Red, White & Royal Blue

Paperback, 418 pages

English language

Published June 7, 2019 by St. Martin's Griffin.

ISBN:
978-1-250-31677-6
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(87 reviews)

What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: …

3 editions

The bar is too high

This is a good book, for what it is. However, not much of it is really unique and mindfuckingly excellent. In fact, Casey McQuiston's other books, specifically One Last Stop and I Kissed Shara Wheeler, are full of such amazing ideas and moments, that Red, White & Royal Blue just cannot keep up. They've set the bar too high.

Then again, AFAIK, Red, White & Royal Blue is McQuiston's first book, so one could see this as evidence that they only get better and better.

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'

I expected this to be a cheesy feel-good romance novel that makes my teeth decay because it's so sweet. It is exactly that, and it was A PLEASURE to read. What an absolute page-turner, I loved every minute of it, and I don't care that it's unrealistic: It's a romance novel, not a CNN/BBC report.

Yes, I could list a few things I didn't love, but frankly that would just ruin your reading pleasure. Pick it up, curl up on a couch for a few days, and don't forget some tissues.

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'

I’m so sorry. I think I’m too cynical for this kind of thing. Never mind the fact that this was already going to be a hard sell for me. I can’t stand political romances.

This is the first book I’ve read in a while that made me feel like, I don’t know, like it wasn’t written for me? Who knows. The characters are deeply annoying. Nora in particular feels like one of those early 2010’s autistic stereotypes. Just left a bad taste in my mouth. Henry is fine, but Alex? Alex made me remember why I sometimes find myself swearing only by t4t if cis boys are this obnoxiously full of themselves.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that this book reads like it wasn’t written for the mlm crowd. Like. At all. Like it’s not fetishistic. I didn’t get that kind of vibe. I don’t know man. It’s …

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'

This book's lineage is, at a guess, Hamilton/The West Wing/That brief liberal mania after the election of Obama. It is very much a fantasy of a different political system, one not captured by big money, where politicians may be ruthless or use means you don't approve of, but are serving in politics because of something they believe in. It is a fantasy of an America that could elect a divorced woman president.

On the other hand, if you can't have fantasies in your romance novels, where can you?

I didn't check this out for a long time because I find celebrities, politicians, and royalty, all vaguely squicky, and this book is written on the assumption that all of these are something you are at least a little into. However, the book doesn't rely on your kink for the aforementioned; it has a lot going for it. The book has a …

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'

Very sweet story and an excellent pallet cleanser if you are suffering from a heavy book hangover.
The story and characters are fun, engaging, and heartwarming.
I felt a bit old for this story. I think 16 year old me probably would have gotten the biggest kick out of it but it's a fun read outside of that age anyway.
I was also amused at the political shade towards recent events in the US and the UK.
Nice, feel-good read. Can recommend.

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel' on 'GoodReads'

This book was written by someone who thinks alcoholism is a fun pastime and useful literary device to induce spontaneity, who has to insert a pop culture reference in every second sentence, and who seriously believes that politics is about having a the best binder with voter demographics. The politics of this book is the most smug post-political liberal brain worm bullshit I have read and the plot isn’t even that good to compensate, to the extent that it exists at all. If this is an escapist fantasy it’s an escape out of the frying pan and into the fire of bleak capitalist realism.

2 stars for cute Henry and good writing around Complicated International Relationships. I only cried once.

"Fanfiction-like" and I mean that in a good way

You may not know this about me, but one of my favorite activities is to look on Ao3 for cursed fanfiction to show people. I often go to RPF, not because I have anything against it, but because real people already inspire revulsion, so if I can find, say erotic Ben Shapiro fic, I've hit "gold" so to speak.

I've read some Political Real Person Fic (usually the ones starring Margaret Thatcher, because as a USian, that inspires less revulsion than looking at a Reagan fanfic) and sometimes just prompts to see what people like writing about.

I would be VERY surprised if Casey McQuiston has not written Political-RPF, because this very much reads like a Politics RPF with fictional characters (OCs if you will).

It hits all the right notes, it's heartwarming, but, unlike what you may expect about a Royal Romance, it is very honest about how fucked …

Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'

I expected trashy romance but instead I fell in love with it

I’ve been reading queer fiction to make 2021 more bearable and was expecting to read a slightly trashy and brainless (but fun) romance novel; the premise is, essentially, the President’s son falls for his enemy, I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-Prince-Harry.

Instead, I was completely captivated by these two loveable young men and their friends and family. And I cried happy tears on more than one occasion (including through most of a whole chapter). I particularly enjoyed that there’s a few chunks of the book where the 2 men are emailing each other and signing off with quotes from queer people from history, all of which are simply heart-swelling.

McQuiston published some notes on Goodreads. And if you want your heart to swell at the eye-rollingly adorableness of it all, google Red, White and Royal Blue fanart. (Or, frankly, just visit …

None

"Is it possible you willfully forgot about the biggest international event of the year because you don't want to see your arch nemesis?"
"June, I'm the son of the President of the United States. Prince Henry is a figurehead of the British Empire. You can't just call him my 'arch nemesis,'" Alex says. He chews thuoghtfully and adds, "'Arch nemesis' implies he's actually a rival to me on any level and not, you know, a stuck-up product of inbreeding who probably jerks off to photos of himself."


I know, I know, this is the spookiest month of the year, and all those readathons I've signed up for want me to read spooky/gothic books... but I was in the mood for something fun and fluffy, and this book looked to be a perfect fit. I'm so happy I finally picked it up after keeping it on my TBR for ages, because …

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Subjects

  • Fiction
  • LGBTQ
  • Romance

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