Author: Casey McQuiston
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: St Martin's Griffin via NetGalley
Goodreads
A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends...Review by Nara
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.
The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?
Red, White and Royal Blue was one of the most hyped up contemporary novels of 2019. And I must say, it was definitely quite an impressive debut novel.
Despite the high class setting and absolutely unrelateable (for me at least) setting of the White House and the Palace and taking international flights every second day and having your schedule planned out by an entire team of staff, the characters and the story itself (at its heart) manages to still be surprisingly relateable. I suppose that's because the book is technically a romance novel, with the same basic progression that most romance novels have. One thing that does stand out is that the banter is absolute top quality, especially the texts and the emails.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book for those looking for a fun (and sometimes a little ridiculous) contemporary romance. I feel it would also make quite a good movie.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
