"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?"
Surprisingly –at least for this bitter, rude, tired old curmudgeon who
hates a lot of pop culture and other stuff- Red, White & Royal Blue by
Casey McQuiston is not a horrible gay romance novel. Yes it does feature a lot
of typical clichés you find in these romance book: the roguish, handsome
half-White, half-Mexican (some read Jay Bell’s Something Like Summer) son of
the first female president (it’s more or less a parallel universe story where a
women won the White House and not the Orange Cheeto. It also features a much
different Royal Family as well). And there is a prince, of course, but unlike
some of the YA titles that have come out over the last few years, this book has
a bit more depth (and a lot more sex) than any I’ve read before. So this one is
a bit more adult, a bit more polished.
McQuiston’s prose is strong and she really tries to give all her
characters some three dimensional life. Alex is honorable, smart, handsome, and
knows what he wants his life to be. Henry (the spare heir) is stuck like all
Royals, where duty to others and the family legacy come first. But he knows
what he is and (eventually) has the confidence to go with it. Still, at times
he came off flat, but I’m unsure if that was the subtle intention of the writer
(English reserve is also pretty cliché) or she just invested a lot more into
Alex.
She also tried to take on a lot of issues –both political and familial -
such as racism, equality, and imperialism (and something I found humorous
because Henry goes seems to hate the British Royal Empire, yet doesn’t
recognize he’s benefited from this monarchy in every way possible). She also
adds complicated family relationships that are right out any TV drama, so yeah.
I did struggle, rolled my eyes a many of times with the idea that the First Son and a British prince could go
almost anywhere without anyone noticing them or taking pictures of them –especially
since they would be surrounded by Secret Service Agents and black SUVs. The
fact it took well over 300 hundred pages before the secret was out is just one
the many rose-colored aspects the book has.
There is a few other things that bothered me, the deus ex machine ending
and the unbelievable blackmail sub-plot featuring a Republican running to oust
the president and a openly gay congressman who suddenly supports the him. So
the book has a very predictable outcome. Still, McQuiston’s humor and some great
dialogue salvage the book.
It’s not perfect, it’s (sadly) forgettable, but it’s also a great book
to read at the beach, on a plane, or at lunch when at work.
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