Lenni Reviews: “A Vampire in the Bathhouse” by Niko Izuki

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

When Luka, a vampire, visits a bathhouse to recover from a hangover, he falls in love with the place. Now that it’s Luka’s regular spot, Sakura, the eldest son running the place, has his life turned upside down with supernatural shenanigans.

This is a fun comedy that features my favorite character type of “positive, good-natured, hard worker” in Sakura. The art style looks like it could handle some more serious supernatural elements, but overall, this stays light-hearted. There are the typical comedic tropes and some suggestive nudity (it is set in a bathhouse after all), but there is no smut. If you’re in the market for some goofy fun with a smattering of mostly naked pretty men, this is amusing. 3.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “23:45” by Ohana

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

Iku has been in Tokyo for 2 months and is content with his otaku lifestyle. The most excitement he is forced to deal with is his ability to see ghosts. One in particular, Mimori, follows him home. As they grow closer, Iku knows Mimori will have to eventually move on.

This was cute. It’s a little slow, and I didn’t feel like I got to know these people as deeply as I’d like to, but this felt like a nice setup for a climax later. Iku is smitten pretty quickly, and when you think it’s going to be bittersweet, things get very… Convenient is a good word for it. Not bad, but nothing really new here. It’s not smutty as sex is implied, not graphic. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Trickster’s Tale: Hu Yan Zhuan” Vol. 1, by Hontoku

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

Feijin is half demon, half human, and lives in a heavenly realm with his master, Sage Gaochun, who had taken Feijin in after his family died. Fejin is obsessed with his master, but if they were to do anything, it is Sage Gaochun who would suffer grave consequences.

Spoiler: I don’t care if this all turns out okay; Feijin drugs Sage Gaochun in order to finally sleep with him. That’s irrideemable in my book.

The man tiddies in this book are fucking insane:

If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was just a tall buff woman with a boob window.

There is plenty of plot with this smut, and while rushed, it can be intriguing. It’s hard for me to get past how the plot was touched off (see spoiler above). That makes me want to put Feijin in jail, not root for him to get with his crush. I’ve read other series where the main relationship starts with these shady circumstances (like Don’t Be Cruel), and that’s always in the back of my mind. No amount of man boob or tender glances is gonna fix that. All I remember is that complete violation of boundaries, and this book also has some shades of incest and power imbalances. 2 out of 5 because the art is pretty.

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Flame Con 2025

I’ve already posted a bit of my experience this year over at O&G (I should be posting there more often…), but I figured I’d talk about it a bit here, too. I can’t believe in the year of our Lord and Lady 2025, I feel the need to attend panels about fighting fascism, but here we are. It did get me thinking about digitizing some old stuff, like union pamphlets from back when my grandmother was fighting for the garment workers and old articles about her. We do need to preserve whatever we can; especially in the age of companies not bothering with physical media, claiming the rights to your digital media whenever they want (so you paid for it but don’t own it), or letting legacy media just die under the weight of relentless drive towards newer technology. But let’s not be a complete downer and take a look at what I brought home.

I had a lot of fun picking out random things to get and everything in that first picture is signed! I can’t tell you how much I nerd out about being able to get my stuff signed by the creator. Speaking of which:

I waited YEARS to get volume 5 of Starfighter simply because at a previous Flame Con, I’d gotten the first 4 and they were signed. I was tempted to just buy it online, but as they were generous to give me a press pass this year and Hamletmachine was going to be there, I was stoked to complete my collection. I probably embarrassed myself by squealing like an idiot, but I’m just some nobody, so she won’t remember.

I’m excited to dig into these and maybe review them for the blog. We’ll see. Sometimes I just like to read something and sit with it, but if there’s something here you want me to dive into, let me know.

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Lenni Reviews: “The Desert Butterfly Yearns to Be Caught” by Kaede Yunami

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

Seth is the wealthy leader of a desert country, far beyond what his bodyguard, Kyle, believes he deserves, but he cannot help but desire his boss and want to claim him for his own.

When this starts, it doesn’t seem like Seth is down for whatever Kyle is doing, and it feels like it’s slipping into non/dub con territory. Spoilers (maybe?), when they get together for real, it does not feel earned. There’s mention of Seth feeling caged and wanting to do things without Kyle hovering over him but that’s never really explored in a way that’s satisfying. It’s okay but clearly the thinnest of stories to get to the smut; of which there is plenty in its uncensored glory. This was meh and didn’t have any depth. 2 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Palace of the Omega” Vol. 1, by Fumi Tsuyuhisa

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

Prince Ilia is an omega and the 13th prince of his line. As the lowest-ranked omega in his family, he is married off to the king of another kingdom, King Khalid, who turns out to be just a kid.

When I saw the king turned out to be a young child, I both had every red flag ready to fly and wondered if this was gonna be one of those “I may look like a child but I’m actually 80 bajillion years old” kind of thing. While this volume is all plot without any smut, I’m sticking the rating on there because it’s inevitable. I am totally okay with a good setup; the world-building, the intrigue, Ilia’s character arc, Suya being generally amazing, it’s all absolutely fantastic. If there was never a bit of smut in the whole thing, I’d still continue this to see what happens. However, I wonder how the romance will be rationalized later on. I hope they don’t make it weird. They’re gonna make it weird, aren’t they… 4.5 out of 5.

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Pride Sale!

 

In honor of Pride Month and the delightful person who sent me a middle finger when I put my books on sale in June last year, I’ve put my books featuring LGBTQ+ characters on sale once again for the entire month! Click any of the links below to check them out. Make sure the sale price is there since I don’t count on a bug free experience…

I am also proud to announce that my new project “Dewey” will have a non-binary lead and I will be releasing chapters on my Patreon when I’m far enough ahead in writing.

Sorry, Middle Finger Person. We’re not going anywhere.

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Lenni Reviews: “Brooms” by Jasmine Walls & Teo Duvall

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In 1930’s Mississippi, magic is common but either banned or severely restricted for people of color. Despite this, Billie Mae and Cheng Kwan introduce young Mattie and Emma broom racing in order to participate in underground broom racing to earn money to learn magic from a real school.

Despite the abundance of characters, it’s easy to empathize with their struggles and hopes. The racing is a lot of fun and while the representation is wide – there are participants of all races, ages, and ability – it doesn’t feel forced; more like all of these “outcasts” can come together to buck the system and cut loose. I would LOVE to see this as an animated movie. The flying scenes scream for it. Absolutely check this one out! 4.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “MADK” Vol. 3, by Ryo Suzuri

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

It’s been a long time since Makoto summoned a demon to indulge in his fetish for eating demon guts. Now, Makoto is a demon himself residing in hell trying to discover the true name of the demon he granted his wish and destroy him.

J, the demon, always seems a step ahead of Makoto’s plans but allows whatever schemes he concocts to play out so we learn more about J’s past. I did not expect this to end the way it did but it’s really interesting. There isn’t much smut, it’s more about Makoto trying to overcome J. It was intriguing to see Makoto go from this mousy weak little freak to a powerful demon on par with J, the most powerful of his kind. This is not one of those fluffy stories were the love of a human touches the demon’s heart and they ride off into Hell’s happily ever after. This is dark and conniving. It’s not super graphic but it is not for romantics. 4 out of 5.

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August 2023 Writing Update

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I am picking at the edits for the next Go Away Girls book that I’ve decided to settle on calling “Vanished” (unless I hit on something better in the editing process). There’s a bunch of stuff I put in the outline that didn’t make it into the first rough draft that I feel will make the story much better so, I’m working on ironing out what I did get down before I start including that stuff.

“Vanished” will be the third book in the series. You can check out the first one here or here (contains adult material, be 18+ to read), or check out a different one of my lesbian fantasy stories here, here, here, or here.

Hope you’ll check them out and I’ll hopefully be updating again soon!

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