Book Review: Red, White, & Royal Blue

Title: Red, White, & Royal Blue
Arthur: Casey McQuiston
Rating: 5/5 stars
Genre: contemporary romance, NA
Page Count: 432
Publication date: May 14th, 2019

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
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...

Review:
Disclaimer: I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alright, I'm going to try and be as non-gushy as possible but I'm not sure that's saying much. I loved this book, fell outright head over-heels for it. And I normally hate things that cause me a bunch of second hand embarrassment but, for some reason, the way this was written I didn't feel it?

The major thing in the book I loved so much, besides the characters + relationships, was the humor. It's so on point for the age range, and felt very real - and, since I am also in that age range, exactly hit the right spots for me.

Our main characters are Alex and Henry so of course we get to know them the best, but outside of that I felt like I knew the other characters all pretty well, considering. They felt real and developed, the only one I feel like was maybe a little two dimensional was the step-father and that might just be because he was a really nice guy and that's hard to swallow for me.

Anyway - this book is over four hundred pages and it did not feel like it. Full disclosure, I do read relatively fast, but even with that books can take time. This one, as soon as I started it I knew I was going to love it. And could not stop thinking/talking about it in between the times I had to read it.

I started it on the train on the way to meet friends for dinner and spent a lot of that time talking about it before I could get back on the train and read more. My friends are sick of hearing about me talking about this book by now, but they are all excited to read it. I have just started to reference it as "the gay book," even though there are many queer books we all read, it just feels right. I think it started out as "the gay prince book" so.

I don't want to go on too long or give even minor details away, because I think this book is just incredible to expereince. Which is why, if you've noticed, I've cut the synopsis down. The full thing is long as hell, but I feel like mostly all you need to know is son of the first female president and a prince of england. At least that's all I had to know.

Also I'd kill for a spin-off in relation to the side kids in this book, because I think it'd be amazing. Pezza just seems so cool, and I adored June and Nora. And the fact I actually remembered their names speaks of how much I adored this book. I'd, also, be okay with a spin-off novella or something related to one of the white house secret service whose dating someone  in England, because she puts up with some much shit from Alex. So much.

I'm going to cut myself off here before I just keep gushing - I did say try not to, this is mild, to be honest. This book is amazing, though, definitely one of my favorites of the year. Honestly, probably just one of my favorites period.

It's a good, feel good book that, after the last few years, was deeply needed. It's got amazing characters who actually speak like people in their twenties do right now. It also has some hilarious moments and some serious ones, and just really amazing characters. I don't think I can say that enough, honestly, but I loved these characters. The writing is amazing, the setting is weird and interesting.

I cannot recommend this book enough, I just can't. If you pick up one book in the coming few months, I hope it's this one. Everyone needs some light in their life. Buy this book, borrow it from the library or a friend, because this is the queer book we need right now.