Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Vermelho, Branco e Sangue Azul by Casey McQuiston

50 reviews

cstein's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

One of the better romance novels I've read! I found the characters lovable and their lives as political and public figures believable. I also appreciated McQuiston's seamless incorporation of queer history.

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bubbly_lara's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.75

Ahhh, I missed the gang! I read the English original last year and reading this now made me realise how I've missed everything about this book: the characters, the plot, the iconic lines (somehow slightly less iconic in German, sadly), the sass, the romance... basically everything! Alex and Henry, their story and courage have my whole heart and I'll always recommend this book for a heartwarming romcom :)

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coles14_'s review against another edition

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3.75


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ageckocalledachilles's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It was pretty good from the beginning, but Oh my God it is impossible to put down once you reach the halfway point

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ashleyvharris's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

This book will have a tight grip on my heart forever. I though I knew what this story would be, but god, it was so much more. It was everything it needed to be; everything I needed it to be. 

I came for the romance, but stayed for emotional depth and unfettered feeling of this book. Often contemporary romances can be fun, sexy, and entertaining, but still lack the complexity of the human experience; they feel more like movies than relatable human conflicts. And while I am not the the gay son of world leaders, I found so much in Red, White, & Royal Blue that struck a chord with me as a young person living in this moment. 

The intensity and urgency of American politics is embedded into my bones and McQuinston captures that jumble of election night feeling so perfectly in the final chapter. I relish the thought of celebrating the day we elect our first female President.

More than anything, I was touched by Bea’s explanation to Alex about grief and trauma and the way it effected Henry. It’s one small paragraph 3 quarters of the way through, but it made me feel seen and understood in a way that no book has been able to do.

McQuinston funneled hope and joy into every page, every word. This feels like a love letter to a generation of kids that always puts to much pressure on themselves. It’s a breath of relief.

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paperlo's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I went into this book expecting it to read like a very well-written piece of fanfiction and that’s exactly what it felt like - and I think having those expectations, that this would feel like fanfiction instead of typical literature, really helped me to throw myself into the concept of the book and enjoy it much more. 

The romance is satisfying and nicely explored and the characters are very immediately clear and developed - there’s no mysteries around who these people are, but they’re clearly presented and fully fleshed out. They each feel like their own little completely realised fictional person from the get go - and more importantly, they’re loveable from the start. 

The politics side of the plot isn’t particularly my cup of tea - I think it was very much supposed to be hopeful and aspirational but I feel like instead it just made me somewhat sad about reality - it was a little too like impossible fiction rooted in reality and so did not feel enough like any sort of escape, in the way I like my fiction to feel. I think more than anything it made me just feel jaded, so as an experience it felt a little more irritating than satisfying. Not being from the US and often bored of hearing about US politics, I also really wasn’t particularly invested in the actual political side of the story anyway - I found it to occasionally drag, but fortunately the romance was fun and interesting and more than made up for this.

Being from the UK, the less than favourable glimpses of British politics of it all did mostly amuse me, although I think this book depicts most of the royal family much more favourably than they perhaps deserve, in the finish. Still, it was fun and engaging to read.

I read the story near enough in one sitting, in the space of a day and by the end, I found myself still wanting more of the two main characters, so ultimately I’d count it as an incredibly enjoyable success in my book. It feels exactly like I’ve just read a wonderfully written, unusually well edited fanfic, sure, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - and in fact I feel that same pleased satisfaction at having been given something so unapologetically romantic and so inescapably queer as good fanfiction gives me. If you go into this book willing to simply give into the conceit of it, you’ll have a remarkably good time. 

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strawberry_stupid's review against another edition

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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

5.0


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ka_ke's review against another edition

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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? No

5.0

I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the booktok hype, but it absolutely did! Definitely a new favourite.

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burnsie's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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emmawilkins's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

4.5


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