From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

Red, White & Royal Blue

Casey McQuiston

Start date: September 1, 2020

Finish date: October 1, 2020

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

Why we're reading this: This will be our September 2020 read!
[close] This will be our September 2020 read!

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Book of the Month Club

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What Members Thought

Aug 20, 2019 Grace rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mm-romance, queer-themes, mm-smut, mm-poc-mc

3.5 rounded down.

This is one of those books that's generally very enjoyable, interesting, and well-written, but with enough little bothersome things that it's hard for me to really determine how I felt about it. It's also difficult to gauge my feels because it was SO hyped, so I can't really determine if my quibbles feel more intense due to the high expectations, and whether I might have actually enjoyed this more if I hadn't gone into it with everybody and their mother saying it was the greates 3.5 rounded down.

This is one of those books that's generally very enjoyable, interesting, and well-written, but with enough little bothersome things that it's hard for me to really determine how I felt about it. It's also difficult to gauge my feels because it was SO hyped, so I can't really determine if my quibbles feel more intense due to the high expectations, and whether I might have actually enjoyed this more if I hadn't gone into it with everybody and their mother saying it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

First off, I did think the writing was good, and I really enjoyed the characters. The blurb had me worried that the set-up would feel super contrived, but I thought it worked well, and the generally build of feels and the relationship between Henry and Alex was well-paced and lovely. I appreciated the side-characters, especially the women, and generally thought the relationships and inter-personal dynamics between all of the characters felt really authentic and well-rounded.

But.

1. It was too long. Clearly I'm in the minority here, but I was skimming at the 2/3 mark because I was frankly a bit bored. It felt like the author was trying to do a little too much with the romance and the political sub-plots, but I think a lot of that could have been tightened up.

2. Again, clearly in the minority here, but I really struggled with immersing myself in the story due to the strange setting of the fic. It's basically supposed to be occurring right now in the USA, and there are a lot of references to real people/places/events etc. but so many of the events and reactions felt so unrealistic that it just kept throwing me out of the story. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the stuff would be great if it were real! But it felt... IDK, it felt a little off to me how there wasn't a clear distinction between fiction and reality, in this way that felt like it was perhaps unintentionally minimizing the very real risks/issues that are present in our current culture. It made me feel like a lot of people reading this book would not be able to really make the distinction that WE ARE NOT THERE YET and perhaps not be as engaged as they should be in getting us there? IDK, I'm just not super interested in books that feel like they're painting history (or the present) with rose-colored glasses, and that's what this felt like to me, just a bit, which is maybe unfair, but *shrugs*

3. Related to 1 &2 above, I just felt that the political side-plot got a little ridiculous and wind-y at times. Not that I felt that stuff couldn't happen, but just that I didn't really care all that much? And I didn't feel like the author always did a great job interweaving the plot and romance bits. It felt that they were often two separate threads that the author sort of occasionally smushed together. This might not have been as bothersome if A. the book hadn't been so long and B. if I wasn't already feeling a bit meh about point #2.

4. I was actually and legitimately pretty disappointed by the lack of switching. I honestly thought the way the author did the sex scenes--not overly explicit, but not fade to black--was really well done and I was super appreciative of a mainstream queer book *not* having to fade to black, and that the physical and sexual aspect of a relationship between young, sexually active men was not downplayed. BUT I have no idea why the author decided not to include switching (which, full disclosure, I skimmed a lot of the last 1/3 of the book, it's possible I missed it, though I don't think I did, and IF I did, it would have been a super brief reference) given that they did have penetrative sex a number of times throughout the book. Especially because who topped felt, to me, like it was reinforcing a number of stereotypes, particularly the fact that the partner that identified as bisexual was always topping, and the partner that identified as gay was always bottoming. As somebody who identifies as bi and who is particularly sensitive to bi rep and the portrayal of bisexuals in media, I was pretty disappointed, and I actually was pretty surprised as I felt switching would have been super easy to include and would not have needed to be a big thing (which adds to my feeling of reinforcing stereotypes)

So. Ugh. I don't know. I feel like a bit of a curmudgeon. I legit wanted to like this more, and thought I'd round this review up, but I realized as I was writing this review, that ultimately, the feeling the book left me with was one of disappointment, even though I did enjoy reading it! And I do think a lo of that disappointment was the over-hype, which set my expectations perhaps higher than was realistically fair. Glad I read it, will likely read more by this author, but wasn't blown away. :/ ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2020 G.B. Gordon added it

Surprisingly adorable. I'm not typically into Mary-Sueish fairytales, so maybe it's a sign of the times that this one pushes every wishful button. A delightful comfort read for rainy days. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2019 Charlinda Jenkins rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, lgbtqia, young-adult

I loved it! I hope it becomes a movie one day. I'd love to see this come to life. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 24, 2023 Lillian Francis marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Own in paperback too.

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2024 K. rated it liked it

Shelves: m-m, 2024, bingo2024

That "Prince of Wales" thing hurt my brain. How could such a mistake be made? And I'm not British, nor a big royal fan. Every time Henry was called "Wales," I was instantly pulled out of the story to the point that I started to doubt where he stood in the line of succession.

I liked the story, but I thought it was way too long and too political. I had avoided it for a reason. There are things I don't understand. For instance, why was Alex fired immediately? Why? I didn't like how the royal family ...more

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May 13, 2019 Minah Krasnorada rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, m-m, ya-na, contemporary-romance

This book!!!! This gosh darn lovely book was exactly what I needed! Sometimes you just need to read that one quote or listen to that once song to light that fire under your ass, to motivate you or inspire you and this book was so much more and did all of those things. It gave that feeling of hope when you're living in a mental landscape of hopelessness.

The adrenaline rush I felt at the end, the pure love seeping out of these pages I felt and the inspirational characters I met all converged to ma ...more

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