Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Synopsis
When his mother became President of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millenial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with an 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 and state and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: Stage a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable 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 presidential campaign and upend two nations. It raises the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved one, mentioned attempted rape, mentioned substance abuse, homophobia
This was the most fun I've ever had reading a book. Red, White & Royal Blue is funny, cute, sexy—it's the whole package, really. I went through this book so fast because it was so fun. If I wasn't eating or sleeping or in class (sometimes even when I was in class), I was reading this book. I just couldn't get enough of Alex and Henry and their group's antics.
Yes, this book is extremely hyped by the book community. I was skeptical to read it because hype really scares me. However I ended up falling in love with this book alongside the rest of the book community. It really is just that lovable.
"you, and me, and history"
The story starts off when they're at this wedding, and one of their arguments end up in the destruction of a $70,000 cake. Honestly, at this point in the story I was really doubting that I was going to like this book because the entire thing was ridiculous. The dialogue between Alex and the residents of the White House was really quirky and I was thinking, 'do people really talk to each other that crassly?' But after the first chapter or so I got used to it because I realized that it was just their dynamic and it turned from weirdly crass to extremely amusing.
The writing is also pretty unconventional, since it's written in 3rd person present tense when most books are usually written in past tense. This didn't bother me in the slightest, but I've heard others talk about how this bothered them a bit in the beginning, but they eventually got used to it.
Their pretend friendship was also really fun to read about. I loved Alex so much he was so funny and so relatable as well, especially with how flamboyant and particular he was about posting on social media. It really resonated with me y'know, his instagram posts :") McQuiston was really good at capturing the essence 20-something-year-olds of this generation. As someone who turns 20 in the year of 2020 (the year this story is set), I found Alex heavily relatable, as were his friend group. I also had fun spotting different pop-culture references. I had Lil Jon's "Get Low" stuck in my head for a good hour after reading the party scene.
The pretend friendship stage went by and ended surprisingly quickly? They moved onto "more" a lot sooner than I thought they would. I was expecting more fights and disagreements and a more gradual build up to "more." But honestly I'm not complaining because even though the "hate" part of their relationship was over with quicker than I expected, there was never a dull moment and I forgot even wanting more of that "hate" element. I also really loved how there was never any unnecessary drama in their relationship. I was never tearing my hair out over any relationship drama or wishing things would just get resolved because every plot point was fun and entertaining and never unnecessarily frustrating.
"Should I tell you that when we're apart, your body comes back to me in dreams?"
I wasn't expecting this to be an enemies-to-fwb-to-lovers relationship, because other reviewers always sold it as an enemies-to-lovers type of relationship development, but the friends with benefits part of the development was something I never thought I needed. God I loved everything that came with that part of their relationship. The doubt, the drama, the sex. Have I mentioned that even though the sex scenes fade to black they're still really sexy?
"Though I long for the actual sunlight contact between us I miss you like a home. Shine back honey & think of me." ⸺Allen Ginsberg to Peter Orlovsky—1958
One of the best parts of this book is the e-mails. God I loved the e-mails. They started off absolutely ridiculous and were a source of comic relief and romance when the plot really took over, and they really captured my heart. Sometimes with the time skips and their frequent flying I forget that they're actually trying to manage a long distance relationship and their e-mails are full of so much yearning. If my future relationship doesn't involve my future significant other e-mailing me stupidly romantic e-mails with stupidly romantic quotes from historical documents & classic literature, I don't want it. But seriously their e-mails are a work of art themselves.
I was actually really invested in the politics that the plot was built around. Before picking up this book I was a little skeptical since reading about American politics isn't my favorite thing, but this book made politics really interesting. I've actually been a lot more politically involved since reading this book (quarantine has been enlightening), and I would talk a lot more about how important it is to be politically involved and how much I regret not being as politically involved before, but that's another story. I really loved President Ellen Claremont. I wish she was real and I wish she was our president right now. I also loved watching Alex and June help their mother with the campaign and I loved watching Alex at work. Now I've found that I kinda really like political drama and I'm definitely more interested in picking up more books centering around political drama.
"History, huh? Bet we could make some."
And here is where I talk more about how much I love Alex and Henry! I love Alex and Henry! Alex was so much fun he's amazingly funny. He and his sister June are bi-racial (Mexican & White) and McQuiston really did an amazing job at showing how even those in higher positions of influence are still subject to racism. And then we have Henry. Oh Henry. Henry is adorable. Henry is that character where you have your preconceptions of him (partly because it's written in 3rd person limited point of view & the reader follows Alex) but then you gradually realize that's a front he puts on and it's so much fun getting to know Henry and fall in love with Henry alongside Alex. The side characters are also quite amazing. Pez is such a great friend and so is Nora and, ugh Nora is so funny (she might be funnier than Alex) and June is such a great older sister and so is Bea :") Their squad just sounds like a really fun time.
"But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable."
I talk a lot about the funny parts of this book, and there's a lot of them, but there are also such tender parts that made my heart want to explode. There's this one really romantic scene near the end that takes place in a museum, and now "Your Song" by Elton John is on all of my romantic playlists. I play it all the time when I'm in the mood for something romantic. It's the epitome of romance. Alex and Henry are stupidly romantic and that's all the information you should need to convince you to pick up the book :")
Overall, Red, White & Royal Blue was a masterpiece. And if you're scared of the hype, don't let it get to you because this book is worth all the hype it gets. It's funny, romantic, and it brings a lot of hope. Hope that this will be our future.
(Also, I hope it gets the movie adaptation it deserves because if the movie flops I'm going to be so mad...)
I also just want to add a short spoiler section to talk about specific scenes I personally really loved or found funny.
End of Non-Spoiler Section—Spoilers Ahead!
This spoiler section is going to be one really big meme and it's because I was looking through all my tabs and I found this one e-mail I tabbed where Alex is just listing a bunch of "truths" about Henry he finds adorable and...
I RUTHLESSLY made fun of Hannah Ann for doing almost THE SAME THING when I was watching the Bachelor. I really am a clown 🤡
The other thing that I wanted to talk about is I totally called that conflict at the end. When the first questionable e-mail was sent I literally said to myself "haha what are they doing e-mails are so easily hacked LOL" and then what happened at the end? The e-mails were hacked and released to wikileaks 😔 But I was still horrified when it happened because those e-mails! Yes they were kinda raunchy but also they were so...romantic? They were a piece of their hearts being given to each other and they were just involuntarily released into the world like that. Especially for Henry, who is himself for once whenever he writes those e-mails. And some of those homophobic comments that were circulating, picking apart the contents of the e-mails...my heart was in pieces for them. I also really loved Ellen's reaction to the leak. It put everything she's painstakingly worked for at stake. It put her presidency at stake. Yet the only thing on her mind was if her son is okay and my heart just melted.
I was also so proud of my girl Nora for her coding skills. Coding queen. Nora please do my programming assignments for me :") And I loved how Rafael Luna pulled through at the end; I was in denial when they revealed that he betrayed them because it didn't make sense! Richards was an extremely conservative, homophobic, Republican why would he take Richards' side?! And the story he told at the end about when he interned for the Republican candidate and he took advantage of a lot of his interns...and his line about how often times, when it comes to predators, sex "has nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with power."
One part of the book that had my heart hurting was the lake scene towards the end of the book? When Alex has his big realization of oh, this is love and ohmygod I love him and the entire time I was just in tears for him because yes finally! And then Henry leaves him before he wakes and I felt like my heart was just shot. Poor Alex :( But also the scene after that, when Alex pulls the most Jane Austen move ever and flies to England for him, had my entire heart.
"If there's any legacy for me on this bloody earth, I want it to be true. So I can offer you all of me, in whatever way you'll have me, and I can offer you the chance of a life."
Also, so that i don't end this review on such a serious note, Zahra and Ellen finding out about Alex's bisexuality sends me every time. Zahra's "I thought you were getting into international relations or something" and Ellen's PowerPoint "Exploring your sexuality: Healthy, but does it have to be with the Prince of England?" Comedy gold.
This book is just pure happiness to me. I loved it with my entire heart and every single time my mood is in the gutter and I need something fun to take me out of my own head, I'm always tempted to pick this up and re-read it. I'm really looking forward to re-reading this sometime in the future!
If you've gotten this far, you've probably read the book already, so please let me know:
What do you think of Red, White & Royal Blue?
"Every person who bears a legacy makes the choice of a partner with whom they will share it with, whom the American people will hold beside them in hearts and memories and history books. America: He is my choice."
—璇
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