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[i-do-be-reading]

title: iris kelly doesn't date

author: ashley herring blake

leanght: 380 pages

genre: romance

my rating: 3/5

is it gay?: yes

nswf?: yes

tags that i would use on ao3: fake dating, iris kelly is bad at feelings, happy ending

review:

this book was definitely the weakest one from the trilogy for me. i really didn't get into the romance between those two and i feel a lot of things was left unsaid.

i liked stevie, she was sweet and it was nice seeing her getting over her ex and navigating her life with anxiety. i also liked iris through out the whole trilogy. i definitely didn't like stevie's friends. ren at least tried to be helpful, but they were still pretty awful. adri was horrible and i was hoping we would see more of vee and why she decided to date adri so soon after the breakup.

i also didn't like how iris's mom treated her and again i was hoping to see iris standing up for herself.

the romance was fine, the typical fake dating structure, but like i said i didn't buy it that much. it felt very jumpy. like they got together and then suddenly it was a month later?? i wanted to see more scenes where they got to know each other and such. I was also hoping that the play would be bigger plot point. also the fact that stevie's friends had almost no reaction to finding out that the relationship was fake was underwhelming. what was also underwhelming was stevie finally speaking up for herself, yet again it had basically no impact.

i also wanted to see more of them after finally getting together. this whole book felt like wasted opportunities.

i did like the ending with the main cast at claire and delilah's wedding, it was a nice closing.

overall i would say the boon was fine. nothing much stood out, either good or bad.

[i-do-be-reading]

title: 23.5 When the Earth is Spinning Around

author: Blue (น้ำเงิน)

leanght: 370 pages, 74 171 words

genre: YA, romance

my rating: 3,5/5

is it gay?: yes, yuri my beloved

nswf?: no

tags that i would use on ao3: highschool romance, internalized homophobia, tooth rotting fluff, we can ignore the catfishing, feelings realizations, miscommunication

if you want to read the novel here's the link

review:❗spoilers❗

i started reading this novel because i've been watching the drama, and i must say it's bit different. i would say homophobia plays a bigger part in the book than in the series, but the show isn't done yet so who knows. overall i liked it, it was very cute. i didn't like the amount of miscommunication though.

ongsa is a clumsy girl we get it, no need to remind us every three seconds. she's very insecure especially because she wishes she was a boy so her and sun could date freely. but i don't get why she never explains herself. i cut her some slack though because she is only 17. the same with sun. i like her, she's very understanding and forgiving and she clearly loves ongsa very much. her jealousy is cute. the other characters didn't stand out very much. i like sun's friends more than ongsa's, they always put her down for some reason. but they do still help her. no aylin or luna but they do have a gay cousin.

the plot is nothing much extraordinary, typical highschool romance. i didn't like the catfishing but it's understandable why ongsa did it. it has the typical we have to break up because my parents don't approve, but they come around.

also side note the reason why ongsa's mom is homophobic is actually crazy. imagine you find out your mom is homophobe because your dad was in a relationship with a man before her and she's insecure about that. i would simply pass away.

i liked that ongsa's dad was on her side the whole time. she really needed someone like that in her life. and i'm glad her mom came around in the end.

the extra chapters were so cute ahhhh. and they got engaged!!

the main reason why i didn't give it a higher score is the miscommunication and ongsa's inability to explain things. the other thing was the whole you're either normal or a lesbian, no in-between. or the dad is actually a straight man who fell in love with one man. it's giving i'm not gay i only like you (i'm looking at you sotus). hopefully we can leave this mindset in the past.

otherwise it was nice read, some of the sentences were a bit choppy, but i believe that's because it was translated from thai.

i definitely recommend this and i will be reading it again.

[i-do-be-reading]

title: red, white and royal blue

author: casey mcquiston

leanght: 112 000 words, 448 pages

genre: romantic comedy

my rating: ♾️♾️♾️

is it gay?: yes - mlm relationship, bisexual main character, gay main character, other queer characters

nswf?: yes - fade to black, not too explicit

tags that i would use on ao3: royalty au, idiots in love, enemies to lovers, but they're really not enemies

review:

look, there was no way i would start this blog with any other book. i own 4 copies. 4 COPIES. so you can imagine how i feel about this book.

firstly, is it perfect? no. one thing i've seen people say is that there are a lot of mexican stereotypes. i can't speak about that but the author is white so it's understandable why people are criticizing this.

next thing i've seen is that it's very unrealistic book. which is like really obvious?? do you really think that in real world a british prince would be allowed to be openly gay?? and dating a son of american president?? no way in hell. but i don't read books to be reminded of real world.

now to the book. i love it so much. alex, my bisexual babygirl, is my guy. he is relatable, he's dumb, he's everything to me. henry is such a good character too. the trauma he has to carry is way too much.

i love all the characters (except few), even phillip because in the end he tried to make amends.

the plot is fun too, love the sneaking behind everybody's back (poor zahara - she really couldn't catch a break), the slowly falling in love, the lake scene and then the confrontation in the palace. And the dancing in the museum melted my heart.

the writing is great, it's pretty fast paced. i do think it would be better to include more scenes of alex and henry getting to know each other, especially because there are a lot of time jumps between scenes.

not only was k-pop included, but the bts joke was amazing, kim nam-june really ate.

and what i think is really important is the fact that all the harry potter references were taken out from the newer versions. most people would let it be, so i'm happy casey didn't.

overall, it's a very idealistic view on what would happen in this situation but i believe the queer community deserves to have happy, maybe little bit cheesey, romcoms.

[i-do-be-reading]

so i decided to start this blog because i love reading and i always have way too much to say about the books and no one to listen to my yapping.

i'm gonna be writing about the books i'm currently reading and i will add retrospectively the books i've read.

if you have anything to say, you can send me an ask.