BLURB
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.
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. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
AUTHOR: Casey McQuiston
PUBLISHED ON: 14 May 2019
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance, LGBTQ
STARS: 3.90 Stars
READING CHALLENGE: Read this for February Prompt: A Book with Pink Cover.
SUMMARY:
We follow the journey of a long-standing secret rivalry between the First Son of America and the Prince of England. After a series of unfortunate events, which may or may not involve drinks and wedding cake smashing, the two of them are forced to talk and fake being friends, to stop creating an international problem. So, the beginning of their friendship started from planned public appearances forced smiles to random chat messages, snaps and video calls. But one act on a party changed their equations. Being forced to question a million things, they realise there is a lot more going on than what they expected.
Things slowly start to fall into place. Their immediate family, their friends but what will happen when the Queen finds out about the Prince and the First Son? Follow how to stop one international scandal, some more were created.
MY THOUGHTS:
Casey McQuiston’s debut novel, Red, White & Royal Blue is nothing but a breath of fresh air. Everything from the plot to characters to side-plots is brilliant. Talking about this book without getting into details is so difficult because all I want to do is strip the chapters and talk openly about the parts that I loved and about the parts that made me smile like a fool. Red, White and Royal Blue showed a perfect balance and gave justice to enemies to lovers trope. Our lead couple, Alex and Henry end up showing two sides of a coin about how they accept their sexuality and how people around them accept them as well.
What was so interesting for me was how there was a plot moving on around and not just romance for Alex and Henry. The issues regarding the Presidential campaign were among the top things that I loved in Red, White & Royal Blue.
THINGS I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED:
“As your mother, I can appreciate that maybe this isn’t your fault, but as the president, all I want is to have the CIA fake your death and ride the dead-kid sympathy into a second term.”
- THE SIDE CHARACTERS.
I am a fan of good and well-written characters. And what was amazing was how apart from Alex and Henry, we had so many characters and how each of them was written beautifully. As much as the story was about the couple, the writing is lyrical that it made it seem like the story was about everyone mentioned. Be it the President in power or the Princess of England.
“Wait,” she says, reaching for his phone again, “are you watching videos of Justin Trudeau speaking French again.
- THE FRIENDSHIP
It is really admirable to read a Romance book with not just strong romance but also some strong friendships. Each character had their own relation, their own equation with each other and it is refreshing.
“Oh my God, I thought you were getting into international relations or something.”
“I mean, technically—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m gonna spend tonight in jail.”
- THE WRITING
As I grow as a reader, my reading tastes have changed a lot. And so I don’t do well with many Romance books. But reading Red, White and Royal Bue was a pleasant change. It still took a while to get use to the story but I enjoyed every minute spent here. Every time, the characters opened their mouth; it was as if they are just trying to make me smile. Be it the iconic batter between the First Son and the Prince or be it the President’s Deputy Chief of staff.
“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.”
- THE LETTERS
Let us get one thing straight. The letters are amazing. Love letters are pretty amazing. And I was so happy seeing the two of them write each other e-letters. The stages of their love could easily be explained if we sat down to read their letters.
“Um,” he says. “How do you get a turkey to gobble?”
“Try gobbling,” Henry says, “and see if he gobbles back.
- THE HUMOUR
The Turkey incident. I won’t write anything else or speak anything else. But THE TURKEY INCIDENT.
“But the truth is, also, simply this: love is indomitable.”
This book contains graphic scenes. While I had no problem with them, I know many people around who found the scenes more than necessary. The small problem that I had was that the chapters were so freaking long. I generally have no problem in long chapters. But there were scene changes and at times it was so unclear.
I would highly recommend Red, White & Royal Blue to everyone, especially if are a Romance reader. Also to all those who are looking for a light read to take a break from all the fighting around.!
Other reviews can be found here.
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