Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

e-ARC, 432 pages           

Release Date: May 14, 2019

Published by: St. Martin’s Griffin
Read from: April 19-22, 2019

Stand-alone

Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.) 

TW: 

For fans of: Contemporary, Romance, LOL, LGBTQIAP+ (m/m), Realistic Fiction, Rom Com, Stand-alone, NA

     A big-hearted romantic comedy in which First Son Alex falls in love with Prince Henry of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…
     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?

*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than YA. I have featured it in Between the Covers as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!”

     I was a bit scared of reading this one. There were so many 5 stars I was scared that I would be the one weird person who didn’t feel the same. But I worried for no reason. This book was so good and definitely deserves all the praise it’s been getting.

     When the First Son of the United States and the Prince of England get near each other, chaos normally ensues. And this time was no different. Now they’re forced to act as best friends when it’s clear they’d rather do anything but. Until they start looking at each other differently. They begin to forget, with Alex’s mom’s re-election bid and Henry helping to keep up his image, that they didn’t hate each other after all….

     I know I love a book when I catch myself with real feelings about it. And this was the case with this book. I went through the complete cycle of emotions, from laughing, crying, laughing while crying, the whole nine. I felt so connected to this book. I’m not sure of the last one I was into this much. Where I cried THIS hard. It was so good and I hope everyone else that reads it loves it just as much. 

     As for the romance, I LOVED it! The idea to put the son of the US and the Prince of England together was perfection. I loved their sneaking around too lol It gave new meaning to foreign affair! Although it literally took only one very small incident between them that made him change his mind, I liked that they got together so quickly and we were able to see them actually be together. And because of that, I was really terrified of what I knew was coming. I just KNEW there was going to be something that came up in their relationship that broke them up and by then I was so into their relationship that I was terrified to get there. (I was more worried about HOW it happened than anything but I don’t want to add it for fear of spoilers) 

     As for the writing style, I did feel like it felt kind of jumpy. (But that could have been only my e-ARC not having any breaks in between changing scenes.) But I was still swooped into this story. I wanted it to be real life. From the 2016 election and the one from 2018 in Texas. I also laughed at so many parts, I found myself nervously talking to the book when the election came up, and swooning when certain other things came up. It’s been a long time since I was this into a book. I didn’t want to stop reading and I was so scared of what would happen to these characters. 

     Although its a bit on the lengthy side, I can’t really say there was anything I didn’t enjoy. This is one book I was so excited for for so long and I’m so happy it lived up to my expectations.I can’t wait for everyone else to read this book too! 

Overall, I give this