Red, White and Royal Blue Review (Spoiler Free)

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

True Love isn't always diplomatic

I remember when this book first came out and everyone was hyping it up, I was intrigued by it. The First Son of America's first female president falling in love with the Prince of England

I tried listening to the audiobook, but for some reason just couldn't get into it. However after getting obsessed with Hamilton when they put the movie on Disney+ I was in the mood for more political romance and remembered this book

By the first chapter, I was hooked, Alex was such an amazing protagonist and the opening when they ruin the Royal Wedding is amazing

I wasn't sure what to think going into this and the beginning of their friendship felt odd to me but I think that is part of the charm, they're just two people trying to figure out their way in the world

I don't think I can say too much more about this book without spoiling anything else about it, but I will say one thing: Since Hamilton is what inspired me to get around to reading it, I loved the references that were made to it. The fact that Alex is named after Alexander Hamilton and they included my favourite quote ever:

You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent

Overall, this book was amazing and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read more LGBT+ Contemporary novels, though there are some smutty scenes in it 

5/5 stars without hesitation

The Selection Review

Title: The Selection
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: Harper Collins
Date I read it: January 10th - January 14th 2018

Rating: 4.75 / 5 stars

Synopsis:

In a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels The Selection is the chance of a lifetime to compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon's heart. But for America Singer it means turning her back on her secret love and leaving home for a prize she doesn't want

Then America meets Maxon and all her plans start to crumble. Can the life she's always dreamed of compare to a future she never imagined

My thoughts on the book:

I first started reading this book a few years ago but for one reason or another i never ended up finishing it, but recently I finally bought the full series off Amazon and decided to finally read the series

The main thing that I kept hearing about this book was that most people didn't like it because they thought that America could be whiny at times. I didn't think that she was one of the worst characters but i would say that I can see where people are coming from

The main thing that i would say i didn't like about the book was the way that some of the other girls acted, even though i know that it was part of the point, they all wanted the same thing and would do whatever they could to secure it

The main reason that I loved this book was Maxon, and he is definitely a book boyfriend for me. I loved how teasing his relationship with America was and that we could see him slowly falling for her, and the same for her

I would say that, even from the beginning, I wasn't a big fan of Aspen. I don't know what it was about him, but there was something that put me off him from the start

Overall i loved this book and am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series

Do I recommend this book?:
Definitely, it is an interesting take on the dystopian genre and it manages to be a cute fluffy book, something that this genre doesn't have much of

2018 reading plans

2017 wasn't that great of a reading year for me and the thing that I was worst at last year was recording the books that I had actually read

That was why, this year, I have decided to participate in the #Theunreadshelfproject2018, where participants try to read as many of the unread books on their shelves as possible

I have a bad habit of starting books and then never finishing them and I am hoping that this year long readathon will help accomplish this task for me

I do have some other things that I would like to acheive this year reading wise that relate to this challenge for me:

• I would love to try and read 100 books this year or even more, as well as keeping better track of my reading 
• I would like to try and read more genres than just YA contemporary and in particular read more fantasy, both YA and adult, as well as try to read more New Adult books
• To try and buy less books, at least without reading more of the ones that I already own beforehand
• To finish as many of the series that I already own and have started before starting too many new series
• My main goal that I will hopefully achieve is to read as many Cassandra Clare books as possible, and try to at least read all the main novels in the Shadowhunter Chronicles

The Greek Myhthology Book tag

Gods of Olympus

Zeus (Jupiter)

God of the Sky and Thunder / King of the Gods

Favorite book (choose your own category!): 

There are so many favourite books under different categories that I didn’t know which one I wanted to pick for this question. I ended up choosing one of my favourite stand alone books which is Simon vs the Homo sapiens agenda. This book made me smile as I was reading it and I recommend it to everyone

Poseidon (Neptune)

God of the Seas and Earthquakes

Book that drowned you in feels:

Bramblestar’s Storm drowned me in too many feels. I read it a while after reading The Last Hope and I ended up loving it. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t a few times when I would start tearing up, especially when a few characters died who I wasn’t expecting to die

Hades (Pluto)

God of the Underworld

Favorite book with a dark / ominous plot:

Does Jurassic Park count? This is probably the darkest book I’ve read. It is, after all, about an island where dinosaurs escape and eat people

Hera (Juno)

Goddess of Marriage and Family

Cutest fictional couple:

For this there was no other choice than one of my favourite fictional couples ever. I had to choose Johnny and Meg from Paige Toon’s books. I just love how Meg manages to change Johnny for the better and I love their relationship in the Jessie Jefferson trilogy and how different it is to the start of their relationship

Athena(Minerva)

Goddess of Wisdom, Handicraft and Strategic Warfare

Series with the best world-building: 

I love the world building in the Game of Thrones series. I’ve only just started the series but I love the world building in the show as well

Aphrodite (Venus)

Goddess of Love and Beauty

Most beautiful cover on a 2016 release:

The cover of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay which I only bought recently (30/11/2016), I love the way this book looks both with the dustjacket on and with it off

Ares (Mars)

God of War and Bloodshed

Most violent book you’ve ever read:

I’m going to go with the same one as one of the previous questions. Jurassic Park, the book is a lot more violent than the films and it describes the people killed in a much more detailed way

Hephaestus (Vulcan)

God of Blacksmiths and Fire

Scorching hot swoon worthy character:

Is there really any other choice for me than Johnny Jefferson? He is definitely a swoon worthy character and he even has the bad boy personality to go along with it

Artemis (Diana)

Goddess of the Hunt and Virginity

Favorite Kick-Ass Heroine: 

Eowyn. This might be slightly cheating since I haven’t actually read the book yet but she is amazing in the film and she is definitely my favourite heroine

Phoebus Apollo (Apollo)

God of Light and Healing

Sequel book that redeemed its series:

City of Ashes, though I still haven’t finished this series. I didn’t like City of Bones that much but I loved City of Ashes when I read it and it made me want to continue reading the series rather than stop

Hermes (Mercury)

Messenger God of Thieves and Commerce

Book with the best message:

I couldn’t really think of an answer to this question. I’ve read a lot of books where I thought they had a good message but I can’t think of any

Hestia (Vesta)

Goddess of the Hearth and Home

Book with the most relatable story: 

I’d say that Love Lessons has the most relatable story. When I first read the book I was going through a tough time with a teacher (Nothing happened, it was just tough for me) and I loved art like Prue and I was shy and quiet like her. Reading the book made the year slightly easier for me

Demeter (Ceres)

Goddess of Fertility and Agriculture

Favorite bookish setting: 

I love the world where Gone is set. I wouldn’t want to live there but I love how the setting kind of evolves and changes throughout the books

Dionysus (Bacchus)

God of Wine and Celebration

2017 release you are most anticipating:

The Last Piece of My Heart by Paige Toon. Her next book that will be about Bridget. I also can’t wait for the cover to be revealed

Heroes of Olympus

Percy Jackson

a brave, spirited natural leader with a sarcastic sense of humor, and a will to save friends and enemies alike

Favorite protagonist:

I have a lot of favourite protagonists, but the first one that pops into my head when thinking about the question is most of the main characters from Warrior Cats, especially Brambleclaw from the second series

Annabeth Chase

intellectual genius with a strong mind, brave heart, and a love for architecture

Series / book with the cleverest plot:

The Saga of Darren Shan, I love the way the plot plays out over the twelve books and I like that there isn’t really any romance in it. Also, it is a unique way of portraying vampires without making them seem boring

Jason Grace

 has a moderate sense of humor, but a strong sense of honor, justice and compassion, often described as perfect

Book with an epic finale: 

The final battle in The Last Hope. This is one of the best final battle scenes I have read and was the perfect finale to that series. Also the BloodClan battle in The Darkest Hour for the same reason, though I think I liked this one slightly more

Piper McLean

aggressive and persuasive but down to earth, caring and loving towards Jason, her friends and family

Book with a tempting synopsis (one you haven’t read!): 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, I heard so much about the book and knew I wanted to read it as soon as I read the synopsis, it sounds like something I would love reading

Leo Valdez

good-natured and energetic, funny but intelligent, honest and witty, and is skilled with machines

Book that made you laugh: 

Not many books manage to make me laugh. If I find a book funny, I usually just end up smiling instead of laughing

Hazel Levesque

bright  and outgoing despite an unfortunate childhood, is mature for her age and has a love for horseback riding

Favorite character with a tragic past:

For this I chose Caine Soren from the Gone series, he isn’t the character with the most tragic past but he is my favourite. I can’t say much without spoiling anything that happens in the series though

Frank Zhang

somewhat shy, cynical, and clumsy, though he possesses a strong sense of duty, loyalty, and love

Book you loved more than you thought you would:

I was going to go predictable and say Jurassic Park but that is the book that I seem to talk about the most. Instead I chose Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I went into this expecting to be disappointed, it isn’t my favourite vampire series but it was amazing and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would

Nico di Angelo

grim, solitary, powerful and mysterious, highly unpredictable and selectively affectionate

Most mysterious character you’ve ever encountered:

For this I decided to go with a character that is more unusual. She isn’t the most mysterious character I’ve ever encountered but I didn’t want to choose a character that people would expect me to say. I went with Sienna from All About the Hype, she is the sister of Dana and half of the book is wondering if you’re supposed to trust her. She is definitely a mysterious character

Grover Underwood

cheerful, upbeat and protective satyr who chews on furniture when he gets nervous

Book you won’t read due to warnings against them: 

I try not to listen to books that have warnings and bad reviews about them. My opinion is usually different to most people’s anyway. There are too many books for this answer to even think about listening

Clarisse La Rue

arrogant and hot-tempered, but brave, strong and protective of camp

Most annoying character:

There are so many people I could use for this that I think I should just make a separate post about who the most annoying characters are and why I think that about them

Booktube-athon tbr and update

i don't usually participate in readathons as much as I wish I did. This is mainly because during most of the readathons that I want to participate in I have been busy with college.
The Booktube-a-thon started today (Monday 18th July 12am) and runs until Sunday 24th? July 11:59pm.
I am also participating in Camp nanowrimo this month and will probably do a blog post about it when the month is over

Here is my tentative TBR

The challenges are:

Read a book with yellow on the cover:

I might end up reading The rest of us just live here by Patrick Ness since it has a yellow cover and I've heard a lot by the author

Read a book after sunset:

I don't know what I want to read for this challenge yet but I'll probably read a childrens book

Read a book you discovered through booktube:

Possible Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe since I first heard about it through booktube

Read a book written by your favourite author:

One of my favourite authors is Paige Toon so i will probably read her newest book The One we well in love with

Read a book that is older than you:

For this I chose my current read which is Jurassic Park, I'm already 150 pages in and I haven't read anything today. This book was wrote in 1991 and I was born in 1997

Read and watch a book to movie adaptation:

Same as above Jurassic Park

Read 7 books in total:

I'm not sure of the other two books I'll end up reading during the week

I'll try to post daily but if not I will definitely post a wrap up when the readathon is over

About me

This is my book blog where I will be posting book reviews and other bookish related things.

My name is Tyra and I'm a 18 year old book lover from the UK. My bookstagram, booktube and bookish Snapchat are all Cloverhandreader so feel free to follow me on there.

I will be posting soon and regularly as often as I can