Red, White and Royal Blue book review

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
on May 14, 2019
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

Original cover edition of ASIN B07J4LPZRN here.

A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince 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. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

I definitely wasn’t expecting to love this one as much as I did, I think I was a little apprehensive about Red, White and Royal Blue because of the reviews I had seen about the relationship. There is so much to unpack all the way through this book and the way that certain aspects of the relationship and the characters personalities were dealt with was brilliant. I am so pleased to say that I actually loved everything about this book, and I think it was so beautifully paced. I did think that the ending and how everything ended up working out was a little too neatly done for my comfort and a little predictable in my opinion. However, I will say it never changed my enjoyment of the story and it is definitely one that I cannot wait to reread.

The main characters in Red, White and Royal Blue are obviously Alex and Henry but I think one of the strongest parts of this book is the supporting characters. June and Nora are such wonderful people and they were so brilliant all the way through especially with dealing with all the dramas that came along with dealing with being in the public eye. I enjoyed that there was more to each of them than just being Alex’s friend and sister and they had their own personalities. On to the main characters I think the dynamic in the relationship was really well done, I really loved the email segments of the story. I also think the progression was really beautifully natural and the way they spoke to each was really well done.

The best bit of Red, White and Royal Blue was all the secrecy, I loved that part of the story and I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering whether they were going to be exposed and how. I also loved the way they dealt with grief and explained grief all the way through this book, in general, mental illness was really well handled and I loved learning about the coping mechanisms they had that worked and didn’t work. I really loved this book and the characters and I would love to read a sequel if they’re was ever one.

The worst bit for me in Red, White and Royal Blue was the ending, I felt as though everything seemed to move very quickly and the solution seemed to hit without much of a climax or drama. I didn’t want there to be something awful to happen but I feel as though the consequences weren’t proportional to the thing that happened. But it definitely didn’t impact anything all that much.

YES. YES. YES. This book gave me all the feels and I loved it soo much. I definitely think this will be on the favourite list for this year! If you haven’t read this one, get on it!

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!