Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Blurb (on back of book): 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.
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. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
UPDATED REVIEW
MY OPINION: ******
Everyone and their mother already knows my opinion on this book so I'm going to make it quick (I also have piles of homework to do and I'm speed-running this review because there's only three hours left in August). I reread this because the movie just came out on Amazon Prime and I desperately needed a refresher. I LOVED the movie, which was so surprising for me but I feel like Amazon Prime always eats. They never do the book adaptations TOO wrong. There were discrepancies, sure, but I loved the film version almost as much as the book.
For the sake of nostalgia, I have made the executive decision to NOT change my rating of this book. HOWEVER, I'm going to make this updated review as honest as possible.
This book was my introduction to new adult romance. At least, I think. I don't remember ever reading one of these cutesy rom-coms before that wasn't geared towards young adult audiences. I read this in the midst of quarantine in
2020 and thus began my years-long binge of romance books with cartoon covers.
If we are being truly truly realistic, this would earn a 4.5 or 5 stars from me and as a 2023 college student, I would NOT be putting this on my six-star shelf now. However, I believe in nostalgia and I very vividly remember the pure joy that went through my body when reading this book for the first time so I will keep it on my phenomenal shelf for nostalgia's sake. Since reading this book, I've read COUNTLESS numbers of books just like these and quite honestly better books than these. However, I usually rate all romance books four stars max (yes, this may be some internalized misogyny that I'm working on?? as someone pointed out to me?? idk but something in me feels silly rating a stupid little cheesy romcom book a five stars now).
The book was still funny and cute and I loved every part of it. I would do anything for Prince Henry, book or movie. He is so awkward and adorable and I love his character so much. Even though we do not read from his perspective, I feel like he was so much more fleshed out than Alex was. He had weaknesses, fears, and flaws that made him so so human and so much more real than some prince character.
I also love Alex, don't get me wrong. He's funny, he's sarcastic, he's blasé. I wanted nothing but the best for him and I loved watching his journey of figuring out his sexuality and identity unfold with the help of his sister, June, WHO WAS CUT OUT FROM THE MOVIE, and his best friend Nora. The movie didn't do as good of a job with Alex's character in my opinion, which disappointed me, but now that I reread the book, I can see that he was honestly not as fleshed out as Henry was.
This book honestly just gives you such happy, giddy feelings. It also features a lot of political drama and I'm a pre-law student who used to want to go into governmental careers so I ate this one up. I remembered the plot twist too well but it was still fun watching it unfold. The texts between them were very millennial but I let it slide because it was 2020 and it's Alex and Henry. The book is just so cute and you can't stop smiling while reading it. That being said, I understand why people didn't like it, citing it's oversaturation of every single trend that was happening at the time. Reading it now, it was jarring to see so many Gen Z phrases and social media trends thrown in every other page, which was one of my main criticisms this time around. However, I'm sure I ate that one up in 2020.
I feel like at the time, I thought this was SOOO spicy and crazy but now, this was literally so tame. I don't know what that says about my reading habits now but this book was so vanilla. If you're scared of the "steamy" scenes everyone is screaming about on TikTok, the movie was honestly way more graphic than the book and even then, the movie was really not that graphic. Still, I would definitely not recommend this to an innocent 12 year old, though I am well-aware that there are those early readers who were exposed to things too prematurely. We all went down that rabbit hole.
The exploration of sexuality and being in the public eye was very beautifully done. I feel like a lot of people under such observation go through the same sorts of situations, albeit with marginal differences. The movie very seriously made me cry even though I knew what was coming so really really be prepared for raw, honest conversations about sexuality and the inability to come out without being defamed or ruining your reputation.
Anyways, I love this book and I loved the movie. Read the book first or if you already watched the movie, as you SHOULD have, still pick this one up. It's so cute and perfect for a quick read, especially now that school is starting again. I'd highly highly recommend this book.
Main Character: Alex
Sidekick(s): Henry, June, Nora, Pez, Rafael, etc
Villain(s): Discrimination, Senator Richards, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book is all very real to life.
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