Opening Line:  “On the White House roof, tucked into a corner of the Promenade, there’s a bit of loose paneling right on the edge of the Solarium.”

Overall:  Alex Claremont-Diaz is America’s version of a young royal.  He is the son of the first female President of the United States. He is the most eligible bachelor in the country.  He is handsome, smart, confident, and driven.  The President and her family are invited to England to attend a Royal Wedding.  Alex has a chip on his shoulder towards Prince Henry over something Henry did years ago. While at the wedding, Alex gets into an altercation with Henry that ruins the wedding cake and causes an international relations crisis that both sides need to repair asap.  Alex and Henry are forced by their respective PR Teams to pretend to be good friends by making several public appearances together.  They have the Press attend these public events to have them take photos and write good stories about how all is well between the two friends and the two countries.  As they are forced to spend this time together,  Alex finds out that Henry is deeper and more layered than his stiff-upper-lip British public image.  Henry finds out that Alex  has a lot more common with him than he ever thought before.  The two discover that they have growing feelings towards eachother, and their story then becomes trying to arrange ways to secretly see eachother while realizing that they are falling in love.  Meanwhile, Alex’s mother is up campaigning for re-election, so he can’t just come-out with this news and throw a wrench into his mother’s campaign.  Henry can’t come-out ever, because he is the heir to the British throne and is expected to marry and produce more heirs for the blood-line of the Monarchy.  So, both Henry and Alex are forced to now figure out what they want most in their lives, what they are willing to sacrifice to get it, and how they want to be remembered in history.        

Ovations:  This book simultaneously makes you believe in true love and believe in the future of America!  It is a hopeful version of how the world could be someday.  This book is heartwarming, heartbreaking, cute, sexy, funny, honest, and optimistic…. you will feel all the feels reading this book!  This book is also hilarious. I laughed out loud many, many times reading this book.  The witty dialogue between the characters  is some of the best I have ever read.  The wonderful emails written back-and-forth by Alex and Henry are so funny, mixed with hot & sexy, mixed with poetic & romantic, mixed with thought-provoking & unapologetic.  The author does such  a great job explaining how both guys feel, that we really get to know them and understand them.  We totally understand how Henry could fall in love with Alex’s outgoing and outspoken nature, and how Alex could fall in love with how Henry is so selfless and kind.  The supporting characters are written very clearly as well.  You really understand their unique personalities, and I love the trust and closeness they have within their little group of 6 best friends. (Alex, Henry, Bea, Nora, Pez, June … and Angela. Wait, no I am not apart of their group, I just want to be!) lol

Oh Well:  This book, having the main character being the son of the US President, has a lot of politics in it.  Not that politics is a bad thing in itself.  However, this book has a very good vs. evil representation of the Democrats vs. the Republicans.  It is very idealistic in it’s views toward the Democrats.  Also, this is a very rose-colored-glasses book of what we might wish the world could be like, but not actually how things would go in the real world.                                 

Opinion:  I loved this book!  I loved Alex and Henry.  I loved their relationship.  I loved their friends.   I loved the way the author wrote this story, with sort of a, “what the outer world sees” versus “what the inner world really is” type of perspective, that we get to see into both at the same time.  This book is so much more than a gay love story.   It is a modern day fairytale, but it is also romantic, passionate, glamorous, sexy, funny, joyful, hopeful, and optimistic and it makes you wish for this type of world!  Rating: 10 out of 10