A fairytale story. That’s what “Red, White, and Royal Blue” was all about.

It’s election time in the U.S. The last thing first son Alex Claremont-Diaz want is to jeopardize his mom’s re-election bid for president. But preventing himself to fall in love with Prince Henry of the U.K. is hard. A big political story is about to break into the press, and Alex and Henry must prepare for it.

Despite this, author Casey McQuiston still tried to bring some depth to the story, and the main characters Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry are as complicated as decent YA characters can be. But here’s the catch. I am not convinced about their story. McQuiston is trying too much: a stats addict? Oohhkay. A heartthrob that goes around Capitol Hill? No, I’m not sold. Add to that is a beautiful lady with, umm, well, an underdeveloped character background who’s just in the corner.

“He remembers when he was young and freckly and unafraid, when the world seemed like it was blissfully endless but everything else still made perfect sense.”

Also, the scenarios are not even real or downright cheesy: a royal wedding? New year teenage party at White House? What is this, 1960’s? It doesn’t stop there. The process of hate-turned-into-a love story is not convincing enough. And then there are some unrealistic scenes. Two siblings in a relationship with two best friends? Yeah, very original.

McQuiston’s writing style also gives me a headache. The chat group portion is chaotic, readers don’t half a clue on 50% of who’s who. But I like the quotes from famous people in the letters, and of course, the Star Wars references especially when Alex said to Henry “never tell me the odds.”

So, there’s the election part which I was excited to read about. The election day scene and the way the electoral map was filled as each state was called were cool. I know this is fiction but I stayed up late trying to make sense of the electoral map here.

“But there is a sadness and a hurt in him that is tremendous, and you may very well never truly understand it, but you need to love it as much as you love the rest of him, because that’s him. That is him, part and parcel. ”

Sorry, but the timeline and math of election calls per state are not realistic. They couldn’t project the West Coast result? And the Rust Belt States? The Blue Wall (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) was preserved, but still, the calls are tight? Wtf. And they’re hoping for Alaska to be blue? That’s laughable. How did Alex’s president/mom come up with 178-113? The 113 electoral vote is not possible early in the election night, and Hawaii shouldn’t be called that early. To be able for the Republican candidate to get 257 and 302 for a Democrat is not possible. Also, Idaho is called but not Utah and Montana? I can go on and on. But that said, I like the idea of Texas turning blue.

Geek Rate

Mortal Worthy (3 out of 5 stars). The element of politics, its complexities are explored but I’m honestly bored when I read those, because it’s not realistically written. This tactic might be good in a series, like “Scandal” or “House of Cards” but it’s not effective here. Show the politics but just focus on the love story, if you can’t blend the two perfectly.

“And you have fixed my Life—however short. You did not light me: I was always a mad comet; but you have fixed me. I spun round you a satellite for a month, but shall swing out soon, a dark star in the orbit where you will blaze.”

Reignell Francisco

I’m a Filipino content creator with passion for travel, history, football, and anything on TV. Visit my YouTube channel onelostgeek for my travel stories. Business inquiry: geekgodreview@yahoo.com