Synopsis:
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?
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
ARC provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.
You know how, in the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas, at the end of the film the Grinch's heart grows three sizes and he's filled with overwhelming love and affection? ME WHILE READING THIS BOOK.
Queer rep in this: biracial (Mexican/white) bisexual man, white gay man, bisexual woman, Latino gay man, Asian transwoman with a wife, and a pansexual man. And that's what's just on the page - there are at least two other characters I can think of that I suspect are queer. (Yes, I also just about died seeing such a variety of queer folks on the page.)
I cannot even begin to express how deeply I loved this book. It made my cold, shriveled heart feel things. It had me laughing harder than any novel has in a long while. But most of all, it gave me hope during a time in U.S. history where hope is such a difficult thing to hold on to. Do not doubt how self-aware this book is about how race, sexuality, and gender interact with politics, especially in the U.S..
The characters in this are so insanely lovable. Alex and Henry are such realistic, well-written characters in their own right, but together? They were so sweet they made my teeth ache, oh my goodness. I adored every single step of their relationship and I felt their emotions right there with them. Honestly, this book probably has the most realistic, healthiest portrayal of a hate-to-love relationship I've ever read. I flippin' loved it, y'all.
But even though Alex and Henry are the main show, I literally loved every single character??? June, Nora, and Bea especially, but I have to give a shoutout to Zahra. Just about every sentence that came out of Zahra's mouth had me screaming with laughter. Each female character in this novel is really complex and well-fleshed out, even if they have less screen time in comparison to Alex and Henry.
I don't tend to read a lot of voice-heavy novels - probably a result of reading too many fantasy novels - but I a b s o l u t e l y l o v e d the voice of Red, White & Royal Blue. It was so millennial in tone, and I say that unironically. I've never felt more seen in how my peers and I communicate. Casey McQuiston's writing is clever and existential and laugh-out-loud funny. I'm lucky I was able to read this exclusively in the comfort of my own home, because otherwise I would've been that one person silently heaving in public, red-faced from trying to choke my laughter down.
The pacing in this was also really well done. Pacing tends to be an issue I see often in novels, but McQuiston makes it seem effortless. You feel the months of time passing, beyond the text telling you that time has gone by. It makes the progression of Alex and Henry's relationship feel really organic. Insta-love? We don't know her. Also because of how great the pacing was, this novel felt like it had SO MUCH packed into it. When I was halfway done, I couldn't believe I was ONLY half-way done - that's how much was happening on the pages. Yet despite having so much content, never at any point did I feel like anything in this book was rushed. Every single scene felt necessary and exactly the length it needed to be.
By far, this book brought me more unbridled joy than anything I've read in recent memory. Casey McQuiston has become an auto-buy author for me, hands down.
My suggestion to you? Go pre-order this book. Go make a suggestion to your local library to purchase this book. Go put a hold on this book at your local library, so you can love it on release just as much as I did. If you're queer or support queer people, go shout about this book from the rooftops because I promise, this is the type of queer book queer readers have been waiting for.
You know how, in the original animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas, at the end of the film the Grinch's heart grows three sizes and he's filled with overwhelming love and affection? ME WHILE READING THIS BOOK.
Queer rep in this: biracial (Mexican/white) bisexual man, white gay man, bisexual woman, Latino gay man, Asian transwoman with a wife, and a pansexual man. And that's what's just on the page - there are at least two other characters I can think of that I suspect are queer. (Yes, I also just about died seeing such a variety of queer folks on the page.)
I cannot even begin to express how deeply I loved this book. It made my cold, shriveled heart feel things. It had me laughing harder than any novel has in a long while. But most of all, it gave me hope during a time in U.S. history where hope is such a difficult thing to hold on to. Do not doubt how self-aware this book is about how race, sexuality, and gender interact with politics, especially in the U.S..
The characters in this are so insanely lovable. Alex and Henry are such realistic, well-written characters in their own right, but together? They were so sweet they made my teeth ache, oh my goodness. I adored every single step of their relationship and I felt their emotions right there with them. Honestly, this book probably has the most realistic, healthiest portrayal of a hate-to-love relationship I've ever read. I flippin' loved it, y'all.
But even though Alex and Henry are the main show, I literally loved every single character??? June, Nora, and Bea especially, but I have to give a shoutout to Zahra. Just about every sentence that came out of Zahra's mouth had me screaming with laughter. Each female character in this novel is really complex and well-fleshed out, even if they have less screen time in comparison to Alex and Henry.
I don't tend to read a lot of voice-heavy novels - probably a result of reading too many fantasy novels - but I a b s o l u t e l y l o v e d the voice of Red, White & Royal Blue. It was so millennial in tone, and I say that unironically. I've never felt more seen in how my peers and I communicate. Casey McQuiston's writing is clever and existential and laugh-out-loud funny. I'm lucky I was able to read this exclusively in the comfort of my own home, because otherwise I would've been that one person silently heaving in public, red-faced from trying to choke my laughter down.
The pacing in this was also really well done. Pacing tends to be an issue I see often in novels, but McQuiston makes it seem effortless. You feel the months of time passing, beyond the text telling you that time has gone by. It makes the progression of Alex and Henry's relationship feel really organic. Insta-love? We don't know her. Also because of how great the pacing was, this novel felt like it had SO MUCH packed into it. When I was halfway done, I couldn't believe I was ONLY half-way done - that's how much was happening on the pages. Yet despite having so much content, never at any point did I feel like anything in this book was rushed. Every single scene felt necessary and exactly the length it needed to be.
By far, this book brought me more unbridled joy than anything I've read in recent memory. Casey McQuiston has become an auto-buy author for me, hands down.
My suggestion to you? Go pre-order this book. Go make a suggestion to your local library to purchase this book. Go put a hold on this book at your local library, so you can love it on release just as much as I did. If you're queer or support queer people, go shout about this book from the rooftops because I promise, this is the type of queer book queer readers have been waiting for.
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