What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: …
What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic.
This is a good book, for what it is. However, not much of it is really unique and mindfuckingly excellent. In fact, Casey McQuiston's other books, specifically One Last Stop and I Kissed Shara Wheeler, are full of such amazing ideas and moments, that Red, White & Royal Blue just cannot keep up. They've set the bar too high.
Then again, AFAIK, Red, White & Royal Blue is McQuiston's first book, so one could see this as evidence that they only get better and better.
Somehow I expected more from this book. The idea was quite cute but I was a bit disappointed by the inaccuracies when it came to the UK bit of the story. Almost until the end I did not understand who Henry actually was. Him being called "Prince of England" feels like such American ignorance—even if it is the typical thing he is being called in the US. Prince of Wales? Why? He is not heir apparent.
Anyway, apart from those things, it was a rather cute book. Many things were obviously predictable–something one expects from romance novels I guess—so there was not a lot of surprise in the book. The long chapters sometimes felt a bit too much. At least it was easy to read.
Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This book's lineage is, at a guess, Hamilton/The West Wing/That brief liberal mania after the election of Obama. It is very much a fantasy of a different political system, one not captured by big money, where politicians may be ruthless or use means you don't approve of, but are serving in politics because of something they believe in. It is a fantasy of an America that could elect a divorced woman president.
On the other hand, if you can't have fantasies in your romance novels, where can you?
I didn't check this out for a long time because I find celebrities, politicians, and royalty, all vaguely squicky, and this book is written on the assumption that all of these are something you are at least a little into. However, the book doesn't rely on your kink for the aforementioned; it has a lot going for it. The book has a …
This book's lineage is, at a guess, Hamilton/The West Wing/That brief liberal mania after the election of Obama. It is very much a fantasy of a different political system, one not captured by big money, where politicians may be ruthless or use means you don't approve of, but are serving in politics because of something they believe in. It is a fantasy of an America that could elect a divorced woman president.
On the other hand, if you can't have fantasies in your romance novels, where can you?
I didn't check this out for a long time because I find celebrities, politicians, and royalty, all vaguely squicky, and this book is written on the assumption that all of these are something you are at least a little into. However, the book doesn't rely on your kink for the aforementioned; it has a lot going for it. The book has a full cast of characters who are delightful, the banter is non-stop, and if you like your books to playfully reference real events, you will be rewarded.
The main couple are also constantly comparing themselves to other literary and historical couples, so if you enjoy that sort of thing, it is the sort of thing you will like.
A lot of this book was not the sort of thing I like, but honestly, it's so well written! Do you like writing?
Review of 'Red, White & Royal Blue' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
It was entertaining; it would have been a five star fanfic. Ooh, I’ll shelve it as a fanfic, for the author’s British monarchy fandom. I was wrong about that one less than fleshed out character: they were not a Chekhov’s Gun. But I did know that one other character was a secret hero.
