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

I was really looking forward to reading this book because of all of the good things I have heard about it... but I was terribly disappointed. The idea for this book was great, but it wasn't executed very well. None of the plot points interested me very much and I struggled to connect to the characters. There was also no chemistry between the two main characters, Alex and Henry. Sure, it was a fine read. Good if you are looking for a cute romance that you can finish quickly, but there are many other books similar to this that are written much better.

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roxette's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

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crystallis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? No

4.0

This book is very sweet and more political than you’d think.

I had heard incredible things of this book and after I finished it I shared most of them.

Alex and Henry are amazing, their relationship is gorgeous and I loved every detail about them.

The rivals to lovers trope is one of the best and most underrated tropes out there.
The way they had such a high mutual respect (when they weren’t even friends) despite everything they disliked about each other talks worlds about how wholesome their relationship is.

Also their chemistry is wonderful.

All the other characters are very good and entertaining.

The pacing is great and the characters are quite rational with their decisions.

However, I think there are a bit too much politic talk around this book. The author clearly has a strong political point of view (which is completely fine and deserves to be respected) but I think it really demonizes the Republicans and tries to get the readers to believe that the democrats are the best people in the world. I think that bringing such confusing and complicated themes to a contemporary romance book is not needed.

And I know what you’re all thinking right now:
“oh, you really thought there was not going to be a political conversation in this book?, what were you expecting?”

I was expecting the author to use politics as an mean to an end (the start of this relationship) not to use this whole book to make a point about politics.

Besides all of this I’m really excited to read more about this author.

Read you all later.

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