Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

117 reviews

swiftpool's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Super cute and an easy read. June adds so much more depth to the story compared to the movie. Her character also lends depth to Ellen and the different ways she treats each child. I even at one point predicted June would, as a journalist, out her brother due to being jealous of the love and attention he receives. Instead we got a living older sister self sacrificing parts of her own life to be there for him, from giving up her relationship to leaking photos of her and Henry to dispel rumors around Alex and Henry. Her flirtation with Nora and Percy was also super cute, funny, and ambiguous, letting Alex and Henry take the spotlight. Seeing Nora being feral in the background of scenes was cute. Even Leo adds a tumultuous family relationship to the story the movie doesn’t have. Liam, too, adds a lot to Alex’s story and self reflection. I was glad he came back into his life as a friend - and after seeing the movie, them biking to Alex’s house makes much more sense with Liam around. The only real cons I have were with how Nora handled Alex coming out, and the scene where Alex barges into the palace. Honestly I didn’t love how Nora takes Alex coming out to her. Just because she’s queer and already guessed, doesn’t mean she should be so …. up front about it? Especially because even though we see her as logical and clinical, she is also said to be his best friend, and who he goes to for everything even above his sister. It felt like she was pushing him off, like, “yeah so what?”, despite coming to terms with sexuality being big and scary to Alex despite knowing he’d be accepted. As for the palace scene, it’s not that big of a gripe because it was very much written like a real fight - I just don’t happen to love Henry’s character in the moment. And they do, in the morning, clear up that he was an ass. But Henry lashing out at Alex despite being the one to fall first, kiss him first, and then ghost him multiple times and expect Alex to just accept that? Annoying. Definitely could use more communication skills.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Alcohol

withreveling's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Sexual content

lonelylooper's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Outing

christinaj1021's review

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This is such a cute story! I loved reading it and have already recommended it to others.

I like the social commentary and the hopeful feels of the book. The characters are definitely loveable and you root for all of them the whole way through. The plot was a bit fast but that is usually the nature of the genre and not a fault in my mind, in this case.

It's definitely got me excited to watch the movie!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

ladythana's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

katialena's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Grief

emilywemily6's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The banter and chemistry was great! I also loved the political background of both these characters. This version of the US is idealistic and nice to see. I liked the character depth and diversity too! Lots of lines made me laugh out loud too. I wish there weren’t so many sex scenes and swearing; the book would have been not quite as long lol. It just felt like the middle of the book was just them being thirsty. This book moved fast at the beginning, but around halfway through I didn’t know where the book was heading because of the pacing and the endless sex scenes. Overall, I really enjoyed this book though! A quintessential LGBTQIA+ romcom.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Slavery

_shreyasharma's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Super cute book! Honestly was a bit skeptical going in, as I've been disappointed by booktok way too many times now, but this one is totally worth the hype. Lovable characters, nice plot and an extremely endearing relationship. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

eugeengel's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Is it corny, cringey and way too political? Yes. 
Is it completely worth it? Also yes.
This is an epic queer romance, fluffy, funny and the perfect choice for a comfort read.
I’ve got a feeling that the various pop culture references in the book are going to make it hard to enjoy in a couple of years (if it’s not already), so enjoy it now!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent

sophi_ereads's review against another edition

Alex is a selfish, consending hypocritical prick 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Death of parent