Red, White & Royal Blue. Movie Tie-In

by Casey McQuiston

Paperback

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Genres

Description

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER that is a *MUST-READ BOOK* for US WEEKLY, VOGUE, NPR, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, OPRAHMAG.COM, and more! What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales? When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius--his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic. "I took this with me wherever I went and stole every second I had to read! Absorbing, hilarious, tender, sexy--this book had everything I crave. I'm jealous of all the readers out there who still get to experience Red, White & Royal Blue for the first time!" - Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners "Red, White & Royal Blue is outrageously fun. It is romantic, sexy, witty, and thrilling. I loved every second." - Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member richardderus

Pearl Ruled (p108)

No. Not one more irritating page.

It's not *bad* per se, the writing is adequate and has moments of superior detail, but the characters speak in what, in my early adulthood, would've been Valley Girl speak. I don't know what y'all call it. I *do* know that it also annoys my

twenty-*mumble* year old Young Gentleman Caller, so I don't feel as much like a cranky old man as I would otherwise. I handed him p84 (which begins with "HRH Prince Dickhead" in 20pt bold type) to read, he read it, handed it back to me, and asked if there was more radish slaw.

"What did you think of the book?"

"mm...I really want some more slaw, why don't other people use radishes?...and can you put it on another ham-on-rye, please?"

And *he* is the book's target audience, a twenty-something voracious reader. I cry uncle and move myself on.

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24 more

LibraryThing member akblanchard

In an alternative version of 2020, Alex is the son of the first female president of the United States. Henry is a prince of England. The two tabloid darlings have a long-running hatred, then they fall in love. Hard. Alex discovers that he is bisexual, and Henry has always known that he was gay. As

their relationship deepens, the couple faces opposition from many quarters, but, predictably, love finds a way.

Many people like this romantic comedy, but I found it needlessly vulgar and, worse than that, interminable. By the end I was quite ready to leave Alex and Henry behind.

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LibraryThing member rrkreads

This definitely read like an AU tale, if Hillary Clinton had bcm the president. It was an easy read but most of the parts felt too good to be true and were cringe worthy.
For example this dialogue:
"I mean, thousands & thousands of people, and a lot of them are morons, and a lot of them are

incredible, unique people but I almost never met somebody who's a match for you."
Another 1: " you have so much in you, it's almost impossible to match it. But he's your match, dumbass."

Most of the dialogues are like this, almost conversational but not enough to draw in the reader. I couldn't root for a single character in this book, not even Henry who definitely could have been sooo much better.
I am not a fairy tale fan & this was like a contemporary fairy tale with some homosexual characters thrown in.

Things that I was put off by were:
The subtle democratic propaganda, almost like the democrats r the ans's to all evils on earth. It's a fairy tale why bring in propaganda?
The monarchy vs democracy msgng, am not sure what the author was trying here with this though.
Alex reminded me more of Rahul Gandhi the "Prince" of India, his mom the power hungry maino & his sister who is solely there to keep him in check or take care of him. Ugggh that symbolism intentional/unintentional killed it for me.

I didnot enjoy it much, read it to see what the hype was all about. This would have been a better movie script than a novel.

Go for it if you want the standard romance from a gay viewpoint.

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LibraryThing member rivkat

He’s the son of the first female president of the US; he’s a prince of England, fourth in line to the throne. They hate each other, until it turns out that they’re actually super hot for each other. But can they keep this big of a secret during a presidential reelection campaign? This has the

rivals-to-lovers trope I like, and they are both smart and eloquent. But it turned out that I couldn’t help but compare the novel’s world to our own and find it more distressing than wish-fulfilling to imagine a world just enough better that these guys could get a happily ever after despite Wikileaks and homophobes in charge of the Republican party—it was the uncanny valley of romance for me. I can easily see how it would work better for others.

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LibraryThing member Bodagirl

Totally adorable rom-com set in a near alternate universe. A perfect read to escape today's political climate and the perfect way to start my vacay.

My one reservation is one that I always have when reading female authors writing from a male romantic perspective: is it too good to be true? Yes, yes,

I realize that most romance is at least as fantastical as the "highest" fantasy (for pete's sake this is a love story with an HEA between a British prince and the son of the American president who is a woman and divorced), but there's this niggling sense that the emotional path is just too pat.

I need to read some think pieces.

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LibraryThing member norabelle414

21-year-old Alex Claremont-Diaz is the charismatic, type-A, half-Hispanic son of the first female President of the United States. Stoic, standoffish Prince Henry is the second-born grandson of the Queen of England. The two do not get along at all, but after a minor diplomatic incident involving a

squished wedding cake, they have to pretend to be best friends for appearances' sake. Spending forced time together makes them appreciate each other more, and they become real friends. Friends who text each other late at night, and think about each other all day, and contrive ways to spend more and more time together...

Though published in 2019, this book is solidly grounded in the Obama era. It's supposed to be cute that the adult son of the President is schmoozing with members of Congress to promote his mother's agenda, and then on top of that is given a high-level job on her reelection campaign. We've just lived through four years of this, though, and it's very much not cute. There's a reason "surly presidential kid who just wants to be normal" is the prevailing trope, and that's because it's much closer to the truth. This almost comes up at one point when President Claremont finds out that Alex and Henry are romantically involved, and scrambles to make sure they have not used any unauthorized funds to meet up. It's just a passing mention, not any in depth thought about which funds he is or is not allowed to use. First family funds? Unofficial congressional liaison for the president funds? Campaign official funds? This is why we don't do this.

World-building aside, the romance, the writing, and the secondary characters are VERY good. Everyone is extremely likeable and the closest thing to a villain in the story is the Queen of England (lol). Definitely kept me turning the page (or in this case hitting "play" on the audiobook). I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from McQuiston, though hopefully not related to government.

The audiobook narrator was also great, even with the British and Mexican-American Spanish accents. President Claremont's Texas accent was a bit much. It was a nice touch to have an Hispanic narrator for an Hispanic POV character, even though he doesn't have any noticeable accent.

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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne

This book is really mixed up, and the author is fairly ignorant. Well let's start with: The heir is the Prince of Wales, not the spare. The sex scenes all read like the author has no idea about what gay guys get up to, and can't imagine it. The Democrats have a real candidate who can excite lots of

people.

On the other hand, British Prince Henry ditches royal position to live in North America with the multiracial American he fell in love with. Sounds like I've heard that somewhere else recently.

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LibraryThing member Tikimoof

Ironically, very much a "it's not you, it's me" thing.

I can't buy that the characters don't realize how their love lives have to go. It felt very RPF-y as well, which is another fanfiction genre I despise. The characters (especially royalty) felt incredibly false.

I don't think the author has

actually ever actually talked to a British person.

I hate the Tumblr-ness of some of the interactions "oh my god you tried this thing and were horrible at it, let me worship the ground you walk on for deigning to look at the hobby that I've devoted years of my life to and am actually quite good at." Also with how they felt LGBT stuff is accepted in the US and the world (inclusion is way way way better than it used to be, but is still by no means universal). That was more escapism that I'm just too cynical to buy into right now.

I had to force myself through the last half of this book. There were several moments where I wanted to just put it down. Lesson learned: do not make such a large reading commitment next year!

ALSO unnecessary anti-Houston bias from an Austinite. They think Harris County going blue is an indicator of being able to win Texas, when Fort Worth or some more rural city would be a better indicator.

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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa

This book is part fun and sexy romance and part deeply therapeutic balm in our current political hellscape. If you happen to love the Fug Girls' The Royal We AND an alternate history in which a competent woman is POTUS, this book neatly fits that particular Venn Diagram. Read it. Fall in love, like

I did.

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LibraryThing member Bran_Pap

Let me be clear, before I'm absolutely eviscerated by my loved ones for not giving this 5 stars: I really, really loved this story. The last chapter made me cry. I rooted for Alex and for Henry the whole time. I loved the cast of characters. I loved the ending.

I just didn't love the writing. It's

a good book, don't get me wrong, and I really did enjoy reading it. But the writing just didn't work for me, particularly in the first half of the book. Some of the exposition felt clumsy and Disney-like, and there were scenes that felt like they were trying too hard to connect to today's youth that they made me cringe. However, I'm also not used to reading YA or NA, so it's possible that's just a genre feature that will take me some getting used to.

However, Casey certainly has a knack for the comical, and the book had me literally laughing out loud at times (THE POWERPOINT OH MY GOD). They also mastered the characters, who felt simultaneously like caricatures and real people. I don't know how else to describe them.

And also, this book is IMPORTANT. It's so important to have queer romances like this represented in major print, and I'm really glad I read the book!!! All in all, would recommend, and I'm excited to see how Casey grows from here!

EDIT: ALSO REALLY EXCITED TO SEE THIS ON THE BIG SCREEN BECAUSE I PERSONALLY FEEL IT MAY WORK BETTER AS A SCREENPLAY

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LibraryThing member humouress

{stand alone. Romance, gay romance, steamy} (2021)

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the younger child of the first female US president and a senator and his ambition is to be the youngest ever senator himself. He has been cast as the American equivalent to his arch-nemesis, bland Prince Henry who is the

youngest son of the heir to the British throne. When they are forced together after a PR disaster Alex finds Henry unexpectedly human and so a grudging friendship begins which blooms into something more. But both their families have high profiles and with Alex's mum coming up for re-election neither of them can afford their secret romance being revealed to the public.

I picked this up because it came up in the June penguin LT Treasure Hunt (with a hint that it's being turned into a film) and I'd seen it on other people's book lists.

The story is told in the third person from Alex's point of view. I enjoyed the first part of this book, getting to know the characters. Alex is high energy and I liked the dynamics between the close-knit group of people around him although I could have done with less casual swearing in their dialogue. I thought the mix of fiction with actual history (the First Family being successors to the Obamas) was fun.

Prince Henry was a bit two dimensional and was more of a foil for the plot, just so it could utilise his public position as a senior British royal. This is where my usual gripe of American authors not really getting Britain would come into play - but I saw that one coming and let it ride. On the other hand the royal family, as portrayed here, seemed a lot more - shall we say - woke.

I think this is a book more for American audiences; the ins and outs of American presidential campaigns are a mystery to me and, though they are life and blood to Alex, I'm afraid my mind glossed over those passages in the book. Similarly the different names for types of Mexican food mystify me. I don't recognise most of the names I saw - even though I've probably eaten most of it in the past.

I assume that if these characters were real people, they would have a lot more security; at one point, both the US president's children, the vice president's granddaughter, the youngest two children of the heir to the British throne and their millionaire best friend part-ay with only one bodyguard. And I would assume that, with all the media surrounding such high profile people, Alex and Henry would have been a lot more discreet about their secret assignations.

When Alex thought he might be bisexual he spent about five minutes questioning it and then jumped straight into a hot and heavy affair without a beginner’s lesson, even. Maybe it would work for a driven character like him but I’d have thought it would have taken a bit longer for him to come to terms with it or at least a bit more explanation from the author about how he felt about this sudden discovery about himself.

The middle part of the book where the two protagonists found any excuse to fly across the Atlantic to jump into bed together dragged a bit for me. It also seemed a bit unrealistic to spend about ten hours travelling whenever they felt like seeing each other - but maybe it’s easy when you can skip the queues for security and immigration etc. so you don’t have to be at the airport three hours before boarding.

I did find the denouement in London sappy - sorry.

And maybe it was because I was reading an e-book so maybe the paragraph and/ or page breaks didn't come through properly but I found the occasional sudden changes in subject jarring.

Improbable (in the small details) but a fun romp; just suspend disbelief going in.

3 stars

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LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson

A boring, incredibly naïve look at an American president's son falling into a hate-love relationship with a British prince of the realm. The romantic encounters were ridiculously over-the-top (obviously I'm not the intended audience, despite my complete acceptance of LGB love); and the portrayal

of relationships/behaviour within the British monarchy was so implausible as to be asinine ( no princess would tell her mother ~ in this case the Queen of England ~ to shut up).

I didn't mind the backdrop to the American political machinations in a re-election campaign and there were some good characterisations (Rafael Luna, Oscar and Nora) but these plot points were not enough to lift the story into something well-written or credibly-plotted.

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LibraryThing member jpeterman

I read this because everyone was saying how funny but was. I really didn't find it very funny. It was ok. A *lot* of swearing. *A LOT*. The author managed to turn 21 year olds and up into a bunch of 15-16 year olds.

LibraryThing member GracefulPhoton

A charming book. At times I was all big smiles from the love story, at times I was swept up in the optimistic vision of American politics, and at times I was a jarred about the way in which the world of the book is so similar to ours, but so very different.

Not what I had expected, in that the

central romance wasn't so much between two characters, as between one character and the USA.

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LibraryThing member haymaai

‘Red, White, and Royal Blue’, a debut novel by Casey McQuiston, is a love story, but not a typical one. Alex Cameron-Diaz, the First son of American President, Ellen Claremont, absolutely hates the aristocratic Crown Prince Henry of Great Britain. His outward antipathy for Henry reaches a

crescendo when they enter into a verbal sparring match at a wedding and accidentally fall into the wedding cake. After this debacle, both institutions attempt at damage control and try to portray both men as being best friends at social events. Eventually, Alex realizes that he is bi-sexual, and his attraction to Henry is reciprocated. Sparks ignite, and some enticing, clever emails and texts fly across the Atlantic. As President Claremont is campaigning to win re-election to the Presidency, a caustic event occurs which may demolish all hopes of a second term. Now Alex and Prince Henry must decide how to proceed with their relationship, and to determine if it is worth salvaging amidst the stresses of American politics and the British monarchy. Although the story is rather long (452 pages), much of the dialogue was clever and refreshing, and I found myself raucously cheering from the sidelines for the loving couple, Alex and Prince Henry.

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LibraryThing member scarylullabies

Just a really heckin good book. The hype ain't lying about this one.

LibraryThing member shazjhb

Such a fun book. Wis it were true

LibraryThing member wyvernfriend

Set in an alternative universe where instead of Trump a divorced single mom of two kids, whose kids are half-hispanic, wins the presidency after Obama; and where the Queen of England is Mary II and the prince is the spare son of the next in line who married a James Bond actor (now dead). Those are

the major changes in the world, most of the rest is as is (with occasional name changes to protect etc.)
Alex Claremont-Diaz is the First Son and he and Prince Henry have a tense relationship. Things aren't improved when Alex drunkenly crashes into Henry's older brother, Philip's, (expensive) wedding cake bringing Henry with him. In order to smooth over the diplomatic mess the two have to make nice and do some photo ops with each other. Told from the point of view of Alex this is an interesting blend of West Wing, Romance novel and comedy. The messages between the two are fun and the messy lives are fairly realistic. I'm not sure that someone wouldn't have had an intervention about the public drinking long before the incident though.

The two of them work well eventually, it doesn't gloss over the problems but it does come up with some fairly easy answers.

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LibraryThing member managedbybooks

I loved this book so much! Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. This was the political queer parallel I didn't know I needed in so many ways. RW&RB is so well written and there's so much diversity! This novel breaks the political ground in so many ways with a female president, a biracial First

Family, cultural accuracy, and international relations. My only issue was the format of text messaging in the book. This might just be due to my copy being digital, but I found it difficult to tell who the speaker was for each text message because there was no clear distinction.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

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LibraryThing member clrichm

I ADORED this book. Absolutely ADORED. The characters, the addictive tropey-ness of it all, the political intrigue...my God, I want to live in this story.

LibraryThing member forsanolim

Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the United States’ first female president, is an American sweetheart. As the First Son of the United States, his exploits, along with those of the other “White House Trio” members—his sister, June, and best friend (the VP’s daughter), Nora—have been followed

in the media ever since his mom won her first term. One person he is not friends with, though, is HRH Henry, younger brother of the Prince of Wales—ever since the Rio Olympics, the two have been at odds. So when a clumsy mistake at the Prince of Wales’ wedding forces Alex and Henry to publicly pretend to be old friends, neither is excited. And yet.

New adult novels and romance novels are both out of my comfort zone, but I found this novel a lot of fun. Sure, it was definitely not the deepest novel or novel with the most literary merit that I’ve ever read, and I in some places could have used a slightly different pacing and a bit more depth to some of the supporting characters. In particular, I would have loved a bit more time in the initial best-friends-for-PR-only stage of Alex and Henry’s relationship, a bit more time to appreciate their interactions as “enemies” before changing their feelings. And I would have loved a little more of a dive into, especially, Nora and her personality.

Regardless, though, it was so much fun. The alternate-US setting was really enjoyable, and Alex and Henry were so cute. On a more serious note, I also really appreciated the description of Alex’s struggle in sorting out his feelings and sexuality. I found it quite well-done, and I was really pleased to be able to see a character in the middle of figuring out his sexual identity.

A few years ago, I read a description/defense of the romance genre as a special type of book where you can start a book and, the whole time, feel comfortable in the knowledge that there will be a happy ending—no matter what goes awry, a traditional romance will end up happy. As I mentioned, I don’t read much romance, but I really appreciated being able to relax so much and just enjoy the ride of this book. This was a quick read for me—I read it in under 24 hours—and I found it absolutely enjoyable.

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LibraryThing member Carolesrandomlife

Oh my gosh, how I loved this book! When I saw this book offered as one of the selections for Book of the Month, I immediately knew that I had to have it. I have heard great things about the book from a lot of different reviewers so I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about for myself. Well, I

quickly figured out that this book was worthy of all the hype it has received. I had a great time with this book from start to finish and am so happy that I had the chance to give it a read.

Alex is the son of the President of the United States. His mom is the first woman elected into that office and his father holds a seat in Congress. He plans to run for public office himself someday and enjoys getting involved in politics. He does have a bit of a problem with one of the English princes and he has a royal wedding to attend where he is sure to run into the prince in question and maybe even share a bit of cake. When things go wrong at the wedding, those in charge decided that Alex and Henry need to spend some time together and show the press that they are actually friends.

I loved Alex and Henry. The story is told from Alex's point of view so we do see more of what is going on in his world but I have to admit that Henry stole my heart. Henry had so many things to deal with and his life was under the control of others. He was such a caring character and I just wanted to see things work out for him. Alex was also amazing. He had a lot to figure out in this story but he wasn't afraid to take risks when necessary. I thought that the supporting cast of characters was also very well done.

I thought that the romance was very well done. I really liked how their relationship developed and enjoyed seeing them turn to each other more and more as the story progressed. Most of the time, these two had an ocean between them but I really enjoyed all of the texts, emails, and phone calls they shared. When they were together, it was special. These two had fantastic chemistry that only grew stronger throughout the book.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I was swept away by this story and felt like I was right there with Alex and Henry cheering them towards their happily ever after. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

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LibraryThing member Narshkite

Sweet and smart and fun. I really enjoyed this read. In the last couple weeks I have been stressed at work and I moved, and then there is my country, which had already gone straight to hell, but then found a previously undiscovered circle and went there. I mention this because I needed something

light as air and filled with hope. This delivered. I took a star away because there were several parts where the pacing was off and it started to drag. I think it was because the letters between Henry and Alex were so lovely and swoon-worthy McQuiston didn't want to cut any. I get that, but pacing sometimes requires killing your darlings. I found myself thinking "Enough with the love letters!!!!!!" though I am generally a "bring on the love letters" kinda girl.

I listened to the audio for this and liked the narrator.

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LibraryThing member MillieHennessy

This review and others posted over at my blog.

My friend Chelsea adores this book and I was intrigued because every now and then I do love a good rom-com read and I’m more prone to pick up YA romance if it’s LGBT+. Chels is a doll and gifted me a copy and I finally managed to buddy read it this

month with my friend Mel (who also enjoyed this). Very glad I read this, as I loved it and it was just the kind of sweet read I needed to start the year with.

I love the tone of the book, particularly the way the characters speak and act. As evidenced by these quotes:

“ ‘Sugar, I cannot express to you how much the press does not give a fuck about who started what,’ Ellen says. ‘As your mother, I can appreciate that maybe this isn’t your fault, but as the president, all I want is to have the CIA fake your death and ride the dead-kid sympathy into a second term.’ “

“ ‘Both sides need to come out of this looking good, and the only way to do that is to make it look like your little slap-right at the wedding was some homoerotic frat bro mishap, okay? 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.’ “

Also, this description of the Great British Bake-Off (which has become one of my favorite shows) is perfection:

“ ‘It’s just so soothing,’ Henry says. ‘Everything’s all pastel-colored and the music is so relaxing and everyone’s so lovely to another. And you learn so much about different types of biscuits, Alex. So much. When the world seems awful, such as when you’re trapped in a Great Turkey Calamity, you can put it on and vanish into biscuit land.’ “

I also loved the S T E A M Y bits. Woo! If you’re looking for some action, this book has it. Also, I think maybe this is actually New Adult because the boys are like 21+? I don’t really know. I was comfortable enough with their ages to enjoy the sexy parts, because as an adult I really don’t want to read about 16-year-old shagging, but that’s just my preference.

I also loved (yeah I guess this is how this review is going to go) that there was no Big Misunderstanding that leads to A Fight because Two People Who Love Each Other Suddenly Refuse To Communicate Like They’ve Been Doing. In this, the Conflict is realistic and you can pretty much see it coming and it gets Resolved Nicely.

I will say I found the very end, after the Resolution, to be boring. My investment ended at that point because all I cared about was the relationship between the boys and I didn’t need everything wrapped up in such a detailed bow. Something more succinct would have worked for me. But this is by no means a flaw.

If you’re looking for a cute, sassy, humorous, intercontinental gay romance to read, I would definitely recommend this. It’s also pretty politically relevant (primarily to those of us in the U.S., I assume) and my friend said she liked to think of this book as an alternate timeline to the events which occurred in 2016. McQuiston herself even commented something similar in her afterward and I quite like that idea. I wonder what alternate Millie is doing right now?

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LibraryThing member fastforward

I had such high hopes for this one and I'm happy to say it pretty much delivered when it comes to everything I want in a romance novel. I liked the characters, thought the two males had good chemistry, and the obstacles they faced along the way kept the story interesting.

Alex Claremont-Diaz's

mother is President of the United States. She is seeking a second term when Alex causes a tabloid frenzy by getting into an altercation across the pond with Price Henry. In order to smooth things over in the press, both men agree to some staged photo ops. They develop an unlikely friendship that turns into something more. But is the world ready for America's First Son and a British prince to fall in love?

I loved the premise for this one and kept thinking throughout the book how awesome it would be if this actually did happen in real life. For the most part I did enjoy the mixing of U.S. politics and the British monarchy although a few times I did question if something was truly realistic. The pace of the story was good and I'm glad the author didn't drag the story out and have a rushed ending which is fairly common in romance novels.

Definitely recommend checking this one out if you are looking for a good romance, enjoy stories with diverse characters, and/or like books that revolve around politics or the royal family.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a free advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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