This is possibly the cutest thing I've read in a very long time. So swoony and fun. The romance was totally addictive and kept me reading until I was done.

A page turning fun romp into politics and royalty. Reminiscent of The Royal We but wonderfully gay. I could not put it down, rooting for Alex and Henry from start to finish.

Red, White, and Royal Blue definitely lived up to my expectations! This was both a fun read and a heart breaking satire of what could have been. It’s hard to think how different the world would be right now...if only. Which, I have to say is my only critique of this book. Yes, it’s obviously not an exact look into what could have been—but it’s close enough that it hurt at times. It’s hopeful to the point of making what really is hurt all the more.


But on to the book—this was witty, fun, and captivating all at once. Alex and Prince Henry’s relationship feels so genuine and real that you can’t help but root for them hard. However, it’s all the rest of the characters that really bring this book to life. I’m not sure if Bea, Nora, or June is my favorite. But then again, I completely love Henry and Alex too. And I cannot help but love a book with smart and funny Harry Potter references.

Red, White, and Royal Blue is definitely one to grab right away!

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions are my own.

**thank you to the publisher for proving an eARC via netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

so it’s been over two weeks since I’ve read this. I have no idea how I write a review for this. I’m still a mess. bare with me.

there is honestly nothing I can say that has not been said about this book (and far more eloquently too). this was my first m/m romance and one of the few contemporaries I have read as a whole. suffice to say: I was destroyed in the best way possible.

mcquiston was able to perfectly depict millennial humor and experiences that was the most relatable piece of writing I have ever read. I have never related more to a character; down to lines I have literally said to my friends almost word for word.

if you know me you know I don’t get emotional, especially not in books. but this is one of the very few that made me BIG cry. first, this was due to the relatability of one of the characters as they reminded me of my own partner. second, the book made my pessimistic ass so HOPEFUL for the future. it was a complete 180 from the 2016 election results and I adored it.

I laughed, cried, and swooned during this book. it was sexy, funny, and hopeful. casey mcquiston is about to take this genre BY STORM and she has become an auto-buy author for me for sure.

go read this book.

I am so happy I had the opportunity to read this book. It needs to be May already so this can be available and I can scream about it to everyone I know. I knew about the hype going into it, but it exceeded my expectations by a long shot. I loved everything about the story and characters. My heart is exploding from all the cuteness.

Red, White & Royal Blue is the book I didn't know I needed. It follows Alex, the first son of the first female President of the United States of America as he helps his mom with her re-election campaign and his flounder at the royal wedding that leads to him being forced to spend time with his quote on quote arch nemesis- Prince Henry of Wales. Red, White, & Royal Blue, the first book by Casey McQuiston, is a rom-com for the ages. It's filled with grand moments that sweep you off your feet and keep you at the edge of your seat through Alex's time of self discovery along with his and Henry's tackling of the geopolitical spheres that surround their relationship. Filled with lively realistic characters, Casey McQuiston creates a fun AU to the world that we live in. She weaves together a fast paced romantic ride through the streets of DC and London while giving the readers a world filled with pop-culture and issues. This book is one hundred percent "Out and Proud". Definitely a must read for anyone who loves rom-coms, the old E! tv show The Royals, or are just fans of today's royals.

This book was a great piece of new adult, LGBTQIA fiction and I found it a delight to read. It has great cast of diverse, interesting characters who are all well developed and well cared for. The plot is told from the perspective of the son of the president of the United States, Alex and his evolving relationship with the prince of England, Henry. Alex has been obsessed with Henry since he was a boy, but some negative interactions have made him have a distaste for the young prince. After an incident at Henry’s brother’s royal wedding creates international furor, both the US and UK governments swing into damage control mode. They make Alex and Henry stage a friendship to quell the ongoing PR nightmare. What ensues is a heartwarming story about how the two men come to understand each other and themselves and learn to stand up for what they believe in. While the book does include quite a few romance cliches, it is in no way derivative. The book is a fun read and escapist literature at its finest. It left me feeling great and optimistic as any great book should. Definitely recommend!

There aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the goodness that is bundled up in this book. Unique? Exciting? Interesting? Challenging? Amazing? Magnificent? Superb? Heartwarming? Heartbreaking? Educational? Eye-opening?

Full of both ahhh and ah-hah moments, this story emitted a sort of sticky substance that made my kindle adhere to my hand until the last page was complete. I haven’t read a book so difficult to put down in quite some time.

The characters had character—another trait not always present in stories I’ve read. They were also young, vibrant, intelligent, respectful of their parents and family, and knew their places in the world. But they fell in love and everything they thought they knew turned topsy-turvy.

The royal family was just that—decidedly royal—and the queen and the crown prince were remarkably stuffy traditionalists. Henry, our second-born prince who falls in love, was conscious of his role in the family and in history. He knew he was gay from an early age and was fearful that his grandmother, the queen, would never accept him as he was and would force a marriage to beget heirs—the royal lineage being of utmost importance. He was right. Her opinion seemed encased in concrete. But his mother, who has stayed in the background most of Henry’s life as she grieved her dynamic and carefree Hollywood actor husband who died when Henry was young, surprised him and became his staunch supporter when he needed her most. His sister, Bea, often referred to as the Powder Princess, due to her previous drug addiction, was his bestie. She rocked. She was an outstanding secondary character and helped Henry stay strong in the face of staunch traditionalism.

Alex was a remarkable young man. The son of a Latino father and Caucasian mother, both of whom were attorneys who knew their career path was politics, Alex grew to adulthood among politicians and idealists. Even when his parents divorced, he maintained his own objective in being elected the youngest member of Congress in history. He was bright, witty, and loving, and from the time he met Henry as a young teen, he hated the Brit with a passion. The only problem was that it wasn’t hate he felt for Henry at all and when the two finally overcame their animosity, the sparks started flying—in a good way.

Their letters and emails were a history lesson wrapped up in sweet love and the heartbreak of being a continent apart. I learned more from Ms. McQuiston’s snippets of letters sent between historical figures and authors and her tours of the White House and the Victoria and Albert Museum and other locations than I ever did sitting in a classroom. And yes, a few facts intrigued me so much I looked them up to learn more—something else none of my teachers ever induced in my lazy, history-hating teen self. It’s very evident the author did a great deal of research for this book and I absolutely appreciated every single snippet.

Catch me in a corner at a cocktail party and I will go on and on and on and…you get the picture. This book is number one on my Best of 2019 list. It is definitely in my top ten of all time. There aren’t enough superlatives to give it justice and even trying to describe the story in a way that captures the emotion in it is beyond me. The simple fact is that if you read this book, you will be giving yourself an incredible treat.

Such a charming and fun book! Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. In this story you have the first son of the United States, who is biracial and also the son of the first female president. Then there is essentially the equivalent of Prince Harry, part of the royal family. The characters start off as rivals; there is a hilarious moment where they are attending the wedding of Prince Phillip (essentially, Prince William) and knock over a 75k wedding cake. Their respective press teams force them to spend time together, get photographed doing charity work, and sing each other's praises on TV to cover up the mess. These two start to realize they have more in common then they thought, and start to keep in touch at their own will, which leads to them falling in love.

Obviously being who these characters are - such a love story does not have it's reprecussions, mind you the President is up for re-election.

This has the enemies to lovers trope which I love. And all the supporting characters were so also sheer perfection and I wish this was the White House is 2016. Overall it was charming and sweet and entertaining. I need more books like this in my life!

Thank you to St Martin's Press | St Martin's Griffin for allowing me to read an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.
This novel follows Alex, the son of the U.S. President, and Henry, the Prince of Wales. Alex's mother, Ellen, is up for re-election, and she refuses to let anything stain her reputation. There are photos leaked of Prince Henry, and Alex, at a royal wedding that threatens the American/British relations. Now, Alex and Henry have to stage a fake friendship. That's not the only thing these two young men have to deal with throughout the novel. Alex has to deal with his mom's opponent. Henry has to deal with all of his ghosts. While the reelection starts, Alex finds himself beginning a secret relationship with Henry, and it's not good for the campaign.
I was expecting just a cute, fluffy read. This actually deals with a lot more than that. This handles LGBTQ+ topics, and what the characters mentally go through while being so high up on the social ladder. You find out which characters can be trusted, and which ones are conniving little sneaks.
The writing was not bad. I found it to be very average for a contemporary romance. I did find it quite long for what the story was about, and that's why I dropped it down a star. I thought that some of it was unnecessary.
All of the characters were developed quite well. I did find a lot of them quite annoying, but I'm assuming that there are a few that were supposed to be annoying. I really liked Ellen. She wanted to keep her image clean, but she also supported her son. She was a good fictional momma.
My favorite character was probably Henry. As the story moves along, the reader learns a lot more about how he is handling everything, mentally. At one point he even has a panic attack. For someone to be a Prince, have a secret relationship with the President's son, and still keep it together as best as he can, is very impressive. I really respect him as a character. He always did what he thought should be done. He supported Alex, and it melted my heart. They had a pretty good relationship throughout the book. It got rocky a few times, but they persevered.
There is some steamy parts in this, but I wouldn't say they are intense. I honestly didn't know what to expect while reading a male/male romance. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it. I think McQuiston handled it quite well. Kudos to her.
This novel is worth the read if you are into cute romance novels that have deeper topics woven through them. It's a fast read even though it is 400 pages long. I don't think it's mindblowing, but I did find it very well done. I think McQuiston broke some barriers as far as the type of romance. I guess I can't say much since this is only my third actual romance novel. Please give it a try if you are interested!

A swoon-worthy romance that is bound to make readers blush and root for these sweet (and hilarious) protagonists.

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press in exchange for honest review.

This book is a joy. I laughed and I cried and I cried and I laughed. It’s a vision of a world like ours but maybe just a little bit better, where the two lovers still have a tough road but they can make it.

Set in an AU modern day, where a woman won the 2016 election and is now running again, this is a love story about a First Son who doesn’t realize he is bisexual and a Prince of England who knows all too well that he is gay. They are different from each other and they start out as enemies, but a forced faked friendship turns into something more.

I won’t spoil everything but one of my favorite things is that Alex and Henry write to each other. It was so lovely to read their epistle courtship. They challenge each other and they believe in each other and it was beautiful.

This book was a welcome escape from our political world while still being about politics and politicians and it gave me hope. I think that’s part of the reason I wept through the last quarter of it.

It's basically everything you probably didn't know you wanted.

Red, White & Royal Blue is a m/m romance between the son of the first female president of the United States and the younger prince. See, this book is perfect because they start out absolutely hating each other but then of course circumstances force them together and they have this forbidden romance. It's cute, but not Hallmark levels of cringe. Normally with these types of books, the plot and characters are kind of secondary. It's not really the case here. I'd actually love to see another book in the series about his sister or Nora.

I can not possibly say enough good things about this book. I mean, I even read and loved the "Acknowledgments" section. That is how much I loved this book.

More specifically:

I loved the characters. I particularly loved the main characters, First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry of England, but also loved their siblings and friends. I also adored the racial and gender and sexual identity diversity of the characters.

I loved the enemies-turn-lovers plot. It's a romance trope I can get down with. I was nearly giddy with anticipation waiting for Alex to realize that he loved Henry!

I loved that this book was set in an alternate world, where hope and happiness exist in the political arena. I cried throughout the election results portion of the book. Big, ugly tears. There was a divorced woman president with biracial children in this book, okay? I would like to live in their world, frankly. The author, Casey McQuiston, said he needed to create an "escapist, trauma-soothing, alternate-but realistic reality, and he succeeded.

Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I gulped it down in one day. It is that lovely.

Red, White and Royal Blue is one of the most anticipated releases for this year, and with a good reason. It's so fucking good.
Full disclosure, I had to read it twice to be able to write this review. The first time I read it I was so engrossed by the story, that I wasn't paying much attention to the things I usually pay attention to. And so, round two was needed.
McQuiston's writing is great, it flows really well and she has managed to find the perfect tone to tell this story. The entire plot is well paced, and there's not a dull moment at any point in the book. The story is captivating, it's heartwarming and I can't stress enough how much so. Enemies to lovers stories have a special place in my heart, and this book does it so well. The characters are well-developed, the friendships and relationships set between all of them are dynamic and fun to read. Especially the romance between Henry and Alex, which I'm not gonna get started on right now, cause I don't think I'll ever stop.
I loved everything about this book. It made me laugh out loud, and cry, but most of all, it made me spend two separate Friday nights glued to my computer until I finished, cause putting this book down is so incredibly difficult.
I definitely recommend this book. If you love romance stories, you're gonna love this book.

I am now firmly planted on my soap box to let everyone know that I love this book. I would say To All the Boys I've Loved Before meets Crazy Rich Asians but also sexier and more LGBTQIA+ pride. It was everything I needed in more in a contemporary YA/NA romance. It was so funny and heartfelt and cute that it hurt. The buildup and the progression of the romance felt very natural to me. I loved how unapologetically diverse it was. You don't have to bisexual or gay or Mexican-American or the child of an immigrant (or a prince lol) to connect with the characters because people are people and love is love. (Also people it'll inspire more people to get involved in the electoral process. Vote y'all!)

I loved the progressiveness of this book and how cute it was, but there was something about it that just didn’t have me 100% hooked. I would definitely recommend reading to all my friends - as I loved the storyline between Henry and Alex, but I just thought it was a bit slower paced than what I was expecting at the beginning.

I ate this book up, reading it every chance I could until it was finished. It's a heartwarming love story that also celebrates friendship, family relationships, and being true to oneself. The main characters, Alex and Henry, are deeply developed and portray complex, realistic emotions. I could completely relate to these characters and their feelings despite being a much different person myself.

I was delighted by the prominent role politics played in this novel. Obviously I knew they were part of the backdrop, but the political environment and a presidential campaign are a major part of the plot. I learned much about the political atmosphere that I didn't know previously.

I recommend Red, White, & Royal Blue to any reader with an interest in politics, international relations, or romance. This was a refreshing read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I'm not normally a romance reader but everyone's been talking about this book so I just had to read it and wow, this was cute as hell. The romance is great, but what really got me was the characters and their relationships with each other. I left this book feeling like I really knew these people. Alex's friendship with his sister is so fun. His relationship with his mother where they try to balance the presidency with a normal family dynamic is really emotional. Despite the characters being older than traditional YA, it was still somewhat of a coming of age story where the characters figure out what they want their life to be.

My only warning is that the sex scenes in this book are significantly more detailed than you usually see in YA. Which maybe shouldn't have been surprising given that the main character is 21 and his love interest is 23.

New to me (and I believe debut) author Casey McQuiston just blew my MIND with Red, White and Royal Blue.
The best type of building romance (IMO) is an enemies-to-lovers one. I had the absolute BEST reading experience, with this story that, right off the bat, won my heart: A WOMAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? AND A DEMOCRAT? and HISPANIC? ****MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE!!!!!!!!!**** *ohhh how I miss those glorious Obama days myself! ha!. I love the boldness and guts you have to have to write a story that, (someday hopefully) will become true.

READING THIS BOOK MADE ME HAVE FAITH IN MY COUNTRY ONCE AGAIN FOR PETE'S SAKE!

And then we have the two stars of this story: Alex and Henry.

Alex being the son of the PRESIDENT
Henry being THE PRINCE OF ENGLAND,

After a bumpy start where all the PR experts need to stick their nose to avoid a higher scandal (remember the Mom AKA President is up for re-election), they try to find a middle ground and end up pretending to be friend. That 'pretending', will be the catalyst to the absolutely heartwarming, quirky, funny and very MODERN love story. [Hello? Email communication is paramount in so many stories nowadays].

I'll get into more details in my review after publication day, but I wanted to make sure the author knew, that all the elements in this book are wonderful. Story is fantastic, but mostly, the fact that you decided to include DIVERSITY is a complete winner in my book. I'm a first generation daughter of a Salvadorean immigrant who crossed THREE BORDERS in 1972 to come to this country and make a better living for himself. I cried watching Oprah Winfrey cry at Grand park in Chicago the day Barack Obama won his first term. I sobbed in happiness for all my queer friends, the day the Supreme Court of the United States approved gay marriage. I dream of the day somebody of hispanic descent walks into the White House and occupies the highest office in this country. I DREAM about it. I shed a few tears reading this book, cause hey, that's why we read fiction: to envision the life we deserve to have and dream about things we can perfectly achieve if we only put our hearts into it.

Henry and Alex will remain in my heart for years to come.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the privilege you have given me by allowing me to read and review this tittle.