ABOUT THE BOOK:
Alex Claremont-Diaz is the son of America’s first female president, who is getting ready to run for re-election in 2020. After an incident at a royal wedding, Alex has to pretend to be friends with England’s Prince Henry, to prevent it becoming a full-blown diplomatic and media crisis that would distract from his mother’s election bid. While the effort is initially to control the damage, the two actually do become friends. They eventually become romantically involved when Henry reveals he is gay and Alex realizes he is bisexual. They have to reconcile this with their positions on the world stage, while trying not to endanger his mother’s re-election.
REVIEW BY DANIA: Red, White and Royal Blue is one of the cutest romances I’ve ever read and it’s so wholesome that it almost made me barf rainbows and cupcakes. It’s a really good read for a sick day or a rainy day where you just want something warm and cosy. However, along with all this wholesomeness also comes quite a lot of politics and anti – monarchy sentiments that the author tried to tackle, all in one book while also delivering this romance that transcends politics. Though at first glance, the politics seems quite interesting, I was rather disappointed that even though the conflicts were introduced slowly, all of them were resolved in this one swooping motion and in very less time. Important plot points like the Raphael Luna one could have been elaborated on more because they desperately needed more substance on the conflict itself and the resolution. The UK side of politics was hardly talked about but when talked about, seemed to be only the tip of the iceberg. However, the plot points that didn’t relate to politics were quite good. I really liked the romance between Alex and Henry and that a lot of characters were queer and some even bipoc.
This is a must read for cute, contemporary romance lovers, fluff lovers and also good side character lovers.
OTHER INFORMATION:
Red, White & Royal Blue won a 2020 Alex Award and the 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Romance and Best Debut The novel was included in the New York Times Bestseller List in June 2019.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
1. Forced outing,
2. Attempted rape (talked about, not in scene),
3. Drug abuse (not in scene),
4. Parent death,
5. Rare instances of:
6. Homophobia,
7. Racism
8. Xenophobia
