
RED, WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE // an actual book review?? i just needed to gush all over this gay masterpiece
Yes hello, I am finally appearing out of my miserable hole of not doing a proper review for literally 9 months? And I realise that is the same amount it would’ve taken me to have a child. Ruby that was the lamest joke you have ever come up with WHY!
Anyways, I have just read this masterpiece of a book that everybody was talking about. I gave in and picked it up on a total whim and I have EMOTIONS.
I don’t know how to review anymore whoops…
Title: Red, White & Royal Blue
Author: Casey McQuistion
Page count: 423
Release date: 14th of May 2019
Genre: New Adult romantic contemporary
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Synopsis:
What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper and more dangerous than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colours shine through?
Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.
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STAR RATING (5 out of 5 stars):
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I am currently a puddle of melted emotions on the floor.
THIS BOOK THIS BOOK THIS BOOK!
Like how do you come up with this amazing-ness? Casey just blew it out of the park and I just,,,
I literally just want to read it over and over and over again. This very gay book has absolutely stolen my heart and is one of the best books of 2019. Hands down *insert appropriate emoticon*.
The people really were right. This book deserved ALL of its praise and I just want to BOW DOWN to it in praise. My heart has been stolen by Alex and Henry. I love them so freaking much. And you should too. Don’t be me and literally avoid and procrastinate every single book.
- Oscar Diaz: this man is the literal image of DAD and I loved him. Alex just has the coolest parents. But yeah, Oscar had big Dad energy!!
- Phillip [whose surname is way too long]: can someone just squish this little insect underneath their shoe, please and thank you. He was the worst and a terrible brother to Henry. Sir, the exit is just on the left and we’d like you to take it.
- Ellen Claremont: Madam President is the actual best and an icon. Alex has the best parents. I loved how she was President at some points and then she just zoned out into Mom-mode. As I said AN ICON.
- Nora: LOVED her so much omg. An awesome best friend. Alex just has some awesome people in his life and I loved Nora. She was a sassy organiser and low-key reminded me of myself except I don’t put in as much effort into anything whoops.
- June Diaz: I swear all of Alex’s family are just icons. Because June was also awesome and the best sister.
- Alex Diaz: ahh this dramatic idiot who never thinks before he does anything and whom I LOVE WITH MY WHOLE HEART. This boy is so stupid but also in the best way. Oh my gosh like kid SLOW DOWN. But also don’t because like they at least worked. I loved Alex okay!
- Henry [insert incredibly long surname here]: omggggg my heart literally breaks for him and I adore this chaotic gay with every fibre of my being and I just,,, I cried when he cried and GAHHH. My heart literally could not handle it. The amount of shit he had to go through UNIVERSE LEAVE HENRY ALONE!!
How many times will I say I love you in this review? Probably 1000.
How am I going to live now that this book is over? I NEED A SEQUEL! I kid you not that I turned the last page and saw ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and was like “bitch what?!”.
Oh yes please, imma swear a bit in this review because they swear a lot in this book. Sorry, 8-year-olds. Which brings me to the first thing I wanted to mention and that is how much swearing is in this book. If you didn’t know, which you probably didn’t, I swear a lot. But like obviously, I don’t online because we got to keep it in PG13 here but the characters just swear all the time in this book. And I was like this IS ME on a day-to-day basis HA.
Let’s take a second to talk about the writing style. I was not expecting the third person, I thought it’d be in first person from Alex’s perspective. And it was from his perspective but just not in first person. It was also in the present tense which was new, and I really loved it.
I also don’t read a ton of adult books, let alone new adult books, but I had to read this book because you all were raving about it. And it was so nice and refreshing. I’m getting more and more into the genre and it’s a GREAT time.
I loved the White House setting, the emails, all the British slang and just EVERYTHING. A wondrous book!!
Also: Hufflepuff-ass bitch. That’s all I’m going to say on that.
There are just too many scenes that I want to cry about because they were so BEAUTIFUL and pulled at my heartstrings.
Firstly, I got immediate Snowbaz vibes from Alex and Henry which ya’ll know is my fave. And just like with Simon from Carry On: Alex, sweetie, there is no way that you hate this boy. Stop lying to yourself. Because honestly. I never bought that hatred. The idiot was into him the WHOLE time and any other opinion is WRONG.
Like literally who were these kids fooling when they said they were just in it for booty calls? I truly do not understand them sometimes.
Ellen’s PowerPoint presentation was AMAZING omg I loved it. AN ICON!
My favourite scene is probably when Alex flies all the way to London (also love when Zahra shouts at Shaan) and starts screaming to a window. It’s lowkey hilarious. The best part is the scene afterwards when they tell each other the ‘I love you’s’. That MELTED ME. Gosh, I loved it so much. Also, love when Alex puts Phillip in his place afterwards because YES.
THIS DAMN BOOK!!!
I literally started crying when Henry broke because l just love him that much much.
We do not like the Queen. Stuck up little devil who I wanted to strangle.
I also really loved their vacation SO CUTE!!! My heart just melts every time.
When the emails got out. Um. No. Just no. Richard is also the literal worst and we’re not going to talk about him thank you very much.
I loved the plane ride though and when Henry fell asleep in Alex’s lap. SO CUTE. It was just all so good. THE PORTRAIT ON THE WALL. This is just the response we need and I just loved how Casey made everyone so supportive because YES. I also would like a ‘history huh?’ shirt.
I am just flailing my hands everywhere because this book was just so amazing. And I loved it so much. I need to go buy a physical copy so I can hug it to my chest forever.
*screams into oblivion*
As you can tell, I loved this book a whole lot and am going to read everything else that Casey publishes because YES.

yes hello, there are many amazing lines that I HAD to share so feast your eyes!!!
“The next slide is titled: EXPLORING YOUR SEXUALITY: HEALTHY, BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE WITH THE PRINCE OF ENGLAND? She apologizes for not having time to come up with better titles. Alex actively wishes for the sweet release of death. The one after is: FEDERAL FUNDING, TRAVEL EXPENSES, BOOTY CALLS, AND YOU.”
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“That’s the choice. I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.” – Alex Diaz
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“Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.” – Alex Diaz
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“Sometimes you just jump and hope it’s not a cliff.” – Alex Diaz
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“Henry looks Philip square in the face and says, “I’ve been gay as a maypole since the day I came out of Mum, Philip.”
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“The moment you first called me a prick, my fate was sealed. O, fathers of my bloodline! O, ye kings of olde! Take this crown from me, bury me in my ancestral soil. If only you had known the mighty work of thine loins would be undone by a gay heir who likes it when American boys with chin dimples are mean to him.” – Alex Diaz
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“I hate this so much. I know. But we’re gonna do it together. And we’re gonna make it work. You and me and history, remember? We’re just gonna fucking fight. Because you’re it, okay? I’m never gonna love anybody in the world like I love you. So, I promise you, one day we’ll be able to just be, and fuck everyone else.” – Alex Diaz
HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DEBUT? LET ME KNOW!
xo


19 Comments
ReadyouLeyre
I 1000000% agree this book is the softest I adore it
Ruby Rae Reads
I just,,, literally do not stop thinking about it and my heart is a puddle on the floor
palegoldpages
literally couldnt have said it better myself especially because i still DO NOT HAVE WORDS also big thanks for all the little quotes you sent my heart flying all over again
Ruby Rae Reads
Caitlin, it’s what I’m here to do: make us cry all over again… whoops! But also THANK YOUUUU < 3
dbsguidetothegalaxy
I LOVED THIS BOOK. It’s definitely on my fave of 2019 list (which is apparently a long one)
Same! Like all throughout the last chapter my only thought was “I need more. I just need more.”
I’m really enjoying more new adult and adult books (ok, well, I did read tons of those in high school…when I wasn’t supposed to read them 😆 but you know, now I’m actually ‘allowed’ to read those books haha.
This book definitely had one of my favourite (out of like uhhh 500) tropes – we’re-pretending-we’re-not-in-love-while-sleeping-together and I loved how it played out!
Alex 👏🏻actively 👏🏻 wishes 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 sweet 👏🏻 release 👏🏻 of 👏🏻 death.
Ruby Rae Reads
YES SAME!! I’m really starting to enjoy new adult and am on the lookout for more. This was the perfect mix because I’m not that into smut you know? ALL THE BEST TROPES WE LOVE. Omg yes I LOVED that line. Alex is just a WHOLE MOOD
dbsguidetothegalaxy
New adult is definitely a sadly underrated genre!! Alex i just couldn’t handle at times 😂😂 i actually couldn’t listen to the audiobook at all in public because my emotions – laughing at basically everything Alex does or squealing at anything couply 😭
Ruby Rae Reads
Ahah NO A STRUGGLE!! It’s just so good though. I was carrying my kindle everywhere, but had to watch my back at school. I JUST LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH AHHH
dbsguidetothegalaxy
If I were in my home town I wouldn’t have bothered because that town has seen me go crazy with reading (walking into parked cars, dustbins, poles) and of course reading aloud/commenting about everything 😂😂 but I’m not there.
Hahaha I feel that. “What you reading? What you reading?”
SUCH A GOOD BOOK!!
Ruby Rae Reads
Ahah books are DANGEROUS okay haha. No no this young boy at my school was reading a bit of the book over my shoulder, it was just the swear-y, flirty banter, BUT STILL HAHAH
dbsguidetothegalaxy
😆😆 I hate it when that happens! Or when you’re reading a physical copy and they just try to lift the book up to see the cover??
Ruby Rae Reads
Ahaha yes so annoying
Jenn @ Bound to Writing
I just started reading this book and now I’m SUPER excited to keep reading!! Amazing review!! 😀
Ruby Rae Reads
Yes!! It’s so good ahh enjoy it!!! Thanks 💖
Jenn @ Bound to Writing
So I finished this book and I LOVED IT!! Pretty much for all the same reasons as you! Alex and Henry are the absolutely perfect couple and this book is super realistic and amazing in so many ways! I want more by Casey now!!
Ruby Rae Reads
Ah yay I’m SOOOO glad you loved it!! *squeals* give me all of Casey’s books eeekk
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