*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.