Kiki’s review of Red, White & Royal Blue (Red, White & Royal Blue, #1) > Likes and Comments
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EXACTLY.
This may be me being a cynical asshole, but I honestly this book is only popular because it features a m/m romance and a shit ton of pop culture references. I read a few pages and was so damn bored I couldn't fathom reading more of it. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, but I doubt it would have exploded in popularity as much as it did if the main couple was heterosexual.
Kiki, what was the context for the part when one of the guys invites the other guy into bed and then tears him a new one? It's been bugging me since I read the review.
Jenny wrote: "Kiki, what was the context for the part when one of the guys invites the other guy into bed and then tears him a new one? It's been bugging me since I read the review."
It's when they first hook up. They're in the middle of some heavy petting and Alex just explodes with this torrent of weird verbal abuse. I get that it's supposed to be like this annoying qUiRkY Tumblr thing, you know, where people are like "I hate this little shit!!!" when they talk about celebrities they're attracted to, but calling your partner names when you're in bed with them is just fucking creepy.
Kiki, thank you for the context, but quite frankly that makes no fucking sense to me. I'm not on Tumblr so that might be it, but I can't imagine finding someone verbally abusing me sexy. How do other people find this sexy???
Honestly Jenny, your guess is as good as mine. I don’t get it either.
I love this book but you made several points here. Now, I have to rethink everything about this book lol. Thanks for the insightful review
I didn't finish this one. Just couldn't. For me it wasn't funny, charming, perfection etc. Alex annoyed the hell out of me from the first sentences, with his attitude and behavior. Sometimes i felt like i was reading about spoiled, rude 10 year old child. I barely made past that wedding. A bit after that i gave up. There were so many things that i didn't like. And i failed to find reasons why try to push through and read more, finish it.
You are also the first person i see, who is giving this a one star(and of course writing good reasons why). Until now i thought that i'm the only person on this planet, who didn't enjoy this one, because all i see is 5 stars everywhere and reviews about how perfect this is.
Thank you for this review.
Great review! I haven't really seen most of this highlighted in other reviews, so this is super informative.
Overhyped, expensive ebook I won't ever finish. AMYzing view, Kiki San!!!😍😍😍
Thank you Kiki. I have come back to Good Reads to check this book I have started is not intended for young adults, me being firmly: An Adult. Seems it’s just not my cup of tea, after all. Ho hum! Great review.
I’m enjoying it, but I agree with the political stances made. I read the acknowledgments first, and I almost stopped after those alone.
I'm not even British but "Prime Minister of England" was vv painful to read
Disagree 100% but respect for your opinion.
I'm only 6% into the book and already feel put off by so many little things, so I decided to check the reviews in Goodreads... so shocked to find thousands of people rated it 5 stars. I agreed with everything you said and Imma save myself from continuing with this book. Thank you for reading it till the last page and made this helpful review!
The Senator Saga with S.P. Fletcher is another book but it has the balls to be hones about the corruption in America. I mean it’s dangerous to portray the system as Democrats are good and Republicans bad. Democrats screwed us over as much as the Republican on certain bills and you can’t have a book that glosses over that.
Just read this, disagreed so hard on everything you said, however, your review was really well written so credit to you for that.
I think you’re missing the point of the book...and honestly how the book portrays the monarchy is how most the world perceives it. Regardless it’s your opinion.
someone: doesn’t like a book
y’all: yOU MisSed tHe pOInt?????
I mean, this is a book where the president of the US is a woman with mixed race kids, set in 2019/2020 (sans Covid 19, but you couldn't know that when you wrote the review ;-) ) and Texas becomes a blue state for once... so idk, but it seems like it's kind of missing the point to say it's unrealistic. both the US and UK are treated with rainbows and glitters in this book (which has a pink cover, ffs), very very much, but this mostly doesn't seem to be a careless slander, but a blatant choice.
It literally markets itself as escapism and the glossing over harsh realities seems to be pretty intentional, so that I see no problem with it, because I read it as the fantasy that it sells itself as.
it felt to me like the product of a person who is very much tired and stressed out and sad by politics as they are and the crass contrast between the book and reality should speak for itself. i wouldn't read too much into the "accepting the fact that the monarchy exists" because it's part of the book's premise and it doesn't work otherwise.
to me, it seemed to be pretty frank and revelatory about the fact, that on a certain level, people love the monarchy because they fantasize about fucking a royal. it didn't idealize the monarchy as an institution itself (far less than it did the Democrats anyway, which was another thing I just didn't take too seriously) and I think the very unrealistic nature of how things work in this book serves very well to render it a kink setting in a way, even if people may not admit that.
idk if you know the broadway musical hamilton, but this book seems to be the author's own kind of version of it, treating politics and history less than accurately in order to prioritize the romance.
i get it, if you're not in for the ride and couldn't enjoy it, there's no convincing you otherwise, but these are my personal thoughts in defense of this book, tl;dr it exists for the lulz :-)
Im like 40%in this book and i m desperately waiting for this to become interesting. And I Don't get the swearing in every page like why cant they talk at lest once without swearing. For a while it was cool but after that it get annoying and bugging me. I still want to like it... Reading it to just to complete. Lol
I was going to read this but if it does make really basic errors like 'prime minister of England' then it'll just drive me nuts. Part of being a successful author to me is doing the leg work - research your subjects. Even fluff feel good books should get basic facts right. Might read it eventually but it's dropped to the bottom of the list now.
I'm on chapter three and I already agree. If it's more of the same, I might shelf it. Bad enough the British stereotypes, but the American ones are no better. The "southern" dialect if the president sounds like the author has never heard one and the behavior of Alex is embarrassing in politics. I'm from Washington DC. None of his bill would have flown for a damn minute.
Thank you. I was so disgusted with this book that I couldn’t waste my words to review it but totally appreciate that you were able to! Again thank you.
I liked it and I STILL AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID.
I thought something was wrong with me. I read like a couple of chapters and I was miserable
I love this book but I totally agree with so much of this review. Thank you for writing this so I can refer to it when I talk about this w people in the future 👏
I liked the book just fine. I loved the characters but i think we were shown very little of Henry's personality. Apart from that there was way too much sexual frustration between Henry and Alex. For the first half of the book there was very less scenes where we saw them connect deeply. Other then this i loved the book. Idk but Rafel Luna being Alex's idol / role model was one of my favourite things in the book.
I loved this book and simultaneously loved your review! 🙌
This review is perfect. You said it way better than I did! Thanks!
this is a great review. i noticed the same - a few quips from henry about the monarchy were meant to satisfy readers' moral qualms, and the idea that a democratic president does no wrong is just... oh god. like, does war not exist in this world? apparently it's supposed to be an alternate universe but it's all so irresponsibly done
I just started reading and it's looking like what you've written, I was even looking unpleasant... and more when I read "Obama is cool." I'm definitely too conscious for this book
I really wanted to like this book as well but halfway through immediately also knew this relationship is incredibly dysfunctional and that there’s no way it would survive beyond a honeymoon phase. Kinda made me wish it ended with a more realistic dissolution of the relationship instead of the “fairytale”
Thank you, your review says (mostly) what I thought of this book
I totally agree, and I loved this book too. The author worked so hard to create this idyllic rainbow political world that she boiled everything down to good vs bad and left out anything truly complex. The relationship was super dysfunctional, so I have a hard time justifying it— the book should have included at least ONE fight between them considering how insufferable they both are.
As someone who genuinely enjoyed this book, I fully agree with your review. There is so much you have to ignore to enjoy it. It’s probably one of the most unrealistic books I’ve read.
Thank you! You brought up so many good point. The book in my opinion was trying to balance between reality and fiction and they did a terrible job
I feel the same!!! Politics was an uncanny representation of the real thing and the relationship was unsatisfying...
I actually liked this book but your review is so eloquent and you make so many very valid points. As a Brit myself I do agree there were some elements of the book's presentation of the UK and the monarchy that were just 🙃🙃
Although I agree with loads of what you said, I do agree with some of the other commenters that the book is clearly supposed to be highly idealised and while it doesn't comment on lots of issues and simplifies things (e.g. good v evil US politics), just the fact that the president is a woman, the mother of mixed-race kids, etc, says something. Again, it's supposed to be escapist, it's supposed to be a nice, fluffy, romantic narrative about to men falling in love without the brutality of our real life.
!!!!!! Finally someone SAID IT!! The way a lot of American anti-monarchist posturing is just that ... posturing on top of a fetishization of royalty.
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Dec 20, 2019 06:45AM
EXACTLY.
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This may be me being a cynical asshole, but I honestly this book is only popular because it features a m/m romance and a shit ton of pop culture references. I read a few pages and was so damn bored I couldn't fathom reading more of it. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, but I doubt it would have exploded in popularity as much as it did if the main couple was heterosexual.
Kiki, what was the context for the part when one of the guys invites the other guy into bed and then tears him a new one? It's been bugging me since I read the review.
Jenny wrote: "Kiki, what was the context for the part when one of the guys invites the other guy into bed and then tears him a new one? It's been bugging me since I read the review."It's when they first hook up. They're in the middle of some heavy petting and Alex just explodes with this torrent of weird verbal abuse. I get that it's supposed to be like this annoying qUiRkY Tumblr thing, you know, where people are like "I hate this little shit!!!" when they talk about celebrities they're attracted to, but calling your partner names when you're in bed with them is just fucking creepy.
Kiki, thank you for the context, but quite frankly that makes no fucking sense to me. I'm not on Tumblr so that might be it, but I can't imagine finding someone verbally abusing me sexy. How do other people find this sexy???
Honestly Jenny, your guess is as good as mine. I don’t get it either.
I love this book but you made several points here. Now, I have to rethink everything about this book lol. Thanks for the insightful review
I didn't finish this one. Just couldn't. For me it wasn't funny, charming, perfection etc. Alex annoyed the hell out of me from the first sentences, with his attitude and behavior. Sometimes i felt like i was reading about spoiled, rude 10 year old child. I barely made past that wedding. A bit after that i gave up. There were so many things that i didn't like. And i failed to find reasons why try to push through and read more, finish it.You are also the first person i see, who is giving this a one star(and of course writing good reasons why). Until now i thought that i'm the only person on this planet, who didn't enjoy this one, because all i see is 5 stars everywhere and reviews about how perfect this is.
Thank you for this review.
I yeeted this from my TBR in instant
Great review! I haven't really seen most of this highlighted in other reviews, so this is super informative.
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Overhyped, expensive ebook I won't ever finish. AMYzing view, Kiki San!!!😍😍😍
Thank you Kiki. I have come back to Good Reads to check this book I have started is not intended for young adults, me being firmly: An Adult. Seems it’s just not my cup of tea, after all. Ho hum! Great review.
I’m enjoying it, but I agree with the political stances made. I read the acknowledgments first, and I almost stopped after those alone.
I'm not even British but "Prime Minister of England" was vv painful to read
Disagree 100% but respect for your opinion.
I'm only 6% into the book and already feel put off by so many little things, so I decided to check the reviews in Goodreads... so shocked to find thousands of people rated it 5 stars. I agreed with everything you said and Imma save myself from continuing with this book. Thank you for reading it till the last page and made this helpful review!
The Senator Saga with S.P. Fletcher is another book but it has the balls to be hones about the corruption in America. I mean it’s dangerous to portray the system as Democrats are good and Republicans bad. Democrats screwed us over as much as the Republican on certain bills and you can’t have a book that glosses over that.
Just read this, disagreed so hard on everything you said, however, your review was really well written so credit to you for that.
I think you’re missing the point of the book...and honestly how the book portrays the monarchy is how most the world perceives it. Regardless it’s your opinion.
someone: doesn’t like a booky’all: yOU MisSed tHe pOInt?????
I mean, this is a book where the president of the US is a woman with mixed race kids, set in 2019/2020 (sans Covid 19, but you couldn't know that when you wrote the review ;-) ) and Texas becomes a blue state for once... so idk, but it seems like it's kind of missing the point to say it's unrealistic. both the US and UK are treated with rainbows and glitters in this book (which has a pink cover, ffs), very very much, but this mostly doesn't seem to be a careless slander, but a blatant choice.It literally markets itself as escapism and the glossing over harsh realities seems to be pretty intentional, so that I see no problem with it, because I read it as the fantasy that it sells itself as.
it felt to me like the product of a person who is very much tired and stressed out and sad by politics as they are and the crass contrast between the book and reality should speak for itself. i wouldn't read too much into the "accepting the fact that the monarchy exists" because it's part of the book's premise and it doesn't work otherwise.
to me, it seemed to be pretty frank and revelatory about the fact, that on a certain level, people love the monarchy because they fantasize about fucking a royal. it didn't idealize the monarchy as an institution itself (far less than it did the Democrats anyway, which was another thing I just didn't take too seriously) and I think the very unrealistic nature of how things work in this book serves very well to render it a kink setting in a way, even if people may not admit that.
idk if you know the broadway musical hamilton, but this book seems to be the author's own kind of version of it, treating politics and history less than accurately in order to prioritize the romance.
i get it, if you're not in for the ride and couldn't enjoy it, there's no convincing you otherwise, but these are my personal thoughts in defense of this book, tl;dr it exists for the lulz :-)
Im like 40%in this book and i m desperately waiting for this to become interesting. And I Don't get the swearing in every page like why cant they talk at lest once without swearing. For a while it was cool but after that it get annoying and bugging me. I still want to like it... Reading it to just to complete. Lol
I was going to read this but if it does make really basic errors like 'prime minister of England' then it'll just drive me nuts. Part of being a successful author to me is doing the leg work - research your subjects. Even fluff feel good books should get basic facts right. Might read it eventually but it's dropped to the bottom of the list now.
I'm on chapter three and I already agree. If it's more of the same, I might shelf it. Bad enough the British stereotypes, but the American ones are no better. The "southern" dialect if the president sounds like the author has never heard one and the behavior of Alex is embarrassing in politics. I'm from Washington DC. None of his bill would have flown for a damn minute.
Thank you. I was so disgusted with this book that I couldn’t waste my words to review it but totally appreciate that you were able to! Again thank you.
I liked it and I STILL AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID.
I thought something was wrong with me. I read like a couple of chapters and I was miserable
I love this book but I totally agree with so much of this review. Thank you for writing this so I can refer to it when I talk about this w people in the future 👏
I liked the book just fine. I loved the characters but i think we were shown very little of Henry's personality. Apart from that there was way too much sexual frustration between Henry and Alex. For the first half of the book there was very less scenes where we saw them connect deeply. Other then this i loved the book. Idk but Rafel Luna being Alex's idol / role model was one of my favourite things in the book.
I loved this book and simultaneously loved your review! 🙌
This review is perfect. You said it way better than I did! Thanks!
this is a great review. i noticed the same - a few quips from henry about the monarchy were meant to satisfy readers' moral qualms, and the idea that a democratic president does no wrong is just... oh god. like, does war not exist in this world? apparently it's supposed to be an alternate universe but it's all so irresponsibly done
I just started reading and it's looking like what you've written, I was even looking unpleasant... and more when I read "Obama is cool." I'm definitely too conscious for this book
I really wanted to like this book as well but halfway through immediately also knew this relationship is incredibly dysfunctional and that there’s no way it would survive beyond a honeymoon phase. Kinda made me wish it ended with a more realistic dissolution of the relationship instead of the “fairytale”
Thank you, your review says (mostly) what I thought of this book
I totally agree, and I loved this book too. The author worked so hard to create this idyllic rainbow political world that she boiled everything down to good vs bad and left out anything truly complex. The relationship was super dysfunctional, so I have a hard time justifying it— the book should have included at least ONE fight between them considering how insufferable they both are.
As someone who genuinely enjoyed this book, I fully agree with your review. There is so much you have to ignore to enjoy it. It’s probably one of the most unrealistic books I’ve read.
Thank you! You brought up so many good point. The book in my opinion was trying to balance between reality and fiction and they did a terrible job
I feel the same!!! Politics was an uncanny representation of the real thing and the relationship was unsatisfying...
I actually liked this book but your review is so eloquent and you make so many very valid points. As a Brit myself I do agree there were some elements of the book's presentation of the UK and the monarchy that were just 🙃🙃Although I agree with loads of what you said, I do agree with some of the other commenters that the book is clearly supposed to be highly idealised and while it doesn't comment on lots of issues and simplifies things (e.g. good v evil US politics), just the fact that the president is a woman, the mother of mixed-race kids, etc, says something. Again, it's supposed to be escapist, it's supposed to be a nice, fluffy, romantic narrative about to men falling in love without the brutality of our real life.
!!!!!! Finally someone SAID IT!! The way a lot of American anti-monarchist posturing is just that ... posturing on top of a fetishization of royalty.
