Red, White, and Royal Blue is Casey McQuiston’s debut novel about the rivalry turned romance between Alex Claremont-Diaz (the heartthrob First Son of the United States’ President) and Prince Harry (the dreamy young royal that’s all the talk of the tabloids). When the pair’s rivalry lands them crashing into the cake at a royal wedding and on the cover of every tabloid on both sides of the Atlantic, Alex and Harry are forced into a fake friendship to rehab their public images. As they spend more time together and get to know one another, they realize they have more in common than thought. Their previous animosity fizzles out as a new friendship and love takes its place. Alex, who up until this point considered himself straight, begins questioning his sexuality and the role it could play in his future as First Son and aspiring politician from Texas. Their budding romance takes them around the world, causes drama among the royal family, and threatens Alex’s mom’s reelection chances, all while creating a thrilling story for readers.
RWARB provides an escape from our current Presidency and lets you jump into a world where our country elected a Democratic woman as President in 2016 and looks poised to do so again in 2020. The characters of RWARB are well thought out and explore diversity in our country through the mixed-race Diaz-Claremont family and Alex’s exploration of his bisexuality. Nothing about them feels forced because they’re so relatable. From their group texts sending Drag Race GIFs to a wild night at a karaoke bar, the main characters are people every reader can identify with in spite of the characters’ mom being president or grandma being a queen. Even the characters who only show up for a few pages, like Alex’s WASPy coworker and his stepdad Leo, have a well thought out point of view and a reason to be in the story.
McQuiston writes some of the funniest, incredible dialogue I’ve read in a book. Their use of emails, texts, and phone calls helps develop the lovers’ relationship in a natural way that allows the characters to show their personality and the differences between their public personas and who they really are. Interestingly, the book is written from the narration point of third-person, though at times I would forget that it wasn’t Alex telling the story. You’ll laugh, cry, wish you lived in the United States of Ellen Claremont, and crave more pages to read when you finish. I loved reading this book and cannot wait for McQuiston’s next novel which is expected in 2021.
“History, huh?”
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