Does Red, White and Royal Blue have a happy ending

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the First Son (his mother, Ellen, is the President of the United States). He and his older sister June along with the VP’s daughter Nora (who’s bisexual, I think) go to Prince Philip’s wedding party in England. Alex hates it because he’s got a thing against Prince Henry (one or two years older than him). Henry asks June to dance. Alex argues with Henry about stuff and they topple over the wedding cake. The press makes them look back. Ellen and Zahra, her assistant, decide Alex has to pose as Henry’s best friend. They exchange phone numbers and do interviews and things together. It’s revealed that June had a magazine when she was younger with Henry’s picture and Alex kept looking at it. Alex is in the kitchen when Henry walks in. Both of them find it difficult to sleep at night. When they visit children at the hospital together, Alex admires the way Henry connects with the kids and talks about Star Wars. When Alex returns to the States, he and Henry text each other, mostly arguing about things. Alex’s parents were both lawyers before they became politicians. They split up when he was fourteen and Ellen remarried Leo, this old businessman. Alex’s father is Mexican (I think) but the family used to live in Texas before Ellen got elected. His father went to California to become a senator or something. Alex enjoys talking to Rafael Luna, one of his father’s colleagues. At Christmas, the whole family’s together. Alex’s father says he wants to help Ellen with her re-election campaign but she refuses. There’s an argument. Alex storms out and calls Henry and vents. After that, they become much closer, even exchanging emails. Alex invites Henry to his New Years charity event. Henry brings his friend Pez who’s really rich and has a non-profit. Henry kisses Alex in the garden and runs away, travelling back to London. England has a new prime minister and Ellen wants to meet him so he comes to the White House with Henry in tow. Alex drags Henry away and kisses him back.

So the two are a thing now but in secret. They share a bed together and keep making excuses to travel to each other’s countries. Or they show up to international conferences to spend time. They also email each other. Henry wants to be a writer. His grandmother, the queen, has kept him firmly in the closet and since his father died, Henry’s mother named Catherine hasn’t been herself. Henry’s older sister Bea became a cocaine addict but she stopped when Henry drove her back and came out to her. Pez has a crush on June. Pez, June, Nora, Henry, Bea and Alex become friends and take a trip together to a karaoke bar and it’s fun. Alex invites Henry to go to his father’s place. At night, they go swimming in the lake and Alex nearly tells Henry he loves him but Henry walks away and leaves the next day, not being in contact with Alex. So Alex takes a plane to London to force Henry to talk to him. They confess they’re both in love and sleep together AGAIN. Henry takes Alex to this museum early one morning. Alex returns home. Rafael joins the Republican’s candidate, Richards, and Ellen feels very betrayed. Alex confronts Rafael about it but he refuses to say anything. Alex throws himself into his work for Ellen’s campaign. He wants Texas to vote blue and wants to be a senator himself. Ellen kicks him off the campaign when Alex tells her about Henry. A picture of him and Henry gets out. Speculation goes around about them. June posts a picture of her and Henry so it looks like they’re going out. Henry visits as well and Alex kisses him in the car. A picture of the kiss is published. Then all the emails Alex and Henry wrote each other are leaked. Ellen asks Alex is Henry is forever. He says yes.

The Queen of England closes down all communication but Zahra gets Shaan, the guy who handles all of Henry’s stuff, to let them in. Turns out the two are engaged to be married. Henry and Alex agree that. They get a meeting with the whole royal family. The queen wants to pretend everything was faked claiming the country isn’t ready for anything like that. Catherine finally stands up against her mother. On TV, there is support from all over the world for the two boys. Catherine draws back the curtains of the room and outside Buckingham Palace are thousands of people gathered together to protest for the boys to stay together. When Alex returns to the States, June tells him Nora hasn’t been in touch with anyone. Later that day, Nora rushes in and figures out who leaked the emails. It was Richards’ campaign. The alert had been sent by Rafael (as Alex figures out). Ellen gives Rafael protection. Rafael tells Alex how Richards had made moves on him when he was an intern. Four weeks later, it’s election day. It’s really close between the Democrats and Republicans, and Texas is the final state. Henry flies over to be there. Alex gives a rousing speech. Texas turns blue and Ellen wins the re-election. Alex decides he’s going to law school. Henry is going to work at one of Pez’s non-profit branches in Brooklyn so the two will be together. The book ends with Alex reconciling with his high school friend Liam (who showed up for election night as well) and Alex and Henry driving through Austin to Alex’s childhood house.

Plot and Pacing: This book was exactly what I needed. I’m a sucker for LGBTQ+ romance which, now that I think about it, is quite strange as I’m generally not a fan of any other kind of romance. The plot was predictable. I knew Alex and Henry were going to fall in love. I had a feeling paparazzi was going to play a role in their downfall especially because the two weren’t exactly subtle. And I was sure Ellen was going to win the re-election. This book was wholesome for several reasons though. The book is set in 2019-20 and it provided such a diverse and open-minded cast of characters. Ellen being the first female president made me smile because it could have happened in 2016. Though the book focuses a lot on the relationship between Alex and Henry, it tackles the brutal reality of politics. A lot of things are done for show. A lot of factors reduce people’s chances of being successful in running like sexual orientation and background.

I loved how the world united to stand up for the boys at the end of the book. It gave me hope that we are capable of changing for the better. It also reminded me of all that’s been happening right now with COVID-19. I have never seen the world come together to tackle a problem like this one before and, yes, I know that the ramifications are going to be huge and there will be many negative ones but it makes my heart go all soft and warm knowing that we are in this together.

The main reason, however, that this book was so special was the characters.

Characters: To start with, I loved how qualified everyone in the book was. Alex graduates from Georgetown summa cum laude. June is a talented writer. Nora was a student at MIT and worked for the campaign as a data analyst. Henry went to Oxford to study literature (I think?) and plays the piano. His mother, Catherine, is the first princess to have a doctorate. Both Alex’s parents were poor but worked their way up. I felt they deserved all the success they got because they had worked hard for it. On the flip side, I guess when your parents are leaders of their respective nations, you do have access to a lot more opportunities.

Henry and Alex were adorkable together. Both wanted to do good for their countries and both were keen on making a difference. I don’t think you really see much of that in young adult fiction. Actually, wait, I think this book counts as new adult since the characters were in their twenties. Anyway, most books I’ve read about younglings focus on their romantic lives and school drama and who cheated on who with whom. Yes, this book is about the boys’ love life but there was also a passion for generating change and standing up for the unrepresented. They both had goals–Alex wants to represent Texas, Henry wants to be an author and support people from poor backgrounds. They both want to be remembered by history, something I can definitely understand.

We get to see a lot more of Alex’s passion as the book is from his POV. There’s one bit where June tells him he’s always got a fire under his butt because he puts it there. He’s hasty to do as much as he can, to be the youngest senator, to be the first person to pave the way to history. I could relate a lot to that. I’ve always been in a rush to do things and get them out of the way. Hell, I’ve got the next ten-years planned out with some leeway because you can’t micro-manage everything. But I’ve slowly started to learn that it’s okay to take your time. I don’t really care much about that quote about the journey being enjoyable or whatever. I just want to make sure I’ve accomplished what I’ve planned for the year. But I think that’s putting unnecessary pressure on myself. It’s okay to not be on the fast track. On a side note, I think my ten-year-plan is going to need some major reworking. This pandemic has really shown me where my priorities lie. Alex also struggles a lot with his sexuality. He had something with his high school friend Liam. They messed around apparently. He keeps brooding it over. I quite liked how he untangled the complicated threads.

As for Henry, I guess his whole life is a gilded cage. You’d think it’d be nice to have everything at your fingertips, to be promised a place at an amazing university, to travel wherever the hell you wanted regardless of money or anything. But I guess I never thought about how dedicated some people are to celebrities. His whole life, Henry has been scrutinised and forced into a box that he doesn’t fit into. I can’t imagine how tough that must be. Anonymity can be quite pleasant. I also got the sense that Henry didn’t know how to stand up for himself. Seeing him change with Alex to become more confident was a wonderful development.

Both boys were absolute nerds. Their emails would end with quotes by famous queer people from history which I found endearing. They loved Star Wars and Harry Potter. It touched my nerdy heart.

I’m confused about June and Nora’s relationship. I had a feeling the two were dating but there never was a big reveal. I thought June was a great character. She kept the family together and I loved how she cut through all the crap. She could see through her family’s facade and was there for them. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if her memoir getting picked up for publishing was on account of her being the president’s daughter but I loved how supportive she was. Nora was an interesting character too. I liked her sarcasm. Zahra and Shaan were really cute together as well. I called their relationship before that reveal happened which I felt quite proud of. 🙂

Honestly, the only thing I didn’t like about the characters was how good-looking they were. So unfair. You can’t be smart AND attractive!

Writing Style: This book was full of cutesy moments and adorable fluff that I felt like every inch of me was smiling and squealing and basking in the glory of it all. It was difficult to get used to writing. It’s written in third-person present-tense and I’ve only really read present-tense in first-person narration. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book.

Miscellaneous stuff: It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get this review done. I managed to stare wistfully at the sun outside, attempt to understand how someone can talk for twenty minutes about the knee (the anatomy professors are quite hardcore), almost set fire to my oven and then rant to my aunt about it in the space of writing this review. I occasionally get into these moods after finishing a really good book. Writing these reviews adds a sort of finality. It’s my way of moving on and I didn’t want to move on.

Despite my abhorrence for romance and my intention to pursue a romantic relationship after the turbulent years of university, it’s books like these that make me question that choice. The love Alex and Henry feel for each other is truly something worth dying for. I cover the fact that I’m a hopeless romantic under layers of pragmatism and plans for the future because I know what the boys experienced in the book and the way they got together doesn’t really…happen. Perhaps there are a few exceptions but that’s all that they are–exceptions.

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