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

I knew I was going to love this book from the time I first read the back cover. An enemies to lovers romance between the First Son of the United States and the Prince of England? Count me in! I caved and watched the movie with my roommate way back in September and instantly fell in love, going out to buy the book immediately afterwards. It took me awhile to finally get around to reading it, but once I finally had time to sit down and read this book, I tore through 95 percent of it in a three-day span. This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. It had me laughing, aching, and kept me up half the night two days in a row because I was so invested. The themes of finding your identity and learning to balance emotions were strong in this one, and I truly loved watching this story unravel page by page. This was a true page turner that took me down an emotional roller coaster, and Alex and Henry's story will stick with me for a long time. One of my favorite books ever!

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mrs_gale's review against another edition

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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.

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kat_a's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense 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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lj_sophia's review against another edition

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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.

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rainbowrocky's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

My final thoughts on the book are: fun concept, cute characters, dull execution. The beginning was soooo slow but the ending was really good. It took me a year to read this and usually that’s not a good sign for me lol. I feel like I knew the friends better than the love interest August is supposedly bending space and time for to be in love with. Don’t get me wrong, I love found family and I enjoyed seeing them interact, but shouldn’t we know more about Jane? Like we find out about her past, but as a person her character fell a little flat for me. And I found August’s hero complex a touch annoying and fell into the white savior trope a little too hard. I also didn’t care for the “save the diner” side plot (you mean to tell me August is suddenly sad for a place she barely shows up to for work?), but the “find her uncle that’s been missing since the 70s” side plot worked really well for both August’s narrative and Jane’s. I enjoyed McQuiston’s lyrical writing style, especially for the spicy scenes, and how they do dialogue. Overall 4/5 stars. Probably won’t ever read again but I will keep my book cause it’s cute.

Edit: You know what I think this novel needs? Jane's POV. If we had a dual POV with Jane and August, I think it would have been so much better. We could have seen her flashbacks instead of just being told about them through August's eyes. That would have been so much better and maybe getting her inner thoughts about how she feels about August wouldn't make the romance so one-sided for me.

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nicoyarose's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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myyam's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.5

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bookerbride's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Interesting concept, the result was not for me. I liked the political thriller aspect, many Important topics like gerrymandering, colonisation etc., but overall not convincing.
According to this book:
Americans = loud, communicate in swear words
British = stiff

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