Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston
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Series?: No
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Length: 432 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Four
Rating: 1 hundred million/5
A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…
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?
I MEAN IT SO MUCH THIS TIME GUYS
♥ I have read this book four times since I got an arc from the publisher after (begging for) requesting one. Every time I think about trying to write this review, I panic because I don’t know how to put into words how much I loved this book. So instead, I just keep reading it over and over again.
♥ Y’all, this BOOK! I was COMPLETELY captivated. I happy-cried, I sad-cried, and I stress-cried, which I didn’t even know was a THING. The enemies-to-lovers trope is a thing of perfection here, and I would like a full novel about every single character in this book.
♥ The inside look at both the white house and the royal family was so fun. I’ve always enjoyed royal family books–The Royal We is my favorite, so finding out that Casey was partially inspired by that one was no surprise. I also love U.S. History, even though these days it’s hard to be proud to be an American. Our current administration is so toxic that it was such a beautiful relief to sink into this book and read about the Diaz-Claremont gang. When you say “White House” now it’s almost a dirty word, but all of the little secrets and behind-the-scenes info that Alex parses out about the space let you forget for awhile that The Orange Cheeto has taken up residence there (lol just kidding he’s never actually in D.C.).
♥ If you haven’t heard the author yelling it from the rooftops by now because booksellers keep trying to list it incorrectly, this is NOT YA. This is 100% NA, despite YA being one it’s most-rated shelves on Goodreads. And it is sexy. I mean, so, SO sexy…
And so goddamn romantic! Every time Alex calls Henry “baby” or “sweetheart”, Henry and I both completely melt.
♥ The gang, the “White House Trio” and eventual “Super Six”. The chemistry between all of them is amazing. I could read an entire book of their group chat transcripts alone.
Favorite Quotes:
“Straight people, he thinks, probably don’t spend this much time convincing themselves they’re straight.”
“First, you’ve been, like, Draco Malfoy–level obsessed with Henry for years—do not interrupt me—and since the royal wedding, you’ve gotten his phone number and used it not to set up any appearances but instead to long-distance flirt with him all day every day.”
“Sugar, I cannot express to you how much the press does not give a fuck about who started what,” Ellen says. “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 next slide is titled : EXPLORING YOUR SEXUALITY: HEALTHY, BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE WITH THE PRINCE OF ENGLAND?”
“‘Wait, are you watching videos of Justin Trudeau speaking French again?’
‘That’s not a thing I do!’”
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