Netgalley!! Thank you, thank you. I got approved to read an ARC of Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and I crushed it over my vacation to Ireland/Scotland. This one was read on many of the buses during the day tours to cool landmarks.
Synopsis: A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.
The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
This book was freaking adorable. The main character Alex represents a millenial perfectly. He is the poster child for America and everyone knows who he is. He goes on a little bit of a self discovery where he finds out more about himself in ways he didn’t think he would (and they involve a prince).
This book is a great representation of a healthy LGBTQ+ relationship that spurs from a friendship. And by friendship, I mean that they hate each other and then are forced to be friends to appease the media and then actually become friends and then more. It made me so happy to see that they made each other happy. The way that they feel about each other is hard to express but Casey McQuiston made the love feel very real and something that one hopes for in a relationship.
Also, Nora is the epitomy of awesome. She is Alex’s best friend and is bisexual, 100% amazing and very sarcastic but will always get to the point right away. She is that friend that will tell you how it is even if it is difficult for you to see.
His sister June is also such a sweetheart. She is so caring and does everything a protective sister can to make sure that Alex is well looked after and stays out of trouble. She is the sister I would want if I had siblings.
The only thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the political aspect of the book. I love that they made the president a female for 2020 but aside from that, I am not really into politics and tend to avoid that subject in conversation. However, it was done in a way that kept it interesting and easy to follow so the book still progressed at a nice pace.
Overall, I would recommend this book. It is a fun LGBTQ+ book with a lot of new ideals that our future could really use and it just made me happy to read it.
Book Rating: 4/5
You can buy this book on Book Depository and Amazon and find it on Goodreads.
Disclaimer: This book was sent to me as an ARC kindle version by Netgalley to read and give my honest review.
I did some book hauling while I was away on vacation because who doesn’t like UK book covers. Check out the video below to see what book I picked up!