Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel

by Casey McQuiston

* Instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller *
* GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER for BEST DEBUT and BEST ROMANCE of 2019 *
* BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR* for VOGUE, NPR, VANITY FAIR, and more! *

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: 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? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic. 

I took this with me wherever I went and stole every second I had to read! Absorbing, hilarious, tender, sexy--this book had everything I crave. I'm jealous of all the readers out there who still get to experience Red, White & Royal Blue for the first time! - Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners

Red, White & Royal Blue is outrageously fun. It is romantic, sexy, witty, and thrilling. I loved every second. - Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six

• ASIN: B07J4LPZRN
• Publish Date: 14 May 2019
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Saint Martin's Griffin
• Format: eBook (Kindle)
• Pages: 425
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

I can’t. DNF. The tone is all over the place. It wants to be Veep but it also wants to be Disney, and the reason Veep works is it’s a smart, merciless farce of politics, not an earnest utopia where good guys save the day. I dunno. Without the politics, I could’ve just said the romance wasn’t my cup of tea and left it at that. But with the politics, it really got under my skin. It’s full of blatant partisan pandering, daft mistakes (I know it’s AU, but that’s not just a blanket excuse to be lazy), and so much virtue-signaling that it reads like propaganda at its worst instead of fanfic at its best.

Maybe I’m just too old, but there are way better romances out there, especially M/M romances, ones where the characters are actually distinguishable from each other, don’t get all of their knowledge from Hamilton and The West Wing, and act like, you know, actual people instead of Tumblr tropes. The thing is, I’m into wish-fulfillment and fluff and imagining a better world than the one we’ve got. I just wanted something more out of this than regurgitated partisan politics. Cut through the bullshit and hypocrisy, don’t buy into it.

Tons of people love it, including people I know. That’s the reason I picked it up. But the best thing about it is the 1- and 2-star reviews that are generous and smart and don’t buy what it’s selling. That sounds harsh, but jeez. A book hasn’t made me this disgruntled in a while.

[leahrosereads]

Such a cute freaking book! I loved the characters so much. They were so well rounded and personable, and just characters that I rooted for the entire time. Also, as someone who lived through the BS that was the 2016 elections in the United States, I gotta say - I much prefer this AU.

I can't believe I thought I hate fluffier contemporaries, when in reality, I just needed to find one that worked for me. Looking forward to trying out other contemporaries, and I absolutely recommend reading this. It was fantastic!

[maggiefan]

rtc but I'm smiling and crying at the same time and it was so AMAZING and I'm fucking dead

[dragononabook]

There are books that you put down and think 'well that was a good read', and there are books once you finally accept that it is over, you immediately start again because they are so, so good. This was emphatically the latter.

At first glance, Red, White & Royal Blue is very trope heavy. A prince and the First Son falling in love, enemies to lovers, pretend friendship, this book has it all. But rather than everything being extremely cliché, McQuinston has played into the tropes in exactly the way they should be used, and in a way that I wish there could be more of in published fiction. Instead of the story relying on these themes to carry it, it builds on them; the same can be said about the various other themes in the book.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it would last me a few days. I ended up finishing about 12 hours after receiving it. The writing was so compelling, and it felt like a breeze to read. I marked some of my favourite parts of the book, and by the end there were so many sticky tabs that you could very easily pet the top of my copy. I am not ashamed to say I found myself laughing so hard I had to stop reading for several minutes. The voice of the story (closed 3rd person) was funny in all the right places, and perfectly suited to the plot and Alex, the main character.

Speaking of characters, I loved the entire main cast. Every single one of them. Alex, while he could definitely be a bit of an asshole, is sharp as a whip, so ambitious, and really cares so much. Henry was my favourite as soon as he mentioned Bake Off, but he's such a well rounded character. Both of these characters were so well written, and with so much love too. June definitely acted like a big sister, and even though it was a relatively minor part of the plot as a whole, I appreciated her ambitions in journalism and the issues of being the daughter of the President.

This book is a romance, and there's no doubt about that, but the relationship between Henry and Alex was so organic. The banter between them when they were just friends was adorable and hilarious, and accomplished the biggest goal of a romance: making the reader ship the characters. Honestly, there's no way they could have been any more perfect for each other. Excuse me while I go listen to Your Song on repeat now.

I won't go into details so as not to spoil, but the plot kept me on the edge of my seat (bed), especially in the climax of the moment. The twists were not completely unexpected, instead they made previous events make so much more sense in exactly the way twists should. I was invested in the storyline and the possible outcomes; it was perfectly paced and exellently plotted, and I wouldn't have it any other way (I'm sensing a theme here, probably due to how perfect this book it)

I have so much more to say about this, but I'd be here for hours and I'd much rather let people see how good this book is for themselves, because me detailing everything I loved would mean me basically retelling the whole thing but with analysis.

TL;DR: I love this book so much, and I think anyone who is even remotely interested in in should go read it immediately. There is one flaw to this book, in my opinion, and that is that I want more even though there is none.

[Mercy]

There are some stuff in these contemporary romance books I will never like and there's no changing that, I guess. Still, this was a very cute, funny and fast read and has been a while since I read a book so fast because I only wanted to know what was going to happen next. It draged towards the end although when the "bomb" exploded, it was definitely more engaging for me. I was becoming a bit bored and rolling my eyes a lot just before. 😂

I liked the diversity and the talk about many actual problems in society but I also feel like it become too much at some point and the approach to these topics was superficial. I feel it was too US-centric as well and would have liked more representation of the Latino part of the main character. Surprisingly, the politics talk wasn't annoying because I kind of love that shit even though US politics are so weird.

Anyway, if you want to read a cute queer story and don't mind reading about politics or UK royalty drama, this is a good choice. 😊

[bookperson]

I'm not a big crier, but with this book I was in tears more than once. I was hesitant to give it 5 stars because it's so hyped up, but it's definitely a 5 star read. I'm so happy and wish that would be a reality in my lifetime.

[Sam@WLABB]

When the president's son and the prince of England cause chaos at the royal wedding, they are forced to enter into a fake bromance in order to fix this PR nightmare. They thought their time together would be painful, but it seemed that underneath the angst were some feelings of mutual admiration and attraction.

I say - believe the hype. This book was really wonderful, and there are so many things to adore about it. I love reading reviews for a book like this, which seems to appeal to so many different readers for different reasons. I therefore commend McQuiston on producing a work that can do that.

One of the things I loved about this book were the amazing characters. They were well drawn and distinct, as well as really interesting. I was particularly fond of the 20-something squad formed when Henry and Alex's groups mixed. The six of them were fantastic and the interplay between them was fabulous. I don't know if McQuiston plans on writing any other books in this world, but I know I would love to read books focusing on HEAs for Pez, June, Nora, and Bea. (I'm just saying...)

I also really enjoyed a lot of places we got to go with these characters. I had a ton of fun accompanying them on their outings. They were sometimes outrageous, but always entertaining. The royal wedding, the NYE bash, karaoke in LA, the Victoria and Albert museum -- all fantastic.

Family also played a huge role in this book. Neither Henry nor Alex's family was perfect, but there was love, especially in Alex's family. He and his sister shared a really special bond, and both his parents were open, loving, and accepting.

But my favorite thing about this book was the romance. Watching this faux bromance evolve into a friendship and then love was a beautiful thing. Alex and Henry were very sweet together, but it was their emails that brought tears to my eyes. It was via email, where they they revealed those hidden layers of themselves and really exposed their emotions.

I think the only reason I didn't rate this book higher was because I felt like the politics encroached a bit on the romance. That said, I still adored this book. I shed some tears as I wrote this review, because I was so touched by the way McQuiston wrote the love story between Henry and Alex, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[bestmessever]

This book has become without a doubt my new favorite book of all time. It has such a beautiful message at its core and being someone who lives in Austin Texas like where Alex is from it adds another layer to it. It feels like what should have happened in America back in 2016, and it kinda breaks your heart in that way.

Alex and Henry and amazing, their dynamic, their chemistry is unmatched to any other that I have ever seen or experienced. This book is so incredibly real, important and downright hilarious. I laughed, cried, scream, I felt alive and it is an amazing thing when a book can make you feel that. I can't even begin to truly explain what this book means to a pansexual chick that grew up in Texas and wished for it to be better. This book gives me hope that maybe things can get better and we can fix the mess that has been wrecked. This book made me feel the feeling of falling in love so deeply it terrifies you. I love this book because you don't just read it you experience it.

P.S. I need the "History huh?," shirt extremely bad.

[girlinthepages]

I'm not quite sure what I can say about Red, White, & Royal Blue that hasn't already been said. I picked it up well in advance of my targeted ARC "schedule" and was sucked into the story of politics, royals and romance that combined my love of modern monarchy with the political trials of the US today.

I loved reading about Alex and Henry's true hate-to-love romance (complete with utterly hilarious texts and emails) that was a slow burn and never felt rushed or unauthentic. I loved how they both had their village surrounding and supporting them even when the pressure of their stations was overwhelming, and Alex's mom was #presidentgoals (she was SUCH a badass I would totally vote for her, I need one of those Claremont-Diaz 2020 stickers!)There's also a LOT of representation in this story that never feels forced, from the various ways characters identify with their sexuality to their family backgrounds. As a biracial child myself, it was so inspiring to see biracial children in the White House (who come from a divorced family, no less) and show how a seemingly dysfunctional family can still be the support system you need in the face of adversity.

A few other wonderful things about this book I enjoyed:

- The sassy White House staff who are always cleaning up Alex's messes

-Henry's bodyguard

- The dreamy, peaceful Texas lake house that June and Alex visit their father at

- Alex and Henry are both really intelligent and it shows in their banter and emails and references to historical figures (and in Henry's case, sometimes relatives) from their respective countries. Love a smart romance.

- Family putting each other's needs first (especially Alex's mom for her children, and that can't be an easy feat when you have an entire country to worry about)This is new adult done RIGHT- sure it had some steamy content but it's about self exploration and figuring out how to adult in your 20s and friendships and family and shenanigans and created a space specifically for that 20s transitional period in life and I AM HERE FOR IT. (This is what we all wanted New Adult to be from the beginning, TBH).

Overall: Honestly, as much as I enjoyed this book, it was hard to read at times because it made me imagine a world where things had gone differently in 2016, a world where a red state could swing blue, where a liberal minority could lead the charge and overcome hatred and inequality. The Claremont-Diazs' are by far my favorite fictional first family.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Leigha]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Two boys from political families across the pond fall in love in this amazing new adult romance novel.

I needed to read this book. Hell, I think many people in America need to read this book. It inspired in me such…HOPE. Hope that people can come together to embrace each other. Hope that people choose love over hate. Hope that stigmas can be broken down by individuals as well as society. Just utter, amazing, inspiring hope. I bet you couldn’t tell I loved this book.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is utterly charming as the narrator. The self-discovery of his sexuality along with his slowly developing feelings for Prince Henry pulled me right into the story. He’s passionate, driven, and completely unapologetic about who he is and who he loves. Just…*dreamy sigh*. Not to be outdone, Prince Henry shines as the reserved, yet romantic, love interest to Alex. Their romance was given plenty of room to develop from enemies to friends to lovers. They're not just given the time to grow emotionally, but sexually too. This is a sensual romance with multiple sex scenes, although I wouldn’t consider it explicit sexual content. If you’re interested in a more chaste story, then this novel is not for you.

The secondary characters are just as complex and dynamic as Alex and Henry. I loved Alex’s relationship with his sister, June, and his best friend, Nora. Might we see a sequel novel on June and Nora? I wouldn’t be supersized, although Pez would be sad to be left out...or will he be? 😉 His mother, and her subsequent PowerPoint addiction, was hilarious too. Bea, Pez, Zahara, Shaan…I can’t wait for everyone to meet these zany, unique characters. On top of the phenomenal characterization and satisfying romance, it shed light into political espionage, societal norms, and popular culture. All of these various elements wove together to make a fun, satisfying, and heartwarming read.

There were moments when I laughed, moments when I cried, moments when I cheered, moments when I could barely breath, moments when I hoped it would never end, and the moment when I turned the last page to say goodbye. I can’t wait for it to come out next summer so I can fan girl with everyone. Do not walk, run to your nearest bookstore to buy it when it arrives.

tl;dr An emotionally and sexually satisfying novel about two men learning about love and each other in this phenomenal new adult romance.