Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston – Thoughts

This book was my GR book club selection to celebrate ‘Pride’ and I absolutely loved it. In the acknowledgements section, the author writes, that she wanted to write a book about ‘hope’, when she came up with this idea in 2016. And although many would feel like this story was too far fetched for a realistic romance, it did give me hope, a lot of it 🙂

In a nutshell, this is a fairy tale love story, where the First son of United States falls in love with the Prince of England. They’re as star crossed as you can imagine, but are helped with a plethora of fairy godmothers in the guise of family, friends and personal guards, to fight for their love and get their happy ending. Oh, yes, rest assured, this book/story has the happiest of happy endings and I thought, that was a really good reason to read this, especially in the current times where everything else sucks.

The best part about Alex and Henry’s romance for me were the parts that came after they accept their attraction to each other. It was all their little texts, secret meetings, private jokes, and my favorite part of it all, all those letters with the P.S. of love letters/notes written by famous people! Those letters literally made my heart flutter and wish someone would write me letters like those too! LOL 😀

I also enjoyed the fact that this story wasn’t about coming out, it was about two really popular guys falling in love. I mean yes, we do have Alex come to terms with his sexuality as a bisexual, but that is a very short part of the overall story. I’ve read a few coming out stories, so I wanted to read about a love story between protagonists with different sexual identities and the challenges they face. The fact that both these men are extremely public figures with a political family background adds another aspect to the challenges couples could face.

Although Alex and Henry and simply #couplegoals and #dreamy, it was the supporting cast that had me hooked. I loved the White House Trio in the beginning – with the stylish and clever June, the supercomputer lesbian Nora and the sweetheart Alex. But when they become an even bigger group of six, adding in a very British Prince Henry, his best friend and young billionaire Pez and his younger sister Beatrice, I literally wanted to be a part of their group. I loved all the mother hen figures in the story too – Zahra, Amy and Shaan – their moments and dialogues added the required light heartedness in the overall story. Also, how cool are Alex’s parents, both his dads and his ideal Luna?? 🙂

I think the only part that I didn’t enjoy much was the extra political angle towards the end. I know it was important to the storyline – regarding the re-election of the first Mexican female President, but all the build up to the final scene in the story made me feel like we got slightly side tracked from Alex and Henry’s story. But that’s a very teeny-tiny issue that I have with this book, because on the whole, I felt like this story was full of rainbows, sunshine, hope and all things ideal 🙂

Book Talk with you guys

Have you read this book? Who was your favorite character in the book?

What are you reading for Pride this month?