• All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Red, White & Royal Blue

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    A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…

    First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

    The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

    As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

    Red, White & Royal Blue

    Casey McQuiston

    Rating: 4.5/5 🌈
    Published: 14th May 2019
    Goodreads
    Rep: Mexican-American bi mc, gay li with depression, female bi side characters, non-white side characters, trans lesbian side character

    Give yourself away sometimes, sweetheart. There’s so much of you.

  • All Reviews,  Literature

    Book Review: Alice Payne Arrives

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    A disillusioned major, a highwaywoman, and a war raging across time.

    It’s 1788 and Alice Payne is the notorious highway robber, the Holy Ghost. Aided by her trusty automaton, Laverna, the Holy Ghost is feared by all who own a heavy purse.

    It’s 1889 and Major Prudence Zuniga is once again attempting to change history―to save history―but seventy attempts later she’s still no closer to her goal.

    It’s 2016 and… well, the less said about 2016 the better!

    But in 2020 the Farmers and the Guides are locked in battle; time is their battleground, and the world is their prize. Only something new can change the course of the war. Or someone new.

    Little did they know, but they’ve all been waiting until Alice Payne arrives.

    Alice Payne Arrives

    Kate Heartfield

    Rating: 4/5 ðŸŒˆ
    Published: 6th November 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: lesbian mc, lesbian li, black mcs (not ownvoices), possibly autistic li

    Kiss me, and then take my hand, because I don’t know what happens next.

  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: What If It’s Us

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    Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

    Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

    But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

    Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

    Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

    But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?

    What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

    What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

    But what if it is?

    What If It’s Us

    Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

    Rating: 1/5 ðŸŒˆ
    Published: 9th October 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: gay mcs (one ownvoices, one not), Puerto Rican mc (ownvoices), Jewish mc (ownvoices), mc with ADHD, side character with anxiety, side non-white characters

    I don’t know if we’re in a love story or a story about love.