Riri

Another great installment to the series.

Vol. 13 starts by wrapping up the incident in the previous book, delivering a conclusion to Julius and Barbara's story, before Mia returns to Tearmoon for summer break. This year, she brings some of the SEEC program children home to figure out why Patricia was sent to the future. That question remains unanswered for now though, as this book is still setting up the plot for the upcoming climax. There are new characters introduced, as well as a new conflict that will have to be settled in a horsemanship contest. Can't have a Tearmoon Empire book without horses, you know.

This volume is also hinting that Ruby's romance with Vanos might see some progress soon, as well as giving Keithwood a potential future partner. It's been a while since we saw Ruby after all. Keithwood's focus had always been on Sion, but Sion has resolved his own issues a few books ago so they finally have room to breathe now. Not gonna lie, I actually really enjoy seeing all the side characters finding their own romance. Especially since Mia and most of her friends have been nicely paired off with each other.

Oh, and while this is shown in a really subtle way… this book proves that Bel, after receiving a better life and education in the future, has also become more clever overall. She can read the room and think for herself much better than she used to. Even if she's still struggling with her academic grades, at least she no longer has to spend the whole summer at school due to bombing her exams. Baby steps, but it's still character growth.

My only complaint is that while the overall translation quality has improved from vol. 12, there are still a few mistakes and typos. They're not that bad, but it'd still make you wonder how they got past QC. Mistaking the word "wary" for "weary" should be something basic, and yet it happened twice in a single chapter. Hopefully this will be improved in the next book. As always, if you need proofreaders you can always hire me!

After the events in the previous book, vol. 12 marks the beginning of a new arc. Bel has returned, but this time with a mysterious girl who may or may not be Mia's grandmother, Patricia. Since last time Bel very clearly died in front of so many people, the day has finally come for Mia to tell her friends about Bel's identity and origins. This comes with a brand new theory by Ludwig about the different timelines, which also explains why a lot of the characters have been seeing dreams from the guillotine world.

The book's main focus lies on the new SEEC program, established by Mia to educate children who are vulnerable to the Chaos Serpents' influence. The main reason is because Patricia seems to have been indoctrinated by the serpents due to family circumstances, and despite supposedly being her granddaughter, Mia doesn't remember much about Patricia's house. Or maybe she just doesn't want to remember. There's a number of new characters introduced, and the now 16-year-old Mia spends a lot of time thinking about the best way to run the SEEC program smoothly.

Speaking of Mia, the important decisions she makes are gradually becoming less accidental and more intentional. She's still highly powered by sweets and her motivations are still mostly selfish, of course, this is Mia after all… but there's been less moments of people simply misunderstanding her intentions and more of her actually leaving things up for interpretation on purpose. I really like how her character growth is undeniable, and yet Mia is still Mia at the core.

This book ends in a cliffhanger though, so I waited until vol. 13 was out to pick it up. Since it's the start of a new arc, it spends a lot of time laying the foundations and setting things up. There's also a bonus short story about Mia's personal maid from the previous timeline, which gives some more depth to not only the maid but Mia as well. It made me realize once again that Mia might have made terrible choices in that timeline, but she's always been so much more than just a selfish princess. I love her, and I will never get tired of reading about her.

That being said, I have to take off one star because of the translation. So far the series has been brilliantly translated and edited, but what happened to the QC for this one? There are so many errors that shouldn't have passed the editing stage. For example:

⇢ When Patricia was bathing they mistranslated 白い肌 to "ebony skin" while it should've been pale or ivory.

⇢ "このクッキーを少し持って行っていただけるかしら？" was translated to "Do you mind if I share some of these with them?" Failing to grasp context. This was Mia asking Lynsha to go deliver the cookies, not asking for the permission to do so herself. Japanese is a very context-heavy language, so this sort of translation fail is fatal because it could change the meaning entirely.

⇢ "Mia’s expression made a three-sixty, becoming an ebullient grin." …Isn't it one-eighty? Three-sixty would be the exact same expression, no? The original only says Mia's expression turns into a radiant smile, so this part didn't even exist.

It didn't ruin my enjoyment or anything, but this sort of errors can be quite distracting. I hope it'll be better for the next book, since it was never an issue before this particular volume. If you need proofreaders, hire me.

How many women throughout history were blamed for the weaknesses of men? We made such convenient scapegoats. We were raised to be small, to be silent, to take whatever we were given and no more.

I did not love this and it makes me sad, since I loved all of Ann Liang's YA books. Maybe it would've been a more riveting tale if you've never heard of Xishi's tale before, but if you do, then you've pretty much already read this book. It's the exact same story as the legend, just with some romance thrown in and it's not even that good.

If you want a good romance, this is probably not for you. The instalove is strong, and I simply cannot understand why Ann Liang would make it like this when she's written much better romance before. Xishi and Fanli spent only ten weeks together for her training, most of which is done off-page by the way, and she proceeds to yearn for him for the rest of the book. The problem is that he leaves not even halfway through the story, so not only there's barely any development in their relationship, but we don't even see OR learn much about him. Fanli being hot is not enough reason for me to grow as attached to him as Xishi was, so their tragic love story didn't make me feel anything either.

As for Xishi herself, she has so many issues. Her perspective is just so... flat and detached from beginning to end. She also lacks the ability to think ahead, which makes her a terrible spy who managed to accomplish her mission simply because she's the main character. The portrayal of her life as a concubine and the way she seduced Fuchai is just impossible to believe. Both Xishi and Zhengdan don't act like how women were supposed to behave in ancient China either, but were never called out on it. There's just something that feels weirdly modern from the tone of this book, and the mismatch with the settings can be pretty distracting at times.

Not going to comment much on Fuchai. He may not be the best, but he deserves better. The moment of his downfall is probably the only time I felt some semblance of emotion in the entire book, and that was mostly pity.

There are so many plot points that either felt like they were just slapped on to drive the story along, or never went anywhere. Like Susu. Or Xishi's heart condition. Or how Fuchai's perceptive and cautious advisor was reduced to a simple bully before he got discarded. I understand there were limitations, seeing that the book is only 336 pages long, but it's still a shame.

Beautiful ending though. Love the tragedy.

It was going so well, and then it got too messy with a rushed ending.

First, chocolate is toxic to dogs so you should never feed them chocolate cake. Second, the misogynistic remarks and toxic masculinity are really hard to overlook. The romance is not bad, but due to these reasons I had to lower the rating.

It's not the book, it's me. 😭

Lighthearted and cozy. The magical element is pretty light, but the small seaside town vibes are immaculate. Finding out who you are and where you belong is a major theme in this book, and Kiki is a lovable character who grew a lot through the story.

The series has six books that follow Kiki into adulthood until she eventually gets married, so it's a shame only the first book got translated.

Nope.

Gothic romance? What gothic romance? This is supposed to be loosely based on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but it ends up being a mess that is neither gothic nor romantic. It reminds me a lot of Daughter of the Moon Goddess. The vibes are vibing but the bland, repetitive writing muted it, the main character is insufferable, and the pacing is awful. For like half of the book nothing is going on, then suddenly a whole chunk of worldbuilding comes out of nowhere and crammed into the last few chapters.

I never knew a story could suffer from too much worldbuilding, but now I do thanks to this book. Great concept, poor execution. It's so unfortunate because the cover is gorgeous, but the story inside just never really comes to life.

This was short and cute. Now where's my magical girl awakening?

The prequel to the Six Crimson Cranes duology, telling the story of Channari's life before she moved to Kiata and became known as Raikama.

Never will I apologize for being the monster they made me.

I find this one a lot more engaging than The Dragon's Promise right from the start, mainly because Channari is such a strong and consistent character. She would do literally anything to protect the people she loves, and this personality trait stays exactly the same many years later. The difference is that in this book, she lives for her sister Vanna. It's an action-packed story about family, though it does have a little bit of romance which I honestly find unnecessary. A platonic friendship would've worked just as good, considering how fast it got dashed anyway. But Channi and Vanna's sisterhood? Channi's friendship with Ukar? Good stuff. 👌✨

What I did not like, though, is how Hokzuh's action was painted as a betrayal. He literally did not have control over himself. He didn't do what he did willingly. It's even made clear plenty of times what would happen if he lost his talisman, so it's not a betrayal no matter how you look at it and it bothers me a lot how the book and Channari insist that it is. If anyone or anything is to blame, then shouldn't it be the pearl instead of him? Speaking of which, it's also never explained how Vanna was born with the pearl either.

I was also under the idea that this book would show more of Channari's ties to Hanriyu, but it doesn't. This particular part was so rushed. Her reason for going to Kiata is crammed in at the last minute, and the selection where she chose him gets entirely skipped. I can't help but feel like some of the scenes in the middle, especially the parts where they hop from Shenlani to Yappang, could've been removed to give more spotlight on their friendship instead. Still, it's an easy book to read and it gives a lot more depth to Channari so it does make a nice addition to the series.

Nowhere near as compelling as Six Crimson Cranes, which is a pity considering I loved that one to bits. Don't let the title fool you, this isn't a Seryu-centric or even a dragon-centric book. It does have dragons and their underwater palace, but they pretty much exit the plot at the 30% mark. Once Shiori is back on land, it's goodbye to the dragons (for the most part) and instead we are given a completely different story.

Different, but familiar if you've read The Blood of Stars duology.

Demon business. Again.

This book reminds me a lot of Unravel the Dusk. Not only in terms of plot and progression, but also in the way Shiori behaves. Specifically, how she lies to the people she loves and shuts them out from the fear of endangering them. Including Kiki, even though Kiki has always been caring and loyal towards her. They've always been together even in the bleakest of times, but now suddenly Kiki's concern is branded as "prying"? Really? In the first book, Shiori was spoiled but endearing. In this one, she's downright frustrating to follow. She's so argumentative and barely listens to others, so I liked her better when she couldn't speak.

The structure also gets repetitive. Shiori gets in danger. Shiori is saved. Brief respite. Shiori gets in danger. Repeat ad infinitum. It makes it even more draining when she makes dumb decisions without consulting anyone, causes trouble, and then the plot lulls for a bit. I think it could've been more interesting if the plot in Ai'long is fleshed out more, with all its dragon politics and society, instead of mixing it with the whole demon ordeal and Raikama's past sandwiched in-between. It feels like several stories rolled into one, each of them deserving a better resolution than what the book is giving.

Despite its flaws, however, I still enjoyed this book mostly thanks to the characters. Takkan may have a less significant role to play this time around, but he still deserves the world (and much better treatment) for his patience and devotion to Shiori. It's also nice to see Gen in his younger days, to know a part of his life that he briefly mentioned in Unravel the Dusk. But in the end, it is Kiki who will always have a special place in my heart. The last scenes with her are so emotional, for me the whole duology is worth reading for her alone. Kiki best girl. I want my own Kiki.

Anyway, this brings a nice ending to Shiori's tale. Not the best, but good enough. It leaves me curious about Raikama's story since the book only dips into it a little bit, so I'm going to pick up the prequel too.

This is a retelling of The Wild Swans, taking place in the same world as The Blood of Stars duology. Shiori and her brothers were mentioned as a legend in Unravel the Dusk, so this is where we get to see her actual story. While I found the previous duology just okay for the most part, Six Crimson Cranes grabbed me by the neck right from the start. The world-building, the characters, the pacing are just so good.

Shiori, the main character, is the very picture of a spoiled, troublemaker princess at the beginning, but the writing is clearly aware of what she is and she has significant character growth throughout the book. Shiori is brave and quick to adapt to new situations. Even though she grew up pampered, she knows how to carry herself in order to survive. That's how you show strength, because being a strong main character doesn't mean you have to be a spitfire who's rude to everyone regardless of your station. I really wish more people would understand this.

Shiori's stepmother, Raikama, is another well-written character. While for a large part of the story Shiori is under the idea that Raikama is an evil monster, every now and then the characters around her (and later on, even Shiori herself) would question if their perception of her is right. It creates some really nice build-up leading to the climax, where the events at the start of the book take on a different meaning entirely. Some of the twists were predictable, and some I didn't see coming.

“I would wish your strand knotted to mine, always.”

Due to things I've heard from other reviews, I was actually expecting to be lukewarm towards the romance at best… but it was really cute? The relationship starts from solid friendship. All Takkan wanted was to know Shiori better but she never gave him a chance, until her predicament leads to them becoming friends. I really liked how she admits that she's been treating him terribly for years, a stark contrast to how stubborn she is in the early chapters.

It seems like Seryu is also a love interest for Shiori? At first I liked their dynamics, but it kind of fizzled out over time since he's absent for the majority of the book. I hope we get to see more of him in the sequel though, since she's going to the dragon palace with him.

Anyway, this has been such a delight to read. Shiori is an endearing lead who's really easy to root for, and by the end of the book I realized that I actually care for these characters. I want them to succeed in their quests and live happily for the rest of their days. Especially Kiki. Best girl.

This is a retelling of the Mid-Autumn Legend, the tale of Chang'e and Houyi.

At first glance, this book seems like everything I would love. The writing is beautiful and lyrical. The world is impeccably lush, it feels somewhat nostalgic to a Chinese person like me, the culture showing through every little thing mentioned subtly. The sceneries, places, clothing, accessories, and food are vividly described, providing very pleasant imageries to the mind. Most importantly, the cover is stunning and the reason why I picked this up to begin with.

Little did I know it'd be the only reason to go on.

The plot starts off with a bang. Right from the first chapter, Xingyin is forced to leave the tranquility of her home and lands in the middle of enemy territory… and that's where it lags endlessly. There isn't a clear direction beyond that point on how Xingyin would find her way home, except a very vague "I need to get better so I can return". What happens instead is Xingyin spends years becoming Prince Liwei's study partner, joins the army because she gets her heart broken, and it's only at the last 30% that she returns to the path of saving her mother.

If that was the only problem, it would've been so much easier to like this book. Sadly, it has a lot of other issues that makes it impossible. First off, Xingyin is a complete Mary Sue. Extremely prideful, brash, and arrogant with a single braincell about to flicker out. Most of the time her arrogance is baseless because she's just running her mouth without the skills to back it up, but she's such a Mary Sue she ends up impressing everyone anyway. Her personal growth is always either skipped or nonexistent. She's just so good at everything, impressing everyone and accomplishing impossible feats easily. She can fight completely fine even when gravely injured or poisoned. Gives off massive unlike-other-girls special snowflake vibes.

Next, the girl-on-girl hate is pretty strong. A lot of female characters hate Xingyin on sight, and she's not exactly nice to them either. Can we leave this kind of thing back in the 2010s PLEASE. It doesn't make the main character look any better.

The romance is terrible. There are time skips that leaves out crucial relationship development, both for Liwei and Wenzhi. Years pass by just like that, and they instantly jump from being good friends to love declarations. No build-up, no chemistry, nothing. It's a lot of telling instead of showing. Despite the beautiful writing, it really feels like beauty with barely any substance. It remains flat throughout and delivers no emotion during crucial scenes and even during the climax.

Memories of our time together flashed before my mind: our years of friendship, our few stolen days of love.

WHERE? You mean the years that got conveniently skipped?

After the Eastern Sea, Wenzhi and I went from one campaign to the next, at times not returning to the Celestial Kingdom for months at a stretch. We fought terrifying monsters, ravenous beasts, and—most recently—the fearsome spirits that plagued the eastern border, close to the forests of the Phoenix Kingdom.

Great. Even more time skip and telling instead of showing.

Xingyin is later tasked to retrieve pearls from the legendary Four Dragons, and being a Mary Sue, she accomplishes this seemingly daunting task in the span of ONE chapter. Two if you count the journey and not the actual battle. Maybe if the book gave more space for the battles instead of the romance and endless descriptions of clothes, this would've been a more engaging read.

Alas, not even delicious romantic angst and endless pining could save this story for me. At first I considered torturing myself further by reading the sequel for the pretty cover, but by the time I reached the end of this book, the willpower and masochism to do so had left me completely. Should just spend the time on better books.

I really wanted to love this so I'm sad. 😭😭😭

I feel like opinions on this book will greatly differ depending on what you're looking for. If you like political intrigue, riveting tales of overthrowing tyrants and plotting rebellions, and a stronger touch of romance blossoming in perilous situation, then you'll love this. If you're more into mystery, however, it might not satisfy you entirely because the book tries to cover so many things that the mystery ends up taking the backseat until the very end.

As far as the mystery goes, it was quite predictable and would've been even easier to solve if the book spends more time on it instead of steering the plot into several different directions at once. It starts off pretty strong by mentioning the series of murders, up to the point where a certain royal guard falls victim to it. The scene where Prince Daehyun finds the body is top tier thriller experience, and I was hoping the book would maintain the bone-chilling, harrowing tone… but it doesn't. Instead, it turns to highlight the rebellion instead, and admittedly I lost focus many times because of it. It's good in the sense that it offers the suffocating air of corruption and oppression, but the fact that the investigation is so blatantly pushed aside to make room for this bothered me quite a bit.

“Because rape is about power; it is never about desire or love.”

The romance is also notably more present than June Hur's previous works. Not saying that I didn't enjoy it though, because I did. Both Iseul and Daehyun have massive character growth throughout the book. Iseul starts off as pretty insufferable while Daehyun is used to being emotionally numb. While I do feel like they could've used more build-up to bond beyond having butterflies due to close proximity, they push each other to be better. There are plenty of important messages subtly woven in, and it feels good to see it as a contrast to how King Yeonsan and his officials treat women like dirt.

“Why is it so irrationally difficult for men to simply leave women alone?!”

Overall, it was a pretty engrossing read. It's always fun to see the author's notes too, to see which parts are facts are which ones are fiction. The writing is beautiful and atmospheric, it'll definitely draw you into 1506 Joseon with the tragedies and nightmares it has to offer. Plus points for the sisterhood and especially the beauty that is chapter 42. 🫠

Wow, I nearly read the whole book in one sitting.

This is everything I could ever wish for in a historical murder mystery. Set in 1758 Joseon, The Red Palace is atmospheric and suspenseful, packed with a good dose of action and intrigue. The stakes are high, because as it says on the cover: to enter the palace means to walk a path stained in blood. Both the main character, Hyeon, and her love interest, Eojin, are smart, calm, and focused through the entire book, ensuring that the plot always moves smoothly. It also weaves in the story of Crown Prince Sado, and while he's not exactly the main focus of the story, the delicate balance between facts and fiction makes it a highly engaging page-turner.

I know I tend to be picky with romance, but there's absolutely nothing to complain about here. Hyeon and Eojin have a relationship based on trust and mutual respect, and it just feels so natural. It's so subtle and gentle, which is nice because it never takes the focus away from the main plot. The ending is perfection as well, as it not only solves the mystery, but also all the family issues and inner turmoil that Hyeon struggled with. Many of her issues resonate with me on a personal level, and I'm sure a lot of Asian kids would be able to relate too.

“We are women, and nothing short of death stops us from doing precisely what we wish to do. That is what the laws and restrictions binding our lives breed: determination and cunning.”

These are the words of Lady Hyegyeong, the wife of Crown Prince Sado, and she's absolutely right.

Picked this up because I saw the anime, and that's basically what the book is: a shounen anime / manga in novel form. It's an action-packed, fast-paced story set in post-apocalyptic Japan, about a Mushroom Keeper and his encounter with a doctor who becomes his adventuring partner. This first volume covers their attempt to find Rust-Eater mushrooms, which has the ability to cure people from the Rust that's been plaguing the land. It ends in a really nice note despite having a lot more volumes to come, promising more exciting adventures for Bisco and Milo.

That being said, I had to knock off a star despite enjoying the book... because of how sexist it can be at times. Particularly when it comes to Pawoo, since the writing keeps pointing out about how it's such a waste that a woman as beautiful as her enjoys being a fierce warrior when she should be getting married. I understand that Japan does view women that way, but I just can't bring myself to like it.

Aside from that, this is the start of a really promising series. Will definitely be picking up the next book.

The Hunger Games takes place in the nation of Panem, formerly known as North America. The Capitol is surrounded by twelve districts, each providing supplies for it. As a result of a rebellion in the past, each year the Capitol selects a boy and a girl from each district to participate in their reality show: The Hunger Games. All of the participants would kill each other off until one winner remains, while the people in the Capitol watch with excitement.Katniss Everdeen is a 16 years old girl living in District 12, one of the poorest mining district that often faces starvation. When her sister's name was drawn, Katniss immediately takes her place. Being an experienced hunter in the woods, she has a better chance of surviving. Chosen as the male tribute is Peeta Mellark, the gentle son of the baker. Together, they are sent to the Capitol to participate in the show.Soon, the Hunger Games begins. Twenty four participants, and only one of them will survive.This book is fast-paced and full of actions. While the description of the bloody scenes are not detailed, the level of violence shown is quite high. Our heroine, Katniss, faces some highly-skilled participants in the arena. With her strong and determined personality, Katniss draws the reader to root for her up until the end of the book. She also has a rebellious streak, which makes her character very interesting and likeable. I wish there are more heroines like her. :)The winner of the Hunger Games seems predictable, since it's not likely for the main character to be killed. But winning the game doesn't mean the end for our characters. This book ends so abruptly in a cliffhanger, leaving us impatient to read the sequel.Sadly, the translation for the Indonesian version is very disappointing. Word choices seem inappropriate, making sentences weird due to the use of misplaced slangs. Very uncomfortable to read. It's really too bad, since this is a really nice book. Hopefully the translator of [b:Catching Fire 6148028 Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) Suzanne Collins http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268805322s/6148028.jpg 6171458] is doing a better job.

As much as I love Ilana Tan, this book disappointed me a little. Admittedly it's partly my own fault for not checking reviews before getting this book, but the blurb on the back of the book isn't very informative either. It's a bit too vague and doesn't really tell you that this book is actually not a novel, but a collection of quotes from her seasons series.

Each page has one—ONE—quote, along with a space for you to leave notes on. It's a bit pricey for the contents IMO, mainly because you can get another 300-page full novel for the same price. On a more positive note though, it does feel nostalgic and makes you want to read the seasons series again.

That, and the illustrations are beautiful. Pretty layout too.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

Great concept, but too much purple prose. Too much “coincidence”. Too many plot holes.

In volume 2, the season is shifting from spring to summer. It means the strawberry season is ending, and our gardener cat Berry seems sad about it which is super adorable. I hope she gets gourmet food everyday to make up for the lack of strawberries.

After what happened in the previous volume, Laetitia is now forging a bond with Lady Natalie as well as getting to know the other queen candidates. The focus in this book is the east villa's Lady Kate, a beastfolk from the Wildcat clan who wears her heart on her sleeve. Since her main issue is more of a family problem, the conflict in this volume isn't as nasty as what Lady Natalie's aunt did. The main antagonist is Lady Natalie's younger half-sister Sienna, who's a lot more immature both in personality and schemes, which in turn highlights the fact that Laetitia really was supposed to be a capable villainess. It's really nice to see how far the story has departed from the stereotypical situation at the beginning. I'm curious about how they will handle the remaining two queen candidates though, since their approach to this power struggle seems different from Lady Natalie and Lady Kate.

Also, Laetitia's grand goal in this book is to build a house for her griffin and an entire dog park behind her villa so her staff's companion animals can play there. Absolutely amazing main character, can totally understand why everyone loves her. She finally gets a chance to cook a hot meal for King Glenreed in this volume, which makes him even more interested in her and that obviously leads to more Lord Aroo scenes. While Glenreed is growing feelings for Laetitia, she's beginning to change her “completely neutral and uninvolved” stance and the people around her are starting to wish she would be their queen permanently. The book does a great job reminding you that their time is limited, so I'm looking forward to see where the plot will take us to next.

Actual rating: 3.5★

Rounded up because the art is pretty, and while it's a bit cliche in many ways, it's only the beginning of what seems to be a promising series. I only picked it up for the culinary aspect, but it offers a lot more court politics than expected. It reminds me a little of The Apothecary Diaries, but with food instead of medicines and poisons.

As of volume 1, our heroine Rimi is a rather bland character due to her personality and upbringing. While she does have a few prominent traits, such as her drive to feed people good food and her questionably insulting Konkokuan, for now it's still heavily overshadowed by various stereotypes and her own nonchalance. Hopefully she'll be developed more in the next installments and have more growth as a character.

Volume 1 focuses on introducing Rimi to life in the rear palace, her meeting with Shusei, as well as the emperor's issue with his half-brother.

Oh my, isn't this adorable.

I picked up this book mainly for the food, and not only it gave me what I wanted, but the amount of fluffy moments with furry friends far exceeded my expectations. We have an entire horde of wolves, a cat, and even a griffin. I read that the author's dream is to win the lottery so they can build a penguin aquarium with a gigantic swimming pool. Honestly? Big mood. Totally relatable. You can really feel the love for both food and fluffy friends packed abundantly in this book, and I absolutely love it.

This story begins with the classic opening scene for a villainess story. Laetitia gets dumped by her fiancé, the crown prince, who has fallen in love with Sumia, the “heroine”. The book gives a surprising amount of details to the world-building and magic system, even going as far as revealing Sumia's background and connections. However, this part of the plot takes a backseat for the rest of the volume as Laetitia leaves her home country to marry Lord Aroo King Glenreed. From there, it's mostly light and delightful slice of life with plenty of cooking with fluffy friends. It doesn't seem like Laetitia will have to deal with Sumia and her ex-fiancé for the time being, so if you're expecting them to get what they deserve, it might have to wait until she returns to her homeland. Whenever that's going to be.

The main conflict in this book comes from the faction of Lady Natalie, the west villa's queen candidate. There are minor antagonists, and while their main role here is to stir up trouble, they also give some depth to some of the sub-characters as well as showing the issue of racism in Wolfvarte so it doesn't feel like they're mean just for the sake of being mean. Despite being a light slice of life read, the conflict is given proper development and resolution instead of getting cast aside as soon as it's over. The writing and translation are also easy to read. I will be keeping up with this series.

In volume 3, winter has come to Konkoku and the emperor is dealing with an emissary from Saisakoku, a neighboring country inspired by the Middle East, who doesn't seem to have much interest in Konkoku as a country. Due to the focus of the story, this book involves a lot more political development compared to the previous volumes. By the end of the book, it's heavily hinted that both Rimi and Shusei are about to get roped into it. Especially Shusei.

That being said, the author managed to keep the right balance of politics and cuisines in this volume. The descriptions of the food never fail to make me hungry, which kind of makes up for how that Rimi and Shusei confess their love to each other and agree to break up in the span of seven chapters. Kind of. Maybe. Maybe not. :')

In any case, while each volume in the series so far has a self-contained story, there's a clear overarching plot that is starting to get more interesting in this book. The characters have also grown a lot since volume 1. Rimi, for instance, admits that she's been relying on the memories of her sister to “save her” from tricky situations. I'm still hoping that she will grow out of it eventually, but it's nice to see a character flaw being addressed properly.

The most prominent growth, however, can be seen in Shohi. While I'm admittedly having a hard time forgetting how much of a prick he was being in volume 1, he is learning to be a better person and a better emperor. For now I'm still on Shusei's side, but we'll see if the next volumes will change my mind.

Actual rating: 2.5★

Rounded up because the art is pretty.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this book.

The premise itself sounds really interesting. It's isekai where beauty standards are seemingly reversed from the world we know, so our main character Yura, who is deemed as plain and uninteresting in the real world, becomes an unparalleled beauty in the land of Tolkinia. In contrast, a handsome knight named Sei is bullied and ridiculed for being the “ugliest” man in the nation. Life sucks for Yura anyway, with her getting accused of theft she didn't commit and her best friend being fed up with her inability to stand up for herself. A trip to another world that worships her for her beauty seems fun and different, right?

Right.

If the book stays with that concept, that is.

It doesn't.

My biggest problem with this book is that the blurb is pretty much half of the book. It moves at a pace so slow it's rather maddening, with prettily written sentences that barely contribute anything to the plot. By the time I reached the last chapter, I realized that the story hasn't made much progress because it has so much padding. It felt like reading pages and pages of... nothing. Yura spends so much time panicking, running around, and crying, only to end up at the exact same spot anyway. Maybe it's because of the flat writing or the overall sombre tone of the book, but whenever it tries to insert funny, lighthearted moments, it just falls flat.

Speaking of Yura, I have a problem with her too. Her personality is so inconsistent. Yura is supposed to be shy and timid, but as soon as she lands in Tolkinia, she does things that aren't exactly shy and timid. She talks back to people. She barges into places she shouldn't be. She charges into things without thinking. She even laughs at the emperor, and considering they're not close or anything, behaves inappropriately towards him. It would've been fine if she gradually opens up to the people around her, but there's nothing gradual about this. To make it even worse, she plays her “coward” card randomly. It's either she just remembered that she's supposed to be one, or it's necessary for plot reasons. There's no such thing as a smooth transition in this book, everything comes and goes abruptly, leaving me unsure about what just happened.

That being said, I do find the plot interesting, thin as it may be at this point. For that reason alone, I will give the next volume a try even if I can't shake off the feeling that the writing isn't really for me.

This is honestly so dumb, but the best kind of dumb.

As one could expect from a main character who believes cross-dressing could save her from impending doom, Cecilia continues to be wild and unpredictable in the second volume. Which, unfortunately for Gilbert and Oscar, leads to a lot of problems caused by raging teenage hormones. There's a smaller focus on character introductions compared to the previous book, since Cecilia is now familiar with most people who have made appearance so far. Only two of the otome game's love interests remain unknown for now, and Cecilia doesn't seem interested in them either so we learn nothing about them except for their names.

This book focuses on a new love interest, Mordred, and the potential disaster waiting to happen in his otome game route. Cecilia spends the majority of the book getting to know him and his comatose sister in the hope of avoiding the Holy Maiden role, only to find out that the truth isn't even close to what she expected. She does, however, gain a new transmigrated friend who's basically just a different species of Lean. If Lean is into writing BL, this one is really into voice actors... thus adding to the many categories of otome game fandom.

Compared to the previous volume, this one also gives Gilbert a little bit more spotlight than Oscar. It may also give him a little bit of hope. Just a little bit. Because Cecilia is Cecilia. Lean is hinting that Cecilia, in her previous life, does have a favorite character in the game, but since she's... like that... I honestly can't predict where they're going with this LOL.

Looking forward to the next one!