Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

About the Book

Politics? International affairs? Risqué forbidden romance? Tooth-rotting fluff? This book has it all.

Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the President of the United States, Ellen Claremont, is already struggling with the limelight when an incident involving Prince Henry of Wales, an important dinner, and cake quickly becomes front page news for gossip magazines and forces him further into the public view. In order to keep everything from exploding any more than it already has, Alex and Prince Henry must pretend to be best friends in order to maintain both country’s appearances. But soon their fake friendship turns into a real friendship and then something more. But with the expectations of the crown and Alex’s Mom’s re-election on the horizon, the couple faces obstacles around them and within their own hearts.

Ezra Alixandra's Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“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."

After only a couple of chapters, this book became one of my favorites. Clearly written by a queer author, this story is refreshingly relatable. I haven’t found myself enamoured with LGBTQ+ YA novels of late (Leah On The Offbeat or What If It’s Us for example), but this one definitely changed that assessment for the better and widened my horizons towards new queer authors. For those of you that have been reading queer YA for as long as I have, this book reminds me of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe with a couple of especially poetic passages, but also has a more modern vibe like Bill Konigsberg or Nina LaCour.

Peppered with allusions to LGBTQ+ historical figures and queer love letters of old, this book is chock-full of fantastic romance and incredible characters. It’s almost impossible to believe that this is Casey McQuinston’s debut novel. Overall, would give this book 5 stars!

(It needs to be noted that this is technically not a YA novel, and I would recommend that you be 15+ to read it).