Review: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

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. 

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. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you? 

This book. This book. This book!!! I have not read a book that I have immediately put on my favorites list in such a long time. It made me excited, it had my mind on the story and characters constantly. For me, this is how I know how good a book is. How 5-star worthy a book is.

The writing made it so easy to get into. It had realistic dialogue that felt natural, like I could hear some of my own friends talking the same way and of the same things. The conversations were nice, relaxing, and fun! I have laughed out loud in this book - even when I'm not reading it and I just remembered it throughout my day. McQuiston describes actions so well, particularly while a character is talking and in conversation. It makes it feel like I'm right there when it's happening. But even outside of the dialogue, the flow of speech was so realistic that it felt like someone was explaining something to me rather than me reading something. I especially liked how the personalities of the characters weren't just laid out and told to us. It was shown to us, sometimes through little hints that end up coming together and showing you in a subtle way integral parts to these characters.

I loved the romance from the very beginning. I think mostly because I loved the characters individually. They were so unique, individual from each other, and all so likable (at least the main characters). Henry was absolutely my favorite. I loved him and just found his personality so adorable and relatable! I also loved the portrayal of Alex. It was so refreshing to see that the main character is the one with the cool façade while the love interest is the one that is nervous, shy, stuttering. But at the same time, these characters were themselves, they did not fill a re-used mold of trope-y characters.  I think McQuiston did a great job developing their relationship, I thought it was realistic and I enjoyed seeing it unfold.

This is a very character driven novel. So I loved seeing the little clues of Alex and why he is the way he is and how things in his life effected him without it being so obvious, it was subtle and it was understandable and it was so engaging for the reader. The concept of a public self and private self was touched upon quite a bit and I felt so connected to it. I think the building of Henry seeing Alex's private self was particularly well done and touching. I loved the subtle change we see in Alex, what he undergoes to who he eventually becomes. 

The pace was good and gripping enough while not feeling overwhelming. The metaphors and some portions of the writing were so beautiful, they were breathtaking. I loved the text excerpts, the emails (how romantic they were - I died). The wittiness was also mcuh appreciated. As a self-proclaimed political junkie myself, I really loved reading the additions of political talk and the impacts of it in their lives, plus what the characters saw their role in politics as and the change they can create due to it. Even the lesser theme of feminism and Alex's acknowledgement of his mother's influence was so gratifying. It was like one of my favorite things in life added to this already great book. Speaking of: the themes of leaders, their care for their people and how little of that there really is while the hints of the impact having more of those types of leaders would have was empowering and gave me a sense of yearning to want change, to see it just like Alex wanted to see it - wanted to be a part of it. 

There were negatives. Granted, they were mostly overshadowed by how much good was surrounding them so they did not bother me enough to think this was anything but 5 stars. The chapters were too long which doesn't seem like a big deal, and it's not - not really. But, it's easy to kind of need a break instead of being gripped nonstop by the novel. Even if it's not boring, it's just the length of multiple scenes that were clumped together when they really didn't need to be. Sometimes the lingo, the cursing - the multiple "y'all"s, it felt a little forced. Not that they shouldn't be there - just the sheer volume of them and sometimes uncessarily makes it feel unnatural. If they were reduced, it would have felt more natural (like the rest of the dialogue) and their absense wouldn't have taken anything away from the book. Also, sometimes (like once), the descriptions didn't translate well. I couldn't picture what was being described but honestly, it didn't effect me much and I just pushed through and was fine. But maybe it could have added more impact to the scene.

In the end, though, I think the story was wrapped up nicely.

I just want to say again: I love Henry so much. How I wish we could have read from his perspective. I want to hear his thoughts and emotions, from the very beginning - maybe even before that. His character was so interesting and I wish we could see Alex through his eyes like we could see him through Alex's. I want to hear his words, his beautiful beautiful words. A Henry POV of RWRB, or a Henry POV sequel? Yes, please. Honestly, Henry might be one of my favorite characters of all time. I adored him just as much as I adored this book.