Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

405 reviews

meaghankmc's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

The very last words Alex and Henry say to each other are “We won.” which I cried about a little tbh. The tone of defiant victory in the last third of this book healed a part of my soul and I will carry my love for these characters with me for the rest of my life.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment

maggiegirouard's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

FUCK THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD IT HURTS MY HEART IS SWELLING WITH THE EMOTION OF IT 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment

dandydoodle's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

3.75

This book was a lighthearted, quick read. It’s nice if you want something easy that you’re not super heavily invested in but draws you in enough to finish. It’s a fun little rom-com.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

annakh16's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

I‘m happy to say this (mostly) lives up to the hype. 

To get the obvious point out of the way: the politics in this book were incredibly strange. Yesss I know it’s fiction, but for all the escapism, it just became absurd to have the FSOTUS and Prince of England talk about how they were oh-so-upset about the lack of reparations from imperialism and whatnot. And

everyone accepting their romance super quickly. And then obviously a happy ending, for them, and the presidency, and the monarchy! Happy days!

A romance novel isn’t perhaps the perfect place for an in-depth analysis of these systems, but I do wish it would’ve been more realistic/critical. 

The rivals-to-lovers bit at the beginning also felt a bit superimposed. It didn’t really fit their general character how much they supposedly disliked each other

(I know this was because of hidden feelings - but it still seemed a bit silly to me).

Those things aside: this book was very funny (partly because of the absurdity, but also genuinely funny) at the same time as sweet. I loved all of their email exchanges, some beautiful lines in there. I also appreciated Bea‘s chat with Alex about what grief feels like - beautifully written. 

This was terribly sappy in a good way and I surprised myself by how invested I was. Would recommend as a feel-good book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer

gabi_715'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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Homophobia

marleen02's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted

• 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: Addiction, Biphobia, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Alcohol

hey_al's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, and Alcohol

fierygecko's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This book made me laugh and cry more than I expected it would. The characters are lovable and very real. The relationships they have with each other feel equally as real. The book starts off as a hilarious slice-of-life and very quickly becomes an emotional romantic rollercoaster with a healthy side of red-string-on-a-corkboard politics. Both moods of the story are fantastic. The only thing I didn’t love about this book was how long the chapters were; rarely was I able to read an entire chapter in one sitting. But the story flows well enough that it doesn’t really matter. I honestly just had a really great time reading this book. I went in with no expectations and before I was finished I knew it was getting five stars. Even just for Alex’s incredibly judgy metaphors about European politics and Henry’s equally creative clapbacks about American government in the first few chapters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault and War

mrs_gale's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing slow-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? No

3.5

A really nice story. 
Characters are well developed and I liked them all even though they aren't all perfect or good. 
Reminds me alot of Heart stopper in terms of the slow start to the romance and the texts and emails. 
Some of the references date this book which is a shame, but I really enjoyed reading about the relationships and the drama. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Outing

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

lj_sophia's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

3.25

I enjoyed this book for exactly what it is which is a fun, gay, romance. Not life changing but cute nonetheless. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Cancer, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, and Grief