Reviews tagging 'Death'

Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

40 reviews

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Death of parent, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Car accident, Classism, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexual content

maverique's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

I. LOVED. IT. I loved it so muchhhhh. I decided to read this book ahead of the movie release because I had somehow never heard of it in my whole life and also because I'm just starting to get into queer books and media. I loved the story tbh. I walked in guessing that it would be angst for like 9-10 chapters and then cutesy romance towards the end but I was soooo wrong. Like I was able to predict about half the story but I'm not even going to lie, some of the stuff in the plot surprised me. This book really touched the part of me that still has hope and I don't think I can get over that anytime soon :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Colonisation

james1star's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

If you can’t gather by the genre and cover of this book but it’s a gay romance between Alex, the First Son of the (female - something I didn’t know going into this and was happily surprised by) President of the USA, and Henry, Prince of Wales (the Queen’s grandson). Their relationship starts as rivals to friends to lovers and I won’t say anymore plot wise to avoid spoilers. 

I liked it, the writing is very readable and bingeable, the plot is engrossing, and the characters are all quite developed. The world McQuiaton creates is very liberal and pleasant but still retains its problems - maybe a little too unrealistic but it’s fiction so what can you say? the escapism and heartwarming elements were very enjoyable. The romance was again nice to read, my favourite parts certainly being Alex and Henry getting to know each other on a deeper level, with their email exchanges holding true depth (I kind of wished these were a bigger part). As their relationship was growing and leading to sexual exploration, I wasn’t really that interested as someone who doesn’t like smut/sex scenes but they weren’t as prominent a part as I thought at first and I definitely got more into the book as it went along. I also found the beginning to read a little like YA but with clearly adult themes so it was slightly mismatched but again as it went on it did mature. The long chapters and storyline that drags maybe a bit too long in my opinion was again something I wished was shortened, it seemed like you have to go through a lot to get to the main plot points at times.

I guess my major issue was how when ‘bad’ things happened, there wasn’t really any repercussions. Things were sewn up a little too easily to be believable and in some aspects I feel this does a disservice to queer people’s experiences in some sort of way. The MCs are clearly not like the ordinary person with their wealth, titles, power, and ultimately: privilege so it’s hard to relate to them - again I know it’s fiction and whilst I enjoyed this I would always choose a romance (or any book genre) where the MC is someone I can relate to better - so I didn’t really have much of a connection. Much of the book also rests on the idea of things coming out and the rather big (international) implications they would cause in the real world but the impact isn’t representative of this in this book. It’s also a little idealistic at times too where quite a lot of things (specially within the British Royal family) wouldn’t happen - again it’s fiction and I get the ‘alternative reality’ aspect apples to many but I dunno it’s just hard to see things like anti-colonialism being important to some members of the Royal family. 

It may seem like I’ve focused on the negatives and I get that I probably have done in this review but I feel this book has gotten so much hype and praise so maybe I’m evening it out a little bit? Maybe? I dunno. But I DID LIKE IT, it’s a good book and one I would recommend but I do still have my problems - do other queer books deserve the hype more? Yes I do think so. BUT I’m still super happy a book with two queer MCs that are in the ruling organisations of two very influential countries with a whole cast of queer and diverse characters who deal with lots of issues is getting the limelight. A book like this with such great representation and visibility wasn’t the ‘it thing’ to read when I was younger and I wish it was. So yes, I’m very happy about this book’s success and do recommend giving it a read - it’s great for a lighthearted pick-me-up read that can appeal to many. Bring on One Last Stop! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Homophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Outing, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

deetabz's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Outing

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Death, Sexual content, Racism, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Stalking, Cancer, Colonisation, and Drug use

cdoubet's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Sexism, Bullying, and Misogyny

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Racism

Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Alcohol, Cancer, and Sexual harassment

barocap001's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Biphobia, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Addiction

bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

funny hopeful 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

5.0

this book was funny and engaging from start to finish. the pov of Alex was a delightful mix of witty and sarcastic. all of the characters were so enjoyable to rid. a really hopeful take on our current political climate in the us, but it’s good to have a goal to reach for, isn’t it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing, Forced institutionalization, and Drug abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Death, and Grief

queerloras's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Outing

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

cstein's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

5.0

One of the better romance novels I've read! I found the characters lovable and their lives as political and public figures believable. I also appreciated McQuiston's seamless incorporation of queer history.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Outing, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Addiction, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

teslis's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

I like the concept of a romance between the prince of England and the fist son of USA. I also liked that they were “enemies to lovers” but

Spoiler

I do think that the love story happens to fast especially with it being a queer love story. I bother loved and hated it when Henry kissed Alex the first time, it didn’t feel real but I wanted it to be real. The end was hard for me to read, I don’t know why but it felt like it would never end. (And I wanted it to end).

I’m happy I read this book and it was good just not a favorite, but I still think it were nice to read! I was also not ready for the

Spoiler

*spice*

, but that was fun hahah :D 

Took me 11 hours and 50 minutes to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse