Rating: 4/5
Spoiler Alert! This review will contain spoilers...you have been warned...
Red, White and Royal Blue has been on my TBR for most of the year and when I finally got round to reading it (in 3 days) I ended up having mixed feelings.
It's a cheesy premise, the First Son of the United States falling for the Prince of England, a classic rom-com if you ever heard one. In a lot of ways it does fulfil the clichés, and in a lot of ways it exceeds expectations. Essentially, about half of the book is a made for TV movie, and the other half is pretty horny and kinda deep.
So shall we start with the horniness?
Oh my god was this book sexier than expected. It's not straight up explicit, with the actual sex happening either "off-screen" or in roundabout phrases, but wow these boys know how to have sex. Granted, Alex's dumbass thinks it's just about the sex at first so of course there's a lot of that, but even when the more emotional side comes into play, it only makes the sex have more meaning, an emotional side that turns fucking into making love. I have to say I actually really enjoyed it. It made the relationship feel that bit more real; after all, they're in their 20s, in highly stressful positions....I imagine sex is a great outlet for them.
And then there's the serious talk. The grief, the unspoken pressure, the violation of privacy. There's definitely a very real sense that McQuiston understands the unpleasant side of celebrity. As Alex and Henry learn each other, so too does the reader, and all involved come to understand that the mental pressures of the lives they live are impossible burdens to carry.
There's also very serious political themes touched on by McQuiston - topics I wish could have been explored further. Rafael Luna's experience in politics, ranging from being openly queer, to coming from a family of immigrants, to the blankmailing and manipulation he experienced is all based upon real things that happen in the world of politics every single day. The lack of foreshadowing on this topic mirrored the absolute shock of these things happening in real life and the way the news breaks to people: of course you never see it coming because of course it's massively covered up. I would have liked to see more of that part of the political world, more of the danger and the lies that are so intrinsic to politics that it can be hard to prise them apart.
The more I think about that, actually, the more if probably would have put a dampner on quite a lighthearted book. Perhaps a queer romance isn't the place to discuss the pitfalls of politicians.
Remaining on the topic of politics, the thing I don't understand about Red, White and Royal Blue is why the book references so much of recent American politics - Sasha and Malia Obama, for example - and talks about very real processes and biases of American political campaigns, but feels so...wrong about England. I can't put it down to any one thing, but it felt several times like sections about the royal family were just unrealistic. Maybe the same can be said from an American point of view (after all, I don't see a divorced, female president with mixed heritage children getting voted in any time soon), but the English representation was definitely idealised. I don't know tonnes about the (real) royal family but I'm pretty sure that when you're the third child and fourth in line for the throne, talking about being "heir to the throne" probably wouldn't happen as much as this book seems to think it would. These sections did kind of take me out of the book and I've highlighted several very unrealistic scenes.
I've read several reviews of the book which complain about the unrealistic side of things. The "happily ever after ending", the incredibly unlikely political outcome, the underlying royalist sentiment and more. Although I have my complaints about this book, at the end of the day it's a fun YA romance about two boys being in love. It was always going to be cliche and sentimental and unrealistic. No one was promising an indepth political novel that took apart their sexuality and applied it to a realistic English monarchy and an America that's barely ready to see their President for the racist, abusive, manipulator that he is.
I can the faults ofRed, White and Royal Blue, because at the end of the day...it's hella cute. It's just a bit of fun, McQuiston playing around with what was almost definitiely an AUf fanfiction but making it something more than that, something that makes a statement on sexuality and gives hope to those who need it. Whilst it did frustrate me at points and it's not the most well-written book out there, it's cute and fluffy and takes me back to the days of reading angsty, pining fanfictions on my phone at 2am. In fact, that nostalgia is probably what pushed it up to four stars.Â
That and relating so much to Alex. I don't know if I've previously read a book with a bi main character, but my favourite thing about Alex is that he is explicitly bi, not just a character making an offhand comment where they could be read as bi but it's never explicitly stated. I never realised how much I needed a character like Alex until I found him. Characterisation wasn't perfect in this book but...god it was nice to read about a bi person realising their bi and coming to terms with it. It was relatable. To see myself represented in that way, to read the thoughts that I'd had in the past...It was really nice. Nothing revolutionary, just...nice. I feel like a lot of bi people go through Alex's "I thought I was just admiring men a normal amount but turns out actually I really like both men and women" period. I, certainly, related to that moment a lot, along with a lot of other sections where he explores his bisexuality. Alex made me feel like that experience was valid and whilst I never needed a fictional character to tell me that, it was surprisingly touching to find it so unexpectedly.
That comfort was not something I expected to get from this book. So whilst it wasn't a masterpiece, I think it will be one of those books I always remember fondly because of the way I related to it.