books

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Lenni Reviews: “Centuria” Vol. 3, by Tohru Kuramori

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Angvall is forced into an impossible choice: obey the orders from the empire she’s pledged her life to, or protect her found family.

This does feel like an Oedipus situation (minus the incest) where by desperately trying to avoid a dismal fate, they’re running headlong into it. Elstri is so certain that Diana will destroy the kingdom, but maybe hunting her down and killing those she loves would give her good reason to? But she’s a zealot and this keeps the story going. It’s still action packed and gives us more characters with other powers. I am super hooked and if you’re into dark fantasy, this series (so far) does not disappoint. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Shinobi Undercover” Vol. 2, by Ippon Takegushi & Santa Mitarashi

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Yodoka is still guarding Aoi as they go through normal high school events like a sports festival and the school camping trip. All the while, battling those who seek to capture Aoi.

This really feels like a slice of life, YA, high school romance with ninjas clumsily grafted onto it. As a result, the original premise feels muddled. Right now, they’re just lobbing new enemies at us while sprinkling in high school drama. It’s not bad but not as amusing as I’d hoped. I hope it comes together in the next volume so it feels more like a cohesive story. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Half Is More” Vol. 1 by Yoiko Fujimi

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Kazumi Mandanda and her brother, Yoneyama, are Japanese and Black (French Black to be specific). Although they have lived in Japan their entire lives, they struggle with being seen as outsiders, handling this in very different ways.

This starts with Kazumi and her brother, then branches off to the other mixed race friends she has and all the complicated feelings around this weird limbo mixed people life in. Now, I’m a mixed race person in America, where it’s a melting pot and a lot of people look different. Getting the “What are you?” is common, nobody ever guessing what mix you are correctly, getting mistaken for every race but the ones you are… Super fun in the way it’s really fucking not. I’m sure it’s a billion times worse in a homogenous place like Japan. I won’t go into all the shit I’ve been through, but I can totally empathize with a lot of what happens in this book. It’s not a DEEP dive, but it gets the point across. 4 out of 5.

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WIP Wednesday: I cannot EVEN

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Since nothing in my life can just happen without a meandering, dramatic plot full of twists and turns that nobody fucking asked for, the infection that my cracked tooth had seemed to have migrated to the bottom tooth. I called the dentist and told him that I had an abscess and he said to just rinse with salt water and if it’s still there, call him tomorrow. Even though I said it’d been there since Monday… That it went back and forth between hard and soft and was leaking puss at various times.

Not the best flavor, I can tell you.

I was so fucking annoyed that I immediately looked up the nearest urgent care and the doctor there? She was so nice. She did warn me that my blood pressure was high (I am stressed the fuck out) but gave me the antibiotics to kill whatever the fuck is going on in my mouth. She took a look at the bump and said “Yeah, that’s infected.”

Ya know… What the dentist probably should have done? Even if he thinks I’m being paranoid, what if I’m not and there’s a real problem?

At least the doctor said that the actual extraction site is healing well. Just in time for there to be a recall on my car!

I’m gonna need life to stop life-ing for like… Six months. Give me six months of some fucking peace.

Whatever. Here’s the counts:

  • Long Smut: 19,579 (completed, may add more in the editing process)
  • Short Smut: 4,135 (completed, may add more in the editing process)
  • Dewey: 15,779 (still untouched) 

I’ll be editing while I wait for the car to eat my tax return (if I even get it in time to pay for that) and from now on, I won’t be working on more than one smutty project at a time. Yes. I am aware those are my money makers but I still would like to continue my dark fantasy/dystopian projects.

Since I’m a week out from the actual extraction, I can get back to any sort of activity like biking or walking. I’m working my way back up to running but hey, I can write with lower intensity workouts! I’ll get more words in that way. And it being so late in the day for me, just one dose of antibiotics helped that disgusting postule go down. Almost like the dentist should have listened to me…

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man Who Defies the World of BL” Vol. 5, by Konkichi

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Our main character is still dodging various BL tropes but Hataro keeps popping up and threatening to break his avoidance streak.

I like the idea of this new unknown element but it took quite awhile to get there. Not that I want this to fall into the “gay for you” or “bi awakening” trope, since our MC is straight with no desire to change that. I think it’s more interesting if he stays straight while navigating this strange isekai because those two are BL tropes as well. But still, where is this going? Is he going to try to escape this world? So strange… 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Black Night Parade” Vol. 3, by Hikaru Nakamura

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The identity of the Red Santa who visited Miharu as a child is finally revealed as the intense testing to become a reindeer continues.

This volume also includes how other members of the cast were recruited into their current roles at the North Pole and how they relate to Miharu. I’m warming up to this series. It’s pretty fun and has some intriguing lore to keep things interesting. The humor is pretty good, too. I don’t wanna say too much to avoid spoilers. 4 out of 5

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Lenni Reviews: “Jungle Juice” Vol. 7 by Hyeong Eun & Juder

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Suchan and his friends are now second years and offered extra credit by being members of an elite group: Propolis. But Suchan is still dealing with the effects of Pumpkin Carriage.

Like other series, I am growing concerned about adding yet another group. There’s Nest, Breeder, and now the Stray Dogs. Now, I love me a good training montage and lore about the source of Jungle Juice, but I will withhold judgement about adding another group to this story because as of this volume, things are balanced and the new characters are cool. I so low key winder if this whole series is a conspiracy to trick the readers into learning more about bugs and insects. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Black Night Parade” Vol. 2, by Hikaru Nakamura

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Miharu has been working hard at The North Pole in his new role of punishing bad children and while the benefits, salary, and coworkers are miles better than his previous job, his old coworker shows up to throw a wrench in the works.

While Kaiser (the old coworker) and his antics rode the fine line between funny and annoying, the best part of this volume was the latter half when we see Miharu as a child. It’s cute and heartwarming and has some cool (if not predictable) plot points that I will not spoil. It’s all still an interesting premise and it’s a decent volume once Kaiser is set aside. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Black Night Parade” Vol. 1, by Hikaru Nakamura

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Hino Maharu spends Christmas working as his dead end job. He’s desperate for a decent full time job. When he expresses this wish to a dark Santa Claus, he’s offered a new job: working for this dark Santa, Knecht at the North Pole.

I don’t know what to think of this yet. It’s weird, has decent comedy, and has menacing parts as well. The art style allows for some great character designs, especially Knecht. Miharu is a classic sort of protagonist and the surrounding cast contrast around him well. But I can’t say how exactly this makes me feel. It’s decent enough to keep me reading and curious though. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Marriage Toxin” Vol. 13, by Joumyaku & Mizuki Yoda

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Gero takes a break to hang out with Beppo and they go to a restaurant run by Sota of of the Taste Masters. Then he is hired to help Chinatsu escort Nabe, former head of the Arima family.

While this feels a little bit like filler, it’s fun filler and the second part is supposed to deepen the connection between Gero and Chinatsu. As fun as they are, I’m wondering what’s going to happen now in order to make progress on the initial deal: get married to save his sister from an arranged marriage. All these hijinks are fun and entertaining but I’d like to see the field of prospective wives start to dwindle. 3 out of 5.

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