Warning: This list contains some mild spoilers for Casey McQuiston’s books.
Summary
With the release ofThe Pairing, bestselling authorCasey McQuiston’s career now comprises four novels, each as good as the last. However, one or two of these books demonstrate slightly better writing.McQuiston first rose to fame for their BookTok hitRed, White & Royal Blue,a life-changing political rom-com following the romance between the fictional son of the President of the United States and the Prince of Wales. Despite the subsequentRed, White & Royal Bluemovie’s biggest changes from the book, it was still successful enough to initiate development forRed, White & Royal Blue 2.
McQuiston’s next three books are all also queer rom-coms,delving into themes of identity, self-acceptance, family dynamics, and the bigger social and political forces at play in the characters' lives.The Pairing, one of themost anticipated romance books of August 2024, is actually a departure from what fans have come to recognize as McQuiston’s typical narrative structure. This new book offers a fresh story constituting a mature exploration of what it takes to make a relationship work, while all of McQuiston’s books are powerful love letters to queer culture and history.
Release date
2019
2021
2022
2024
4One Last Stop
“Sometimes Love Stops You In Your Tracks.”
One Last Stopis the outlier of McQuiston’s career, their only book which features explicitly supernatural elements. Cynical August Landry moves to New York, believing that the city will uphold her worldview, and is taken in by a roommate group of queer artists, psychics, and performers. She then meets Jane Su, a gorgeous punk-rocker who rides the same train as August every day. However,August’s growing feelings for Jane are complicated when it turns out that Jane has been displaced in time for the 1970sand is stuck on the subway.
August and her friends then set out to unravel the mystery of Jane’s life to find a way to free her.The whole plot rides on the pseudo-scientific mechanics of Jane’s circumstances and Niko’s psychic abilities,but this isn’t the point of the story. As Jane remembers more of her past,One Last Stop’s biggest draw of its exploration of queer history starts to take shape. One moderate weakness of this book is that this element doesn’t become apparent until after the midway point; the first half comes across as a bit meandering.
Through Jane,One Last Stopremembers a generation of queer people who ran away from unaccepting families and risked their lives by protesting. Meanwhile,August wants Jane to come to live with her in the 21st centuryand see what things are like now. The book also compares the different family situations of the main characters, with Wes directly comparing parents who aren’t perfect to those who completely cut off their children because they turned out differently than they imagined.
One Last Stopis a joyous celebration of the communities found at protests, gay bars, and hole-in-the-wall pancake diners. It has a great supporting cast who showcase other experiences of accepting love, no matter how terrifying this may be. The book is just a little strange when the time-travel elements are purely a vehicle for the rest of the story; a way for there to be a 20-something-year-old character with first-hand experience of 1970s protests.It is McQuiston’s least grounded book,but compelling, nonetheless.
10 Books That Perfectly Blend Sci-Fi & Romance
Science fiction and romance can be difficult to combine, but there are several books that perfectly blend the sci-fi and romance genres.
3I Kissed Shara Wheeler
“To Get The Girl, First You Have To Find Her.”
I Kissed Shara Wheeler is also different from the rest of McQuiston’s books, being their only young adult novel about high school students rather than new adult focusing on characters in their 20s. It also goes through a lot of crazy twists and turns that make it a less sensical story.Chloe Green moved back to the small town in Alabama which one of her moms is from at the beginning of high school;she is finishing up her senior year when the novel starts, all too ready to leave False Beach in her dust.
However, Chloe’s plans are complicated by the machinations of the principal’s daughter and prom queen Shara Wheeler. Shara is Chloe’s sworn rival, her biggest competition for valedictorian — thenShara kisses Chloe and disappears shortly after, leaving Chloe determined to find her and call her out.This is nowhere near as much a macabre mystery as it sounds on paper, but rather a crazy adventure of the most bizarre senior year pranks imaginable.
McQuiston elaborated in a blog post about how this was their most personal novel yet; it is an exploration of their trauma from attending a Christian school (viacaseymcquiston.com).Various characters inI Kissed Shara Wheelerexhibit internalized homophobiabut come to terms with their upbringing and identities through the support of a community they didn’t realize they were a part of. Chloe is angry for most of high school and is surprised when many of her classmates rally for a graduation protest.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler shows that high school is a formative experience, but that these characters’ stories are only beginning.
I Kissed Shara Wheelershowcases the best and worst of Chloe’s high school experience,representative of McQuiston’s. However, there is something more sophisticated about McQuiston’s other novels about adults rather than teenagers, despite Chloe and her classmates dealing with mature issues. Yet some young adult books make it seem like high school is the most important part of a character’s life.I Kissed Shara Wheelershows that high school is a formative experience, but that these characters’ stories are only beginning.
10 Best LGBTQ+ Romance Books To Read For Pride Month
When finding books to read for Pride month, many authors have written beautiful stories of LGBTQ+ romance from the past & present to choose from.
2The Paring
“Some Things Taste Better Together.”
McQuiston’sThe Pairingchanges up a lot of things;namely two perspectives instead of one and wonderful indulgence. Before this book’s release, McQuiston wrote (viaSubstack):“Once, I’d have felt obligated to justify my work as more than that, as if romcoms about queer people had to serve some greater good to be allowed to exist. Now, I hold pleasure in much higher esteem.”The Pairingis all about the sites and food throughout France, Spain, and Italy — McQuiston did their own European tour in preparation for this book — and having sex with beautiful people along the way.
InThe Pairing, hospitality professionals and exesTheo and Kit plan to go on their perfect European food tour as solo travelers four years after their breakup derailed their plans to go together— and don’t discover until the last minute that they have accidentally booked the same tour. To break the ice, they decide to have a competition for who can hook up with the most attractive locals along the way, and the grand prize is their sexy Italian tour guide. Meanwhile, their fellow travelers end up in their own crazy and romantic entanglements.
When this book was mostly advertised as being about food and sex,the actual romance and individual arcs of Theo and Kit have surprising depths.Kit is pondering which of his dreams are worth pursuing and worries he is making the same mistakes as his father. Theo has felt like a screw-up for most of their life in comparison to their Hollywood family. The break-up forced them both through some self-evaluation; in Theo’s case, it also led to them realizing that they are nonbinary and figuring out who they are comfortable sharing this with.
The ultimate question Theo and Kit are trying to answer is whether getting back together is what’s best for them both. There are some wickedly memorable supporting characters, who perhaps require a bit more conscious attention from the reader when the story is so contained, with all its focus on Theo and Kit.The Pairingis pleasurable, but it also depicts a complicated, adult dynamicbetween the main characters. It illustrates the many factors that have made them who they are and engages in a real discussion about how they would be together now.
This LGBTQ+ Romance Is The Perfect Red, White & Royal Blue Replacement Book
Red, White & Royal Blue is a beloved LGBTQ+ romance book, but another novel in the same genre acts as the perfect replacement for those seeking more.
1Red, White & Royal Blue
“True Love Isn’t Always Diplomatic.”
Red, White & Royal Bluegoes above and beyond the romance that BookTok makes it out to be,although it is certainly one of theBookTok books that deserves its hype. Nothing else compares when the characters inRed, White & Royal Blueare perfectly written to be larger-than-life representations of their countries — the main duo are notably named after Alexander Hamilton and Henry V. Alex and Henry’s enemies-to-lovers storyline effectively depicts them working through the implications of their relationship for the US and the UK.
In the end, their being together has a positive effect on the real world as they become the queer icons of a generation and ensure Alex’s mother’s re-election.
In the end, their being together has a positive effect on the real world as they become the queer icons of a generation and ensure Alex’s mother’s re-election. However,Red, White & Royal Bluehas so many other elements that make it the perfect political and cultural compilationthrough the lens of romance. The book’s timeline itself is political commentary, set in a world where Barack Obama’s time in office still happened but 2016 onwards is a work of fiction, with his successor and America’s first female president being Texan Democrat Ellen Claremont.
Intertwined are numerous quotes from various figures throughout history, music from some of the most famous queer artists ever, and a lot of understated Hamilton references (the characters act as though they are just talking about history) that leverage the musical’s themes of rewriting American history. Fiction, especially dystopias, is often used to emphasize the dangers of the current political climate.Red, White & Royal Bluestands apart,acknowledging these fears but ultimately arguing for the potential for things to be better.
Then there is the actual romance between First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry of Wales, who are both entrenched in the nuances of history and pop culture and have a great sense of humor that creates amazing interactions. They go on adventures with their group of sisters and best friends and deliver swoony, clever love letters to each other.Red, White & Royal Blueshowcases the thrill of falling in love — perfectly framed within a broader political contextbecause these characters happen to be famous — and is still the defining moment ofCasey McQuiston’s career.
