Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston | Book Review

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?

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REVIEW

This book! My goodness, this book! That’s precisely how I start most of my conversations about this book and I feel like that alone gives away all of my feelings about it. When I initially saw the approval for the ARC, I honestly screamed a little. I was so here for everything that was said in the synopsis and I couldn’t wait to read it.

This book was absolute perfection for me. I love the characters so much. They both fit into the the way each of their societies like to think they should be, but each of them has something that sets them apart from the way “they’re supposed to be.” There are a lot of typical stereotypes in the story, but it’s done in a way that makes you able to relate to the characters.

“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.”

Even the side characters in the story are absolutely amazing! I would honestly die so happy if news came out of a sequel or companion to Red, White, and Royal Blue that focused on any of the amazing side characters.

This is one of those stories that honestly had me laughing out loud constantly. The banter and one liners were absolute perfection and I ended the story absolutely wanting more banter from Henry and Alex. As the two of them live in different countries that are an ocean apart, they communicate mostly through emails, which were again perfection.

This is also definitely a story about US politics. It doesn’t shy away from that and should be known going into it. It deals with a lot, but it’s absolutely needed and I seriously want more in this world.

This is an absolute gem in the world of books. It has so much good in it. Yes, it has a focus on politics, but it also deals with family, friendship, and love. I knew the moment I finished the book that this would be one I wanted to reread again and again. It’s a definite five star book for me and I can’t wait for more from Casey McQuiston in the future.

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