Publication date: May 2019
LGBTQ+ author? Queer and non-binary
Setting: Modern day London and USA
This book is a delightful enemies-to-lovers international romance.
Instead of the version of events we got in the late 2010s, imagine we got a female president with a Mexican ex-husband. And their bisexual son Alex went on to fall in love with the very gay Prince Henry of Edinburgh. We can dream, right?
Alex and Henry initially hate each other in the way that sometimes people do when they are actually obsessed with each other. As their hate turns to making out, we get taken for a ride through private late night visits to the V&A museum in London to a vacation home in Austin, Texas among things.
As someone who has personally enjoyed more than one queer international romance, I thought this book was especially sweet. The two write very poetic and tender emails to each other. My favourite is when they compare themselves to Luke and Han Solo.
I think my favourite part of the book is that they didn’t shy away from the historical and political significance of a queer person in either of their roles, let alone dating each other. It was very fun to watch them navigate a fictional Queen Elizabeth being a bit homophobic, knowing it would all work out in the end because romance novel.
The movie
Of course I had to watch the movie version of this book! What a treat. They’ve done a great job simplifying the book (12 hours on audiobook) while keeping some of the best scenes and lines. (“I’m as gay as a maypole!”)
One of the biggest changes in the movie is what happens with Alex’s career. In the book, very sensibly, his mother fires him from his minor role in her presidential re-election campaign once she learns he is secretly dating Prince Henry. In the movie, they give inexperienced Alex an impossibly significant role in her campaign that is then completely unchanged when a member of the British monarchy starts skulking around.
This shifts the story more from a West Wing vibe of the book to more of a ridiculous rom com. Which is also great.
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