#casey mcquinston red white and royal blue

[none-of-it-was-accidental]

henry read fanfiction. case in point:

[ma-lark-ey]

No I don’t expect the Red, White, & Royal Blue movie to be a “good movie”. You think I read something titled “Red, White, & Royal Blue” for quality content? No motherfucker. I’m here for a laugh. I’m here to make fun of dumbass main characters. I’m here for the SHENANIGANS.

This movie is gonna suck ass just like God intended and I’m gonna EAT IT UP !!

[crookedghosts]

does casey mcquinston understand that the lives of so many queer youth were saved by rwrb and that we need the sequel now more than ever

[random-bakwaas]

zahra bankston appreciation post

[two-longing-loves]

[voodoomamajujoo]

I am like 30 mins in the Movie, and I kid you not I have been waiting for this movie since last / last to last year, when they announced the it, and I don't know I am disappointed already.

THERE'S NO JUNEEE???? LIKE WHY CUT HER OUT ;_;

Alex's dad doesn't seem like a good casting decision, and idk they are just rushing everything and mixing everything and ugh.

Why are all Novels to Movie/Show transformations disappointing ;_;

[workingwhileidream]

THEY DESERVE IT

[wutheringmights]

"Red, White, and Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston is extremely dated. I know it was published in 2019, but spiritually this is a relic from 2013. This is a 2/5 for me.

The rest of this post is overwhelmingly negative, so skip if you don't want to see.

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't buy into its escapist fantasy. I like silly romcoms, but this novel felt like it had to excuse every aspect of itself. "Don't worry about the love interest being a British prince! He also hates the empire!" Okay, but now you got me thinking about British imperialism so much I can't ignore it.

Don't even get me started on how American politics is handled. Again, I am more than willing to turn my brain off and just enjoy a lighthearted romance, but the narrative didn't want you to turn your brain off. This would be fine if it went beyond buzzword acknowledgements of systemic injustice and the cesspool of American politics. Yes, rich white men in power is an issue. Do you have any else to say besides that?

And the thing that really grinded on my nerves was the narrative's insistence that Alex was some kind of underdog (you know, to contrast, Henry's privilege). But Alex isn't an underdog! He's rich! Both his parents were lawyers before they became politicians. His dad owns a lakehouse. His mom remarried a tech billionaire. Alex is rich and his lifestyle is rich. If the story wanted to be about a smart-aleck rich boy-- great! I'd actually prefer it that way! But instead it's all about how he feels like an outsider compared to how rich Henry is. I know it's not at the same level, but I would have preferred some acknowledgement over this insistence that Alex is Just Like Everyone Else (this in particular reminds me of how Sasha Alsberg accidentally revealed how blinded she is to her own privilege in "Breaking Time", but I digress).

Some other miscellaneous thoughts:

No story gets to call itself enemies-to-lovers if they fall in love in the first 100 pages

A book gets a free pass to make one Star Wars or Harry Potter reference; any more and it starts to read like it was focus-grouped for mainstream nerds

At the very least they should reissue this book to remove the (and I am loathe to use this word) cringey Harry Potter references

The prose is insanely readable, which is a rare feat of skill. McQuinston can write, I just wish she didn't write this story.

I've seen a lot of people say that this is written like a fanfiction, which I initially was going to fight on principle; upon reading this, I can concede that this story is at the very least structured like a fanfiction

Specifically, I think this story started as Hamilton fanfiction. No, I will not elaborate on this

[thecasualbookreviewer]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Red, white and royal blue (collectors edition) by Casey McQuiston

Review:

I’m only reviewing Henry’s chapter (the extra content in this edition) since I’ve already reviewed RWRB back at the beginning of this blog (found here).

Henry’s chapter was everything you want when you need more to the story, I loved that he got his pov since a lot of times during everything in the main story I wondered how Henry was processing everything and reading their future through his eyes was just such a delight. I love that get got to be happy and that they got to make the life they always wanted for themselves and slowly build the rest of their happy ever after.

It was around 30 pages or less but it takes you through the span of some years, with perfect glimpses of their lives and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it, I just I loved it so much.

If you have the chance, get yourself this edition you’re not gonna regret it all.

[juleworm]

RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE - CASEY MCQUINSTON genre: romance ( enemies / rivals to lovers )

overall rating: 5/5 "spiciness" rating: 1.5

content warnings: - sexual content (vague and nondescript) - implied grooming / sexual harassment by person in power - homophobia ( but nothing too bad or violent ) - politics - racism ( again, nothing too bad or violent ) - abuse of political power - nonconsensual outing of queer people

i got a little carried away talking about it ( still spoiler free, though ) so i'm putting a read more. please carry on!

overall thoughts: god what can i even say to do this book justice? it's amazing. i can't believe i put this book off for so long. politics and everything surrounding it are a big stressor for me and i was worried that it would stress me out reading about it, but instead i found myself rooting for the characters and was relieved to find that politics were more of a background feature for most of the book.

all of the political views of the main surrounding characters were all things that i agreed with, which helped too. the president of the united states is a woman, her staff is mostly made of queer individuals including her immediate family, and it was very refreshing to see; not to mention the president and her family are originally from mexico city. so not only was the president a woman, she was a poc, which was absolutely amazing. hats off to casey mcquinston!

as far as actual story of romance involving the two main characters, i'm not sure how i never figured out before reading that it was enemies or rivals to lovers, but i was pleasantly surprised and it made a damn great story. our two main characters are both incredibly well balanced as far as good and bad qualities, and they each have their own arcs that are very fulfilling and amazing to read about. it all feels very natural.

it was very difficult to put this book down. i probably would have finished it all in one session if i was physically able, but i've been traveling for two days and busy in between stops. it was all i could think about while i was busy though!

i was also very pleasantly surprised by the humor in this book; just how much and how well done it was. the characters feel so real and the dialogue between them, in e-mails, in person and over text all feels so real and natural for their age group. i will say that some of the jokes were now a bit dated, but i'm sure if i had read this around when it first came out, i would have been laughing my ass off. to be fair, i still was at a lot of parts!

would i recommend it?: yes. absolutely. wholeheartedly. i can't think of a single reason not to recommend it. i believe everyone should read it, and if any of the above political views upset you, then you are the problem, not the book. it's so wonderfully inclusive in every way imaginable and it has very much earned the place in everyone's heart that it currently has. it definitely lived up to the hype and then some.

if you haven't read it yet and it's been on your TBR for years like it was mine: this is your sign to read it this pride month like i have!! you will NOT regret it.

[none-of-it-was-accidental]

when i read red, white, and royal blue i was picturing henry as young prince william. and i mean this prince william, who was hot before somebody stole his hair

[i-choose-him-on-purpose]

CMQ Easter Eggs that made me squeal and kick my little feets

[ma-lark-ey]

Alex: FUCK the monarchy

Henry: PLEASE. PLEASE DO. PLEASE. 😩😩😩

[nocturnalnewsiestrash]

Okay guys so vacation is coming up and I'll be back at my absolutely favorite location to read so I need suggestions of fun mostly lighthearted queer books to read there. Last year I read Red White and Royal Blue and loved the experience of reading it by the lake so anything that has the similar mostly happy like that vibes I would love to know. Also preferably sapphic since that's where my interests seem to lie currently.

[sheilajsn]

Red, White & Royal Blue - El libro y la película

Red, White and Royal Blue de Casey McQuiston es un libro que ha adquirido bastante popularidad en los últimos meses. Y, no me malinterpreten, el libro fue súper popular cuando se publicó en 2019. De hecho, ese año el libro ganó varios premios litararios, entre ellos el Goodreads Choice Award en las categorías Best Romance y Best Debut Novel. La razón de esta nueva ola de popularidad es que,…

[pulim-v]

Tag game /copy paste into your own post

Tysm @negative-speedforce !!!!

Last Song: Talentless by Chai.

Favorite Color: blue (or purple, depends on my mood lol)

Last Book: don't remember, I *think* outside of local romances it's probably Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

Last Movie: don't remember either LMAO I think Deadpool and Wolverine?

Last Show: Watching Dungeon Meshi right now

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet!!!! I am a fan of sweets and have always been one lmao

Relationship status: single :P

Last thing I Googled: blue purple and pink flag

Current Obsession: Danganronpa, alongside Pokémon

Looking forward to: Friday (cuz I'll buy a fuckton of games on Steam babyyyyy)

@foxonrollerskates @illiteratesblog @matthew-knyshait @aceofstars0