Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

Straight people, he thinks, probably don’t spend this much time convincing themselves they’re straight.

I definitely understand why this story became so popular. What a delightful book. I haven’t watched the movie (yet) but I’ve seen so many pictures and clips from it that I had the movie versions of Alex and Henry in my head while listening to the audiobook and I loved it.

The writing and dialogue especially just flows so fucking well in this book. It’s genuinely fun to read and it feels like proper conversations you’d have with your friends (if I were funnier). It spans quite a bit of time for a romance book but I never felt like it skipped anything important. Ignoring that the plot itself is pretty crazy, the development of their friendship and eventual romance felt believable and was just lovely.

Alex snatches a shirt and boxers at random from the floor, shoves them at Henry’s chest, and points him towards the closet. “Get in there.”

“Quite,” he observes.

“Yes, we can unpack the ironic symbolism later. GO.”

I also think Henry’s mental health was handled really well. It’s quite understated but not romanticized or treated as if it doesn’t matter. Alex understands when he’s having a tough time and is just there for him, and I thought that was lovely.

I don’t know if people would classify it as spice, but the sex scenes were so full of intimacy and emotion and I loved it. I’m not a huge fan of spice in my audiobooks so this was perfect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s plenty hot, it’s just not explicit.

I’m no stranger to crying while reading (or in general, I’m a mess), but I honestly wasn’t prepared for this book to punch me right in the tear-balls. I nearly sobbed actually, which felt very out of proportion to the situation lol. But yeah, definitely a sign that I got very invested in these characters and the story.

“Oh my God, I thought you were getting into international relations or something.”
“I mean, technically—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m gonna spend tonight in jail.”

(PS: there are Harry Potter references in the audiobook that have since been edited out of the other editions of the book, but is understandably difficult to remove from audio.)

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Royalty
Secret relationship
Enemies to lovers
Prince of Wales
President’s son
Snarky banter
Sexual awakening
Long distance
Political themes
Closeted MC

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Sexual content
Mentions of drug use (past, off page, adderall)
Mentions of SC abusing cocaine (past)
MC using (assumed) anti anxiety medication (on page)
Alcohol consumption (intoxicated on page)
Nonexplicit sexual content
Death of parent (past, cancer)
Grief and periods of depression
Anxiety and panic attacks
Drinking alcohol to deal with emotions (once)
Homophobic family
References to attempted sexual assault on side character (past)
References to past abuse of unnamed characters (no details)
Abuse of power (not the good guys)

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: Alex kisses his ex while drunk at NYE party. Means nothing, just something they do during new years. Henry photographed on date with a woman after the MCs kiss for the first time. The date is for appearances only. Both have fake relationships for a short time while they’re together.
Breakup: Sort of
POV: 3rd person, single
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/M
Strict roles or versatile: Assumed strict roles
Main characters’ age: 21/22 and 22/23
Series: Standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 443
Happy ending: Yes


Instead, he is in a prison of his own creation, sworn to babysit these turkeys until the pardoning ceremony, and is just now realizing his deep-seated fear of large birds. He considers finding a couch to sleep on, but what if these demons from hell break out of their cages and murder each other during the night when he’s supposed to be watching them? BREAKING: BOTH TURKEYS FOUND DEAD IN BEDROOM OF FSOTUS, TURKEY PARDON CANCELED IN DISGRACE, FSOTUS A SATANIC TURKEY RITUAL KILLER.


“I am the First Son of the United States, and I’m bisexual. History will remember us.”


“You are”, he says, “the absolute worst idea I’ve ever had.”



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