Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston

Hello friends! Today I have my book review of

Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston. 

Trigger Warnings: Sex, Racism, Forced Outing, Swearing, Depression, Anxiety Attacks, Death mention, Drug Abuse mention, Alcohol use, Homophobia.

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.

Here’s the thing: I didn’t plan on reading Red, White & Royal Blue, but I did. And I didn’t plan on reviewing Red, White & Royal Blue, either. But I have. I was happy to not have to review another book. Less work for me! #lazy #dontforgettotakebreaks

But here I am, with an informal book review. This “book review” will only have my lasting impressions on the book since I wrote little to no notes.

Enjoy!

I cannot even begin to relate to you on how much fun I had while I was reading Alex and Henry’s story.

I actually ended up reading Red, White & Royal Blue in one sitting. I totally didn’t mean to. I meant to read 1/3 (a third) of the book and then go to sleep, happily. What ended up happening instead was that I kept on thinking to myself “one more chapter, and then I’ll sleep.” I also quite literally thought that there were only a few hours went by while I was reading this. Instead, I had ended up reading for something like 6 hours, just because I couldn’t stop!

SMALL RANT OVER! HOPEFULLY!

Forgive me, but I was so tuned in with reading what Alex and Henry were doing that I actually only ended up taking 4 notes. They are:

• Holy CRAP THE CAKE FALLING OMG
• Pg 20
• Pg 107
• There were so many feelings involved in this book. So many ups and downs.

And my dude, there totally were. so. many. feels. OKAY?!

I laughed my ass off after I freaking gasped (for the first time ever while reading a book) at that CAKE SCENE.

I just…can’t even. I know I laughed a lot while reading both (mostly) Alex, and Henry’s antics. And I was undeniably angry for both Henry and Alex, depending on the situation (especially the queen, omfg, I’ve never wanted to smack some sense into an old lady before holySHIT). 

Red, White & Royal Blue is overflowing with real emotion that leaps off the pages in such a gripping way.

I’ve got to say that the characters within this novel were all horrifically relevant and 100% relatable. At one point during my read through of RWRB, I connected to so many of the characters. Mainly being the 5 kiddos that are in this novel, but still.

I’ve got to say (because this definitely came up in our group chat) is that Nora is my favourite character and I definitely ship June + Nora together.

I ended up doing a buddy read with some friends:

• Dana (Check out Dana’s review here)
• Leelynn (Check out her review here)
• Brittany (Check out her review here)

Essentially, we all ended up reading RWRB at different times but to be honest the conversation we had while we were all reading RWRB was totally worth it! Don’t forget to check out their reviews of Red, White & Royal Blue!

All I can say now is,

“History, huh?”

I give Red, White & Royal Blue, 3 stars.

Have you read Red, White & Royal Blue? What’d you think of it? 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See you soon, and Happy Reading!
Adele