Book Review: "Red, White, and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston
“Red, White, and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston
Publisher’s Synopsis: 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.—MacMillan
Rating (out of 5): 4.75
Review: My good friend Pam lent me this book last week, saying I’d be absolutely smitten by it, and our very own Elizabeth agreed. I’m a misanthrope (but a friendly one!), and though I trust both Pam and Elizabeth, I was skeptical. I have this thing about women writing about gay men (and gay sex in particular). I’ve been told by some Streisand-ticket-carrying friends that we tend to get quite a bit wrong. Also, there’s this whole culture of women treating gay men like they’re their pets that I just can’t get behind. See: Carrie Bradshaw and Stanford Blatch (TELL ME I’M WRONG).
All of this to say, I truly loved this book. I mean, the fact that in the alternate universe of the story, a Texan woman won the 2016 presidential election was a great start for me. Anything to escape our dystopian political reality…
Every character in this book is lovingly written. I admit that my own bias and internalized misogyny led me to believe that all romance novels are filled with one-dimensional, unrealistic characters. In this instance, at least, I was completely wrong. Alex and Henry are believable, and while their early rivalry is a bit contrived, it is easy to see why they are drawn to each other. Additionally, the antagonists are not purely static, evil characters. The reader understands why they feel they’re protecting Alex and Henry by urging/forcing them to hide their relationship.
Some of the book is epistolary, with emails on a private server (can you see where this is going?), and while I’m often turned off by this format, it served the story well. We get a chance to examine who Alex and Henry are, how that is different than their public image, and the conflict inherent in trying to live your truth when stakes for the public’s approval of your identity are high.
I truly think everyone will put this book down feeling affirmed and warm inside, happy to at least imagine that the world has changed enough that we might see a same-sex relationship between high-profile political figures.
Trigger Warnings: homophobia
TL;DR: Such a sweet and wholesome romance with an amazing premise. It’s no spoiler to say this is going to have a happy ending. I predict just about everyone will love this. Come for the smut, stay for the excellent writing. Come for the excellent writing, stay for the smut.
