LGBTQ

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Lenni Reviews: “Ask and You Will Receive” Vol. 3, by Niyama

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

Shinobu and Hikaru have moved from one night stand to a more exclusive relationship. When Hikaru’s mentor – Osuke Ikurumi –  shows up, Shinobu is scared that Hikaru’s new interest in men will lead him to fall for the mentor Hikaru still idolises.

Okay, I’m spoiling it! This volume keeps up with the light tone, and Osuke is genuinely looking out for Hikaru and cares about him as a mentor. He wants Hikaru to be happy like a father figure coming in to make sure Shinobu is a guy good enough for his son. This gives Shinobu the push to make things more official. I hope there’s more of this series so we get more of them as an official couple. There is a tiny bit of angst, some cute and funny bits, and of course, plenty of smut. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Love in the Palm of His Hand” Vol. 1, by Rinteku

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

While on the train one day, Fujinaga has another man fall asleep on his shoulder. He doesn’t give it much thought until he sees the guy again at his school. His name is Keito, a fellow student who has congenital hearing loss. Through his journey to learn sign language to communicate with his new friend, Fujinaga also learns how to better express himself.

While this is cute and I’m rooting for the couple, I have hesitations about relating Keito’s struggle to communicate because of his hearing and Fujinaga’s struggle to communicate through acting. Having trouble acting in a way that pleases talent agents is not the same as actual hearing loss. There is an attempt to smooth this over by Keito outright appreciating how animated and expressive Fujinaga’s acting style is, but even so, it still doesn’t sit right with me, no matter how adorable they are. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Sleeping on Paper Boats” Vol. 1, by Teki Yatsuda

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

Set in Post-War Japan (1949) Keikitahara is a popular screenwriter who decides to quit when he realizes the people who inspired his characters ended up dead. He isolates himself, believing he is cursed. One night, he’s picked up after a fight by a photographer, Yoichi. Yoichi wants to get to know him, but Keikitahara tries to keep him away, thinking he will kill anyone he allows to get close to him.

Yoichi has his own thing going on, but holy shit, this is SAD. Kei clearly didn’t have any help dealing with the horrific trauma, and he is plagued with guilt. Yoichi kinda enables his worst ways to cope – spoiler/trigger warning for consensual choking during sex. But when they are happy together, it is so beautiful. The art is amazing at conveying all the wild emotions and the smut is light and suggestive. I recommend something light to read to cheer yourself up after reading this, though. 4.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “On and Off: Work-Life Imbalance” Vol. 1, by Shinnosuke Kanazawa

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

Sotaro Amata is popular in the office where he works, but in his off hours, he dresses up in Lolita fashion in beautiful lace and ruffles. Akira Hanku is less popular in the office, but in her off hours, she’s a punk girl in leather and spikes. They may butt heads at work, but when they run into each other off hours without recognizing each other, their relationship is entirely different.

This first volume is just setting up the vast differences between our main leads and getting them to meet up. They seem like two people who have been lonely, keeping up this mask at work, but can enjoy each other’s company once those masks are gone. In fact, Akira outright dislikes Sotaro at work but is smitten with him when he’s in the Lolita clothes. I made it a point to link to what I mean here since Lolita has an entirely different context in this case. I do wonder if this will get super dramatic and angsty once Akira finds out who she’s hanging out with, but I really hope it stays light and fun. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “I Wanna Be Your Girl” Vol. 1, by Umi Takase

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

Hime is in love with her childhood best friend, Akira. When Akira comes out to her and says he feels more comfortable in girls’ clothes, she is super supportive but wonders what to do with her romantic feelings.

I like this as a start to the series. The focus isn’t on how Akira feels as a trans girl; it’s about Hime’s role as a friend and ally. She’s not perfect, blowing up at people and not considering how her actions make Akira feel or impact how her classmates feel about the whole thing. Then there’s Hime’s romantic feelings throwing a spanner in the works. I’m glad for the representation, but I get this very superficial feeling. A nugget of wisdom will get dropped and then we move swiftly on without really diving into it. Maybe it will get more depth as we go on. 3 out of 5.

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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: “Megumi & Tsugumi” Vol. 6, by Mitsuru Si

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

Tsugumi has transferred to Megumi’s school but as an omega, he’s in danger from all the alpha’s around him and Megumi’s father hatches a plan to use a teacher to drive the couple apart.

The teacher, Mr. Nagaro, is a creep. The story tries to play it off as a joke, but nah, I wouldn’t want him around my kid. While this is about omegas in an alpha school and the school trip, the sex scene in this seems a bit forced in. I wouldn’t have minded if it had been left out to have more time with our main couple navigating this new situation, while Megumi’s father tries to interfere. The sweet moments in this are where the volume really shines because Megumi is so earnest, while Tsugumi is a food-driven, deadpan goofball. I also wish the sex scene was skipped because Mr. Nagaro spied on them. Gross. 3.9 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “We’re Not Cut Out to Be Lovers” Volume 1, by Kou Hirokawa

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

Kumazawa moves into a new apartment, and his neighbor, Koichi, is frequently too loud as he works from home as a streamer. When their conflict grows into a physical relationship, Kumazawa resists getting involved with a straight guy, but Koichi won’t back down.

This wastes no time getting our main characters together. I’m a sucker for grump/sunshine pairings and while this moves very fast, they’re easy to get attached to since their personalities pop. There’s just enough emotional meat to chew on, but I wouldn’t complain if there was a little more. I’ve written quick smut like this and it absolutely has value, but I like more story in my erotica, especially since a setup like this would totally lend itself to a longer plot. The smut is there and pretty detailed but there is some censoring – specifically the glow-dick. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “The Little Bird Sleeps by the Sea” by Yuu Minaduki

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is suggested for mature readers.

Yuuichi Tachibaba has adopted his nephew, Ayumu, after his parents and sister died a year ago. When they move to a new town, Yuuichi becomes friends with Ryou Kurebayashi, the owner of a store in the small town. As they grow closer, it’s clear they have deeper feelings than friendship and may be the key to them both healing from their pasts.

The two main leads are great characters, and their journey is touching, but the traditional third-act breakup felt way too forced. There could have been so many other less contrived reasons for this event. This leans more into emotional drama, so it’s relatively light on the smut. It’s not detailed, but you know what’s happening. And you know what? I’m totally fine with that. The story about them healing from their pain is beautiful. It’s one of those rare instances where I think hardcore smut would take away from the emotional impact. Not to mention the art is lovely. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Rainbows After Storms” Vol. 5, by Luka Kobachi

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

After their kiss at the festival, Nanoha and Chidori are struggling to communicate with each other about wanting to do it again. Also, a former classmate of Nanoha’s, Mai, joins their school and literature club.

These two are so damn adorable.

Even with this potential rival showing up, I’m still thinking this relationship won’t crumble because of Mai unless she threatens to out them. If I were to guess, that’s probably what’s going to happen since keeping their secret is so important. If Mai doesn’t do it, someone/thing else might. It doesn’t seem like the type of series to get really dark, so if it did, it would be very out of character. 4 out of 5.

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