This review (with some editing) will be published on my blog on June 24th, 2019--------

This one was very cute. I loved the romance. It went a bit fast, but I, admittedly, am a demi so I am aware that I'm the "weird" one here. Absolutely adored the text message and email transcripts. Sometimes it can come off gimmicky, but here it felt just right and I almost wish there was more.

What I didn't like was how much politics there was.
Okay, no, not like that.
I'm aware of the current state of the US and all these laws and rights that are being trampled upon. Especially on the LGBT+ community and people of color.
The parts that focus on those areas are fine.
However, the main character loves politics and has been planning on going into them since he was about 12. Roughly half the book is about politicking in general not just specific aspects. Unfortunately, is a subject I find very tedious. Not to mention, this takes place in an alternate universe where the 2016 election was won by a woman (Not Hilary). It just tugged at my heart in a "what could have been" sort of way. A yearning for it and it just made me sad. (Perhaps that was the point.)

Overall, aside from being very fast, I thought the relationship played out nicely and mostly believable. It was a cute love story, that also gives us an alternative 2016 that I wish we could have had.

This novel is getting all the best reviews and for a very good reason! It's funny, heart-warming, maddening, lovely, heart-wrenching, beautiful... I could go on! This was a total emotional rollercoaster and I can't wait to hold an actual physical copy in my hands to read it again! I fell in love with these characters and how they grew together. Can't wait to hear more from this author!

What could I possibly say about this book that hasn’t already been joyfully shrieked by my friends? It’s fantastic and you will feel fantastic after reading it. The end.

This is a charming story and there were parts of it I really loved. I loved the quirkiness of the characters and the imaginative writing. Each character was just quite vivid and they came alive in my imagination.

I found the political aspects of the story to be really slow and boring and so on the whole it wasn't a great read for me. At 40% I was ready to give up and I was wondering about all the raving reviews and what people had seen that I hadn't. Then the pace of the story changed and at 60% I was enjoying it. I loved the ending and the way the story builds up but on the whole it wasn't gripping enough for me.

Copy provided by publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love this book!! Fun, escapist romance with angst, laughs, and everything in between. I grinned and cried in equal measure, and never wanted it to end!

Red, White and Royal Blue has it all - romance and royalty. Alex is the son of the first woman president of the United States, Henry is the Prince of Wales and they hate each other. But hilarity ensues, they are forced together, and voila - pure magic.

I highly recommend this book - it is a great read.

Normally, I don't read books with male protagonists or romances, but this got recommended so many times that I decided to go for it. Not only did the story paint an alternate near history of the US where a biracial woman is elected president instead of Trump, but the writing was also incredible. I laughed so much. Would definitely recommend.

I got an e-book from Netgalley, but it was released before I could get too far into it so I decided to go ahead and buy my own, physical copy. I think this was the best choice for me as it’s a bit of a longer book and I like having a physical copy when that happens. But anyway – Red, White, and Royal Blue is about Alex (First Son of the United States – his mom is the president) and Henry (a Prince of England). The two are kind of “enemies” when the book starts, but they grow to be friends and then become a couple. Of course, they try and keep their romantic relationship a secret because Henry can’t be out and Alex doesn’t want to mess up his mom’s re-election.

I thought this was a really great book. It’s definitely a bit long, but I never found myself growing bored. It did take me longer to read than most books though, just FYI, if you’re not the quickest reader. I really loved both Alex and Henry. I thought their relationship was really good for both of them. I liked how they could be open and honest with each other, and that they often showed affection by insulting each other. Red, White, and Royal Blue was a really funny novel too, especially concerning Alex. There are love emails in the book too and these will surely make you swoon! The book does have a lot of politics, so it’s not just a romance. This didn’t really bother me, but again, just an FYI in case you didn’t already know.

Also, this book is an Adult novel, not YA. Nothing is terribly explicit when it comes to their physical relationship, but it’s probably more detailed than most YA. Oh, and the secondary characters are fantastic; from Alex’s sister, June, to Nora, the vice president’s granddaughter to Henry’s sister Bea, etc. All in all, I really loved this one and I’m glad I bought my own copy!

This book is practically perfect in every way, and it has quickly become an all-time favorite that I will reread time and time again.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the First Son. Aside from his mom being POTUS, he’s got a lot going for him - he’s witty, handsome and hyper-smart. Prince Henry of Wales is his British counterpart - intelligent, gorgeous, sharp, plus it’s all wrapped up in that trademark English reserve. These two eligible bachelors have one more thing in common: they don’t like each other, never have, never will (okay maybe they will). After a disastrous international incident ending in both of them crash-landing into a wedding cake, the tabloids go nuts and Alex and Henry’s people make plans for damage control. Fake feelings soon turn real and they begin to wonder whether love is harder in secret, or in front of the world.

Confession: I’ve read 4 novels classified as “romance.” And one of them left me not so sure that romance was for me because the characters felt like cutouts, I didn’t believe in their connection, and the plot was fire fire fire without much substance. Well colour me rainbow, because Red, White and Royal Blue is the opposite reading experience. McQuiston’s characters are as real as any I’ve read - and not just the main characters, but all of the secondary players too. They’re delightful. The dialogue sparkles. People who like some fire will be happy, but those of us who have been super judgy-mcjudgypants about romance being all fire and little depth will be silenced because the themes explored artfully here inspire readers to think about and discuss important issues both current and timeless. I’m gonna be bold and predict that this book will end up on my Top Ten of 2019.

The debut of Casey McQuiston introduces readers to royalty both in the States and across the pond in an adorable and tears-of-joy worthy New Adult novel. McQuiston seamlessly blends the addicting twists and turns of reality TV-like drama with adorable romance and young love with an inclusive cast of characters, none of which were even remotely unlikeable. I didn't think I felt true, pure joy and comfort before reading this book. It could easily be said that "Red, White & Royal Blue" will become this generation's more mature and sophisticated "Elanor & Park." I cannot wait for everything else Casey McQuiston happens to dream up in their coming books.

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This above is my original review and to be honest I'm not changing it because there is no way actual words can convey my feelings any better, but alas as a """reviewer""" I should write something more uh, proper, which sucks because so many people have written so much and so much better than I could ever do.

It's been months since I've read this book and I've thought about it every single day since, and my three brain cells have come together to form this single thought: Red, White & Royal Blue is the literary fiction of romance.

There's something here for everyone. More politically-oriented readers. Romance readers. Casual readers. But especially this is a book for QUEER readers, this is our chance to see a queer romance of internationally epic proportions, with incredibly high stakes. This is our chance at butting our noses into (fictional) international gossip of pretty much the highest level you can ever imagine to find, to be curious about what would happen IF.

Too many aspects of this book are worth talking about and I fear I will only be able to do so after a reread. But: the humor is what hit me at first. I was laughing out loud like, two pages in and I haven't stopped throughout the book (except when I was crying or screaming or squealing). The romance was much more than I ever could have hoped for. Alex figuring out his bisexuality later in life was exactly what I needed to read, written exactly the way I needed to read it. And a reality in which a democratic woman is the POTUS was so fucking nice to lose myself into for a few hours.

The romance is something you need to experience for yourself, and I really think I will only be able to (maybe) properly talk about this book more in depth after a reread. So have this mess of a semi-review for now and just know this book is worth all the hype.

TWs: public outing, homophobia, discussions of loss of a parent, anxiety, panic attack.

If you’re like me, you’re already anxiously giving some of your attention to politics, hoping that we don’t end up with Trump winning the 2020 election.
And I’m already a ball of stress. I want good things to happen, but I’m also keeping my hope close to my chest.
However, Red, White, & Royal Blue was like a perfect future and a wonderful alternate world. Not only is there a biracial First Family with a female president, but everything is going pretty darn well (except for a few mishaps, here and there).
In general, Red, White & Royal Blue gave me so much hope. It made me happy and bubbly inside—not just about politics, but also because of Alex and Henry’s romance.
It was just such a fun and feel-good book and that’s ultimately what I liked most about Red, White & Royal Blue. It made me feel happy.
I totally adored the slow burn between Alex and Henry—the flirtationship and texting and Alex being both oblivious to Henry’s feelings and unsure of his sexuality. I was all for the wait even though I was cheering them on!
And I like how McQuiston played around with not just that, but also so many other themes—they write about Alex’s family and his parents’ divorce and being first son and so much more. This book isn’t just romance, it also has a lot of other things going on with international relations and PR stunts and family and much more.
I had so so much fun with this and loved the slow burn and the chemistry. I’d totally recommend to anyone who wants a book that instills hope, although I want people who fetishize m/m fiction to stay the hell away and let everyone else read this in peace.
I’ll know if you’re that person when you diss McQuiston’s upcoming f/f book. I’m watching you. If you aren’t hyping up that f/f book as much as you do this m/m book, I’LL KNOW.
Anyways, READ THIS TO FEEL SO FLUFFY INSIDE AND SO HOPEFUL AND SO JOYFUL. Totally recommend to everyone who wants a great slow burn romance!

I’m just going to come right out and say it: READ THIS BOOK. Seriously, though. This is the super queer royally charged political rom com we all needed desperately. It is pure gold and I still feel like I’m floating because of all the emotions. So many FLAILS and SQUEE’S! The hate to love trope DELIVERED in this book. Alex absolutely loathes Henry and makes sure to tell the prince to his face. I cackled so hard at all the jabs and snark! Casey’s writing is pretty much pure magic and I felt so connected to this story. The sarcasm was on point always and all the characters had their own quirks which just added to the hot chaos that is Alex and Henry.

Speaking of Alex, I loved how passionate and emotional he was. When he gets going there’s no stopping him from doing potentially stupid things. This story deals with him kind of finding himself and rediscovering what he wants in life. He’s down to earth and all about politics and family. Henry is a prince trapped in a life he doesn’t want. He has to keep his true sexual identity a secret from the world to save face and avoid scandal. Needless to say, he’s living a double life and tired of not getting what or who he wants.

Basically every time Henry and Alex were together I swooned all over again. Don’t even get me started on those Super Romantic emails. The romance in this book is like a slow death because it’s agonizing to see two people want each other so much only to push each other away. Like I said, chaos.

This book is steamy, heart melting goodness and if it wasn’t already obvious, I’m going to be reading everything Casey McQuiston writes. I can’t wait for more queer stories like this one. I’m totally not okay in all the best ways. My heart barely survived this book and I’m ready for more. If you need me, I’ll be busy screaming at everyone to pick up this beautiful book.

Ehhhhh...
Not going to lie, I had such higher hopes for this book. The concept is a great idea and one that I haven't seen very often. After years of hating each other, the first son of the President and the Prince of England fall in love - chaos ensues. But the book itself just didn't hold up to the concept for me.

I thought this book was great and it was very hard to put down for the first 40% of the book. Then, the politics start and it's VERY HEAVY on the politics/campaign for presidency lingo and the romance aspect of the book kinda takes a back seat. I guess I should've known myself better because I'm not much of a politics person? I found myself skimming a lot of the politics/campaign part and just reading the romance part for the last 60% of the book. However, if you love reading about politics in the US, you'll love this book.

Also, SPOILER. Everything wraps up perfectly in the end and everybody is happy. If you don't like books where everything just happens to work out and everyone is happy, this book isn't for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced eARC of this book!

Everything about this book, from the pace of dialogue to the way the plot unfolds, is spot-on perfect. The best reading experience I've had so far this summer, I am shoving this book at every person I come across!

This was so cute and I didn't want it to end! This was so fun to read and it's perfect to read for pride month! I highly recommend!

This book was perfection!! The chemistry between Alex and Henry was off the charts. I loved seeing their relationship evolve from enemies to friends to lovers. And all of their emails and text conversations had me smiling so hard. I also really enjoyed all the political elements in this!
Will definietly be reading anything Casey writes in the future

I was blown away by this book.

Despite this book being incredibly predictable before I'd even opened a page - because, let's be real, we all knew how this was going to turn out - I was so excited to read this. It had a fantastic premise that I just knew I was going to adore! Unfortunately, what I didn't know was how wrong I would turn out to be.

Red, White & Royal Blue follows the story of the son of the first female president of the United States, and his forbidden romance with a Prince of Wales. It's LGBT+, it's political, it's supposed to be funny. What's not to love? Well, as it turns out, there's an awful lot.

As I said, I was blown away by this book. Blown away that it was even published in the first place.





The Writing

I don't know where to start with this. It's not that the writing is bad, but it's not good. I definitely felt that the writing was very reminiscent of a first draft fan fiction written by a 15 year old. Honestly, apart from the fact that the story features 'original' characters, this pretty much is fanfic in physical form. The writing wasn't difficult to read, and I appreciate that, but I also feel as though that shouldn't be one of the only positive aspects of the book.

Furthermore, the writing was so. damn. cheesy. I know this is a romcom, I really do, but I don't want to be rolling my eyes every other page. It just felt so cringey and it was such a struggle to keep reading at these points and not throw the book across the room.





Another thing I really did not enjoy was the amount of swearing in this book. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't care about people swearing. If you want to do it, DO IT. But here it just felt immature and lead to it feeling even more like fan fiction, especially when it showed up in places that it really didn't belong. It made certain scenes that were meant to be deep and heartfelt feel cheap. And more than that, it was just annoying as hell. Use swear words all you want, if it's going to prove emphasis or prove a point, but it did not do that.Talking of swear words, this book was so heavy in terms of dialogue. I wouldn't mind if it didn't feel forced, awkward, and generally unrealistic. 

Furthermore, it was so obvious that this book was written for an American audience. I really don't get their obsession with Brits, but the constant addition of 'British' in front of an action was incredibly overdone and felt lowkey fetishised. e.g. "British stammering" - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?! Why can't he simply 'stammer'????





The Characters

I don't really know what to say here, because in terms of character, there's not much to draw on. Alex, overall, was a really irritating protagonist. I just couldn't connect with him, especially considering his whole personality clung to his not-so-witty banter and over-the-top sarcasm. With Henry, basically his only personality trait was that he named his dog David. I don't think I have anything else to say.

Everyone else was pretty much incredibly bland?? I liked June and Nora, but I could barely tell the difference in their personalities (they're literally the same person.) Yes, the representation and diversity seen in these characters was fantastic, but overall I couldn't tell you much other than their names, and even that would be a struggle. They were less annoying than Alex and Henry, though, so at least that's good?



The 'Romance'?

The so called romance was so lacklustre and was devoid of any real emotion or depth. I felt no chemistry between them, or any connection to them. I don't think I've ever cared about a romance less, and that's saying a lot. The romance fell really flat and I cannot remember a time where they had a deep, meaningful conversation in person. Generally, their sexual relationship was the only 'romantic' thing in this book, and it felt like McQuiston used the sex scenes in exchange for character development, of which there was none. 



The Sex Scenes

I hated the sex scenes so much. Yes, that's partly because I generally don't enjoy reading sex scenes - I feel awkward and uncomfortable - but they just felt overly messy and rushed, while also taking up far too much of the book. I think there was a 200 page section where they basically didn't have a conversation, and only had some sort of sexual encounter when they were in the same room as each other. I just wanted more to the relationship. I wanted to see them interact. I didn't want to read twelve scenes about Alex giving the best blowjobs in the world. 

Not to mention this very much plays on the stereotype of gay men being over-sexualised and objectified, especially when they contributed very little to the book in terms of actual plot. 

On top of that, the phrase "sticky kiss" was used, and I've literally never wanted to die more.





The Plot

So firstly, the politics didn't make sense. I didn't really understand what was going on and I've seen a lot of people say that it was confusing, and that's simply because they're not accurate or correct. Politics are literally some of the easiest things to fact check, but this felt like a poor attempt at something she knows very little about. If you're going to write a book about politics, at least do some research to make it realistic. It just doesn't make sense. 



On top of that, there was actually very little plot. Everything that happened I could have predicted from the beginning. It wasn't surprising and, more than anything, it wasn't interesting. We're forced to sit through 200 pages of pointless sex scenes that read as though they were written by a horny teenager, all for a plot that I didn't care about. 

On top of that, the book as a whole was FAR TOO LONG! This book could have been half the length and it would have been EXACTLY THE SAME. When the main plot doesn't change when you chop the word count in half, you're doing something wrong. Plus, the chapters were all incredibly long, and definitely needed to be split into four or five different chapters each. Every single time there was a scene jump or a line break in a chapter I wanted to scream - THAT is where a new chapter should have started. Did it? Absolutely not. 



Minor Grievances

Okay, so here is when I'm going to talk about the things that really got on my nerves, but it probably only annoyed because of how much the book as a whole annoyed me, and I'm probably just being petty now, but I don't care.





The pop culture references

Okay, let's start with the Hamilton references. Now, I love me some Hamilton, but in Red, White & Royal Blue they just felt incredible forced. On top of that, it came across that this was all McQuiston knew of American politics. I also questioned whether or not the musical actually existed within this world, because there are a few things both Alex and Henry talk about as though they've discovered this information themselves, but I'm just sat there like 'WE KNOW! LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA TOLD US ALREADY!' I don't know, maybe I'm being petty. Maybe I'm being protective. Do I care? Nope.



Then there's a Star Wars reference. Henry tells a child that Luke Skywalker is "proof that it dissent matter where you come from or who your family is." But... Luke's mother was a Queen? His sister is a Princess? He's literally a play on the 'Chosen One' trope???? So.....???? This is completely not true. Like I said, I'm just being petty now, but... do your research. If you're going to include a reference, at least include it accurately. It just comes across as force and false.



He's some kind of billionaire, genius, manic-pixie-dream philanthropist.

THEN. Ugh. There's a reference to Tony Stark. Now, if this isn't, then I'm sorry, but it pretty much definitely is and I hate it so much. I'm probably the only person alive who doesn't like Tony Stark, but this made me cringe so much and... UGH. Just stop already. Please. 



Alex throws his head back and laughs

Okay, so this is definitely me nit picking now, but this bugged me so much. This phrase was used far too many times (aka, every time it was used). NOBODY ACTUALLY DOES THAT! Especially in the instances it's used in during the book.



The theme of grief

Okay, so this is something that's a bit more personal for me. I really enjoy reading about the theme of grief as it's something I've gone through. Casey McQuiston made out that the theme of grief is played on throughout the novel, but it was basically touched upon in one small passage. It's on page 343 of my edition, and it's pretty much not talked about at all anywhere else. So no, this book does not look at the theme of grief, and I was disappointed to have felt mislead in this way.



Conclusion

So finally we get to the all important question: is this book overhyped? Well, for me, I think it's no surprise that my answer is a resounding HECK YES, but that doesn't mean that this book didn't have an awful lot of potential. If the writing had been a little bit less 'fanfic-y' (yes, I really did just say that), and the characters had more depth, I think this would be a pretty enjoyable book. Obviously, a lot of people already feel as though it is an enjoyable book considering all of the 5 star reviews out there, but right now, apart from the fact that this is an LGBT romance rather than a hetero romance, I don't really understand where that enjoyment is coming from. 

Overall, this Red, White & Royal Blue is a naïve collection of shallow stereotypes, so-called 'witty' banter that left me rolling my eyes on every other page, embarrassing sex scenes and confusing politics. It had potential, sure, but it didn't work, and ultimately left me bored and annoyed the entire time. I don't really know why I read the whole thing to be honest. I guess I was hoping it would get better. Spoiler alert: it didn't.

Loved it! What an enjoyable story this was. THink teens will enjoy this take on royal and political romance.