Red, White & Royal Blue By Casey McQuiston [Mini-Review]

RELEASE DATE: May 14th 2019
AUTHOR: Casey McQuiston 
GENRE:    New-Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ, romance.
PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Griffin  
SUMMARY:

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 was pretty much hyped these days and here comes my unpopular opinion,  I didn’t love it. Although I liked the characters, I didn’t enjoy  the book as much as I thought I would. To be honest, for the most part I was pretty bored with the political aspect which was my first issue. Coming to the romance aspect, I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t really a hate to love romance. And my third issue was the third person pov.

There are two main characters in this book but  my favorite was Henry. Alex seemed a bit whiny and annoying. It took  me a while for me to like his character. Alex thought he was a straight guy, but after meeting Henry he finally realizes that he was actually a Bi. Henry was a total gentleman and he isn’t wild and reckless like Alex.  I don’t blame Alex for being so obsessed with him. The romance between them was sizzling hot and here I thought it was a YA book 😂 because it’s really not. There’s a lot of steamy scenes, they’re not too explicit but not PG rated either. Alex and Henry initially hate each other, but when they’re forced to stage a fake friendship they quickly become real friends and soon something more. I was actually expecting a good hate to love romance when I first read the synopsis but instead I’ve got a friends to lovers story. Coming  to the secondary characters, I liked Alex’s sister June, their best friend Nora, Henry’s sister Bea and his friend Pez.

There’s nothing wrong with the storyline but I think it wasn’t meant for me because I expected this book to be more like The Gentlemen’s Guide To Vice And Virtue. There’s some fun banters and great friendships but the political drama bored me. The pace was slow. The third person POV made things worse for me because I always prefer first person POV when it comes to contemporary books. The writing was good though.

Overall, it was an okay-ish read for me! Although it didn’t work out for me, I can pretty much see why there’s so much hype surrounding it.

   Recommend it?
YES

I would recommend it if you’re into NA Contemporary romance filled with political intrigue, friendship, and family relationships.

MY RATING:

[3/5 Stars]

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