Review: Red, White & Royal Blue | Casey McQuiston

This review is spoiler free.

“History, huh? Bet we could make some.”

Published: 2020, by St Martins Griffin.
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback
Genre: Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Fiction
Contains: Strong Language, Sexual Content, Violence, Anger, Drugs/Alcohol, Homophobia, Abuse

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, who 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 worst.

I’ve been trying to get hold of a physical copy of this novel for a long time, and after finally getting it in my hands, I was so excited to delve into the life of Alex and Henry. Overall, it was a very pleasant read.

Alex Claremont-Diaz was an obnoxious, arrogant character, but one who you can’t help but love. He’s hilarious, and I deeply enjoyed reading his story and being drip-fed information regarding his sexuality and overall opinion of himself. The political side of things didn’t interest me much, and I have little to no understanding of American politics so I had the tendency to skim-read those paragraphs, but other than that I loved Alex’s narrative.
Henry’s character was another fun one, as seen through Alex’s eyes. He’s dorky and fun-loving however, he also appears more like a caricature of English stereotypes more than anything else. No matter, because who doesn’t love a Star Wars referencing Prince?

The enemies to lovers romance was adorable, I adored every page where Alex and Henry were warming to one another. However, personally I felt as if there wasn’t enough of that, and they fell in love relatively quickly. That’s simply a personal preference, however, but I do believe that they were in love throughout over half of the book regardless of the fact they “hated” each other at the beginning.
Another personal preference incoming, but I’m not fond of smut. Personally, I felt as if the level of sexual content within this book was a little overdone, and that if all the smut was removed from the book we’d not be left with much between Henry and Alex. That’s simply personal preference, however, and if it’s your kinda thing, then this book will be perfect for you!

Overall, this book was a really fun read. Although, the political side of things didn’t really interest me much, I still found it adorable when it came to the relationships and characters within.

4/5