Novel by Casey McQuiston
Reactions: Adorable, So much better than the movie!

This review is about Red, White & Royal Blue the novel, not the Netflix movie. And if you’ve seen the movie, you do not know what happens in the book. I had already seen the movie before reading the novel, and had such a pleasant experience with the book.

The book is different in a number of ways. The most important difference is that it’s largely about Alex’s coming out journey. In the movie, he’s pretty sure he likes guys by the time he meets Henry. But in the book, he’s completely unaware, even though we, the readers, start picking up on clues he’s missing. And then, we are privy we are privy to so much of Alex’s thought process as he starts to wonder “do I like guys? Does that make me bisexual?”

The author captures the thoughts that go through the head of a man as he starts to come out to himself so perfectly. Over and over I’d think to myself, “Omg I thought that exact same thing at one point!”

The love story between Henry and Alex is just so much more adorable in the book, too. Don’t get me wrong, the movie captures this aspect of the book quite well. But there’s so much more to their flirtation and friendship that then develops into a relationship in the novel.

Also, there are at least a half dozen important characters in the book. It makes total sense why the script writers would need to edit out entire characters to get the movie over with in under two hours. Which doesn’t make the movie bad. It just makes the book so much richer of an experience.

I re-watched the movie the same night I finished the book. Both are adorable and well-crafted gay love stories in their own right.

I’ll finish by saying that this is a pure romantic delight. I don’t ever read romance novels. But this one hit different. I highly recommend reading Red, White & Royal Blue.