I used to avoid things that I thought received an unnecessary amount of hype.
For example:
Avocado toast with an egg
Ariana Grande
Carol
Friday Night Lights
Oat milk
Birkenstocks
At various points in the last decade, each of these has been a thing and I’ve resisted, solely because I thought they couldn’t possibly live up to the high praise they received.
But if you’ve watched, listened to, worn, or consumed a single item on this list, you know that there’s a reason they’ve gotten some hype. And the reason is that they’re enjoyable—if not necessarily good.
Anyway, I’m mentioning this because Red, White & Royal Blue falls neatly into this category. It felt like everyone was talking about this book last summer, so I put off reading it for over a year.
Now that I’ve read it, I get it. Mostly.
— Becca
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Fiction, May 2019
This book takes place in a dream version of the U.S., where the 2016 election lands the first woman president and her biracial family in the White House. And it kicks off with the perfect rom-com setup: Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of President Ellen Claremont, has a longstanding rivalry with Henry, Prince of Wales. That rivalry comes to a head when Alex has a bit too much to drink at a royal wedding and starts a minor argument that ends with the two of them tumbling into an eight-tier, $75,000 wedding cake. They’re forced to fake a friendship for the sake of international relations... and then it turns into something more.
Do you see where this is going? Are you envisioning witty banter, covert hookups, and lots and lots of angst over what it would mean for their families and countries if anyone found out?
If so, you’d be absolutely correct. It’s dramatic and it’s all incredibly, incredibly cheesy. But it’s fun.
Even Alex’s internal confrontation with his bisexuality is made fun here, but there are tiny pieces that ring true and might be helpful for the young-ish audience this book targets. The exact stakes he weighs (e.g. voter appeal and presidential approval ratings) aren’t even close to relatable, but other lines resonate. “Straight people, he thinks, probably don’t spend this much time convincing themselves they’re straight.” Yeah.
It’s also rounded out with a lovely cast of smart, funny side characters, some of whom get the best lines of dialogue in the book. Alex’s best friend, Nora, in particular, could easily be the focus of a slightly wilder, equally queer romance novel.
Of course, the political climate is wildly idealistic and the romance is requires you to throw believability to the wind. But, really, for this book—who cares? It’s escapism in its purest form and given that the world is currently burning, I will not judge you if you genuinely enjoy it. I did.
This is also the kind of story that practically begs for a movie adaptation with a ridiculously hot cast, and I only made it 50 pages before looking up whether that was in the works yet.
It is—or at least it was, pre-pandemic—and Casey McQuiston has already voiced a desire to have Connie Britton play Ellen Claremont. If you read this book, please read it with that in mind and help manifest what would be her greatest role since Tami Taylor.
Queer points:
+5 for a PowerPoint presentation with a slide titled Exploring Your Sexuality: Healthy, But Does It Have to Be with the Prince of England?
+14 for many emails ending with excerpts from letters between historical figures (cheesy!!!), including Vita Sackville-West’s famously romantic one to Virginia Woolf, which you can watch Jodie Comer read aloud here, if you have not done already