Red, White & Royal Blue: A Novel

4.5* This is a heartwarming and funny tale of love between the son of the U.S. president and the Prince of England. Escapist fiction at its finest and all told from Alex's perspective. 💜Alex: bi-racial (half white and half Mexican) and son of the U.S. president; bi-sexual; wants to be in politics for the rest if his life; so busy with his mother's campaign he has little time for anything else and doesn't have a lot of friends; 💜Henry: Prince of England; closeted gay except to all his closest friends and family; 💜June: Sister to Alex; 💜Nora: an MIT wiz and statistical genius; daughter to the Vice-president; 💜Bea: Henry's very supportive sister; This romance starts out with our popular hate to love trope that seems to be present in many books as of late. Henry's brother, Philip is getting married and Alex has to accompany his mother and her cabinet to the wedding. During the reception, a spat between Henry and Alex ends terribly and in the destruction of a $10,000 wedding cake. This incident calls for Henry and Alex to be publicly seen together on many occasions to instill faith in the stability of the diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and England. I do love the hate to love trope (if done properly) and I feel this fit quite well into our storyline overall as it helped to create a natural conflict that led them to spending tons of bonding time together. I love witnessing the progression of their friendship and ever closer into love. Do not mistaken this book to be all hearts and love letters. Before they were in love, they were two friends that "pleased" one another. The beginning instances of their relationship were met with gritty descriptions that had little to do with love itself. As someone who reads these books for all the mushy details, it was a shocker to see such gritty descriptions laid raw in such carnal detail. I couldn't knock this too much though because it also lead an element of realism you don't often get with a modern romance. This angle also made sure to keep away the dreaded instalove trope, which played no part in this slow ascent into love.Love was never just a ready made thing with this book. As their relationship built upon itself with time, so the depth of their love increased. Alex also bridged the gap of his sexual self discovery and he went from not being 100% sure of his sexuality to knowing what it was. A love that you can find your true self in is so rare and valuable and I loved that we saw Alex blooming into the person he was meant to become. The supporting characters in this were incredible and as the U.S. president (who was female 😍😍 and Alex's mom) had everything to possibly lose in her re-election campaign by a possible sex scandal, she always stopped to check in with Alex to see how he was doing. First and foremost she was his mother and second a president. I loved her so much and knew what support him may cost her, but she did it anyway. This is such an ideal that so many kids in the LGBTQ+ community don't always have the benefit of having a support system, and I loved how his mother emulated what a parent should be doing for their child. Along with a cast of highly likable and heart warming characters you get a mix of comedy with this. There is an instance at the beginning involving domesticated Turkey's that made me laugh out loud. I won't say more because seriously, you need to read this. This book had so many layers. It wasn't just two boys who were learning how to love one another; it was two boys learning how to love themselves in a judgmental world. And being that both Alex and Henry are very public figures, it was also about the rest of the world learning to love them too. Overall, I really only had one problem with this book. There was a part toward the beginning of the book when they were just starting to "get to know" one another in which Alex threatened to put Henry on a No-Fly List if Henry didn't come to Alex's room so he could do "very bad things" to him. To me, this was an abuse of power for personal gain and that is "never" okay in the context with which this was used. I found it hit a nerve that didn't set well with me. In spite of my one problem with this book, I did enjoy reading the rest of it. It made me feel so many things and it was so touching and beautiful.

Alex has had a life-long aversion to Henry, a British prince. He loathes the guy. And neither young men hide their dislike of each other. Until they have to, after a disastrous incident at the wedding of Prince Philip, Henry's brother. Alex and Henry embark on a public friendship tour to squash rumors and ease tensions between England and America, where Alex's mother sits behind the desk in the oval office as the President of the United States. Following an unexpected late-night kiss with the prince, Alex questions everything he believed about Henry and himself. Their relationship unfolds behind closed doors and last-minute event appearances just so they can see each other. But when someone leaks private e-mails between the two, it's a public relations nightmare for both countries and the President's run for a second term. Initially, I wasn't a fan of Alex, the main character. His sarcastic attitude often came across as rude and mean-spirited. After dozens of pages he softened up a bit and became more witty than crass. Then I warmed up to him and the story more. Once I bypassed my initial dislike of Alex's attitude, Red, White, and Royal Blue became a much more endearing and entertaining novel. Close to page 100 is when the novel really turned into a page-turner for me. So that left me with a little over 300 more pages to fall in love with the story. And I did. I really rooted for the two main characters and often found myself interested in some of the minor characters as well--of which there are many. I would have given this a 5-star rating had it not been for two annoyances. The final chapters wrap everything up a little too tidy and shiny and lovingly. (However, I did really enjoy the final scene and last sentence.) Secondly, **SPOILER**Alex frequently refers to himself as bisexual. He even addresses the nation and refers to himself as such. It struck me as odd and disrespectful to Henry and a cop-out by the author. Alex has no heterosexual relations other than past flings, etc. mentioned in moments of memory. But he clutched that bisexual title even after he admitted that he was in love with Henry. Alex spends a great deal of time making things right so that he can be with Henry, so Henry can truly be who he is, and so that the two can have a future together forever. Yes, he tells his mother and others that his relationship with Henry is FOREVER. But damn it, he's bisexual. --Okay, rant over. **END OF SPOILER** Side-note: Is this considered a young adult or new adult novel? The sex scenes were a bit graphic. Although, there were some moments of confusion. Sometimes I wasn't sure who was wrapped up around who and doing what. BUT still, I could follow the bulk of what was taking place, and it seemed a little too graphic for a teen audience. Leaning toward a 4.5 rating.

Tof boek, snel en goed geleverd

Ho comprato questo libro per i disegni e il capitolo in più ( nonostante avessi già il libro) E non ne sono rimasta delusa, anzi è meraviglioso!!! Disegni bellissimi, e il capitolo extra è stratosferico!! Questo libro mi ha fatto amare ancora di più questa storia.

Originally bought the book in 2020-2021 in my native language, didn’t read it because the translation didn’t catch my attention. This year I bought it along with another series in English, now I am obsessed!! I’m determined to get every single version ever released lol, pray for my bank account 🙏 Must read!!! The writing, the emotion, the storyline, everything is perfect from start to the very last word!! 💙❤️

Boken kom i bra kvalitet, inga skador på omslaget vad jag kan se, sidornas kanter såg dock ut som om dom har varit blöta och torkat igen, däremot inget större problem för mig

Well this book was kind of everything and I loved every second. I had heard so much about this from other reviewers and I was so excited when I was approved for the eARC. This book was absolutely adorable and definitely was worth all the hype I had been seeing about it! Red, White, & Royal Blue is about Alex, who is the First Son of the United States of America. He was thrust into the spotlight after his mother became President, and basically become like American royalty. It's no secret that Alex really does not get along with royalty, Prince Henry, but they soon get mixed into an international scandal at Prince Phillip's wedding. They are forced to become "friends" and participate in photo ops and spend time together to help save face for both of their families. However, they soon figure out that maybe all the animosity between them was really something more all along. Okay, first things first. I've seen this being labelled as a young adult contemporary book on some websites, but this is definitely not. It is a new adult romance at the very least. There are a lot of steamy scenes and fade to black moments, nothing too descriptive, but more than what you would see in a typical YA contemporary book. With that out of the way, I loved basically everything about this book. I thought the plot was amazingly well paced, I never found myself bored or hoping that the plot would just get going. I was entertained the entire time, and even though it does follow the typical romance formula, the author did some intersting things in the story that made it feel fresh and fun. I also really enjoyed the political elements of this story. We got to see the President and Alex trying to navigate this whole romance and its ramifications during the election year, and see Henry struggle on his end with what this relationship would mean for the "Royal Image". I thought all of that was super intersting and gave the book a deeper level of story telling. This book was also extremely diverse! We have bisexual and gay characters, a transgendered character, and lots of POC rep. And the cherry on top is that these labels did not define the characters! They were part of who they were, and yes their sexuality and race was important to the plot, but it was not their only defining characteristics in the book, and every character was developed beautifully. We also had a female president and tons of strong female characters in positions of power. Speaking of characters, Alex was hilarious. He is outspoken, brash, but still so unfailingly loyal to those he loves, that it made it hard to not love him. Henry was Alex's perfect foil. He was calm, quiet, and more subdued, but so passionate about topics and people he loved. The way they came together and worked through the tough times was really beautiful, and the really are a new OTP of mine. Nora and June were equally amazing. I loved seeing them grow individually and really learn what it as they wanted to do with their lives. Seriously, I loved all the characters, I can't think of a major character who was flat or not talked about enough. I felt connected to them all and enjoyed reading about their character arcs. Basically the TDLR is that I loved this book.