Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Vermelho, Branco e Sangue Azul by Casey McQuiston

101 reviews

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is my first book from Casey and I must say, it didn't disappoint. I love Alex's smart mouth and the fact that he was named after Hamilton was awesome (I'm a big fan of the musical.) The enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, and royal tropes were neatly done. Henry was charming and interesting. Every character from Alex's side was amazing. I'm so sad about Raf's experience. I can truly say that the world today is more open-minded about queer people today more than ever. I also love that there was a "we against the world" type of feeling. Damn, the monarch was cruel at the least, but I'm happy that most of Henry's family members were supportive of him. Oh, Zahra, my girl, you are my spirit animal❤️ Btw, I was surprised a bit that this was spicy; I devoured every bit nonetheless. Overall, I love that this is about family, friendship, and love. I'll read all your books, Casey, that's for sure✨ P. S. I'm super excited to see the movie adaptation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

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

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

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

maca_vr'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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Colonisation, and Grief

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

I was sceptical about this book. But it is absolutly worth it. The chemistry was soo good. I loved how they send real peoples love letters to eachother. All the background characters were so interesting and well written. Fell in love with the world they wrote.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Bullying, Grief, Hate crime, and Outing

Minor: Emotional abuse, Cursing, Colonisation, and Homophobia

ppp's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Cursing

ismildlypoetic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5 stars = Changed my life/hyperfixation

This reading was a reread, and the original readthrough was the first time I'd ever read an LGBTQ+ book. I've always loved a good fairytale, and this enemies-to-lovers, falling in love with a prince, correction of recent history was incredibly healing, as much as it brought to light the flaws with our world today.

Of course, my memory served me differently than the words on the pages did. I thought the Nora/June/Pez headcannon had a lot more canonical weight than it actually did (a brief mention of the three possibly sleeping together in a hotel, and some harmless flirting). However, some scenes, like the Turkey one, were even better than I remembered.

All in all, this is definitely a book that all queer idealists should read at least once, if not spending hours in addition looking through FirstPrince memes on Pinterest. Everyone needs a side hobby :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, and Stalking

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Alcohol, and Racism

tym_flies's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

At this point, this book is a staple of romance reader's everywhere, but it took me ages to get around to it. I'm lowkey regretting it took me so long. I was worried that it would be incredibly unrealistic - the son of the US president and the prince of England, are you serious? But it took me by surprise. It was convincing and definitely based in reality, if a more optimistic reality than our current. I had fun reading it, would catch myself grinning down at the pages. Definitely recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual content, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Outing

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Minor: Forced institutionalization

banjersupertop's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Outing

Minor: Emotional abuse

athenathestorier's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? No

5.0

With the most classic take on enemies-to-lovers (that where they're enemies because they're repressing their actual feelings), this book shines in the realm of character writing. Everyone here felt fully flushed out, consistent, and like everyone had a story beyond the scope of what was covered on these pages. The tone shifted from comedy that had me wrestling in silent hysterics long after the rest of my household had went to sleep, to love letters and confessions that had me both feeling lonely and history-curious (some of which I will be looking up promptly after I finish this review), to unfair circumstances that had my eyes feeling hot and my arms itching to comfort fictional characters like they were real.

And I think part of the thing, right? They felt real. Everyone had nuances and interests and stories. And while Alex is significantly more crass, reckless, and rebellious than me, I saw myself in him perhaps most of all. He dreams of a inspired and honest future, observing and calculating everything in the hopes of watching that future take shape. He's so focused on this dream and where he fits in it, that he plans and plans and plans. He's repeated it to himself so much, painting it in his mind with as much permanence as the paintings in the white house, that when circumstances change, he has a hard time adjusting. It makes him question everything.

Between Alex's lists and Henry's prose, both of them bonded over popular culture, queer history references, and shared societal pressures, I easily got swept away in their developing friendship and romance equally.


Memorable Quotes:
- What kind of garbage country eats bland beans on white toast for breakfast? He can't decide if his Mexican blood or his Texan blood is more offended.
-"Er," Henry says, adding to the list of vowel sounds he has to show for himself. It is, unfortunately, also sexy. After all these weeks, the bar is low.
- He's sure he used to know quite a lot of words, in more than one language, in fact, but he can't seem to recall any of them.
- Exploring your sexuality: healthy, but does it have to be with the prince of England?
- Thinking about history makes me wonder how I'll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too.
- I used to think, if I pictured the person I wanted to be and took all the crazy anxiety in my brain and narrowed it down to that point, I could rewrite it. Use it to power something else. It's like I never learned how to just be where I am.
- "Nora, what's the math?" June says, rounding on her, a slightly frantic look in her eyes. "I majored in nouns."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Grief, Racism, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

glorytowers05's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Alcohol, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Homophobia, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Incest, Drug use, and Stalking