F/F romance

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Lenni Reviews: “Pink Candy Kiss” Vol. 4, by Ami Uozumi

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

As Ema fulfills her dream of opening a cafe, Takara is still struggling to hold in her romantic feelings for her friend. When Ema’s mother shows up, taking cruel digs at her, Takara takes Ema on a trip to cheer her up.

We get the “only one bed” trope, but it doesn’t lead to anything other than a cute moment, in case you’re looking to avoid anything explicit or stories with cheating. Other than that, these two are a bit of a mess, and I’m baffled as to how this will turn out still. So far, the only clear-cut villain is Ema’s mother, who is a verbally and mentally abusive fuckwad who I wouldn’t mind never hearing from again. But since this trip they went on had all internal revelations, we’re still in the same place in Takara and Ema’s relationship, and while I would want to see a jump forward, I think slow and easy is for the best here. 3.9 out of 5.

 

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Lenni Reviews: “Pink Candy Kiss” Vol. 2, by Ami Uozumi

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

Takara has come to terms with her feelings for Ema and is hiding them to respect Ema and Hario’s marriage. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is.

Takara goes to a lesbian club for the first time with a different friend, and it’s so cute and heartwarming. She’s realized more about her sexuality and gets a ton of support. Hario is still a great guy. There’s no sudden 180 to make him a villain. making it harder to want Takara and Em to have their happy ending at his expense. That being said, this feels more like establishing that fact than moving forward otherwise. It’s tender and insightful, but just circling around what we already know. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Pink Candy Kiss” Vol. 1, by Ami Uozumi

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

In middle school, Takara was in love with her classmate, Ema. Twenty years later, they meet again after Takara is dumped by her boyfriend. Her old feelings return, but Ema is married.

This volume is very bittersweet. It touches on the cultural aspect of girl crushes as something you’re supposed to outgrow. Ema is fucking adorable, and there does seem to be some lingering feelings for both of them. But, there is a marriage to consider, and it would have been so, SO easy to make the husband a complete asshole like in Tears on a Withered Flower, but he’s a cutie patootie, too! The art is beautiful and soft, but has no trouble handling the humor in this story. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…” Vol. 1, by Musshu, Mikami Teren & Eku Takeshima 

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

After dealing with loneliness in middle school, Amaori Renako is ready to reinvent herself for high school. Hoping to be one of the cool kids, Renako has put herself under a ton of pressure and when she goes to the roof to destress, she meets popular girl Oduka Mai and they become friends. Renako enjoys their friendship until Mai confesses she’s in love with Renako.

The twist is that they make a deal as to when they are friends and dating on whether or not Mai’s hair is tied up. This situation leaves the door open for some funny jokes:

but as friends or girlfriends, this duo is highly entertaining. So far, we have a bit of fanservice and some suggestive talk but it’s not 18+. I’d say older teen unless the next volume changes things. This is a fun start and I can’t wait for the next one. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Rainbows After Storms” Vol. 1, by Luka Kobachi

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

High school students Nanoha and Chidori are dating but they keep their relationship secret; only known to their classmates as best friends.

This is very slice of life, especially when compared to the same setting for yaoi manga. It’s just so cute and sweet. Not a bit of smut to be found. It gets repetitive because each little story starts out with “we’re dating and keeping it a secret” and there are no obvious stakes to them keeping their relationship a secret. It doesn’t seem like their friends are homophobic or anything. Everything is very lighthearted and calm; a lot of blushing and meaningful glances. It’s decent but maybe a little more depth to it would make me like it more. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: Whenever Our Eyes Meet…: A Women’s Love Anthology” by ASCII Media Works

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This is a collection of fourteen short stories about women in live in different types of relationships from an artist with a crush on her subject to a high school puppy love getting a second chance when they’re grown up.

While well done overall with pretty art, all the stories are SUPER short. But that’s to be expected when you get 180 pages to tell fourteen different stories. Gotta make you point quick then move on to the next one.

My favorite of them would be “Everyone’s Missing Out.” by Irua. Not many romance stories – much less LGBT ones – have characters over 30-40 years old. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those.

Not a bad collection if you’re looking for some relatively clean, short, yuri to read. 3.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up” by Naoko Kodama

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Morimoto Machi is not interested in marriage. All she wants is to succeed in her career and live on her own. But as the pressure from her parents to find a husband mounts, Morimoto’s friend, Agaya Hanna, offers to marry Morimoto to keep her parents from complaining. It also helps Agaya since she’s in the market for a new apartment. While the arrangement is inconvenient for Morimoto at first, she soon finds having Agaya around may not be so bad after all.

This is so cute! I love how Agaya stands up for herself against Morimoto’s parents and refuses to be labeled a freak. The pair make an adorable couple. I wouldn’t have minded if this was a little longer and went into some more detail in dealing with Morimoto’s parents. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “The Scars of Jocasta Lacroix” by Jack Harvey

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

In this short story, Jocasta reveals the story of one of her scars to her wife, Katie. In the past, Jocasta spent some times as a hired bodyguard for a noble targeted by an assassin. As the reason behind the killer’s mission is revealed, Jocasta is caught in the middle of a messy web of betrayal and lies.

While this story is written well, every word of it feels like one of those prequel or 1.5 stories authors have in their series. There is an established modern world where Jocasta drives a car but her mission took place in horse and buggy times. And she’s part elf but no mention of her background? These inconsistencies had me scratching my head more often than not and the fairly by-the-book sex scenes didn’t make the book stand out any more. Not BAD but feels incomplete. 2.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Courageous Love” by K. C. Richardson.

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*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

Alex Taylor and Francesca “Frank” Greco didn’t meet under the best of circumstances. Frank pulled Alex over for speeding and talking on her cell phone but they meet up again at a party that same day. Despite this initial stumble, they can’t deny the attraction is there between them. As they pursue a relationship, Alex is suddenly diagnosed with breast cancer and Frank has to decide if she is willing to watch another woman she loves wilt to the disease; like her twin sister, Toni.

This book breaks Fiction 101’s most important rule: show, don’t tell. Not a single emotion this book tries to evoke ever manifest. At 70%, all I felt was annoyed there was more to read. Everything is set in front of you in such a dry, wooden way, I felt as if I was reading a detailed outline. The characters were flat caricatures and it really, REALLY bothered me to have a complete bitch/saint dynamic in Alex and Frank (respectively) where a person with cancer and struggling with treatment is portrayed in the book as a bitch for going through a wide range of emotions. Despite those emotions coming through in as monotone a way a possible.

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And after all the delicious prose in Rainbow Gap, I was doubly disappointed. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Rainbow Gap” by Lee Lynch

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*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+

*This review is cross-posted to Otakus and Geeks.

This sweeping novel follows Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland’s relationship over the course of 15 years. Set in Florida during the 1950’s and 1960’s, the book starts from their childhood when the classically girly girl Berry protects the boyish Jaudon from bullying classmates. We are along on their journey through college, Vietnam, even the budding LGBT community all while they stay bonded in a deep and powerful relationship.

You can feel in every word how much love was put into this book. The setting is real enough that you feel transported back in time and the level of detail becomes hypnotic. However, this book also gets bogged down in those details and the actual story slows to a crawl. When the plot moves, dear gods this book is beautiful. Otherwise, you feel every inch of those 342 pages. It’s worth it though to get the full impact of Jaudon and Berry’s journey. 3.9 out of 5.

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