Rapunzel of the Magic Item Shop

Oh, this is a really cute read.

Despite the title, it's not a retelling of Rapunzel and the only similarity Lille has with Rapunzel is that she was trapped in a tower for ten years. Lille is then rescued and moves in with the sorcerer Charles, his apprentice Leo, and Ark the bird familiar—her new family. Charles owns a magic item shop with barely any customers, and business only starts improving after Lille decides to help. That being said, there are actually not many scenes involving the magic items or the customers either. The main focus lies on the theme of family, and then shifts to romance. For that reason, the book reads more like a shoujo story with magical elements.

This story is actually one of the cases in which it could've benefited from more books. The plot is well-thought, but due to the length of the book, sometimes it feels like things are moving too fast. Including the romance. The story does a nice job at covering Leo's and Charles' past, but the romance actually developed before it even gets to that point. It starts really early, though to be fair, it is love at the first sight so in the end I don't mind it that much. Aside from this pacing issue, I enjoyed the book a lot. It's cute and wholesome, the characters are so warm, and it also ends nicely with a happy ending. I do have to say, though... if you're not into teacher-student romance, then it might not be for you because Charles is technically Lille's magic teacher.

I also took a peek at the web novel version, and Kurisu Hiyoko described this as a story where Lille experiences all sorts of things for the first time. Each sub-chapter's title also starts with the word “first”, such as “first guest”, “first cooking”, and of course “first love”. It sums up the story pretty well. I like the writing style a lot, actually. I hope they'll pick up more of Kurisu's works, preferably the ones that are centered around food.