Red, White and Royal Blue was a knockout success for Casey McQuiston back in 2019. Here, we review the novel and see whether it lived up to the hype. The novel is available now for purchase here.
Often when a book has as much hype around it as Casey McQuiston’s debut novel Red, White and Royal Blue, it is hard to live up to the hype around it. This may be one of the rare exceptions to the rule. Red, White and Royal Blue is a delicious romance, filled with everything you’d want from this kind of a novel and more. The book tells the story of the sworn enemy to unlikely romantic relationship between the Prince Henry of England and Alex Claremont-Diaz, the First Son of the United States, while his mother (the first female president) is gunning for her second-term in office.
At times, the novel falls into cliche – the sworn enemy nature of their relationship evaporates unnaturally quickly – but this does not make it any less propulsive or engaging. McQuiston artfully threads the romance through broader issues of attitudes to sexuality in the long-entrenched ‘traditional’ narrative of the royal family and in the threat that coming out may pose to Alex’s mother’s second term and his own political chances. Indeed, one of the most tear-jerking moments is seen in the public reaction to the romance, when the couple are outed through illicit means. The novel though should not be taken for a major political manifesto – it’s a compulsive and frivolous romance that is simply put, the ideal lockdown read, it’s an escapist and delicious work of fiction and you will love being a part of this world, even for a little while. Now, we remain excited for McQuiston’s second novel – One Last Stop – that will be released later this year.
