Angela

this was so precious
i want to give alec a hug

who knew the first cassandra clare's book to get a high rating from me would be a magnus bane anthology xD
although, actually, i guess that's not exactly an unexpected turn of events

i liked it a lot more than i expected to
it's good to know that the meadow scene is just as bad in this reiteration as it was in the original version xD
also the ending. i don't know how i feel about the ending but it's definitely interesting

another thing is Archie. omg Archie. i didn't know it was possible to love Alice any more than i already did but then Archie appeared and yes, please!
on a similar note, for the first little while i low key wanted Bella to be the only gender-bent character and for this to be a gay story, but then Archie became a more defined character and i was in a full-on shipper mode. his little speech about how they've been best friends forever even if Beau didn't know it yet, omfg, i need a fanfiction

overall, i liked it a lot and can even see myself rereading it sometime

ps: Royal is so not a name, and i hate it so much i actually love it xD

me, reading the synopsis: this sounds so ridiculous. yes, please
me, reading the manga: ...wow, i am so bored

the first story was very ridiculous and cringy
the second i just didn't like
the third one though, it was so cute and adorable

okay, wow, this one... i have a lot of thoughts about this one.
first of all, the fifth chapter. if you know you know. if you don't know, be warned.
also we have a trans character which is a first for me in a genre manga. at least a first that it actually was paid attention to but also wasn't paid attention to in a way that i liked. don't go into it just cause of me mentioning this though. cause it's just one scene. it did surprise me nevertheless
the main plot though... hmm
what surprised me is a somewhat subversion of expectations. the first time we meet sakura and see him as this beautiful, kind, literally an angel in kaede's eyes, guy my first thought was [with all the manga experience i have] – you actually have a garbage personality, don't you, sweetheart?
and while he wasn't /an angel/ he was still kind and nice and all that, especially taking into account all his trauma
kaede though... wow kaede. the problem i have with kaede [and i don't know why I'm analysing a one-volume yaoi manga in the first place, that's not smth i usually do] is that with the personality he has, i don't believe kaede would ever find himself in a situation like this (life-wise). i don't know what to tell you, kaede as a character took me out of the story rather often. and i don't even dislike him really. i just feel nothing for him. like, it's your own fault, mate. it's not like you've been sleeping for 20 smth years and then woke up with “how did i end up here?”. life doesn't work like that. you clearly have a job and you have had it for a while now. you clearly have these thoughts of “this is how it all happened” and the self-awareness. but then in the manga it works almost like he's some sleeping beauty character who woke up from his “how long have i been sleeping?” slumber with a fucking surprise pikachu face. no, honey.
plus with all the seriousness the manga is trying to convey to you we still have the “you are so beautiful without your glasses. i never knew” trope. which i'm fine with but here it was really out of place
and we have a weird scene with the female co-worker and the business card that doesn't go anywhere.
idk
i feel like i liked it. i definitely like sakura. but it was a weird experience for me. the whole fact that this review exists and is this long is a proof to that – i don't usually rant about manga in this way but this one seemed like it tried to be smth. i'm not sure if it succeded though.

this is such a spamano couple, if you know what i mean. isumi does have a bit more drive than romano does but he's just as tsun-tsun as him. and amasawa is a bit less of an idiot than toni is but /basically/ it's the same dynamic and it's A D O R A B L E
the art style was cute too, but i feel like isumi's smallness was too exaggerated. i might be wrong, but it did look a bit weird to me. i still enjoyed the story and the cuteness of it so it's just a minor nitpick

ugh. no
smb tell me why i've read this cause i regret everything
no, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read but the more i sit with it the more pissed off i get
AND turns out i read a three-volume series from this author before and gave each volume a two star! why the fuck did i pick up another work by her? I'll tell you why. i thought it was a teacher/student relationship. and it fucking wasn't.
stupid-stupid-stupid

Objectively it was good
Subjectively – i cannot say i enjoyed it
yes, there were cute scenes, and yes, the art style is the one i like but were this a book, i would call it an “issue book” and i don't like those. and “an issue” isn't want i read manga for. but then on the other hand if you want to be an issue book – commit to it. all the conflicts were resolved so quickly. i don't know what to say. this needed to be like a ten-volume series but i can tell you i wouldn't have read past the first volume.

the allergy plot was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. and it wasn't even an allergy in the end [which i fucking called, btw]
still cute and adorable
i want a story about the friends too

this was ridiculous and very british, and i loved it very much
also, David Tennant's narration was exactly perfect

the last ten minutes made it worth it

i really enjoyed all the historic points. that was probably my favourite part of the book.
about halfway through the book, it occurred to me that this is either the worst time to read it or the best considering it does talks about different pandemics
all in all i'd recommend it if you are interested in the topic. i wouldn't say that i was exactly but it was still interesting.

ah, also, wow Eula Bliss loves Dracula

there are three historic periods or events or whatever you want to call it that i can't read about. french revolution is one of them. it makes me hate humanity and there are already enough reasons for that in the present.
still, i can't deny that it making me feel things so intensely is proof that it was a good story, even though i can't deny, my feeling towards the time period played a huge part in it

weird, i say i don't like stories with the smell fetish but so far i loved like 3/4 of the ones I've read
maybe i need to rethink my stand on this trope

this was so fucking cute
and the main guy is such an adorable idiot

this was incredibly cute
and i just love this trope a lot
the playboy guy who is secretly in love with his best guy friend and that's why he's being a playboy, and a shy guy who thinks there's no way his cool friend can ever love smb like him, i just ajfsfkhfgbwoiqgb

i'm still bitter my edition turned out to be abridged even though nowhere on the book does it say so
well, who knows, maybe some ten-fifteen years from now I'll reread it in the original french
it was ridiculous and over the top at times but i still really loved it

it was so boring
i just didn't give a fuck about anything

the getting together part was great, the “crazy ex” part was annoying but fine (i kinda did like the cookies scene, and then the angst, the angst was great), everything past that was fucking ridiculous

wow, i really did not like mick. and i mean i REALLY did not like him. he royally pissed me off. and the thing is i'm usually all for characters who are like “this is my life and this is my body and i'm gonna do whatever and whoever the fuck i want” but mick was the worst. at one point he tells the main character “you think you're better than me” and i went “because he fucking is!”
anyway, me not liking mick made me not root for the relationship (quite the opposite actually) which in turn made me really hate the book cause wow shanti deserved better

i think it's the third actor biography book I've read and even though it's my least favourite i still enjoyed it
i liked the parts about her starting out, relationships, and the last part, about her anxiety, the most
the humour worked for me half of the time, which is not bad by my standards

it was a bit repetitive, but otherwise quite interesting. though to me it read more like a memoir of sorts, I didn't really mind that

this was way too sweet

~sigh~
am I really going to write a rant review to a 64-page-book? yes, yes I am
because it takes smth to bring a book from a tentative five star to a one in a couple of pages and I need to tell you about it
it started so well. friends-to-lovers. tbh, not my trope of choice, not even in top 5, but it seemed to be done kinda well, the mutual pining and all that. but there were already hints that while Noah is absolutely sure his feelings are unrequited, Sage is “waiting for Noah to catch up”. I was heavily leaning towards “go fuck yourself, Sage” but it was sweet and low-key adorable so I was willing to let it slide. Noah clearly has a lot of self-worth and self-confidence problems. which is like, valid, but Sage wasn't helping (even though I think we were supposed to think that he was trying. you weren't trying, my man. you just weren't)
then the whole backstory-exposition... look, I understand that it's a 64-page romance story. I really do. but I think that while I do understand it, the author doesn't. because at parts it felt like a summary of a longer book and that's never a good sign.
the premise of “hey, we've been friends and pinning over each other for ages and then this dating app matched us on a valentine day” is cute. and each one of them organising a date was kind of sweet. but Sage just felt so manipulative. he is clearly written as the character who knows and it takes all the sweetness out of the situation. when he tells Noah “you're not quite ready” I wanted to punch him.
but what ruined this for me is the 5th chapter

“About time,” he says slowly. “I've been waiting for you to catch up.”
“You've always waited.” My voice is full of the wonder and dawning realisation that floods my body.
“You're worth it,” he whispers.