Red, White & Royal Blue
Oct. 3rd, 2019 02:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherI checked out a digital audio book from the library for the first time ever! I listened to it via my browser.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This is a joyful, adorable book. Alex is the charismatic son of the first female President. At an event, he gets into a small incident with the youngest Prince of Wales, Henry. The President's PR person orders Alex to be fake-friends with Henry to appease the press and smooth things over. They become friends, then lovers. Meanwhile Alex's mom is running for re-election.
Recommended if you like happy queer fiction, and especially fanfic. This author is clearly fannish: there are references to Harry Potter and Alexander Hamilton, some fanfic tropes and phrases (such as "unreadable expression" and that super annoying phrase "shit-eating grin"), and an epistolary chapter. These characters, and presumably the author, have such hopeful feelings about politics, the way people do in the West Wing or Pod Save America. The book takes place in an alternate universe where a Democratic woman won in 2016, thus avoiding having to discuss any real current events, though there are some sly references.
I didn't love the reader of this audio book. He leans hard into accents and it felt a bit over the top. Nonetheless, I do recommend the audio book, which made this novel accessible to me.
There are multiple queer characters and multiple non-white characters in this book. Alex expresses anti-colonialist views and is skeptical about the whole concept of royalty.
Content notes contain spoilers:
Alcohol use, divorced parents. Alex and Henry are outed by the press before they are ready. Henry deals with homophobia from his family. Brief, non-graphic part about workplace sexual harassment.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This is a joyful, adorable book. Alex is the charismatic son of the first female President. At an event, he gets into a small incident with the youngest Prince of Wales, Henry. The President's PR person orders Alex to be fake-friends with Henry to appease the press and smooth things over. They become friends, then lovers. Meanwhile Alex's mom is running for re-election.
Recommended if you like happy queer fiction, and especially fanfic. This author is clearly fannish: there are references to Harry Potter and Alexander Hamilton, some fanfic tropes and phrases (such as "unreadable expression" and that super annoying phrase "shit-eating grin"), and an epistolary chapter. These characters, and presumably the author, have such hopeful feelings about politics, the way people do in the West Wing or Pod Save America. The book takes place in an alternate universe where a Democratic woman won in 2016, thus avoiding having to discuss any real current events, though there are some sly references.
I didn't love the reader of this audio book. He leans hard into accents and it felt a bit over the top. Nonetheless, I do recommend the audio book, which made this novel accessible to me.
There are multiple queer characters and multiple non-white characters in this book. Alex expresses anti-colonialist views and is skeptical about the whole concept of royalty.
Content notes contain spoilers:
Alcohol use, divorced parents. Alex and Henry are outed by the press before they are ready. Henry deals with homophobia from his family. Brief, non-graphic part about workplace sexual harassment.
