Romance Challenge: Includes LGBTQ Couple

  "Read a book that includes an LGBTQIA+ couple."

    When I started researching candidates for this category, one book came up over and over (plus some online friends recommended it):  Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, first published in 2019, and it's won a bunch of accolades including:

• NYT bestseller 
• Goodreads choice award winner for Best Debut and Best Romance of 2019.
• 2020 Alex Award Winner
• Best Book lists in 2019 for: Vogue, Vanity Fair, NPR, Bookpage, Kirkus, Shelf Awareness
• Best Romance lists for 2019 for: Entertainment Weekly, Library Journal, She Reads

    It's even been made into a movie, with a sequel in the works (see the note at the end for more on the movie).

    The book proved well-written and a lot of fun.  Imagine that in 2016, a woman was elected President of the United States (no, not Hilary Clinton; the fictional Ellen Claremont).  Now imagine that her son Alex, the FSOTUS (Get it? First Son of the United States) falls in love with Prince Henry, the younger grandson of the Queen of England (no, not Elizabeth II; the fictional Queen Mary).  And the love story takes place in the year leading up to Claremont's re-election in 2020.  

    The sex isn't especially explicit, instead focusing on love and intimacy and emotions, and there was a lot of joy and pain, and sometimes horror at what people will do for political ambition (the older I get, the more I realize I have zero interest in living my life in the public eye).   

    Would I read it again? No, I don't think so, for the same reasons that I find Frankenstein and the Hunger Games a little tiring - the main characters aren't grownups.  While Alex and Henry are in their early 20s, it was like reading about emo adolescents.  Think Dead Poets Society crossed with The West Wing.  I do recommend it though - it's a lot of fun, and if you enjoy a heavy dose of bildungsroman with your love stories, you really should give this one a try.

    Note: one thing I've learned is that if there's a movie based on a novel, I really should start with the movie because if I read the book first, the movie is nearly always disappointing by comparison. So, even though it would spoil the plot of the book, I tried watching the movie, but it kind of dragged, and I gave up on it after 30 minutes. But the acting/casting is good, so you might enjoy it more than I did.