ellelainey's reviews
2404 reviews

Things did not go well for Seunghyun in this volume! He isn't good at explaining himself, or standing up for himself, and after how he was treated in the last volume that's no surprise. Jongchan isn't much better, too dismissive and clinical.

I love that this series is fade-to-black, because I really feel it suited the characters and the story. I loved that the story took centre-stage and although it was implied what went on, it wasn't overly graphic, which kept things nice and sweet.

There was a lot of office politics in the series, which surprised me but also made sense.

I absolutely loved this! The art is gorgeous and both MC's are clearly distinguishable, in looks and personality.

Seunghyun Woo is an intern at a big firm, joining the advertising team. It's not his dream job, but the only place he got accepted. He's had an unrequired crush on college friend Yusung for years, but recently given up hope. Unfortunately, he quickly discovers that Yusung works at the company he's just joined!
Worse, he's on a team with the most notorious leader - Jongchan Kim - who takes an unexpected shine to him.

I really loved Seunghyun and Jongchan, who were sunshine x grumpy together. They had amazing chemistry and a great story leading up to them getting together. I also loved Seung's bestie Jiyeon, who is so much fun.

Jongchan is the total opposite to Seunghyun - he's dated often, but always get accused of being married to his work and not invested in the relationship. Seunghyun on the other hand has zero experience, despite coming up for 30! So when they come together, there's a definite opposites attract trope as well as a virgin MC.

Seunghyun is SO cute and Jongchan is far more forward and fun than I expected. I can't wait to read more.

This was a fun and super cute follow-up about Kota and Naoya dating and navigating the ups and downs of when and where they luck will or won't work in their favour. I loved all the happy accidents it caused too.

Kota Fukuhara, age 20, is extremely unlucky. Like, ceilings literally fall on his head, unlucky. He just happens to be rescued one day by the college hottie, Shinomaya, who happens to be extremely lucky. Kota figures that if he can just get Shinomaya to stick around long enough, maybe his good lucky will counteract Kota's rotten - often dangerous - bad luck. Only, Shinomaya misunderstands and...they start dating!

The dating twist definitely took me back to [book:My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 1|57147089] but I love that this one ended up far more honest, much quicker and that left Shinomaya and Kota more time to explore who each other really were, beyond the misconceptions.

I love that we got to see all the frankly surreal stuff that happened to Kota and how the accidental confession came about completely organically and not at all through deliberate manipulation. I loved his inner turmoil, as he started to have feelings for Shinomaya, and even before when he just felt bad about using a friend for nefarious purposes.

Naoya Shinomaya was adorable! He's like a loyal puppy at times, but then he's a bit of a pushy, protective guard dog at others. I loved that their luck often counteracted each other, so that although Kota's bad luck mojo faded when they were together, it never entirely disappeared and Naoya's good luck was only minimally affected.

This was so cute!

Tsuchiya was such a scared, nervous first-time dad, but he was super cute with baby Minato. I loved that Shizuku only got more feisty as she got older, and Koga more adorable.

I loved seeing Koga defend himself and his family, but I loved it even more when Tsuchiya did. Justice for Koga! Finally!

The bonus story was just like a sprinkle of sugar on top of an already great story.

 

Omega Koga Naoto was attacked in high school by a group of upperclassmen, ending up with an unexpected pregnancy. Despite having been looked down on all his life for being an omega, Koga doesn't blame his daughter for how she came into the world. He's left with a terrifying fear of all alphas, who have only ever mistreated him, berated him for being omega, and tried to hurt him. 

So when his mother arranges for Koga to attend a matchmaking event, he's afraid but goes for his daughter's sake. He can't get a job, because he's omega and people think he's unreliable and only going to cause trouble for the alphas in the workplace with his hormones, so he has to do something drastic if he's to give little Shizuku a good life. As she's already been bullied at one school for having an omega mummy – her choice of words, not Koga's – it's understandable why he wants to do anything he can to protect her. 

Enter Tsuchiya. Working as a waiter at the event, he walks up to Koga, professes his love and claims that Koga is his fated mate...and Koga runs! 

Thus begins the start of a cute but complicated tale of how a terrified omega finds his way to love. 

This was such a sweet and lovely story. I loved Koga – emotionally fragile, afraid of himself and alphas and life really – and his precious daughter Shizuku. Despite their hard life, they don't look down on others and Koga actively tries to be as unobtrusive in life as possible, often to his own detriment. I loved his mother, who took such good care of him and Shizuku, and who was so deeply understanding of his situation, even his fear. 

I utterly adored Tsuchiya, who is hard working, sweet and loving, caring and protective and all the things that Koga needs. HOWEVER, in this story Koga is already 21 and Tsuchiya is ONLY 17! That is a huge issue for me. Maybe if he'd been 19 or Koga had only been 19 it would have felt like such a big distance, but I did have to take a star off my rating for the fact it made me feel a bit icky. 

Unlike a lot of other mangas, especially alpha/omega ones, there was a strong supporting cast here. I loved that both MC's had strong relationships with their mothers, who were both strong women and not only supportive but working women. There was a lot of positive female power here, which I loved. 

I would absolutely have given this a 5* if not for the age disparity feeling unbalanced and Tsuchiya being SO young that it didn't feel right. 

Sakuraba - or Kiichi - isn't good with relationships and his only long-lasting friendship just stuttered when his bestie got married. Kiichi can't figure out why he feels so desolate...until he gets drunk one night and ends up innocently letting the part-time bar worker, Nao Kijima stay over. Not only does Nao see how much Kiichi must have loved his friend, but he offers free hug therapy to help him recover.

What begins as a really super-cute, innocent hug therapy eventually evolves into catching feelings for each other. Except, Nao has some issues after being hurt in the past.

There's definite hurt/comfort, bi-awakening and a really sweet, lovely story.

"This whole time I probably wanted someone to give me a hug."

Taishin - Tai - came to college in search of one person, a boy who consoled and took care of him a year ago. Only, their first meeting doesn't exactly go to plan - Takara rightfully points out how (borderline?) creepy Tai's behaviour is.

Tai is very innocent, a little country naive in the big city. I like how he navigates the city life, including a stalker incident. Takara might not have wanted to get closer, but he took care of him, took control, and reminded Tai that being stalked isn't his fault.

Overall, this was an utterly adorable, double first-time, with two slightly awkward and unusual MC's coming together by coincidence.

 Eeek! OMG!
There was so much going on in this volume. And we got another side story to show Beom's POV, which was awesome.

"You've erased everything I had...becoming...the only thing I valued."

What an ending! I can't wait for the next volume, but I wish I'd waited until the series was done so that I could binge it from start to finish. 

 We FINALLY find out why Beom is avoiding all those phone calls.
Eui-joon is just precious and he has these great, supportive friends who just want him to be happy.

I loved everything about this volume.