Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

39 reviews

azileotulp's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

This is the second time I've tried to read this book. The first time I stopped about 100 pages in. While I made it through this time, it was still definitely a struggle to get into it. As a whole, I would say I liked the book, but it has a few issues that are definitely holding it back for me.

First big issue: POV. I genuinely cannot fathom why this book was written in the third person. Don't get me wrong, I can really appreciate a third person book (although I typically prefer first person). In fact, two of my favorite books of all time are in the third person. However, it just did not work in this book. I just feel like third person perspectives in romances don't work for me at all. (Do you know how many times I had to read the words "Alex" and "Henry" on each page because the word "he" couldn't be used?) I think the novel would have worked a lot better and been easier to get into if it had been in the first person. It would be even better if it had been dual POV. I'm not just saying that because I love a good dual POV book, but I think it also would have prevented the book from dragging, which it did in a lot of places.

Second big issue: Characters. My favorite part of romance is falling in love with the characters, which I usually find very easy to do. By the end of this book, I only really loved one character (Henry <3) and liked two others (June and Alex). I don't really hate any of the other characters (except Richards, of course), but I'm just totally neutral on them. I feel like there were just too many of them to be honest. There were multiple instances where the book was discussing certain characters that I had to really rack my brain to try to remember. I feel like this is another reason the first person POV would have worked better for me. I feel like it's a lot easier to love characters when you're inside the mind of someone who does.

Third big issue: Smut. I swear this book has some of the most confusing smut I've ever read. Now, it's not like I actively wanted there to be super graphic smut. I'm really not a huge fan of it in general, so I won't seek out books that contain it, but I also won't avoid it if it's there. My real issue is that it seemed like this book couldn't decide if it wanted to be Young Adult or New Adult, and the smut teeters on the line between those two. It just frustrates me that it was far too explicit to actually be a Young Adult book, but not explicit enough for it to be understandable. It felt like every action that happened was stated so vaguely that I couldn't even imagine the scene. Every time I got to a smut scene, I had to read it at least three times before I could at least kind of form a picture of what was going on, and eventually I just stopped trying.

Those are the main things I would say hold the book back. There are definitely others,

like the lack of resolution for June's storyline with either Pez or Nora and the very dumb reason Alex hated Henry

but none of them were as bad as the three I listed above. But of course, I didn't hate this book: I gave it a 3.5. (Anything higher than a 3 is a book I consider to be at least okay.) So, what did it have going for it that made up for the previously mentioned issues?

First big strength: Humor. This is actually one of the funniest romances I've ever read. Other romance books usually get an exhale out of me, but very rarely an actual laugh. This book made me genuinely laugh twice. That might not sound like a lot to other people, but it definitely is for me. I feel like the characters played off of each other really well, and there were just a lot of scenarios that led to some really funny moments.

My favorite moment is after Alex comes out to his mom (which includes telling her about him and Henry) and she makes a whole presentation about it. I actually died.

Second big strength: The last quarter. So, you know how I said this book was really hard to get into? That includes a lot of the middle section unfortunately. However, when there were about 100 pages left, the

outing

storyline really caught my attention.

It had me really questioning how the emails got out. Did Rafael actually betray Alex? How would Ellen deal with the aftermath? How would Queen Mary?

It was totally captivating and made up for a lot of the boredom I felt during the rest of the book.

Overall, this definitely isn't one of the best books I've read. It's not even close. That being said, it's very charming in a lot of ways and I can definitely see why so many people love it. If you think you can get past the issues I talked about, then this could very well be a great book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Homophobia, and Cursing

Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Grief, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

aksvess's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

A sweet love story between two characters with amazing chemistry. I didn't love reading the political parts, even if it was fiction, but they were integral to the worlds of the characters. I would honestly love a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Outing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Racism, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

cats33's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Biphobia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Death, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, Addiction, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

Minor: Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Sexism, Colonisation, and Racism

kitty_may12's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

bighearted and bombastic, truly a joy from start to finish! With a cast of characters that are so believably naïve, sincere, deeply flawed, relentlessly misunderstood and so so easy to root for. The prose are stunning, the humor is razor-sharp and never once felt like it was punching down. 

 McQuiston invites us into the turbulent world of Henry and Alex, who quite possibly two of the best rom-com leads in recent memory, sharing an unbelievable chemistry that just leapt off of the page and into my heart, never to be forgotten. What else is there to except, this was just great, and I can't recommend it enough... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing and Stalking

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Vomit

foxclcves's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Outing, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Xenophobia, Colonisation, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

erikagibson126's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Bullying, Alcohol, Biphobia, Grief, Outing, Sexual assault, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Racism, Sexism, Confinement, Drug abuse, and Misogyny

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Racism, Misogyny, and Slavery

lovelycryptid's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

This could be a good book, for me it lacks a lot of elements I enjoy about this genre and the use of real world countries and political system while changing some parts of it but not others for seemingly no reason made less sense the more it went on. The character development was mediocre and the tropes felt tired and stretch. There's some great moments but overall this just wasn't as good as the hype around it had built it up to be for me. It felt like every time there was development it would regress again in writing quality and character development.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, Classism, and Sexism

Minor: Racism and Misogyny

pip10's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cursing, Grief, and Outing

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Biphobia, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexism

torismazarine's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Outing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Misogyny, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Biphobia

Minor: Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Addiction, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization