How does the Red, White & Royal Blue movie compare to the book?

Many had high hopes for this internet-favorite romcom, but does the movie live up to the expectations?

One of my comfort reads that I return to time and time again is Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. It’s a bookstagram and booktok favorite, and so when it was announced that it was being adapted into a movie by Amazon Studios, I wasn’t the only one excited (and a little nervous) about the news. After years of small updates, the movie was finally available to stream earlier in August.

If you aren’t chronically online and haven’t heard of RW&RB, the gist is that Alex, the son of the first female president of the United States, falls in love with Henry, the prince of England. Henry is gay but not out to his family, and Alex goes through a period of self-discovery as he realizes he is bisexual. In the background, Alex’s mother is running for reelection and Alex is wrapping up his undergrad degree as he works to pursue his goal of becoming one of the youngest members of Congress in history.

I watched the movie almost right away, and I had mixed feelings about it. My very first emotion was disappointment with a few of the most major changes, but as I reflected on it more, I realized that what likely happened is the studio was majorly trying to trim down a pretty dense story into…