#BooksThatWon’tBumYouOut: Red, White and Royal Blue

by KJ in #AmReading

5 Things I liked about Red, White and Royal Blue

I know. I know. You’ve either already read this rom-com about what happens when the first son and the second prince fall for one another, or you’ve decided it’s not for you. If you’re in that latter category—let me encourage you to think again. Here’s what’s to love about this book:

1. ) OOOh believable, insider-y looks at The White House and Buckingham Palace. I love a good look at a life I’m never going to lead, especially if it’s got all the dishy fun parts and the things that have to suck.

2.) The protagonist’s voice. This one’s told from the POV of the Latinx son of the first woman president, a young Texan who’s not at all certain of his sexual identity. It’s well done and again, feels true.

3.) All the fun secondary characters. There’s such a great stack of them in this story—Alex, the protag, doesn’t know it but a ton of people have his back, and they’re all well worth hanging out with.

4.) Politics as it should be. It’s like The West Wing is back, with idealism everywhere you look and the complicated good guys doing the complicated stuff that has to be done if you really care about democracy and the people etc. You will wish it were true when you’re done.

5.) Number five’s always for writers: here, note the sheer audacity of what Casey McQuistion has taken on here. An imaginary first family, imaginary royals, an entire imaginary election, and she doesn’t shy away from including real issues. Yet the book doesn’t get bogged down or didactic. Far from it. It moves fast and smart throughout. So if you’ve ever thought, oh, gee, I can’t do that, it’s too big, too crazy, too unlikely: grab this taco of a book—fun with some substance (but it’s not a kale salad, either, people).


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