How do you want history to remember you? What impact and legacy do you wish to leave behind? Surely as a figure of hope, progress and prosperity for the human race in the history books?
...
I can't decide what to add next. At least, anything adequate, or short enough for a reasonable review word count.
I mean honestly, how do you review a book like 'Red, White & Royal Blue'?: a story about the First Son of the first female President of the United States and a Prince of England and Wales falling in love.
Brace yourself, and grab a cup of tea and a biscuit. This might take a while.
It's set in a parallel universe where 2016 was not a complete fuckup of a year, and where no one would really ever lose faith in humanity since then, killing something good inside them they didn't even realize was there until it was too late. 'Red, White & Royal Blue' could be just a fairy tale, just escapism, just idealism and optimism in vain, but so what? It's a hopeful universe where people and things can still be fucked and fucked up, but it could have been worse. It could have been our universe.
This novel - this beautiful, pink, powerful, important, fucking hopeful, heartbreaking, devastatingly sexy, emotional roller coaster of a package - all at once drained me and thrilled me to the core. I know I'm jumping the gun on assumptions here, but if there is one novel out of a few that could help heal different kinds of trauma, it is 'Red, White & Royal Blue'.
'Red, White & Royal Blue' is a rivals-and-enemies-turned-friends-turned-lovers plot. Following a national disastrous incident at a Royal Wedding, Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry, the two most eligible early-twenty-something bachelors in the world, are forced to pretend to be a bromance to save face and US and British relations.
But a grudging admiration and love disguised as hate had already existed between the two long before the humiliating incident. Now, together, they find out more about themselves, partly through each other. Their secret sexual affairs, their emails, begin not long after their friendly hookup for the press.
There are so many secrets, thoughts and feelings that the prince and the President's son have to keep to themselves, as world-renowned public, tabloid and political figures. With their own complex family lives, histories and dynamics, and places to call home with their own histories attached, they have more in common than they initially thought.
(That turkey scene, my god, that's funny.)
No matter how much either of them may want to change the world for the better and be allowed to be their true selves openly, they have to be careful. Not the least because of Alex's mother's reelection bid and campaign, holding on by a thread. The 2020 election is coming up, and there is conspiracy and corruption going on...
First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is half-Mexican, bisexual, and a politically ambitious and insufferable smart-mouth and smart-ass. He likes to make lists, and wears glasses to do work, too.
Prince Henry is gay, depressed, grieving for his late father (who, as a tidbit, played a James Bond in this universe), and he's aloof yet forced into a mask of charm, confidence and white bread blandness for the cameras, into a role he was born into and never asked for. He is doubly-forced to hide who he is by his traditional monarchy family - but specifically his grandmother and older brother - and to carry on the royal lineage, as is expected of him.
How many royals at any time can relate to Henry? He's so three-dimensional, so human. His grief so painfully authentic. I think he's my favourite, and that's not because I'm British.
There is just so much to say about this complex and complicated book: It uses the third-person narration, from Alex's perspective to be precise, and not the first-person - how long has it been since I've read a book that isn't written in the first-person narrative POV? The fact that it's nearly 420 pages long with only 15 chapters, yet I didn't care as the book fully absorbs your attention and investment and doesn't let go. There's the highlighted differences (and similarities, like with imperialism and genocide) presented between English and American customs, traditions and cultures. The overwhelming corruption, illegal acts, lies, nepotism and self-service in politics going back decades, centuries. That sexual predators, crooks, and compulsive liars and lawbreakers can get into politics and win or even lose upwards no matter what. The distinct, biting parallels between the political history and "scandals" here, and ours', much warranted. The history stuff. The geeky stuff. The political stuff and warnings. That the women and POC characters in this story get the most shit done. That the relationship between Alex and Henry, who are adults, is one of, if not the most, sexiest thing I have ever read. And I'm not saying that in a voyeuristic sense, as a straight woman liking hot guy action: they are so in love, so adoring, and so devoted to each other, in spite of having to keep their star-crossed love a secret from the world, that it is hard not to root for them.
Alex and Henry are so real it hurts, and I cared about them staying together, when the world is determined to make that impossible.
Sod it, let's get into the diversity: As I've said, Alex, the arrogant tosser with a heart of gold, is half-Mexican, and he is all-too aware that he gets scrutinized and marginalized constantly for being a First Son, a rising political star, and a national darling who isn't white. Just imagine how his life is going to turn out if everyone finds out he's also bi.
His older sister, June, is wonderful: an aspiring journalist always following the tabloids, and who is always there for Alex, and helps him to get his head out of the gutter (and his own arse) often. Relationships between siblings is another huge theme in 'Red, White & Royal Blue', and Alex and June are sibling goals.
Completing the White House Trio (named by President Claremont's calculating White House press team, as a millennial marketing strategy) is Nora Holleran, Alex's ex and the Veep's granddaughter. Nora is a bisexual tech and maths genius and analyst, also responsible for Alex's much-needed daily arse-kicking. She also may or may not be dating June, it's slightly implied.
President Ellen Claremont is divorced from senator Oscar Diaz, June and Alex's father, and her second marriage is to a lovely, friendly average joe electrician named Leo, who sold his company for her. Ellen starkly wears the pants in this relationship. And she still got to be President.
A senator, Rafael Luna, is Mexican and openly gay. A bodyguard to the First offspring, Cash, is once stated to be pansexual. Secret Service Agent Amy Chen is Asian, based on her last name, and is trans and has a wife. Henry's equerry, Shaan Srivastava, is Indian. The prince's older sister Bea was once in rehab for cocaine addiction, and she's super-supportive of Henry, and wants to play the guitar and perform in shows - not an ideal princess's life, that's for sure. Their mother, Catherine, has been a useless recluse in grief since the death of their father, and without revealing spoilers, I'll say that she becomes a absolute badass at the end. Like how real royalty should be. Alex had a friend in high school who he made out with once, Liam, who is gay and has a boyfriend.
I could go on and on.
Seriously, can you imagine what would happen if anyone of a certain US administration read 'Red, White & Royal Blue'? If anyone from Texas (where President Claremont is from, I might add) or any other right-wing state read it? If anyone who lives in or is involved with Buckingham Palace reads it? They'd shit themselves into a diarrhea coma. A shock like this book existing at all is less than what they deserve.
So much to love! So many reasons for 'Red, White & Royal Blue' to be one of my new faves. It should have been. It was made to be.
If only Alex Claremont-Diaz weren't such a selfish prick.
Okay, double-take: I don't hate Alex, who is the protagonist. No matter how much he says he wants to use his political status to help people, he's nonetheless egotistical, self-absorbed, thoughtless, hypocritical, and makes quick assumptions about people without thinking about their feelings and what they might be going through. A true politician, then. But he is realistic, given his position.
He and everyone else are very well aware of his flaws, and he gets shut down and insulted constantly for his cockiness and conceitedness. His loved ones and friends (the real ones he unwittingly manages to make) make it clear to him that not everything is about him. Doesn't seem to work that effectively.
Alex talks too much without thinking, and swears too much, and this is what mainly gets him into trouble. Others do stuff for him, give him stuff, and apologize to him (when really, it is him who should be apologizing), far more than vice versa. People end up helping him out, cleaning his shit, telling him their secrets (when he's hardly earned it) and making him feel better - and the ratio of him being generous, thoughtful, empathetic and sensitive back, is comparatively low.
He shows potential to be a fantastic diplomat, I'll give him that. By the end, I do wish Alex the best for the future and hope he goes far in government, as long as he stays true to his liberal democratic beliefs and his honesty, integrity, love, and being himself... but by the dear power of the blue states, man, seriously think about how others who are not your Prince Charming boyfriend have had it worse than you. Who deserve deeper sympathy.
My point is, upon finishing the book I felt that Alex could have grown up a bit more. Shown more evidence of the good politician he wants to become.
But...
Funny how the smug personality of the main character didn't end up ruining the whole liberal, lefty tome for me. It is that powerful and impactful.
With that said, as a side note, I didn't like how President Claremont is portrayed sometimes, in her role as both president and mother. Indeed, she herself states that being a traditional family woman is what sealed her fate as the president. Sadly that is realistic. A female president is still apparently too much for people to handle in our dick-obsessed world ("Not ready", my fucking foot), but one who is single? Or POC? Or queer? We can hope. Anyway, Claremont is sort-of aloof, but she cares for and loves her children, and is supportive of whatever they do, and whoever they are. But typically, she is at terrible odds with her ex-husband, right down to shouting matches at a family Christmas dinner, and unlike Alex, June of all people sees it as mostly President Mom's fault and problem to solve.
Claremont is called stubborn by her senator ex, like that's a bad trait for the president to have. This is never called out on (though his mansplaining to her is). And everyone in Alex's circle is a feminist, too.
A few or more typos are present that inexplicably got past the editor on the first draft. And despite my shelving this as YA, it is more NA, due to the explicit sex scenes and strong language on nearly every page. But older teens should read it and be educated and thrown emotionally, regardless. Heck, everybody desperately needs to read 'Red, White & Royal Blue'.
Just... I... wow. I'm going to stop here before I find myself at three in the morning still typing about everything I love about 'Red, White & Royal Blue'. It's funny, witty, didactic, passionate, and sexy. It's a love-hate relationship that's filled my heart like a water balloon, fit to burst. Did I mention how bloody hopeful it is, and what it represents?
Read it.
For the world and justice.
Red, white, blue, or rainbow - all colours should receive positive rep.
Final Score: 4/5
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