Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overused Tropes: 
Overused Tropes ✨but gay✨: 
This is a romance. About two boys in politics.
As such, it will contain romanticized notions about LGBT+. And will contain politics. I’ve just seen a lotta reviews critiquing these two points in this book so I just wanted to make sure everyone read the synopsis and genre 🇺🇸🇬🇧❤️
The sass, excellent. The plot, fast pace. the chemistry, sexy. But the character development? Motherfucking JACKPOT !!
Our main characters:
Alex Claremont-Diaz the bilingual biracial First Son of the US. Overall, he is a sarcastic little shit. A cockiness to keep moving forward as he embraces his identity. #he is a top
“Straight people, he thinks, probably don’t spend this much time convincing themselves they’re straight.”
He truly wants people to be happy and understood. But from the outside, he just looks like a popular prick who Cant.Stawp.Talking
Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor who is the enemy….best friend …. lover. His Royal Horniness
I friggen adored Henry, he has always known who he was but he has been scared and struggled to share it *awwwww*. He is a little sweetheart hiding under a layer of icy perfect prick that doesn’t dare say anything real. Which irks Alex to no end muhahaha
The Character dynamics between these two arrogant amazing boys was extremely well done. The sarcastic banter of a closeted gay and an oblivious bisexual with savage remarks and perfect one-liners as they both mocked each other for the very things they love about each other.
They begin as enemies — two important political figure Sons constantly compared, demanded expectations of, and frankly sick of people’s shit. Especially each other’s.
“Stop telling me what to do! You’re not the prince of me!”
That’s it. Thats the whole plot bahaha. #CakeGate.
The identity discovery— LGBT+
Pages 1—200 was all amazing tense plot driven work featuring:
Denial. -This is just how friends act-. I related to this so friggen hard, it wasn’t even funny.
Discovery. The book acknowledges some real internalized homophobic shit that as I read, I was in a moment of complete shock at seeing my own thoughts on the page.
And then adorable hot dynamics of the two boys clearly being head over heels for each other.
East Bedroom Scene. sexy sexy fun times
“And then,” Alex says, and he grabs Henry’s tie gain, close to the knot and draws his mouth up to a breath away from Henry’s. He hears Henry swallow.
“And then you re going to come to the East Bedroom on the second floor at eleven o’clock tonight and I am going to do very bad things to you and if you fuckign ghost me again, I’m going to put you on a fucking no-fly list. Got it?”
“Henry bites down on a sound that tries to escape his mouth and rasps, “Perfectly.”
Yes it was cute and Alex’s discovery was amazingly written. I felt validated and enthralled and giddy all at the same time. Being able to point and say HERE !! SEE THIS !! THIS IS WHAT RUNS THROUGH MY BRAIN
The secondary characters
I was cackling while reading the Power trio teasing each other. It honestly surprised me how much I just adored the bro-sis badass working dynamic that they all used their abilities and worked together to survive the political jungle.
June: the first Daughter
Nora: the childhood bisexual best friend #vacationnips
Zahra: the badass public relationships with serious Oliva Pope vibes. Adore her.
“So, you can hate the heir to the throne all you want, write mean poems about him in your diary, but the minute you see a camera, you act like the sun shines out of his dick, and you make it convincing”
Well he did exactly that ma’am, muhahaha
But …. let’s acknowledge it.
The fluff.
This was an ideal book world from the very start featuring a divorced female President with a biracial family.
That kinda shit just gives you hope, don’t it?
But I do recognize that a lot of people critiqued the author for not going far enough.
In the aftermath of the *actual* 2016 election, and the pure chaos that occurred in 2020— could feel like a rose-colored mockery of the real issues the book worked to address.
The first part of the book really showed all accurate scary thoughts running through your head when that moment of ~wait a second, am I fucking gay?!~ pops into your head
But then the second half kinda failed to have the plot/ reality intersect with those thoughts.
Every terrifying moment that everyone thinks about what could be the WORST possible scenario… was written into comedy. That yes made this into a book deserving of the genre Rom-Com but kinda failed the depth of LGBT+ character developments I was lowkey hoping for.
The terrifying process of questioning your identity! Was then comedically elevated with Nora’s commentary of ~hurry up and accept it already~.
The coming out process and fear of telling your family! Was again overwritten with a humorous presentation that… let’s be honest, didn’t allow Alex to fully process his identity with his family in a meaningful way.
“The next slide is titled: ‘Exploring your sexuality: Healthy, but does it have to be with the Prince of England?’ She apologizes for not having time to come up with better titles. Alex actively wishes for the sweet release of death.”
So while I acknowledge people’s critique of this book being overly political (loving and accepting everyone of different sexualities, races, genders is NOT a debate), and that the book was overly romanced (I’m sorry have you read literally any other prince/common girl book?). I fully recognize wanting books that focus more on the difficulties of LGBT+ and coming out. So I think we need MORE books about that, instead of bashing on this book for not doing it all within its 400 pages.
Overall. Wow. That book was an amazing story and I’m so glad I read it! This was a fun romance novel that featured a bi-man and a gay-man that are both in extreme circumstances with my favorite enemy-lovers trope that I’ve enjoyed in so many other fun romance novels.
This is a story for hopeless romantics who wish the world COULD be like this. And honestly it was a cathartic escape after the traumatizing of ….previous administrations…. that a fun sappy romance for LGBT+ is amazing to just enjoy. It was during the midst of all the political acknowledgment of how hard things are, that I felt disconnected when suddenly everyone was constantly accepted…. like yeah I fucking wish but…
It was just a beautiful romance in a classic exaggerated rom com situation that I thoroughly enjoyed.
“You are”, he says, “the absolute worst idea I’ve ever had.”
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