Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Alex Claremont-Diaz is the FSOTUS (First Son of the United States). His Mom, the first female president of the United States, is a hard-fighting Texas woman who knows how to get things done.
Alex is making his way through college and planning to sky rocket into politics straight out of school. He already has years of experience working on various campaigns and it is truly where he sees his life going.
We all know I love politics and political strategy in books, so right off the bat, I’m all like…
But Alex still has some growing up to do. As he should, he’s in his early-20s y’all! Give the boy a break. So he still parties a bit to hard and feuds with foreign dignitaries…
Oh yes, Prince Henry. Prince Henry is all sorts of swoony but Alex sees him as a bore and his #1 enemy. When an incident occurs at the Prince’s brother’s wedding, toppling over the super expensive wedding cake, the boys are forced to pretend to be friends in order to save face.
Alex would rather do pretty much anything else. Unfortunately, his wants are fairly inconsequential at this point, and so begins the relationship that is: Alex + Henry.
If you are reading this, I am sure you already know what this book entails. It is getting so much hype right now and for good reason. A mainstream title that is humorous and steamy New Adult romance, featuring a male/male, enemies-to-lovers relationship? What’s not to love?!
I personally was swept away from the very first pages. It is so fun. Pure fun on the page but also thoughtful in its presentation. I truly feel this is ground-breaking and we will all be talking about it for years to come.
McQuiston did such a great job of making this so contemporary without feeling forced in any way. The dialogue was super believable and the storyline provided a lot of food for thought.
I have heard a few people mention that it is too optimistic?? To me, I didn’t really think so. It is a happy story overall but our characters have struggles just like real people. As Alex and Henry both grapple with their sexuality and what that means in terms of their lives, what their family’s response will be, what the world’s response will be…they really struggled with that. They had hard decisions to make, just like in real life.
I applaud Casey for writing this. I think this will mean a heck of a lot to a lot of people and McQuiston is definitely on my list of autobuy authors after this spectacular debut! Bravo!
Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I always appreciate the opportunity. I think this will be making a lot of reader’s ‘Best of 2019’ lists!