Red, White and Royal Blue is a wonderful romance book that explores the character's identities
when it comes to roles in their families, duty, sexuality, and much more. This novel by Casey McQuiston
was published in 2019. The book follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, the First Son of the US (who’s mother is
the first female president), and his relationship with Henry, the Prince of Whales. The beginning of the
book sets up Alex as the heart-throb of America, and introduces his supposed “hatred” towards prince
Henry by having them attend Henry’s brother’s wedding in the UK where Alex is heavily annoyed by Henry.
Alex and Henry accidentally fall into the $75,000 wedding cake, which binds them together for the next
few months.
After that catastrophic international incident, Alex and Henry are required to share a weekend
together and pretend that they are the best of friends to stamp down whispers of a bad relationship
between the US and Britain. Alex tries to continue to convince himself that he really does hate Henry,
but after a glimpse of the real Henry, he begins to think otherwise. Alex learns that his first
impressions aren’t always right, and friendship might be possible between him and Henry. After their
little weekend together, they exchange phone numbers and begin to text non-stop. As Henry and Alex
continue to live their lives miles apart they both face challenges and stresses of life as a leader, but
they turn to each other for a little relief and comfort.Alex’s realization comes on New Year’s Eve, and
to avoid too many spoilers I won’t mention how. I guess you’ll just have to read it to find out!
As the book goes on, the author explores figuring out one’s sexuality in different ways,
learning your own boundaries and limitations, and finding happiness in unexpected ways. From my own
perspective, one of the more compelling aspects of this book is how relatable the characters are, even
though they are famous. Alex and Henry have had very different experiences figuring out their sexuality,
and that speaks to so many people in the LGBTQAI+ community. Another theme that is shown in this book is
acceptance, or the fear of not receiving it. Henry and Alex keep their relationship a secret for as long
as they can until it’s revealed by someone else, and the author explores this idea and the idea of
someone in power being gay or bi for a good portion of the book which is really interesting to read and
think about on your own. Overall, I loved this book. It wasn’t too slow like some romances can be, but
it didn’t give everything away too soon.
My rating of this book would have to be an 8 or 9/10. I loved this book with its clever humor,
exciting romance, and plot twists, but the only reason I wouldn’t give it a 10/10 is because I would
have wanted to hear more from Henry’s perspective. The whole book is written from Alex’s perspective
with his thoughts and actions, and there were definitely some scenes that I was hoping to see what Henry
was thinking or how he was feeling. There was a bonus chapter at the very end where they go into Henry
and Alex’s life after everything settles down, which is from Henry’s perspective, but it wasn’t quite
enough to satisfy. I think that I was at an alright age when I read this book, being 15. However, there
are some graphic/especially romantic scenes that might not be age appropriate until you are about 16 or
17, depending on how much romance books or movies you have experienced with. I would definitely
recommend this book to anyone looking for a good romance read. I haven’t read any of Casey McQuiston’s
other books, but knowing that I loved this one so much, I might take a look at her others.
