Red, White & Royal Blue

A Novel

By: Casey McQuiston

Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

* GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER for BEST DEBUT and BEST ROMANCE of 2019 *

One of AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2019; an Instant New York Times bestseller; a *Must-Read Book* for Us Weekly, Vogue, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Oprahmag.com, and more!

"Narrator Ramón de Ocampo brings out all the emotion in this tender, serious, funny, and warmly hopeful love story...Listeners will be swept up as Alex and Henry face questions of identity and coming out amid familial duties and political machinations." — AudioFile Magazine

What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic.

Praise for Red, White & Royal Blue:

“Effervescent and empowering on all levels, Red, White & Royal Blue is both a well-written love story and a celebration of identity.” — NPR

"I took this with me wherever I went and stole every second I had to read! Absorbing, hilarious, tender, sexy—this book had everything I crave. I’m jealous of all the readers out there who still get to experience Red, White & Royal Blue for the first time!" - Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Other Words and Roomies

"Red, White & Royal Blue is outrageously fun. It is romantic, sexy, witty, and thrilling. I loved every second." - Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Maybe in Another Life

©2019 Casey McQuiston (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

AudioFile Magazine Editors' Pick

"Narrator Ramón de Ocampo brings out all the emotion in this tender, serious, funny, and warmly hopeful love story." -AudioFile Magazine

"I tore through Red, White & Royal Blue as if it were a pint of Ben & Jerry's. By turns hilarious and angst-ridden, buoyant and strikingly real, this novel is a surefire bull’s-eye for any devotee of classic romance, slow burn fanfiction, or heartfelt storytelling. A political love story too timely and too genuine to miss." - Lyndsay Faye, internationally bestselling author of Jane Steele and The Gods of Gotham

Almost shockingly wonderful.

Despite its critical acclaim, instant bestseller status, innumerable awards, and snapped-up movie rights, I hesitated to read "Red, White, and Royal Blue." The title seemed too … cute. The book cover seemed too … cute. The theme seemed too … cute. Wow, am I sorry I waited. "Red, White, and Royal Blue" meets and exceeds the attention it has earned. It has everything: warmly drawn and winning characters, a wonderful story, fascinating settings, romance, cut-throat politics, hilarious humor, palace intrigue, current events, love of family, thrills, pop culture, history, sex (very, very hot sex), excitement, love, courage, betrayal, hope for the future, fireworks, and a cliffhanger or two. Reading this book, you will be utterly charmed. You will also fall in love, you will often laugh out loud, and sometimes, you will cry. Oh, will you cry.

I "read" this by following the Kindle e-book text while listening to the brilliant voice acting of award-winning actor Ramon De Ocampo. He was a revelation. He nimbly navigated different characters, different accents, even different languages in a way that gave great life to the story and depth to his characters, and he did it all with a seeming ease and total naturalness. I've rarely heard a more assured and enjoyable performance. If you're thinking about buying the Kindle version, buy the Audible version to go with it. You won't regret it.

Lastly, "Red, White, and Royal Blue" benefits from a second reading. The author's subtle foreshadowing, her placement of little clues of what's to come, is even more enjoyable the second time around and gives a second reading depth and nuance. You'll enjoy it even more the second time.

Especially in these times, we need things that bring us a little escape, a little brightness, and sheer joy. "Red, White, and Royal Blue" does exactly that. Highly, highly recommended.

The audio was a little tough to follow

4.25 Stars
*This review has no spoilers but if you like a quick review skip to the Down & Dirty*
Fresh and relevant, fun and unique, Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is blowing up with amazing reviews. I had to see what the hype was about, so I got the audiobook. If any book could benefit from an ensemble cast of narrators, it’s this one, despite the story being told in 3rd person. Ramon de Ocampo did an OK job, especially switching between the two men, but there were a lot of side characters, and I found the audio very hard to tell who was talking.

“I’m the son of the first female president. And I’m not white like she is, can’t even pass for it. People will always come down harder on me.”

First son Alex Claremont-Diaz is 21, half Mexican, and handsome. He, his sister and the VP’s daughter are all around the same age and make up “The White House Trio”, all working to get their ticket reelected in 2020. The beginning of the book seemed kind of slow to me, introducing all the characters as well as their security detail, and I had a hard time following the dialog between them in the audio version.

Prince Henry is about the same age as Alex but Alex can’t stand him and his stuffy British ways.

“‘Arch nemesis’ implies he’s actually a rival to me on any level and not, you know, a stuck-up product of inbreeding who probably jerks off to photos of himself.”

When their rivalry causes a mishap, they need to smooth things over with the press, and they are forced to spend time together and pretend to be friends. But pretending turns into an actual friendship, and the two start keeping in touch across the continents. Oh, the e-mails! I loved them so much!

“But he thinks about Henry, and, oh. He thinks about Henry, and something twists in his chest, like a stretch he’s been avoiding for too long.”

When Henry and Alex kiss, Alex realized he was bisexual for the first time, and I really enjoyed reading his feelings about it. But Alex’s mom is trying to get reelected and the race is very close. What kind of problems would coming out cause the campaign and his own political aspirations? And as for Henry, would the Monarchy ever accept a gay prince?

"Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that.
History, huh? Bet we could make some."

My biggest problem with the book I think was when the 6 friends were all together, it was so hard to follow on audio, so I had to stop and make a list of the players. Here is a quick breakdown of the main characters.
•Alex: Mexican-American bisexual first son, going into politics himself.
•June: Mexican-American first daughter. More of the leader of the group.
•Nora: the VPs granddaughter and Alex and June’s BFF. She is geeky, bisexual, a hacker, and totally funny.
•Henry: The stuffy Prince of England. 100% in-the-closet gay.
•Bea: Henry’s sister, former drug addict (possibly bi too?)
•Pez: Flamboyant fashionista who seems gay but isn’t. Henry’s best friend.
•Rafael Luna: A Senator
•Cash, Amy and Zahra are all Secret Service or working on the campaign.
•Prince Phillip: the actual heir to the throne and Henry’s older brother.
•President Ellen Claremont: Democrat President of the US, Alex and June's mother.
•Leo: The President's 2nd husband and Alex and June's stepfather.
•Senator Oscar Diaz: Alex & June's Dad

Likes:
•Current, fresh and funny.
•Alex - it took a while for me to warm up to him, but when I did, I was hooked.
•I actually loved the political part of the story and wish it was really the way things are (I do not think most Republicans will like this aspect of the story).
•Wonderfully diverse and developed side characters.
•I was glad the sex scenes were fade to black because I think high-school aged kids who may be struggling with their identities should read this.
•Lots of sexual tension despite the sex scenes being fade-to-black.
•Alex’s family and their reaction to his news.
•I love correspondence in a book, and Henry and Alex’s emails and texts were wonderful.
•Happy and hopeful.

Dislikes:
•It didn’t translate well to a single narrator audiobook even though it was 3rd person but would have been phenomenal with a full cast.
•It felt a bit too long, especially the first half and it was hard to follow all the characters.
•Present tense.

The Narration:
I think the narration took away from the book and I wish I read instead of listened. There were too many characters with too much dialog to be able to follow easily. While Ramon de Ocampo did a pretty good job of switching voices and accents, I did notice several times that he used the wrong voice for a line here and there. If ever a book needed an ensemble cast this would be the one.

The Down & Dirty:
Red, White & Royal Blue has all the makings to be a hit. It's fresh and different. It's modern. It's relevant. It's fun. It has a wonderful message of inclusiveness with the understanding of the consequences. But I think the narration, for me, took away from the story. There were a lot of characters and I had a hard time following along with who was speaking. The beginning moved a bit slow for me, but the last third of the book was amazing. Though this is definitely an adult book with some sexual scenes, the actual sex is fade-to-black which I think works fine for this and will help it appeal to the more mainstream reader. I loved the characters and the storyline was just perfect. I see why everyone has been talking about Red, White & Royal Blue, but I think the narration held me back from being as blown away as everyone else.

*Note: while taking the photo I started listening again, and now that I know the characters I am enjoying it even more. Though the beginning is still a bit of an info overload - I can see why I had trouble following, because it's a lot even the second time.

Rating: 4.25 Stars, 2.5 Heat, 3 Narration

Happy Crying

First of all, I want to warn you not to listen to the last 20% of the book in public. Unless you're not bothered by others seeing you happy-cry.

'Red, White & Royal Blue' is a love song to politics, equal love, and the world as we wish it would be. It's very much a 21st century version of 'The American President', complete with a version of President Shepherd's 'I've love two women' speech. Only this time it's delivered by Alex Claremont-Diaz, First Son.

The love story between Alex and Prince Henry is sweet, funny, and smart. I know I'll be listening to it again in the future.

A few notes:
1. The narration by Ramon de Ocampo is spot-on
2. The novel is written in 3rd person/present continuous tense. It was jarring in the beginning, but my ears finally got sort of used to it.

Skip the audio, read the book!

What can I say? I was feeling frisky and chose this on a whim. I love the story but they made a huge mistake in my opinion. The narrator is not right for these roles. The characters are 21 & 23; one British and one Mexican-American. No way does this dude sound any younger than 45. I’ve never recommended someone choose the book over audio. Nearly every book I’ve read on audio has completely elevated the story to another level; something that most readers aren’t even aware of. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me here. It disturbed me to hear him tell the story of these 2 young men. Especially when he voiced for Henry, the British prince.

I had a tough time figuring this one out. Is it a rom-com or a contemporary romance? The cover alludes to a rom-com but it is more insightful and deep than others in the genre. It felt to me like a modern day fairytale; a coming of age love story between the son of a US female president and the younger prince of England (think homosexual Prince Harry). A lot of the scenes felt manufactured and cliched but I’m completely on board with the message and I appreciate the hopefulness it provided. One thing to consider while reading is that this book is a debut and I believe it’s aimed at a younger audience (even though the narrator sounded like an older uptight accountant half the time). If you find yourself wanting to read this do yourself a favor and read the book, skip the audio.

Beautiful. Bright. Bloody Brilliant!

THE NOVEL:
I must say I had no idea what to expect from this book. I accidently stumbled upon it, was intrigued, and thought I would give it a go. I was firstly impressed with the author's rich palette of words and their use, allowing her to paint a heartwarming and moving story. A tale disguised as a comedic look into the lives of powerful individuals... but in truth deeply bores into our core values, hopes, and dreams.

Second, I was touched by the realistic portrayal of the nature of family. Two families, both with public personas, as well as intimate, dynamic and sometimes heartbreaking relationships between parents, children, and siblings.

In the current political climate which I believe will be seen as the White House and congressional "reign of terror," I felt the warm and nurturing embrace gifted to us by the author. Someone who understands the true meaning of words like, compassion, love, and hope. Kudos to you Ms. McQuiston.

NARRATION AND VOICE ARTISTRY:
The success of an audible book absolutely hinges upon the skills of the voice artist. The skill, and perhaps gift of Ramón de Ocampo and his voice was and is amazing. I must say it was a privilege to listen to someone whose voice artistry almost made me feel as if I was eavesdropping in on real conversations between characters. I have listened to scores of audible books and this voice artist/actor is truly one of the best. I think perhaps he could narrate a telephone directory and I would pay to listen.

Can’t Wait to Listen Again!

The narrator was incredible. The accents and character choices were spot on and added to the overall story. I listened to this in one sitting while reading along with the book. I was completely enveloped in the lives of all of these characters, especially Alex and Henry’s relationship.

Why the high ratings?

I'm half-way into this book and am returning it. By now, some semblance of a plot should have materialized. Instead I've suffered through long and detailed descriptions of gay encounters, childish banter, and general nonsense. Maybe the 2nd half is better, but I'll never know.

Except for sex scenes, it's pretty juvenile

I am not sure why this would get such raving reviews. The story line and the writing style are rather juvenile except for the explicit sex scenes. I don't dislike it but it reads like a teenage romance novel 99% of the time. There is nothing political about it. Setting the scene at the White House does not make the story a political one or have a meaningful political backdrop. The security details, the campaign, the political rivalries, etc. are all superficial. It could have been a high school student council election and the story would not change much.

Don't understand the hype... lightweight, shallow.

I was hoping for a fairy tale, or an emotional romance-- all the fab reviews! But this was one of those books that make me wonder how completely off the zeitgeist I am. The main character's main attribute was sarcasm, and he and his supposed best friend and his sister never seemed to speak straight or openly to each other... it was always kind of labored ha-ha sarcasm and put-downs. Exaggerated and arch dialogue made this seem like the supposed friends didn't really know or like each other.

Then the romance. Well, I like good m/m fanfic, and this to me was bad m/m fanfic. Again, the relationship and conversations seemed so artificial... I didn't get much of a sense of real connection between them. Every encounter, they were both trying too hard to be what they were pretending to be-- sophisticated, super-intelligent, cool, whatever. They just didn't ever seem to CONNECT on any kind of soul/heart level.

I try not to leave negative reviews-- bad karma. But this gets so many rave reviews, and I felt empathy for those like me who read this and said, "Huh? What did I miss?" Sorry I missed it-- most readers seemed to have a wonderful time with this story. You probably will to. But if not, well, at least we're not alone!

Better than my wildest hopes!! History, huh?

The hype around d this book and it's story has been huge. When hype gets like that I worry I will be disappointed - instead I was blown away. The characters are real and human and mAke you laugh and cry. All of them pull you in, every single one. The humanity, humor and love in this story was astonishing and I am already listening to this a second time. I also pre-existing a physical copy and I so very pleased with that purchase as well. A fantastically told story that will have you cheering for Alex (when you aren't going 'oh noooo Alex..!!!') and wanting to just smoosh he and Henry together because....yeah. They deserve it. All of it.

Casey - thank you for this story. Thank you for these characters. Just...Thank you for all of it.

Now I have to dry my eyes and listen again. Because I can and have to get lost in this world again.

fake English accent

I liked the book, what I did not like was the British accent that the reader used for the British accents. as some one born and raised in England it made me cringe every single time I heard it.

it was good

I've seen a lot of hype for this book and it wasn't disappointing. the story line was good and engaging and I did enjoy the listen.
however, being British myself it was a little frustrating to listen to the "British accents" a few moments where confusing to listen to when the email and text conversation were happening.
the story was empowering and the romance was beautiful!
a good read.

I CRYYYYYYYYY

I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE ISTG ILL YEET MYSELF INTO THE BUCKINGHAM IF I HAVE TO

If I could give this a minus

The utter lack of understanding of not only British culture but also the monarchy is so distracting, it was a torture to get through. A little more research might have been good.

Overhyped and not worth it (sorry)

Hate to say this but this book was very over hyped (on tiktok mostly). I’m not sure what the excitement was about. The story is quite predictable and the characters are too alike real characters to be fictional characters of any substance. Just my opinion but i was just keen to get it over with to be honest!

Don’t understand the hype gay mills and boon

I was really excited about the book … such a let down and I genuinely don’t understand the love for it .. is it simply because it discusses a gay relationship? If this was a heterosexual love story I think mills and boon would just about have considered good enough to publish. They may pushed it out as teen lit. Also i found the extended love scenes simplistic and awkward. Narration cringe worthy.

Fantastic book, terrible narrator

Genuinely loved this story. The narration is hard to handle though. The accents and voices are all over the place, which is not just very distracting but sometimes quite confusing.
But don’t let that put you off. This is a great story and you’ll fall in love with the characters.

This legit made me cry

I loved this so much. The voices and the characters and the plot own my heart. <333

The best book I’ve ever read!

The way the book just sweeps you in is amazing. In the beginning I was a bit skeptical of the plot, but it’s fantastic!

Excellent Story and Amazing Performance

I loved every minute of the book, I couldn't stop listening 🎧

Never tell me the odds!