Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Rojo, blanco y sangre azul by Casey McQuiston

118 reviews

taryn_g's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Outing

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Mental illness

voidature's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

the premise made me wonder if i’d like it, but this became my comfort book so quickly. truly an incredible book. it felt like reading a warm hug and somehow i walked away from it feeling a little patriotic.

the plot was so well-developed and set up a fantastic amount of foreshadowing that i picked up on but dismissed and realized later that i shouldn’t have. plot twists that were somehow shocking but believable, and not too high stakes that the resolution felt rushed or underwhelming.

the characters are so endearing, and alex is such a fun narrator. i wish we had gotten more pez, though!

i wanted to see more of him and june together. and i loved that it acknowledges the complexities of voting populations amidst what felt like a very idealistic political world even despite it all, and i loved the touch of the texas binder. it managed to keep the plot feeling grounded even with everything happening around us.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Outing

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, and Racism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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

katyfayyyx's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

Make America Gay Again! 🌈

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Racism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

3ndt4p3s's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted tense 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? Yes

3.0

i’ve been trying to finish this since 2019… we did it joe

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

rubadubindabathtub's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

karly_ackley's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, and Outing

Minor: Addiction and Death of parent

sammyy_3's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Outing

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: Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol

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