red, white & royal blue + i was born for this #review

Hello everyone
And thank you so much
for being on this channel

“love myshelf”
where I will be talking
about books

Please forgive me
for the sound quality
and image
It’s the first time
I’m doing something like this
and I’m recording on my phone
I hope to buy better material soon
Fingers crossed
Please be easy on me
I also want to apologize
about the fact that all the books
I’ll be talking about in this video
are in english
And I’m not sure a french version exist
I’ve read them in english
but since french is my first language
I’m doing this review in french to avoid talking nonsense
or looking for my words
even though I’m fluent in english
The first book I will be talking about is
“Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston
This book
It’s a book I discoverd about 2 months ago
if I remember correctly, just before Christmas
And I just couldn’t stop reading
I adored this story
To give you a bit of context
picture 2016 and the elections
And imagine that instead of Trump
It’s a hispanic democrat woman
who won

the elections
The story doesn’t revolve around her
but her re-election in 2020
is the background of the story

The story is actually about her son: Alex
who is the son of the first woman to be President of the US
And about his love story, friendship
with the Prince of Gales, Henry

So… It’s an LGBT book

and a very interesting book
that I really loved a lot
Firstly, because I felt it was truly
a story that was about more
than just another LGBT book
about sexual exploration and coming out
And I’m not saying “those” books aren’t good
We also need books like those
and it’s important to have stories that talk about questionning your sexuality
or facing discrimination, that kind of stuff
It’s important
And I’m not gonna lie
part of this book is about this
The main character: Alex
finds out he’s bisexual
Sorry for the spoiler
And it’s an important part of the story
just like his relationship with the Prince
The fact that they are both celebrities
and both men is going to bring drama
So of course, those issues are talked about
But in comparaison to other LGBT books
This story felt more like a real story
You know the movie “Bodyguard”
with Withney Whouston
where she falls in love with her bodyguard
That’s what I mean
That’s the type of romance, drama and comedy
That I personally want to read
When I read LGBT books
I’m only speaking for myself
and some of my friends who I know
agree with this
But I think, we came to the point
where we need it
stories where characters are more
than their sexualities,
more than their gender identity
We’re slowly getting there
We have more LGBT characters
thanks to Netflix
or in recent movies, tv-shows
Things are changing
But even with Netflix
if you really think about it
I bet you can’t name 10 shows
where the main character is neither white or straight
or even cisgender
I’m sure you won’t find a lot
And that’s exactly
what we need when we’re a minority
We need stories about characters
who aren’t defined by the fact they are part of a minority
We’re just tired of seeing the same stories
homophobia,
coming out
We can put that behind us
There are more stories to tell
We deserve more
And that’s what this book gave me
I stronly recommend it
It’s also a book that is really funny
The way the characters talk
I found myself actually laughing out loud
which is pretty rare
Our generation doesn’t laugh
We only send laughing emojis
So to actually “lol” is rare

That’s why I recommend this book
It’s really, really good
That’s all I have to say
The second book
I will be talking about is:
“I Was Born for This” by Alice Oseman
Now, this is a book
that really spoke to me
Let me just grab my copy
It spoke to me because I am: a fan
I’m a fan of music, of books, of movies
I am what you would call “a fangirl”
This story caught my attention
Because it’s written in two povs
I know it’s not “rare”
But it was my first time reading something like this
And what I found interesting is that the two main characters
A girl who’s a fan of a group called “The Ark”
Her name is Angel
And a guy who is part of this band
His name is Jimmy
What I found really cool is that many times in the book,
They’re both living the same situation
But they’re both seeing it differently
First because their personalities are opposites
She’s an extrovert and he’s a very anxious introvert
There is this moment in the story where their paths cross
And it’s interesting to see him through her eyes
She feels like everything is fine
And boom next chapter, he was actually panicking
He’s really not feeling great, etc.
That’s one of the thing I really enjoyed
And I think this book truly has a message
It’s saying something about fanculture
What it means to be fan of something
What it means to support a group
The boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed
The toxicity in the music industry
But also the behaviours that can seem normal
but really aren’t
All those things that made me love this book
And spoke to me
as a fan
I couldn’t totally indentify with Angel
Because personally, I’m an introvert
But mostly because she had a way to love this group
that was almost toxic for her
She was not written as the kind of fangirl we’re used to see though
It’s important to keep that in mind
I believe Alice Oseman wrote what it’s like to be a fan perfectly
What it means to be a fan
What we feel
What I mean is that
For most people
A fangirl is going to be
The teenage girl who’s going to be screaming and crying hysterically
When she’s looking at her favourite band on TV or in concert

That’s what most people think about when we say “fangirl”
And as someone who is part of many fandoms
I can swear to you
It’s not what it’s like
And even if it was
Why would we judge those people
There was this Ted Talk I saw
Where the girl speaking made a comparaison
We always mock what girls like,
when they are passionate about something
But guys can have the exact same behaviour
The screams, the hysteria, the cries
With sport teams for exemple
I don’t want to generalize
I’m not saying that one is better than the other
But what I mean is that this double standard exists and it sucks

This is a subject that’s part of the book
The love she has for this band
is not sexual or romantic
In no way it is
She’s just fond of them and loves them as persons
They brought her something with their music, their lyrics
And that’s an aspect of being fan I had never seen written before
Or if it was, not like that
That’s the type of love I have for the artists I support
And it was just so good to see it being represented that well in this book

The reprensentation in this book is also great
The two main characters
Angel is a muslim
And Jimmy is a catholic and also trangender
I found that amazing
I personally never read another book
with a muslim or a trans character
I’m not saying it doesn’t exist
But that I never read it
And so I loved it
Since I’m neither a muslim, a catholic, or transgender
I can’t speak for those people and say the representation was spot on
But from what I saw, it felt okay
In the sense that
Alice wrote them as human beings
We know Angel is muslim
Because at some point she’s doing her prayers
Or she’s careful about whether or not she has to wear her hair in a hijab

We know Jimmy believes in God
Because faith is something important for him
It helps him when he feels alone and stressed

We know he’s trans because it’s relevent at some point in the story
and gives a deeper meaning to his actions,
but that’s not all he is
And that’s the kind of representation we need and deserve in today’s media

That’s pretty much all I have to say
This book is a bit less funny than the other one
So if you wanna have a good laugh and take your mind of some things
I would suggest you to read
Red, White & Royal Blue even though it can be angsty at times

There is more angst in I Was Born for This

And I guess if you suffer from anxiety, or have had suicidal thoughts
some scenes could be heavy
Once again, as a fan
this book truly resonated with me
And will be eternally grateful
to the author of this book
who by the way, wrote many greater books
that I plan on reading
And I think she’s barely four years older than me
This woman is goddess
I have no words

Some other things I could tell you:
From what I know, a movie wil be made after Red, White & Royal Blue
I have no idea when it’s coming out or if it’s gonna happen at all

But I’m really looking forward to it
I know Casey is working on another book
that will come out in 2021 or 2022
With a lesbian main couple this time

I can’t wait to read it, it looks awesome

I will leave the links to purshase the books in the description box
In case you wanna buy them in english
I’m also gonna leave you the link of another story written by Alice

Who is also an artist, since she can draw

She basically made a comic and you can buy physical copies of the story
It’s called “Heartstopper”
There are three books for now
But the story is available online on the website “Tapas”
And I thought this could be nice for you
To have something you wouldn’t have to buy
Since ordering online or going in stores is harder with the quarantine

Being able to read a nice story, freely
I thought it would be nice

You’ll find everything in the desciption box
Thank you so much for your time
I really hope the video and sound quality were bearable
If you wanna make a book suggestion
Leave it in the comments down below
If I read the book and like it, maybe I’ll make a review about it
I dont know when I’ll be able to make another video
But since this quarantine is going to last for a while
I will film for sure
I already have a couple of ideas
As for the future of this channel
I might not always use it to talk about books only
Once again, thank you for listening to me
Don’t forget to read books
Have a nice quarantine

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