Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Red, White & Royal Blue

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.

Content Warnings

pizzaisjesus98's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

macks_bookshelf's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

lostinthe_pages's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-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

3.25

Funny, witty, cute, and light-hearted. A large chunk of the middle drags though and there's some physically cringey scenes. I'd read the whole thing again for the emails though hehe. Also June and Henry are everything! Love the pop culture references, its definitely meant for an ultra specific time and generation, though it sacrifices its timelessness in this way.

Content Warnings