Red, White, & Royal Blue

Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, 421 pages

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the mixed-race politics-loving son of the first female president of the United States. Henry is the Prince of Wales, spare to the throne after his stuck-up brother Phillip. Considered two of the world's most eligible bachelors, Alex and Henry are also bitter rivals, and a cake-centered dust-up at Phillip's wedding has U.S.-British relations on tenterhooks in the press. The resulting fake friendship slowly turns real, and somewhat unexpectedly (especially to Alex) becomes something even more. Soon Alex and Henry are fighting to keep their private steamy relationship out of the press during a re-election campaign for Alex's mom and increasing pressure from Henry's stodgy grandmother to settle down with a proper young woman and maintain the family bloodline.

This is a sweet and wonderful bit of escapism, a dream of what our country could be like (if only a few states swung a different way in 2016) as much as it is a fun euphemistic examination of "international relations." I loved the characters, their imperfections and confusions, and the excellent humor McQuiston instilled in their interactions. This was a perfect feel-good read.