A review by pocketbard
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This was a cute book. A book that feels hopelessly optimistic, given the actual events of the real 2020 election, but still. Very cute. Fun banter. My first spicy gay romance, but the spice wasn’t TOO spicy (as I’d worried it would be), and the banter was a nice filler in between the sex scenes. (There were A LOT of sex scenes, though.) The book wasn’t quite what I expected: I’d expected an enemies-to-lovers romance, but instead the “enemies” part lasted about two chapters, the “wait, I think I’m actually bi” awakening happens in the first quarter, and the rest of the book is just First Son Alex and Prince Henry being in love with each other and trying not to get caught and cause an international sex scandal. I thought the beginning and the ending were strong, but the middle sagged. It seemed like once the protagonists got past their hangups and got to the hookups (about 25% of the way in), there wasn’t much that actually happened except “more of the same,” until inevitably the other shoe inevitably dropped at the 75% mark. Still, a fun romp that I read in two days, and a nice palate-cleanser of a book. Sometimes it’s nice to pretend that everyone is just a genuinely good person and standing up for yourself will lead to everything turning out all right in the end.