Red, White and Royal Blue, written by Casey McQuiston, is a queer romance novel with the theme of ‘enemies to lovers’. It revolves around the story of Alex Claremont Diaz, the first son of the United States and Henry Fox, a British prince, and is written from Alex’s POV. It is the debut novel of Casey McQuiston that was published in 2019.
Red, White and Royal Blue – one of my favourite books in recent years. A typical enemies-to-lovers story (cough) with a lot of cliché themes but full of amazing moments that make you giggle and laugh.
I watched the movie first last year based on this book, and since then, I’m obsessed with Henry and Alex; these two are absolute sweethearts (with their flaws, obviously.) After watching the movie, I decided to buy the book, and since then, I have read the book a few times already. I’m in love with this book and the movie, so here’s my review of it. (Contains spoilers)
What I liked about the book –
- It’s a good romance novel with a cute love story and drama in the background. I love me a good book like these, where something’s going on in the background and it’s not the typical A meets B, fell in love, and the end. It has a drama that’s sometimes annoying, but at the same time, shows the characters’ struggles.
- The writing style is great and easy to read. The detailing author had added, the formatting of proper emails and phone texts is not something you see in every book. I really loved that.
- June and Beatrice are amazing sisters to Alex and Henry. They are supportive and protective of their brothers, and they share an amazing bond. These two are my second-favourite characters in the books.
- The Emails. Those are f’ing everything! They are so funny and emotional at times, and the way Alex and Henry address each other in those emails and how their relationship changes over time is so amazing to read. (History, huh? Bet we could make some. My fave!)
- Its binge worthy. I finished the book in 2 days. No kidding. Alex and Henry are in their early 20s, and the author has done a good job capturing that, considering it’s her debut novel.
(I can go on and on about the things I love because I found it that good, lol!)
What I disliked about the book –
- Some of the characters are annoying and self-centered. I found the character of Ellen Claremont Diaz to be so selfish, and Zahra’s a little annoying. Ellen is Alex’s mother, and instead of thinking about her son, she thinks mostly about herself and her career. I didn’t like her character much. (Queen Mary, Prince Philip, and Richards are supposed to be villains, so no comments there, just simply hate them.)
- The main plot revolves around politics (apart from romance), which I barely like and have little knowledge about. (I’m Indian, so I don’t know much about American politics.) I mostly skimmed through those parts, so if you have an interest in politics and know that it had been written differently or poorly in the book, you might not like it. I didn’t understand some parts of the book because it was purely political. But I did enjoy reading them regardless.
- The enemies to lover part. This book is NOT enemies to lovers. Spoiler – Alex dislikes and begrudges Henry because of a rude comment and misunderstanding, which they resolve when they are forced to talk, and the rest is history. This isn’t slow burn; they get close pretty quickly.
This point is not exactly something I dislike about the but rather a mere opinion which may or may not be true. It felt somewhat like a fanfiction of Malec from Shadowhunters, whom I also love dearly. There are way too many similarities between all the characters, but it could also be because we malec lovers enjoyed this book/movie too much as well.
All in all, it’s a good, binge-worthy romance book that you can read in a cozy setting. But beware, it has a lot of politics, which is more idealistic and unreal compared to real life. Dive into it if you purely want to enjoy the romance, funny moments, and are up for a complete fictitious scenario, even if it’s supposed to be set in real places, and know well how to differentiate fiction, cheesy plot, and entertainment from reality.
Would I recommend it? Yes! Definitely!
It’s a fun read that you can pick up, setting aside the real life behind and enjoying the silliness.
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