Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Genre: New Adult Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
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
MY OPINION: ******
I love this book with all my heart. This is definitely the best book I've read this year thus far and will for sure always be on my six-star list until the end of time. It's been a really long time since I've read a book that I truly and thoroughly enjoyed through and through.
My friend bought this for me for my birthday and because of the incredibly long self-quarantine we are currently placed under, I decided to try to start reading more now that I don't have the stress and overwhelming workload of school.
Alex is the First Son of the White House. The book is set in an alternate universe in 2020 which Alex's mother is the President of the United States (instead of Trump!) and is now running for her second term. Alex has always been the Golden Boy of the US, especially as he's a part of a trio with his sister, June, and friend, Nora.
I don't quite know how to describe Alex. He's wanted to be a politician for his entire life and was a golden student with stunning academics and a prestigious reputation. He is half Mexican, half white. I loved Alex's character. He was impulsive and sometimes irrational but I loved how determined he was in life. He had a strong "hatred" for Henry, the Prince of England, though we all know that that hatred was just concealed love for the boy.
Henry was my favorite of the two. He was more of what we now call "soft boys" and I loved how open he was about himself and his sexuality to Alex.
Alex and Henry meet each other (not for the first time) at the English royal wedding between Henry's brother and his fiancée. After a brilliant fiasco involving the destruction of a wedding cake, in order to repair the image of the relationship between the two boys, they are forced to spend a weekend together in England.
And so it began.
Their relationship was really slow to begin, which was more realistic to life, though there were times when I was praying for them to just kiss and get their feelings out there already. However, I praise Henry for making the first move (I admit I physically cheered at 3am in the morning). Alex was a fairly oblivious person though we can't blame him since he believed that he was straight.
Before the first kiss, I loved the phone calls and texts between them. I was so excited for them to get together and it was such a slow-burn.
I loved the book 110% from the first kiss to the end. I'm not saying that I didn't love it before but it was Alex and Henry's relationship that really made me love the book completely and rate it six stars. They made me so happy because it was really a story of first love for both of them.
Alex and Henry soon start a covert relationship that involves a whole ton of physical intimacy and beautifully-written emails at 2AM in the morning. I loved everything about them and their relationship. Although there were a lot of ups and downs, I loved how they managed to navigate their relationship and find their true identities (especially Alex).
The governmental aspect of this book was also a second storyline that was enjoyable. I was praying that the president would get reelected. I loved her character because she was so supportive of her son's identity and coming out even if it meant that she could lose the presidency because of the disgusting bigotry and prejudice against groups of people.
The ending really hit different because I was both expecting and dreading it. I won't spoil but I'm glad how it all turned out in the end.
The fact that people were still voting for the Senator Richards guy is a fairly accurate representation of how some people can think about others.
I would recommend this book to all readers looking for a beautifully-written, romantic, amazing love story. (warning: it is a tiny bit graphic so be aware of that)
Main Character: Alex, Henry
Sidekick(s): June, Nora, Pez, Rafael, etc
Villain(s): Discrimination, Richards, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book is all very real to life.
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