Red, White & Royal Blue

I don't have enough words to say all the things I loved.

How quickly I fell in love with the two leads. How quickly I fell in love with the whole book. Such fun and heartfelt writing. Fully realized and interesting characters that avoid a lot of stereotypes.

A love story that is both so affirming and lovely but also so felt and deeply explored. Made me fall deeper in love with both characters.

It is important to have LGBTQIA+ characters in compelling stories, but I felt like this one was a bit GGGG. Sometimes it also felt like a fan-fiction and I disliked that. Overall it is a cute story, one character is discovering his sexuality and another is already dealing with the implications of it, and I know I'd loved to have read this when I was coming out.

This was an unexpectedly amazing re read because when i first read this book in 2020 I was left a little underwhelmed by the exploration of politics and the over idealisticness of the chracter's outlook was a bit of let down for me but reading it today i was purely able to tap into the whole escapism part of a romance like this. Focusing on just the relationship turned this one into a real page turner for me when previously i wasnt a fan of this book. So i feel like i can't rate it out of 5.

So far one thing that I didn't like in one of the chapters on of the earlier ones I forgot which one it was in but anyway I didn't like where a little ducking got picked up by a crow and that didn't sit well with me at all. Why is the father of this girl an asshole and some parents want to have their kids close to home or not pushing them out of the house till they are ready to be on their own till at least kids figure out and have enough money to be on their own and apartment to live in. And it shouldn't be up to the parents to make up their children's minds on how they would live their lives and I didn't like this book or this story from beginning to the ending and also didn't like the part where animals were being used once about and this time they had to be locked in caged for some stupid party. Also I have found that Cassie was pretty annoying where if she was so worried about her period being late she should got checked out or took a pregnancy test and it was a good thing I didn't waste my money on being this one.

I think that I don't need to explain what this book is about. Everyone talked about it and I wanted to read it since a long time. And I don't regret it !
First of all I liked the background Thant mixed reality (Barack Obama as former president) and an imaginary following with a woman as president. It was refreshing that our world was not completely distorted.
I loved the characters that are quite relatable, funny and adorable. I really loved Henry who is shy and cute but also cocky at times.
Then I liked the part about Alex searching for his sexuality and realising what he likes and exploring which is such a normal thing to have doubts about love and sexuality.
The writing was really good, with angst, emotions and fun. The perfect mix to keep the reader interested.
And finally I loved the relationship of Alex and Henry. That are so sweet with each other, and the description for their feelings and sensation when they are together and have sex. It's not as smutty as some books I have read but it was perfect ! I highly recommend it !

Overall I enjoyed this a lot, mainly because I LOVED Alex and Henry with all my heart. Though there were some things here and there that weren't to my liking, the characters alone we enough to garner interest from me.

From the Acknowledgments section at the end of the novel, it can be inferred that after the disappointing results of the 2016 elections, Casey McQuiston intended this story to act as an “escapist, trauma-soothing, alternate-but-realistic reality. Not a perfect world–one still believably fucked up, just a little better, a little more optimistic,” and I believe that this is exactly what she was able to achieve.

However, because of this utopian approach, I knew how the conflicts would play out by the end. But regardless, I enjoyed watching the journey of the characters getting to that point

Also, the humor in this book was right up my alley. There were one or two instances where I audibly laughed out loud, during the email interactions that take place between the two main characters. Their banter and relationship were just, in my humble opinion, chef's kiss.

Speaking of characters, I loved both Alex and Henry as characters and was invested in their relationship, and this was what kept me going, because the book felt a bit too long to me by the halfway point, and I didn't care much for the political subplot. There were also two distinct moments where the things characters said felt a bit too cliche for my taste.

While this isn't a romance I'm head over heels for, it was still enjoyable.

2023 reread before the movie: ended up dnfing again after about 4 chapters in. The writing is just not for me.2022: First of all, thank you to those who recommended the book! It's been quite a while since I picked up a romance book, so thank you for helping me start my romance journey haha!Okay now to the review..(；・∀・) 2.5 round up; I can't say I was fully engrossed.. I was already slightly disengaged during the first 50 pages, maybe even 20. Maybe because I don't read politics as much? But as I went on, I feel like the characters weren't necessarily loveable (Alex being my least favorite), there's excessive swearing I feel could have easily been replaced with other vocabularies to deliver the same message/tone. Why resort to swearing every page when you can replace it with more colorful vocabulary? I also think because the plot was so predictable, I tried to read as much as I could catch the more essential parts, and move on. I think I also didn't personally enjoy the author's writing style.. Argh. I'm going to give it another shot with [b:One Last Stop 54860443 One Last Stop Casey McQuiston https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1598019346l/54860443.SY75.jpg 71323146] that I'll pick up soon.

This was SO GOOD. It was so good that I legit barely have the words to express it. Like I am in awe. I guess it was like exactly what I was craving to read right now, it fit my mood so fucking perfectly I don't even know what to do.
I love some good ass romance shit and this was some of the best goddamn romance shit I ever read, I was hooked after the first fucking chapter to the point where I literally knew there was no fucking chance I wasn't going to like this book. And I LOVED IT.
And the best part of it is!!!!! That the ending was so fucking perfect for this to not get “boring romantic” as we get to the finish line. This book is set very heavily in the world of politics, but even though politics are very present and influence the decisions of the characters, it is for a good amount still just background noise while we focus on getting the couple together. But then we get to the end and the climax of the political campaign and it is so exciting and scary and wonderful hoping along with these fantastic characters for America to make the better choice. And it's just such a rush again that gives that extra splash to the story of an otherwise great romance on its own. Like I literally don't have anything bad to say about this, it was exactly what I needed right now and I absolutely fucking LOVED IT.