoyed idea.

[Bo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75, really nice if you like taylor swift and it’s a quick read