Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston [BOOK REVIEW]

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

When his mother became President of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millenial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex/Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family and state and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: Stage a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations. It raises the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Mid-Year Book Freak Out [BOOK TAG]

I can't believe it's already halfway through the year 😱

I just started reading books more in March? But I've read so many more books than I usually do and I feel quite accomplished 😌

I spent most of this half-year reading books that are much beloved by the bookish community since there are so many books and series that I haven't read yet. Some of these books that I've finally read are: Six of Crows Duology, Call Me By Your Name, The Raven Cycle, & Carry On. I really enjoyed most of these very hyped books!

I'm glad I ended up mostly reading books that I loved and I've learned a lot about what I like as a reader. I found out that I actually really enjoy what many consider "pretentious writing". I've also found out that fantasy books are, to me, the ultimate comfort books. I love reading a good, adventurous fantasy book after reading a heart-wrenching contemporary book. I've also found out that contemporaries are usually the books with the most potential to hurt me the most. And I've also found that with contemporaries, I either really love them or I feel quite indifferent towards them.

Since it's the middle of the year, I'd like to share a couple of my stats for this year so I can look back and compare in the future!

By Genre:

(some books fall under several genres)

• Historical Fiction: 3
• Contemporary: 11
• Fantasy: 15
• Romance: 7
• Mystery/Thriller: 2
• Classics: 1

Star Ratings ★:

(This is atypical but 4.75's are rounded down to 4.5, 3.75 to 3.5)

• 5★: 13
• 4.5★: 7
• 4★: 5
• 3.5★: 4
• 3★: 2
• 2.5★: 2

I probably shouldn't have so many 5-star books, but I admit I read a lot of really good books this half-year :")

I took a lot of time doing this tag, since I initially started with a lot of answers for each question but I went back and tried really hard to limit my answers to one book per question. It was...quite difficult...

I've always wanted to do a book tag so yea here we go!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller [BOOK REVIEW]

Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. By all rights their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper—despite the displeasure of Achilles' mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear. Profoundly moving and breathtakingly original, this rendering of the epic Trojan War is a dazzling feat of the imagination, a devastating love story, and an almighty battle between gods and kings, peace and glory, immortal fame and the human heart.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

May Wrap-Up

AKA: I (mostly) take a break from reading series

I kinda failed at following my very short TBR of books 😅  I realized that TBR's aren't really my thing and if I try to plan out what I'm going to read next I lose interest pretty quickly... however I do plan on getting to those books one day I promise!
I've also decided to add the book genre and any trigger/content warnings I can think of to each book I mention.

It was really difficult to read this month since I was unexpectedly bombarded by loads of schoolwork since May is my school's midterm season. I also fell into a reading slump this month (and I blame it wholly on the Green Creek series because I haven't enjoyed anything as much as I enjoyed those books), and halfway through the month I told myself it would be a miracle if I even had 4 books to talk about this month :") Thankfully I still managed to read a bit (a certain book might have helped push me through the slump).

So without further ado, in chronological order, here are all the books I read this month: 

May Wrap-Up

Books Mentioned:

• The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
• I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

**summaries taken from the book & might be tweaked to avoid spoilers & such