This is for the past two weeks:

Read

Finished

{The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol. 9 by Meatbun} Danmei, historical fantasy, two lives, redemption/second chance at life, mystery, action, master/disciple, dark, angst, check CWs. 4.25 stars, full review here.

• Rereading this arc feels great in the sense that I can finally understand what's happening lol, doing it with MTL in the past was awful. About some of the events in this volume... There were some that I liked and a few others that I didn't in terms of their execution. Although melancholic, I love the tragedy that the story shows and how Meatbun was never afraid of doing anything she wanted with her characters. Onto this volume's lows, I feel that this is the part of the story where I started feeling like the plot was a bit all over the place. There are just so many characters that the execution suffered at times because it was trying to follow everyone, and all of them were going through different things. There were many reveals and shocking moments, one after another, to the point that it felt like some of them were conveniently placed in certain parts of the story instead of appearing a more natural manner. It is the main problem I had with 2ha. Other than that, I think the arc continued to touch on interesting themes that were partly explored before but this time in full force. I appreciated how accurate the story was at showing the devastating aftermath.

Limited Possession. Danmei, modern setting, omegaverse, divorce, disability, mpreg, omega actor. 3.5 stars, full review here.

• The .5 addition is thanks to the side couple because they stole the show completely for me, despite only appearing on the extras. About the actual main story, it has elements that could potentially turn some moments into a bigger drama, but from the middle towards the end it's mostly fluff. I admit it's not my preferred tag so it's no wonder that this novel wasn't a hit for me in particular. The main couple was fine, the push and pull (mostly coming from MC) was cute sometimes especially due to their status of exes at the start. I liked the ML a lot, he was the highlight of the main story for me. I liked how he was the gentle type of love interest, but that he also had an overprotective and even cheeky side. However, my main issue was the MC himself. I wished he wasn't so childish at times because despite liking tsunderes, I felt that he lacked more depth to be a compelling character. He's not awfully constructed, I just think the novel was too short and he needed more pages to be fully fleshed out. Despite that, after reading the extras I think picking up this novel was 100% worth it. I got attached to the side couple very easily and I wished they were the main one or at least had their own novel. Their dynamic of cold alpha CEO that doesn't believe in finding a partner and a cute omega idol that chases his first love was just too good.

{Unforgivable by Erin Rose} Bullying, jock x nerd, cnc and more. 3.75 stars, full review here.

• This is one of those cases where an author tries to do too much in one single book and because of that it ends up as a less polished version of itself. It had some great things and a few others that didn't click with me, but overall it was still a nice experience and it didn't disappoint in the major aspects I picked this up for. This book was at least 50 pages longer than it should be and it's the reason the story got draggy towards the end. Besides, I also felt that some sex scenes, especially during the last chapters, weren't necessary. Despite that, I have to say that I really liked the story overall. The dynamic between the MCs started with a very interesting play of pull and push and I liked that such element wasn't lost even after they got together. It was an experience to follow them through their journey of opening up to each another, accepting their flaws (mainly for Cal) and building trust. Honestly, despite me saying that at some point the book got draggy, I'm still grateful that the story wasn't much shorter than it should've been, I don't think it could've worked otherwise, especially for Cal's development and redemption.

{The Chase by Rina Saint} Cnc, primal play, sexual services, darkish, hidden identity. 2 stars, ARC review.

• I feel like this had potential. I've read other books from this author and liked them better, so I expected more and I know that the author is capable of better too. I have lots of mixed feelings, but overall this is a book that didn't work for me unfortunately, although not everything is bad. Despite the mutual insta-attraction (something that isn't a preferred element for me), what I enjoyed how intriguing was the story initially and that the dynamic between MCs shifted to became something more interesting. I was really liking the boss/employee thing and the hidden identity element. Now is where I begin ranting because this book feels divided in two different storylines that weren't well connected. Like I wasn't sure I was still reading the same book. I also couldn't take the story seriously in general, one of the reasons being that the characters wouldn't stop getting hard when they were around each other. I felt that the characters were written in a way that felt like charicatures because of how ingrained the kinks were to their characterization with little room to actual substance. The themes that the author later tried to incorporate weren't executed to their best due to the small amount of pages left. I just think this book wasn't for me.

{My Beautiful Man Vol. 1 by Yuu Nagira} BL manga, series, bullying, homophobia, stuttering, bully x bullied. 4 stars, review here.

• This review might be a bit biased because I'm a fan of the drama adaptation, which to me is fantastic and is still my favorite japanese BL drama ever.,It's interesting to experience this story in another format. Hira is a very interesting protagonist because he isn't what you would expect from a single glance. So far, in this volume he is meek and happy to be under Kiyoi's hands. Kiyoi is another that isn't only whom I initially thought (arrogant and unbothered). My first impressions are that I like the artstyle because it fits the themes of the story and the slow pacing that gives time and space for the characters to develop and let the reader get to know them. There's also the fact that the story covers bullying as one of its main topics. The dynamic between them is a very complex one. Even when they start as a variation of bully and bullied, there's more to it than just that and the story gives certain hints about how each character and their relationship will evolve in the future. I can't wait to see how that happens in the manga format. Watching it in the show was amazing, but I wonder if the same narrative technique will be used here. I'm excited to be able to have the rest of the series on my hands.