This has been a highly successful book, and deservedly so, but there are problems. Is there anyone who does not know that it is the story of a romance between Prince Henry of the UK and Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the first female US President?
Let's start with the problems (cons, if you will).
The three main characters in the White House--Alex, his sister June, and Mona, the grand-daughter of the Vice-President--are all in their early twenties. Alex is in fact, 21 when the story begins, and it is I think, 2020, Alex listens to records. Really? I realize that Barnes and Noble has been plugging a comeback of vinyl for quite some time, now, but I don't see the early twenties crowd abandoning their Walkmen and other CD devices.
Alex often refers to himself as having been a working-class kid, but that is nonsense. No child, both of whose parents are lawyers later turned politicians, can possibly be considered as working class.
Prince Henry fights any relationship because he considers himself married to the monarchy. He says "My brother Philip is the heir and I'm the spare." That, too, is nonsense. Henry's widowed mother, the queen's daughter, would be the heir; his older brother second in line; his older sister third in line; and he, Henry, fourth in line for the throne and therefore hardly indispensable.
Those objections aside, the story proceeds very well from their first public appearance to their outing, to their final reconciliation with reality.
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