No surprise, but I forking loved this book. Listen. Contemporary romance books ("chick-lit", as it were) get the same rap as rom-coms in film. Fluffy, no substance, etc. But when they are done RIGHT, there's truly nothing better, more subtly deep, or moving. This is the gay modern equivalent of a You've Got Mail or When Harry Met Sally. I can't wait to read it again and again.

Okay. Hear me out when I tell you, you NEED this book in your life okay? You might think 'pfffft, it's probably not even that good'. Well, dear friend, I can tell you it absolutely is.

This book has sad and happy points and for FUCK'S SAKE someone give Casey a fucking award. RWRB will have you hooked from page one and if yall don't, Henry and Alex's story is so so amazing and I literally cannot review this book without giving spoilers so I'll say this: if you want a fluff that will literally make you swoon and still has a splash of drama and angst this book is for you.

If you want to enjoy this book even more follow Casey on Spotify for some book related playlists!!

There are simply not enough stars to rate just how much a loved Red, White & Royal Blue. I realized relatively early on that this one was going to tick all boxes. And to think this is Casey McQuiston’s debut novel. Easily top five of 2019 for me!

The premise is fantastic and the characters are phenomenal. The writing is sharp, quick witted and filled with hilarious banter. This book has so much heart! Alex and Henry are sublime and the unfolding of their relationship is absolutely one of my favorites ever told. They’re so unbelievably beautiful in their discovery of who they are and who they we’re always meant to be. The supporting characters are equally superb and neither Alex or Henry would be who they are without them.

I truly enjoyed every moment of Red, White & Royal Blue and I look forward to not only the praise McQuiston is sure to receive but future books from her as well.

Claremont 2020, if only ♥️

I LOVED this book! Since the characters are out of high school and there are sex scenes (and a lot of cussing), I wouldn't recommend this for my middle school students, but otherwise, it's fantastic! I'm still feeling the feels and thinking about Alex and Henry (the two main characters).

Alex is the son of the President of the United States (the first female president, nonetheless). When he's invited to a royal wedding in England, he crashes, literally, into his rival, Prince Henry. In order to avoid an international incident, the two must pretend to be best friends. Friendship soon turns to something more and the two young men have to figure out how to be happy with the person they love while still doing the right thing for their respective countries.

As previously mentioned, I adored this book. I read it in just a few hours and couldn't even stop for a soda or a snack. I would recommend this for readers 16 and older, and for anyone who wants to read a good love story.

Red, White & Royal Blue is a fun, heartwarming story about two young men under a worldwide spotlight that discover their hatred might be covering up something more. This book has a very modern take on humor and banter, which I loved, and being in Alex's head was a much-needed break from reality. Alex has struggles, he's not perfect, but what endeared me most to him was that he genuinely kept at it until he felt satisfied with himself. He's charming, fun, and relatable.

Surprisingly, so is the Prince of Wales. Of the male leads, Henry is the more complex of the two, but his worries and concerns aren't alien despite his royal status. He's got the same worries as Alex, as any person his age, even if his stakes are a bit higher than most people's. Of the two, I personally found Henry more compelling from a character standpoint -- I found myself thinking 'what's with this guy' and 'what's his deal' much more than I did Alex. Since we're reading Henry from Alex's point of view, we see him as Alex does -- mysterious, changing, and not quite what he seems on the outside.

RW&RB is a great read, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good modern romance. However! This is definitely a book for adults, rather than teens. I was on the fence about the intended audience from the cover, but the sexual content is definitely present (and well-written!), so I'd say this comes down on the 'adult' side of the line.

4/5 Stars.

This book was everything I was hoping it would be and more! The writing was witty and hilarious and the characters were charming. I loved Alex and Henry’s hate to love relationship. I loved watching them get to know each other and being there for each other while dealing with their responsibilities and their families. And I loved all the female characters that were fierce and unapologetic, but still amazingly kind. Overalls, I sincerely loved everything about this book and I already want to read it again!

What an adorable book! Whilst it relies quite heavily on British stereotypes (we’re not all emotionally stunted!), the happy ever after was just what i needed! A lovely, lighthearted read with great LGBT+ representation

4.5 wonderful stars, and it's dedicated to the weirdos & the dreamers - even the dedication is great! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 Song this book reminded me of: History Has Its Eyes on You from Hamilton.

So Red, White & Royal Blue is a super cute m/m romance in which the First Son of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz, and Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, the Prince of Wales, have...international relations, if you know what I mean. 😏

They start off as not-quite-enemies, with the press casting Alex as the American equivalent of Henry, setting them up as rivals of sorts. This gets under Alex's skin as he finds Henry to be this placid, boring Prince Charming with no personality while Alex is the epitome of sparkling wit and charisma, of course! Then, at the royal wedding of Henry's older brother, an embarrassing mishap involving the two of them forces Alex and Henry to spend time together to repair their images. Cue the enemies to lovers trope, which is done really nicely here.

Alex and Henry's forced relationship leads to texting and then writing emails, their modern equivalent of the love letter. I especially liked the historical letter tidbits that were sprinkled into Alex and Henry's correspondence - queer love throughout time! A Hamilton/Laurens letter is included, which further made me listen to Hamilton as I read this.

Prince Henry is 100% gay, though in the closet, and his hair is also somehow always perpetually tousled. Anyhoo, Alex on the other hand is bi. Bi everything! He's biracial, bilingual, and (this one is a bit of surprise to him) bisexual. And he's figuring this out on the world stage, no pressure! His realization of his identity felt organic and real to me.

And can I say, what I might love most is the alternate reality in which Trump never became President, but instead America elected a divorced woman with a biracial family. Claremont 2020! May it come true one day. McQuiston also included a character with an addiction who was in recovery and a trans character - yay representation!

The end had me tearing up - I don't want to give too much away so I'll just say the end of Chapter 13 was emotional. It reminded me of the photos of Irish people abroad flying home to vote YES for gay marriage in 2015, just incredibly moving.

I have a friend that immediately loses interest in a romance as soon as the couple gets together, so the happily ever after has to happen really close to the end for her to keep reading and enjoying it. That is the only type of reader I could see that might not enjoy this story as much, since Alex and Henry do hook up pretty quickly. They have to fight through oppression and long distances and such, but the conflict in the story is mainly how to make this crazy dynamic work rather than a lot of angst and anticipation about getting together.

Supposedly the author is writing a f/f romance next, and I will *definitely* be reading it!

Thank you to NetGalley for this digital ARC to review. :)

A hate to love story involving royalty? I was sold from the moment I heard the premise. And, thankfully, my appreciation for this didn't stop at its idea.

Caught in the web of political drama, diplomatic endeavours and power games, Henry, Prince of Wales, and First Son Alex are forced to cooperate after messing up at an important event, and, as a result, they form a strong, unlikely bond given their tensionate past. Over late night messages and the exchange of random pictures, a friendship blossoms and then, gradually, becomes more.

The development of this relationship feels very organic and realistic as it moves from one phase to another, exploring in-depth the connection established between these two men, with all the struggles and doubts that come along. Due to their positions in society and their exposure, not only do they have to face the normal difficulties appearing in a relationship, but also the complications ensuing from their prominence. The angst is present, being highlighted by hilarious banter, one-liners and quipps. I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book that I must have attracted at least a few long stares on the subway. Also I may or may have not got overly excited at the mentions of Jane Austen, Star Wars, Alexander Hamilton, Remus Lupin and David Bowie.

Speaking of references, the way the characters include quotes from letters exchanged between some iconic gay figures in their own messages was amazing.  Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Thisbe and Pyramus, Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, and, of course, the already mentioned Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens. It offers a bigger picture, presenting us with parallels throughout history, and it compares the past to a present and to a future filled with the gentle buzz of hope and of change.

Not only is this story tons of fun, but it also deals with topics such as being (born) into positions of power and the pressure of that, with loss, family, love, duty, and figuring it out who you are and what you want from life. Yes, it is Shakespearean to its core.

Red, White and Royal Blue stands as a reaction to the strange, crazy times in which we live, creating a subtle commentary on the current state of affairs through the choices that are being made, an example being the one of having a Mexican woman as President. The joy conveyed by the words of this story, more and more with each solved problem, moment of solidarity, or of justice, exposed wrongdoing, and acceptance turn this book into a celebration, offering to its readers the glimmer of the better days that are to come.

Well this book was kind of everything and I loved every second. I had heard so much about this from other reviewers and I was so excited when I was approved for the eARC. This book was absolutely adorable and definitely was worth all the hype I had been seeing about it!

Red, White, & Royal Blue is about Alex, who is the First Son of the United States of America. He was thrust into the spotlight after his mother became President, and basically become like American royalty. It's no secret that Alex really does not get along with royalty, Prince Henry, but they soon get mixed into an international scandal at Prince Phillip's wedding. They are forced to become "friends" and participate in photo ops and spend time together to help save face for both of their families. However, they soon figure out that maybe all the animosity between them was really something more all along.

Okay, first things first. I've seen this being labelled as a young adult contemporary book on some websites, but this is definitely not. It is a new adult romance at the very least. There are a lot of steamy scenes and fade to black moments, nothing too descriptive, but more than what you would see in a typical YA contemporary book.

With that out of the way, I loved basically everything about this book. I thought the plot was amazingly well paced, I never found myself bored or hoping that the plot would just get going. I was entertained the entire time, and even though it does follow the typical romance formula, the author did some intersting things in the story that made it feel fresh and fun. I also really enjoyed the political elements of this story. We got to see the President and Alex trying to navigate this whole romance and its ramifications during the election year, and see Henry struggle on his end with what this relationship would mean for the "Royal Image". I thought all of that was super intersting and gave the book a deeper level of story telling.

This book was also extremely diverse! We have bisexual and gay characters, a transgendered character, and lots of POC rep. And the cherry on top is that these labels did not define the characters! They were part of who they were, and yes their sexuality and race was important to the plot, but it was not their only defining characteristics in the book, and every character was developed beautifully. We also had a female president and tons of strong female characters in positions of power.

Speaking of characters, Alex was hilarious. He is outspoken, brash, but still so unfailingly loyal to those he loves, that it made it hard to not love him. Henry was Alex's perfect foil. He was calm, quiet, and more subdued, but so passionate about topics and people he loved. The way they came together and worked through the tough times was really beautiful, and the really are a new OTP of mine. Nora and June were equally amazing. I loved seeing them grow individually and really learn what it as they wanted to do with their lives. Seriously, I loved all the characters, I can't think of a major character who was flat or not talked about enough. I felt connected to them all and enjoyed reading about their character arcs.

Basically the TDLR is that I loved this book.

5 stars
In some ways this was very much a guilty pleasure sort of book for me. I enjoyed it such a surprising amount. I thought I would like it. I have a weakness for royalty and the premise sounded more than a little interesting, but I had no idea how it would live up to the promise for me.

The answer is, surprisingly well. I am not usually a fan of present tense for writing and yet it worked so very effectively. The writing was so fluid. The story just flowed from one point to the next with no dragging, no confusion. And I enjoyed so many things about it. I liked Alex very much even in the moments he exasperated me. And Henry was just so absolutely delightful. It was so good watching them both come together and also each come into their own in their individual ways.

I loved so many things about the way the story was told. The texting and emails between them. This story is set in our time and it's so firmly rooted in it with the social media, the cell phones. That aspect was delightful for me, even though contemporary romance isn't usually for me. The characters, by necessity of who they are, can't spend much time physically in one place, yet they're still together and the relationship continues to grow.

The romance was heartrendingly believable to me. I enjoyed Alex wrestling with his feelings and both of them trying so hard to figure out how to make this complicated thing work. The resolution was more than satisfying.

If I had one quibble about any of it it is that I hope in the final version the texting conversations might be formatted in such a way as to make it even easier to be absolutely certain who was 'speaking'. There were a few times I had to go back and reread the conversation to make sure I was putting the words in the right mouths. A minor issue and as this was an ARC one I hope will be corrected in the final.

Overall this was wonderful. I loved it, and it's all the more impressive for being a debut work. I will definitely be keeping an eye on Casey McQuiston in the future.

This was a lovely, romantic and funny book with lovable characters and I enjoyed it so much. OK, I had to shake my head couple times when the author was talking about British royal family or went on about the US politics and elections, but it did not spoil the enjoyment I had reading the book. "Red, White & Royal Blue" is a romcom about two unlikely characters, Henry, prince of England and Alex, the son of the first female president of USA. The author mentioned in acknowledgments that it was supposed to be a tongue in cheek escapism story and it definitely delivers; the over the top setting, the unlikely love story, a clandestine affair, everything in this queer romp is a delightful fun. It also has lovely moments, fun correspondence between the characters that is also very romantic in places and is full of awww moments. It is also full of queer, diverse characters and strong, independent females. All together, a big thumps up and I really hope the author writes more similar stories.

Passion, politics and palaces. This book was SO good. I got an early release from NetGalley and the pre-release reviews on goodreads did not disappoint! The story was hilarious, smart and so well written. I think that this is a somewhat realistic view of politics and British royalty but also such a fun love story. I laughed out loud several times throughout the book and the characters are all fantastic. Can’t wait for this book to be published and for the world to get to know Alex and Henry!

I knew I needed to get my hands on this as soon as I heard about it and I was very pleased to be approved on Netgally to receive and eARC of this book, thank you to the publishers.

Contemporary is my favourite genre and I hoped this would be a great addition to the genre and let me tell you, this was a seriously fantastic debut. I expected it to be reminiscent of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (which I read in one sitting!) as it is about Alex Claremont-Diaz; the son of the first female president of the US and Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor; Prince of England. They hate each other and after a public scuffle, they are forced to try be friends and resolve the story in the media. Of course, romance eventually ensues.

The books is own voices as I believe the author identifies as bi and there is some wonderful representation from the main and side characters . To name a few, we have Alex who is Mexican-American, Raf who is gay and Bea who has addiction issues.

All the side characters were precious and overall so supportive. We have strong sibling bonds (as well as some not so great) as well as parents who put their children first instead of being career. The author just made me fall in love with every single character and that is definitely no small feat.

What really sold this book on me was the banter, especially between Alex and Henry, but all the characters had opportunities to deliver brilliant one liners. Thankfully, there was never a moment that I found cheesy or overdone. Everything was so genuine and realistic.

Alex and Henry are literally polar opposites, but you cannot help but root for them and the really speaks to the authors skill at crafting amazing characters. Casey McQuiston clearly has serious potential as although we followed Alex and he was the protagonist of the book, I still felt like I got an in depth look into Henry’s life. I never felt like this was lacking because it was not dual POV and so I was equally invested in both characters.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience reading about Alex and Henry discovering what they want and accepting themselves in a world that isn’t always that accepting of anyone who isn’t white and straight. It gave me hope in people’s ability to be understating and open minded.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested. Get your pre orders in now guys!!

This was a well-structured and enjoyable read. It has well constructed central characters, although it is only the two leads that are fully fleshed out. It is written in the 3rd person, but clearly, it is from the perspective of the central American character.

I may well be too old and British, but I'm afraid I didn't understand much of the social and cultural references. As such skim reading was the only way to get through much of the dialogue. Similarly, the characterisation of the British characters just does not ring true. Nevertheless, the story sweeps the reader along.

This is a teen read and the ubiquitous skipping over sex whilst providing heavy hints is present in enough quantity to add a little spice to the story.

The tension within the plot is light and well flagged. There are no real surprises here and the reader is just left to wait for the obvious to happen.

The story wraps up neatly and positively. Thankfully the story was sufficiently absorbing that the frustrations of its focus did not impact on its enjoyment.

2..5 out of 5 Stars Rounded up to 3

***Wish granted! ARC received from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for honest review. Opinions are my own, thanks!***

I'm so torn on this one. There are parts of it that are good but when it falls flat it falls incredibly flat and struggles to to pick itself back up again.

The Good

- Representation. This book is just heaping with representation across the board from the main characters to the secondary characters. The first children are bi-racial and the book has a lot of LGBTQ+ representation within it. When Alex declared himself to be bisexual I was worried, it seems often enough that we see bi erasure even if people don't really mean it but it was really nice to not see that. Alex is bi, his relationship with women and men mean something to him and people respect that. I truly, truly appreciated all the inclusion in this story!

- Politics. Okay, as a political junkie I enjoyed that aspect of the story. This was definitely a "what if" story about had the 2016 election turned out differently and during the book a campaign is running in the background. Its addresses the petty, ridiculous but also down right cruel nature of politics even if it just kinda glosses over it. I wanted more of this story.

The Not So Good

- Characters. I just had a hard time with the characters and some of the dialogue. There were so many times during this book that I had to remind myself that these were college grads not high school students getting drunk at parties while the parents weren't home. Which happens more than was necessary.

- Romance. For a romance book this wasn't my favorite part. If you have read enough fanfiction in your time (guilty, sorry not sorry) you've read pretty much everything this book will throw at you. Two characters that have hated each other from the beginning, but secretly loved each other for that entire time that get forced together, literally. The friendship felt at least a little more organic to me but the romance just happens.

- The Conflict. We all know whats coming when it comes to secret romances even if it felt forced again. Even the bigger conflict, back to politics here felt tacked on to give some resolution to that story line and in the end it really didn't impact the plot since it happens so late in the story.

In the end its not a bad book, I think some of the issues I had could have been helped with pacing and deciding what it wants to be, a political fantasy or a romance fantasy because it can't really balance being both.

Ok this book had me crying tears of joy and laughter. The whole story was adorable and I absolutely loved getting sucked into the lives of Alex and Henry! I wouldn't mind getting more of the story from some of the other characters.

I read this every chance I could and will definitely be rereading it.

This book has been on my radar for a few months now. The description had one of my favorite things to read about in contemporary: royals! and the romance being between the Prince of England and the son of the president of the United States?! As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to read it. I am not afraid to say this was one of my most anticipated contemporaries of the year, and am so excited to say that this did not, in any way, disappoint!

From the very beginning I knew this was going to become of my all time favorite contemporaries. The characters were just so incredibly easy to love from the get go, and the interactions between them were so funny and the dialogue had a great flow that just worked so well.

The friendships were definitely one of my favorite things. The chemistry between all the characters was there from beginning to end and it really made me connect to them even more. I love how supportive they all were towards one another, and how supportive the supportive characters were towards Alex and Henry. It made my heart so warm to how that they were surrounded by such an amazing group of friends. Once again the dialogue between all of these characters was just phenomenal, as well as the banter.

Which takes me to my favorite part of the book. Alex and Henry had some of the BEST banter I've ever read. It was cute and funny and everything I ever needed. Their romance was swoony and full of the most amazing fluff. You can see their connection from the very beginning, even when they don't really like each other, and I loved seeing their dislike turn into a sort of friendship before they got together; I always like when that happened because I feel like it adds a certain depth to the romance and makes me root for them and get attached even more. It was also so heartwarming to read a book that is literally, 80% about two guys being already in a relationship and learning to navigate it with the distance and everything else in between and falling in love in the process, and I just loved every second of it.

Another thing that I absolutely loved was the lantix rep! seeing a US president with two biracial children?! reading about Alex talk about being biracial and immigration in the US, being an immigrant myself, made my heart so happy.

My only small complaint, which to me is a personal preference and honestly did not take away my enjoyment at all (hence the 5 star rating), was how long the chapters were. I think they could've been divided into one or 2 extra chapter and made each of them a little bit shorter would've been better!

This book was addicting (seriously, I was reading this with another book and had to stop myself from continuing this to make some progress in the other one as well. because all I wanted was to read another chapter of this one!), funny, adorably cute, and everything I never knew I needed. I cannot wait to read whatever else this author releases next, because she has definitely made it into my auto-buy list.

Since Alex Claremont-Diaz's mom became president, he's been cast as the American equivalent to Henry, a young British royal. The problem? Alex immensely dislikes Henry. When an encounter between them goes horribly wrong, they're forced to declare a truce and pretend to be best friends for the sake of preserving US/British relations. What could possibly go wrong?

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

McQuiston sets the story up as a parallel universe, where a woman was elected for president in 2016, after Obama's presidency. Real-life politicians (both American and international) are referenced, and real issues like gun control and racist views towards Mexicans and minorities still exist within the country. It's still a messy America, but one that elected a woman with half-Mexican children. It was so clever, and I loved seeing how the POTUS tried balancing her own attempt at re-election in 2020 with her responsibilities as a mother.

I loved all the characters so much. Alex is stubborn and headstrong, but also thoughtful and sweet. I loved the relationship he has with his sister, June, and the Vice President's granddaughter, Nora. The three of them completely own my heart. I also loved Alex's mother (aka the POTUS) and Zahra - I loved their take-no-shit attitude; Zahra was especially prickly, but I loved her so much.

Okay okay. So. Alex and Henry. Where do I even start? I'm usually not a huge fan of the enemies-to-friends/lovers trope because it can feel really forced. But I LOVED it here, and Alex actually has a decent reason for disliking Henry at first. I loved getting to know Henry as Alex does, and they're just so sweet together. I got really concerned midway through because they were so happy and cute, and something was bound to go horribly wrong - that's how invested I was in their relationship, which is incredibly rare for me to feel.

I also really loved the LGBT+ representation in this novel, especially the casualness of it. Characters can be lesbian, trans, pan, bi, and no one really makes a big deal of it. I think that's really important. I loved the handling of Henry and Alex's own identities as they try navigating who they are and how to tell other people.

Overall, this was a clever, funny, sexy novel that is so much than just a shallow romcom. 1000% recommend!

I've been holding off on writing a review because I wasn't sure what aspect of my honest adoration of what this book represents to focus on. But with the news of it being optioned before it's even officially published, I want to try and articulate some of my thoughts.

This is a fairly common trope: enemies-to-lovers. It's happened countless times in countless media, both official and fan-created. It can feel really fun, but it can also feel forced. Luckily for us all, this was the latter. It helped that the characters' personalities and the side characters were all just fun to read about. Alex and his struggle to figure out how spot in life was relatable, his friends and family were great, and it felt rewarding every time we learned a little more about Henry and his own life.

I like how the book dealt with issues of identity and the different ways that people navigate the expectations of their environment in relation to their identity. On the one side, there is Henry who knows his identity but can't share it openly because of outside pressures. And on the other side, there is Alex who is still figuring himself out (with Henry's help) but also has that same pressure to hide it. I appreciated how the eventual reveal and fallout didn't feel forced or totally implausible. (maybe? I am a bad judge of these things).

This is also definitely some wonderful political fanfiction. Female president with mixed-heritage children? Yes please. Get me out of this timeline.

In summary, this was a delightful and fun, available-to-mainstream queer reimagining of the enemies-to-lovers trope and any of the above appeals to you, you should read it.