I was not emotionally prepared for the perfection of Red, White & Royal Blue.

Honestly, you want to hate Alex because he’s so damn obnoxious. Cocky and driven and so sure all the time. But the more he shows up, and you discover an openness and a sense of vulnerability that is so lovable, you forgive his shortcomings. Because the way he steps up for those he loves is everything you could want in a person.

From the beginning, I was obsessed with Henry. His stiff upper lip, the whole British monarchy thing - he plays it to a fucking tee. But the amount of anxiety, pain, and fear that his façade is covering is deeply heartbreaking. And when you catch glimpses of the true Henry, you want to hug him and fix everything for him.

This book gets so much deeper than I expected. It is achingly sweet (their emails?!) and literally laugh-out-loud funny (their emails!), but it never loses its heart. These two young men are falling in love, finding themselves and their place in the world, and trying to just be okay. I could be laughing one page and crying the next, and it felt honest and good and everything you want love and family and friendship (and even politics) to be.

I wanted to give this four and a half stars, or even just four, because ‘it’s only a romance novel’, but I sat down after work and could not put this book down until I finished it. Red, White & Royal Blue is absolute perfection and deserves nothing less than five stars.