Red, White & Royal Blue Review

 Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

2019

Romantic, Humor, LGBT Fiction

**Mild Spoilers based upon trope within the book**

Red, White & Royal Blue summary from Goodreads: 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?

        

With school ramping up and the american presidential election campaign coming to an end, I thought it was time to jump back into the lives of Alex and Henry. This is my third reread and even though I always tell myself I’m going to take this book slowly, I inevitably rush through Red, White & Royal Blue in under two days. This isn’t because Casey McQuiston’s pacing is off or that it’s a short book, but rather that McQuiston has crafted an addicting rom-com.

I first read RWRB summer 2019 after impulse buying it. I was blown away by how much I loved it, mainly because it is a book that genuinely makes me laugh out loud. One of the reasons I think this book works the way it does, and has so many people gushing about it, is what McQuiston calls herself “a tongue-in-cheek parallel universe…[an] escapist, trauma-soothing, alternate-but-realistic reality.” The books makes the perfect escape. Imagine the US government as full of progressive, diverse politicians who all care about the american people. Imagine a world where the sons of world leaders can date. In 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic and changing world governments, it’s soothing to read about Alex and Henry, who love each other so much, zipping around.

This book is loved because it’s fun, light-hearted, incredibly hilarious, and even though bad things happen in the book, everything turns out alright in the end. McQuiston nailed the atmosphere and emotions, and has you laughing and crying along with all the characters. I felt all the feels at all the right moments.This is the perfect book if you are looking for something to read after having read heavy, and the ultimate summer read.

This is a third-person narrated rom-com. While I find personally unusual for the genre, it does work well and does what it needs to do. That being said, I did have issues with Alex’s characterization. The narrative follows his story. While he’s an interesting character, I understand how some people call him unlikeable. At the start, he is a bit of a brat, and can be a self centred twat. But within the genre, this is not an uncommon character-trait and I think that McQuiston takes the time to show his character development. Alex is flawed, but with good intentions. More than anything, I never felt like Alex or any of the other characters fell flat. In fact, all the characters were loveable.

One of the things that makes this book so loveable to people around my age, older teenagers and people in their twenties, is also one of the things that can be its downfall. The language in the book is very modern and is funny if you get the humor, but alienating if you don’t. A lot of the humor requires knowledge of millennial/gen z humor, american politics, tumblr, gay twitter, or some sort of mixture of all four. 

Additionally, the book reads life fanfiction. Depending on who you are, that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. For me, I’m a sucker for the enemy to lover trope, along with characters ending up in outrageous situations. Of course, I think to write this off as just a rom-com is to undermine how important LGBT representation is in fiction. In an era where I still hear “why does there have to a **insert minority character** in the media I consume!” RWRB is refreshing. It is, to repeat myself, a lot of fun, but also has a diverse cast.

            I think for anyone who has read the scathing Goodreads reviews, or is worried that Red, White & Royal Blue won’t live up to the Bookstagram praise, I would recommend reading it as a cute fluffy romance away from the real issues within life. Even if the book isn’t your jam, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: 5/5 If you’ve made it this far into the review, do I even need to repeat myself? I’ve had fun every time I’ve read this book, and Red, White & Royal Blue stands on my bookshelf for anytime I need an escape from real life.