first impression of my latest book order

[insaneneko]

My first impressions tend to be crap so I usually don't post about books until I've reread them several times, but since sara_tanaquil asked what I'd ordered and I didn't want to just list the books...Please take all comments with a grain of salt. I revise my impressions of books quite a bit. ^^;

Ryuu no fukkatsu, Dr. no Houkou by Kifu Kaname and illustrated by Nara Chiharu

The latest book of the Ryuu and Dr series (I've summarized four of the books), still fun but not quite as fun as the last one...I might revise my opinion once I reread. Or maybe it just couldn't live up to the build up of insanity that fueled the previous books.

Aisaresugi to iukeredo by Nakahara Kazuya and illustrated by Nara Chiharu

Third book about a doctor and a laborer who used to be an amazing surgeon (I summarized the first book here). I enjoyed it, as I've enjoyed the first two. I just like the recurring characters a lot. And the really horrible lewd jokes Dr. God Hand makes. XD;

Kayashima-shi no yuuga na seikatsu novel vols 1, 2, and 3 by Tono Haruhi and illustrated by Hidaka Shouko and comic vol 1 illustrated by Mamahara Ellie

Reprinting of a series Tono Haruhi had originally done as doujinshi about the romance of a rich blue-blood (Mr. Kayashima) and his gardener. Mr. Kayashima is a great character. He's young, good-looking, rich, doesn't do any work, and has an overwhelmingly noble presence that just bowls people over. But he adores the gardener and is very honest about his feelings towards the gardener (most of the time). They are a cute couple. My favorite parts, though, are other people's reactions to Mr. Kayashima's oddness and presence. I have to admit that I like Hidaka Shoko's art more than Mamahara Ellie's, but the manga is worth having just for the short novelized portion and extra manga at the end. The first volume's novel bit is from Mr. Kayashima's dog's POV. It's adorable, as all stories written from the POV of someone's pet tends to be. I will be buying the second volume.

Hanayaka na Aijou by Sakiya Haruhi and illustrated by Hasukawa Ai

Fourth book about a detective and an artist. I adore this series, though I think I've never posted on it before. I like both characters, I like their relationship and how it develops. I like the police cases that come up in each volume. This book uses a total cliche as its premise, but I like how she handled it. Angsty, but not totally predictable. One big plus about this series: the uke loves sex and can be very aggressive in getting what he wants. No faux uke modesty here.

Futsuu gurai ni aishiteru by Kuga Ariko and illustrated by Hashimoto Aoi

This is about a salaryman who meets a dude who'd harassed him in high school. I....couldn't keep interested in the book enough to finish it. I'll have to go back and try again later.

Koboreru cream by Sakai Akeo and illustrated Shidoh Kai

I admit it, I bought it for the cover. The blurb sounded pretty interesting, so I figured why not. The book is just too short. The story doesn't suck, but it isn't meaty enough for me to love it.

Steal Your Love - Yoku by Himekawa Hotaru and illustrated by Kohji Tatsuru

Third book about a popular actor and host who'd been high school classmates. Another series I enjoy because I like the main characters and their relationship. Also, the uke also enjoys sex very much once they become established in a relationship. I'm hoping this continues, especially since I want to see what happens in their careers and their dealings with each other's families.

Tama ni wa koi demo by Wataru Minaho and illustrated by Sakura Haiji

I got this because it's illustrated by Sakura Haiji and the main character is a plain and introverted programmer being harassed by a very good looking, very out-going sales guy at his company. They become friends once the programmer realizes he shares interests with the sales guy. It turns out the sales guy is a uber-otaku. I was meh about this one. Doesn't suck, the uber-otaku-ness of the sales guy is rather hilarious, but it just didn't hit the spot.

Sore wa tsumi na anata no sei by Hagino Shiro and illustrated by Natsume Isaku

I love love love love love this book. Love. Also, love the art. I really don't want to say more, because it'll turn into a huge, long thing that I don't have the time do now and I want to do a long, looong summary of this some day. Let me just say it hits my moe points totally and completely.


I didn't realize I'd bought so many sequels until I started writing this post! I enjoyed the sequels well enough, but I think my overall disappointment with the order comes from being disappointed by most of the one-shots. I want to find shiny new stuff, not just rely on the familiar.

What is up with Nara Chiharu? I do not like her art nowadays. :(

Comments

[madamada-chan.livejournal.com]

Ohh... I don't know much of these authors (yet!) but you have a lot of my favorite illustrators ♥

I adooooore Mr. Kayashima ♥ Though I've read the manga, I can't really follow the novels yet because I'm not that fluent. But I fell in love with his story after listening to the drama cd (That's how awesome NojiKen is LOL)

I'm very interested in Hanayaka na Aijou. I'm kind of impressed you stayed with it until the 4th book so I'm really curious now :D

Aaaan Sore wa tsumi na anata no sei sounds so adorable!! If anything, it's illustrated by Natsume Isaku so I think that just levels up the cuteness by 100x!? XD

Thanks for mentioning these!! I am definitely looking forward to your reviews of them someday~

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for good art, so I tend to choose the stories that sound good or authors I like that have nice art. ^^;

I need to listen to the CD drama of Mr. Kayashima as well! Arg, too many on my list! The novels are lovely and flesh things out much better, of course. Hopefully you'll be able to read them someday.

The series with Hanayaka na Aijou is very satisfying, if you like romance with some (but not too much) angst. The best thing (besides the sex-loving uke I mentioned before) is that the characters do change during the series.

Sore wa tsumi na anata no sei is pure adorableness. The main character is slightly dorky and not too bright, but so sweet. The novel is quite hefty, too. The book is almost 300 pages.

I probably won't have time to do any in-depth summaries for a while, unfortunately. RL is keeping me busy. :P

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

You spoil me!! Thank you so much. A lot of those sound intriguing.

Do you order almost all novels? I've noticed that you mostly review novels rather than manga (which is great, I get most of my leads on novels from you). I just noticed it because I quite rarely order novels. I have such a novel backlog to begin with (I read sooo slowly, woe, and MUST there be 37 Fujimi novels? Not to mention 22 City of Glass novels, that I haven't even started?), and I guess reading so few to begin with, I don't have established authors/series that I keep buying the latest one of.

Anyway, thank you! I will try to keep up with reviews of my orders as well. I feel deprived of manga conversation lately, for some reason.

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I tend to buy a lot more novels than manga because I feel like I get more bang for the buck, on average. Plus, it seems the novel authors/series I like publish more often than the manga artists/series I like. I would love to buy more manga, but I've gotten pickier (and have less room) lately so unless someone highly recs it or it really grabs my attention I will hesitate to buy. I summarize novels because hardly any are translated (unlike manga which do tend to get scanlated) and I want to share the stories I like (or hate). I get lazy and don't write about the manga I like (or hate) nearly as much. ^^;

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, this is dangerous because I'm working on putting together an order right now and a lot of these (especially the series) sound like I might want to try them out...my poor wallet. orz

And totally agreed on Nara Chiharu! I got the latest (last?) Negotiator books in my last order, and was really surprised by the illustrations. Man, what happened to her? So sad. :/

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Hope you like whichever ones you end up getting. It's amazing how much of a money suck it all is. I try not to make too many orders but it's hard not to when someone I really want comes out...And of course you can't just buy one or two or three at a time...

It feels like Nara Chiharu's art has been evolving (devolving) in a way I really dislike for a while now, but lately it's gotten really icky. *sighs* Her art in the last two Negotiator books was almost insultingly simplistic and bleah. (BTW, I'm not sure I liked those Negotiator books. I feel like that storyline, which was really nasty on Mebuki, went on too long...Mebuki turned into even more of a woobie than usual. I'll have to reread to see if I still feel that way, though. I change my mind upon rereading quite often. ^^;)

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I couldn't fit any of them in because the order was so huge already (over 20 books, ouch!). :/ Hopefully next time, because I really want to try them! So many books, so little money...

I actually haven't read the latest Negotiator books, just flipped through the pictures. Partly because I've been too busy reading Fujimi (that is a lot of books to get through!), but partly because they looked sorta angsty and I'm not really looking forward to them. (PS to the publisher: thanks for releasing two books at once, and then putting a spoiler for one of the books on the obi of the other. I really appreciated that one!)

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

It's hard to keep the orders to a reasonable number, isn't it? It's nice having a long to-read list, though.

Re: Negoiator...Angsty is a good word for them. ^^;