I LOVED this book and the entire Claremont-Diaz family. Come for the delightful, squeeeee-inducing queer romance; stay for the inciteful (if idealist) hot takes on American politics (and more squeeeeee-inducing queer romance). I want to live in this book’s universe, but since that isn’t possible I’ll settle for re-reading it many times!

Don't you love it when you keep hearing how great a book is and then you read it and it's even better than you hoped? I absolutely loved this hilarious, sweet, witty and incredibly romantic book. Politics, love, hilarity, international incidents... and the alternate 2016 reality!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

*Spoiler free*

A QUEER ROYAL ROMANCE! I am huge fan of royal romances, despite the fact that I don't read them too often. And this one has a queer romance, a dash of enemies-to-lovers, and diverse characters.

I have seen so many people rave about this one and talk about how good it is. I somehow got it in my mind that this was going to be some kind of literary masterpiece of the highest caliber. It's not that. It's a romance novel. And that's where it's brilliance comes from. It's a romance novel that centers on a bisexual guy, in love with a gay guy. And they happen to be the First Son Of The United States and the Prince of England. It's brilliance comes from the sweetness between them. It comes from their progression of their relationship. It comes from the love that they build with each other.

Alex is clueless about his sexuality. I honestly loved seeing him struggle with it and figure it out. I saw myself in the ways he thought how sexuality and how he discovered he was bi. It was a process, not a realization for him. And I loved seeing that. I also saw parts of myself in Henry. In his anxiety and how he feels about hard situations. I am so alike to both of them and yet completely different. It's was a nice balance haha.

For a bit, I had a hard time figuring out who was who when they were talking. I would get Henry and Alex mixed up when they were having a conversation. Though, once I got know them it was easier to differentiate!

I don't why, but I wasn't expecting this book to be as pure as it. There were a lot of parts that made me want to squish up with how cute they were. Alex is so good. Henry is so good. All of the characters are so good. And so human. They're all in complicated situations and their navigating them they best that they can.

Politics are involved in this book. But in a good way. I never thought I would say that about politics haha. It's true though! Alex wants to do everything he can to help and he wants to do it now. His character development and him figuring that out was fantastic. I loved seeing him navigating live as First Son and I never thought I'd want to see something like that haha! He's super awesome and I know he's going to do great things, fictional as he is.

Honestly, every single development aspect of this book was amazing. The small subplots and the big overall plots were so well done and so thorough. I loved seeing Henry's and Alex's relationship grow and how they dealt with everything that thrown at them. I loved seeing them figure out what they wanted to do with their lives and what they wanted their lives to be. I loved watching them figure out what was important to them.

This book was so good. I know what people are talking about when they gush about. It's amazingly written and the characters were so lovable. I love Henry and Alex and I hope their future together is fantastic.

Sometimes, you read a book you've been anticipating for so long and it just lets you down, whether because your expectations are too high or otherwise. Other times, the book exceeds your expectations and leaves you grinning uncontrollably every time you think about it. This is one of those.

Red, White & Royal Blue is about what happens when a "rivalry" between the First Son and the Prince of Wales threatens international relations between the United States and United Kingdom. (I say "rivalry" because, well. I'm not wholly sure it's not all in Alex's head, but anyway.) When Alex and Henry are caught on camera fighting at the Royal Wedding, they are forced to fake a friendship to get the media off their back.

Only, what starts off as a fake friendship develops into a real one and then a relationship, conducted across continents, via email, text and the occasional trans-Atlantic flight, at first as friends with benefits, but then slowly more than that.

The storyline combines both rivals-to-friends-to-lovers and friends-with-benefits-to-lovers tropes - which are two of my favourites. But it's less about romance - though, sure, that's a big part - and more about Alex coming to terms with his sexuality and his place in the world and what he wants from the future (yes, as trite as that may sound). I'm struggling to find the words to describe it, but it is so heartwarming and soft and I couldn't help smiling reading most of it (besides the parts where I was crying).

What I loved most about this book was the characters and the relationships they all had. It's got a sort of found family trope going on, between Henry, his sister and best friend, and Alex, his sister and her best friend. And, not to mention, everyone actually communicates with each other for the most part. Yeah, there were a couple of times when there was, if not miscommunication, then just no communication, but they were sorted fairly quickly (get you a partner who'll fly across the whole Atlantic just to get you to talk about it). And after the second one, it was all about Alex and Henry working through the problems they had together (aka my favourite thing).

Of all the characters and all the relationships, I particularly loved Henry and Alex's. Although it's not slowburning, it's still so well-developed and soft and God. How do you describe how much you loved something when the feeling it gives you is indescribable? It was so heartwarming (and occasionally heartbreaking) and I really loved how they supported each other, like going to each other first to talk about their problems, and just how gentle and soft their relationship was at times. Honestly, I feel like I could go on for days about how much I adored them and yet I still have no words to properly describe it (I'm rambling. I'll shut up now).

There were a couple of tiny (tiny) things I thought I wouldn't be the biggest fan of. Firstly, this is a long contemporary novel (400+ pages). It's also in present tense, which is not my favourite thing, and I was expecting more of a slowburn than there actually was. But, because I loved all of the characters so much, none of this felt like it mattered. I was fully absorbed by Alex's story.

Anyway. I hope this review convinces you to read this book (though why you wouldn't already be buzzing for it, who knows). All it's done for me is make me want to reread.

I was so excited when I read the summary of this book. A fictional telling of a relationship between the first son of the United States and the youngest Prince in the royal family? Sign me up! I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did but oh my god did I love this. Did I love EVERYTHING about this.

I loved Alex and Henry. I love the enemies to friends to lovers trope so much and this book did it SO WELL with bonus "no we don't have feelings we're just friends with benefits but it's OBVIOUS WE ARE BOTH LYING"

I loved Alex's entire family from his headstrong mother (FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF THE US) to his doting step dad to his well meaning biological father but obviously the award for best family member goes to Alex's sister June who is wonderful and perfect in all her own ways.

I loved the way this book portrayed the growing friendships between Alex's crew and Henry's crowd, I love the way the book dealt with issues realistically but still so hopefully. I could see this future. I could see this 2020. And it made my heart so happy.

I loved that I had solid angst and serious laugh out loud moments and this book was amazing and I can't wait for everyone else to read it.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC for NetGalley.

20bi-teen has truly blessed us. Y'all this book is so dang good and I can't stop telling all of my friends how dang good it is. I love it so much!

This book has it all: just incredible bi and gay rep, a refreshing take on tropey goodness, my ultimate political escapist fantasy, compelling characters, and oh my god the romance is so great! This is everything I've been wanting out of fiction and I'm so happy about it.

I can't wait for more from Casey McQuiston and also to get this book for all of my queer friends.

3.5, great escapist book. The concept of this is so fun - a half white half Mexican kid is the first son of the US. His mom is the first female president, his sister is a super sharp writing badass, and he is America’s charming crush. His arch nemesis, is the prince of England who is exactly his opposite, royal and inhibited in opposition to Alex’s joidevive charm.

I enjoyed this book and I am not embarrassed to say I enjoyed pretending it was real life for a bit.

The cast of characters were enjoyable, and many of them had more than one layer to what was going on for them in life. This was longer than I expected it to be (and longer than I think it needs to be perhaps?) , but I did enjoy a few of the twists and turns that the plot took. I also liked how some identity exploration was highlighted through in this one — especially in regards to bisexualism.

This is a fun one. I’d pass this one to anyone who wants to escape... or anyone who enjoyed the princess diaries movie—modern day relevant royal romance fun!

The concept and title are perfect tens. An English prince and the president’s son falling in love! Honestly they should have given the author Casey McQuiston a million dollar advance just for that. I was very excited for this book and read it as soon as I was approved. There is something here. This book could be amazing it just needs a little more time to bake.

This review will have spoilers. I don’t think the point of this service Is to give feedback to improve the book before it is actually published but I will anyway.

Parts of the book are way, way too in the weeds of politics. The book mentions Star Wars several times so I no she will understand this. The politics in the book veer into Star Wars prequel levels of trade war / tariff boring.

All of the political intrigue and machinations of Senator Luna are hard to follow and don’t add anything to the story. They could easily be cut out.

The email exchanges between Henry and Alex are so boring and a waste of time. They really kill the momentum of the story.

It made no sense that Alex didn’t know he was bisexual. He is in his early 20s, from a liberal family and had an ongoing sexual gay relationship in high school. It would’ve made so much more sense for him to already be openly bisexual or just gay.

We were all traumatized by the results of the 2016 election. Writing this book must’ve been a wonderful catharsis. It does feel like every issue from the 2016 election is crammed into this book. The email server, #MeToo and misogyny in politics/media. On top of all that there is the struggle of the British monarchy to modernize (ie sexual orientation and racial identity). Although I do love a world in which there is no Trump interested in politics. The Mitt Romney/Ted Cruz republican political rival in the book was a throwback to a simpler time.

I think it would be helpful to have a family tree for both Alex and Henry. It was a fun choice to have Henry be a prince of England. A lot of media create fictitious countries for their princes. The only downside to this is the queen comes off very poorly in the story. Although it is not specifically said to be, She is for all intents and purposes Queen Elizabeth. In general people really like and respect Queen Elizabeth (especially because of the Netflix show The Crown). Although I am sure if Prince Harry would have wanted to marry a man, Queen Elizabeth would’ve had a very similar reaction as in the book.

I think the story would be better served if the narration was changed to first person. Alex is a part of every scene so his first person narration would work. I think this would also leave the door open for future books told from Prince Henry’s perspective.

This book has potential to be a huge hit. I think the last 20% of the book need major cuts. The story takes a random HARD turn into focusing on just politics and election night that loses the core love story of Alex and Henry.

I am also from Texas so I love all the Texas references. Overall this is a good book that could be great with a tiny amount of streamlining.

This book is super fun. Its kind of like The Royal We crossed with The Royal Treatment, but with two men falling in love. It’s basically a perfect rom-com plot; the son of the first female president of the U.S. and the heir to the British throne fall in love and hijinx ensue. It’s a tad overlong, but I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this to readers looking for a light romance with engaging characters and a total escapist fantasy life of balls and charity events and private planes.

Loved this! It's been a long time since I've read an adult LGBT book I really loved but this was ALL OF MY THINGS: royal family, romance, strong female characters, honest LGBT representation, politics, Nate Silver. Highly recommend for adults and older teens especially fans of Rainbow Rowell.

I loved everything about this book! I will admit I stayed up quite a bit later than I had intended to because I just couldn't put it down! Have you ever wondered what would happen if a first child fell in love with a British royal?! Wonder no more. When first son Alex falls in love with the Prince of Wales the two aren't sure if the world is ready for a romance of this epic proportions. This book is so relevant in todays date and so phenomenally written I cannot begin to describe how important it truly is. Highly recommended!

Absolutely wonderful! Complex, thoughtful characaters and relationships, well-written, well-plotted and well-paced.

This book was recommended to me by another librarian, as we have similar tastes in tropey romantic fiction. I loved it! It's a very fast read with a lot of interesting characters. The only downside is the main character, Alex, who is extremely annoying for most of the book, and never does seem to get any comeuppance. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes fake relationships or enemies to lovers.

Two boys from political families across the pond fall in love in this amazing new adult romance novel.

I needed to read this book. Hell, I think many people in America need to read this book. It inspired in me such…HOPE. Hope that people can come together to embrace each other. Hope that people choose love over hate. Hope that stigmas can be broken down by individuals as well as society. Just utter, amazing, inspiring hope. I bet you couldn’t tell I loved this book.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is utterly charming as the narrator. The self-discovery of his sexuality along with his slowly developing feelings for Prince Henry pulled me right into the story. He’s passionate, driven, and completely unapologetic about who he is and who he loves. Just…*dreamy sigh*. Not to be outdone, Prince Henry shines as the reserved, yet romantic, love interest to Alex. Their romance was given plenty of room to develop from enemies to friends to lovers. They're not just given the time to grow emotionally, but sexually too. This is a sensual romance with multiple sex scenes, although I wouldn’t consider it explicit sexual content. If you’re interested in a more chaste story, then this novel is not for you.

The secondary characters are just as complex and dynamic as Alex and Henry. I loved Alex’s relationship with his sister, June, and his best friend, Nora. His mother, and her subsequent PowerPoint addiction, was hilarious too. Bea, Pez, Zahara, Shaan… I can’t wait for everyone to meet these zany, unique characters. On top of the phenomenal characterization and satisfying romance, it shed light into political espionage, societal norms, and popular culture. All of these various elements wove together to make a fun, satisfying, and heartwarming read.

There were moments when I laughed, moments when I cried, moments when I cheered, moments when I could barely breath, moments when I hoped it would never end, and the moment when I turned the last page to say goodbye. I can’t wait for it to come out next summer so I can fan girl with everyone. Do not walk, run to your nearest bookstore to buy it when it arrives.

tl;dr An emotionally and sexually satisfying novel about two men learning about love and each other in this phenomenal new adult romance.

So, I know Goodreads will say it took me a long time to read this and, technically, that's true but it was really 2 sittings that just happened unfortunately far apart. This book is adorable, funny, a little saucy, and everything I want out of a book RomCom. It's maybe not entirely realistic but I happen to want that out of a RomCom as well.

I devoured Red, White, and Royal Blue in a couple of sittings, and even read particularly great passages aloud. Alex, the biracial First Son of the first female president of the US, is brash and slick and beloved. Prince Henry, spare to his Grandmother's throne, is quiet and correct in all things. Their burgeoning feelings for each other, and the international scandal they could cause if it were to come to light, thrum through the story. McQuiston is an excellent writer, and the way that her two protagonists speak and email is enchanting. I was often distracted by the alternate universe details, however. I wish the royal family's names were more different (almost all are in current rotation), and was surprised to see a late-novel plot point that loops back to lessons of 2016 (our real-life version, that is). It's a small quibble, but I would like to read the versions of this book that either hews more closely to our timeline or leaps far further from it. Am eagerly anticipating what McQuiston tackles next.

This book started out very fun then disintegrated into poorly researched drivel. I don't expect encyclopedic knowledge of the royal family but there is no such thing as the Prince of England. The email exchanges were pointless and time consuming. The inclusivity was heavy handed and shoehorned in. What could have been a very cute and clever book turned out to be boring as hell.

What a totally delightful book! It was genuinely funny, thoughtful, sexy, and surprising. The characters were interesting and the rom-com-y situations felt true to the fictional universe. It managed to be lighthearted and fun without being total cotton candy fantasy.
I really, really loved this book and want to read more about this world.

I received an ARC of this book, and I am so glad I did! Nothing about this book should work-first of all, the first son of a divorced female president? What a totally unbelievable setting, but it gave me hope and excitement for the future, something we are sorely lacking in today's political climate. Secondly, I'm a happily married straight 40-something mom who could be either of these young men's mothers, what could be appealing about new adult romance for my demographic? Turns out-everything about the genre was fresh and appealing! Also-they are both too famous to be realistic but it totally worked for me-the intense character development of both Alex and Prince Harry was phenomenal. I lost myself in the text and email correspondence between the two of them, and totally want a "History, Huh?" shirt for myself!

I cannot believe I've finished this... It was the cover that got my attention and it sounded so cheesy I was sure I would NEVER gonna ask for it on Netgalley. But then I got curious and checked the reviews. All over 4,75/5? The heck, that's good! And everyone seemed to love it!
Ok now I was intrigued.
A huge thank you to Netgalley for approving me.
(Spoiler Alert: This story is over the top, so my review is as well. I love to exaggerate, so please don't take every word all too serious here)
Now to the story: It's a Prince Harry meets a half mexican boy from America. Fanfiction style and oh Prince Harry is gay... but ah yes, sorry, Henry not Harry.
For the first 25 % I thought this was quite cute, but also assumed that Alex was known bi or gay or whatever. He is quite the flirty sassy flamboyant shit (in my eyes), so when it came down to him realising he might be bi or gay I couldn't believe a 21 year old behaving like he does, would still wonder about his sexualtit. He is also half mexican.
Sorry but you lost me there. Cherry on top is him reflecting on his highschool time and make out sessions with his gay buddy Liam. These could NEVER give any indications? Nope, all totally hetero OKAY.
Beside this way over the top naïveté, I really really dislike him cursing non stop. I love a good curse, don't get me wrong. But here it just came down to:
"Hi Alex
Oh fucking shut up you motherfucker you annoy me so much
Ok great to see you too
I gonna kill you, you motherfucker, if you don't kiss me right the fuck now!
Alright... talk soon!"
And I mean he isn't even annoyed? It's his way of talking or flirting?! I would not be thrilled having my boyfriend say "Bitch shut up and kiss me or I punch you" which it basically almost always comes down to. Just why?
After the realisation that Alex is kinda liking Harry, ehm I mean Henry, there is a long string of sex scenes put in several countrys as background. Storyline? Not important, let's see when they could meet again and have blowjobs.
The humour got me sometimes, but unfortunately most of the time it crossed with some more cursing and I lost the mood for the joke.
So this is a story of a maybe bi midtwenty something half mexican boy with tourette who falls in love with a moody stiff prince with no real surprises but oh so much diversity because DIVERSITY! In order to be a popular writer you cannot have more than 1 hetero caucasian character feature in your book these days.
Here you get it all; all sorts of ethnicies, all sorts of gender and sexual attractions. The only hetero caucasian character here is Alex mother, the divorced President of the US. Divorced from a mexican man. Alex is half mexican btw.
After 40% of the book I considered stopping. Let's see; what could happen further? The sexy emails and Snapchats are not so secure than they think and they will be published, they get caught and Harry, I mean Henry isn't allowed to ever see him again.
Alex will receive more sympathy from his family, but for the sake of this mothers campagne we will keep his dick in his trousers and stay put.
Drama drama drama. Some misunderstandings and a happy end.
BUT I kept reading. Guess what? I was right. kinda.