Book Review: “My Happy Marriage” by Akumi Agitogi

“Don’t apologize. Do it too often, and it loses its meaning.”

My Happy Marriage: Volume #1 by Akumi Agitogi

LENGTH: 160 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Yen On

RELEASE DATE: 18 January 2022 (English Version)

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

IS THIS MARRIAGE A BLESSING? OR A CURSE?

Born talentless to a noble family famous for their supernatural abilities, Miyo Saimori is forced into an existence of servitude by her abusive stepmother. When Miyo finally comes of marriageable age, though, her hopes of being whisked away to a better life crumble after she discovers her fiancé’s identity: Kiyoka Kudou, a commander apparently so cold and cruel that his previous would-be brides all fled within three days of their engagements.

With no home to return to, Miyo resigns herself to her fate-and soon finds that her pale and beautiful husband-to-be is anything but the monster she expected. As they slowly open their hearts to each other, both realize the other may be their chance at finding true love and happiness.

My Review

He wanted someone who would genuinely enjoy living in his forest cottage as his wife, not simply relish his status or wealth. And Miyo would do that. He had no intention of letting go of her.

My Happy Marriage was a sweet little Cinderella-esque romance. I discovered it via the anime version that began airing this past summer. After it made me cry nearly once an episode, I decided that I had to read the original material.

This was the first time I was reviewing a book on my blog that was originally in another language as well, so I was pretty excited about that, too. (Though it’s not the first I’ve mentioned reading, as I read a few mangas a year, and I talked about Another on my list of books with spooky vibes from last fall.)

And… I didn’t like it nearly as much as I’d hoped to. The story is nearly the same, and the anime followed it almost to a T, but I didn’t like it nearly as much. I suspect it was the translation, but I’ll get into that in a bit. First, I’m gonna discuss some of the things I liked about it.

Pros

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Miyo Saimori.”

Miyo Saimori is our protagonist here, and she’s very unconventional when compared to many western female MCs. She’s quiet and nervous, and she keeps to herself, but this is all mostly a result of her abusive upbringing. We see small pieces of her true personality, but on very few occasions. Her true self is still reserved, but she’s also determined and stubborn and brave. (But she’s not a sassy teenager that’s inexplicably good at everything, and that everyone likes, so she’s still different.)

Kiyoka Kudou is Miyo’s new fiancee, as well as her love interest. He appears cold on the surface, but this is merely a facade that he puts up. He’s actually quite similar to Miyo in several ways, but he’s far more confident, as he had a completely different upbringing. He’s still shy when it comes to interacting with Miyo at several points in the first half, but after it’s revealed that she’s his first real romantic relationship, it all makes sense.

“I don’t think I deserve you… but I want to stay with you forever and help you somehow.”

“You can.”

“I need to… do better, so that I can support you for as long as possible.”

“I would appreciate anything you do.”

Their romance was also very sweet, and was one of my two favorite things about this book. They’re both very tentative and gentle with one another, and it’s extremely wholesome. They also have real, actual relationship goals, like communication and working in tandem as a team, and working to keep each other happy. It’s also a bit of a slow-burn, so fans of that will probably enjoy it.

The other thing I really liked was the supernatural stuff that was going on in the background. It was very interesting, and was what drew me into the anime to begin with. I wish the world building and supernatural aspects had been as prevalent as they were in said anime, but that’s just my preference.

Cons

The translation. As I’m not sure how good the original text is, as I cannot read Japanese, I have no choice but to blame my issues with the writing with the translation.

The prose just doesn’t flow naturally for the majority of the light novel. It’s kind of clunky and awkward at several points. The dialogue is also a little weird at times, and it doesn’t always come across as normal human interactions.

There also wasn’t a lot of plot going on. Most of it is just characters and description, until the last quarter of the novella. Which isn’t too bad, as it isn’t that long a book, but I have to say: the anime is definitely superior as an adaptation. For me, at least.

Final Thoughts

“Everything you did for me was necessary.”

“Miyo…”

“And I’m delighted you went to such lengths on my behalf.” Having someone who cared about her, who was willing to do something – anything – for her, was a blessing. She’d forgotten that joyous feeling until recently. It was Kiyoka, Yurie, and everything that happened since she’d met him that had allowed her to experience that feeling again.

All in all, I thought that My Happy Marriage was fine. I neither adored it nor did I hate it – I just found it to be okay. I really, really liked the anime adaptation for it, though.

Those who like shorter, bite-sized novels and novellas, as well as supernatural romances will probably find some enjoyment from it. People who like middle grade and YA will probably be okay with the slightly jenky writing, as well.

And as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Links:

Goodreads

Instagram

“Masters of Death” by Olivie Blake | Book Review

Even after centuries of practice, it never grew less unsettling when it happened this way – sloppily. Gorily. Murder had never been his favorite method of disposal.

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

LENGTH: 416 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

RELEASE DATE: 8 August 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

*Now newly revised and edited with additional content, this hardcover edition will include new interior illustrations from Little Chmura and special illustrated endpapers from artist Polarts.*

There is a game that the immortals play.

There is only one rule: Don’t lose.

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the mansion has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though he is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with the ghost infestation, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few mindfulness-practicing creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.

My Review

This is the story mortals tell about a man who was the godson of Death, who they say eventually learned my secrets and came to control me, and who still walks the earth today, eternally youthful, as he keeps Death close at his side, a golden lasso tied around my neck with which to prevent me, cunningly and valiantly, from taking ownership of his soul.

Before I get into the review proper, I can explain! My previously unexplained absence, that is. I just… needed a little break. A vacation, as it were. (Especially cuz I hadn’t really had one in the almost-year that I’ve been blogging.) But I’m back now, and with another book review at that!

Masters of Death was something that I was pretty excited for – it was even on my list of anticipated books coming out during the third part of 2023. So yeah, I was pretty excited for it.

But it kind of fell flat for me. Just a bit. I know the reason – it was a couple of different things, actually. As much as I enjoyed many things about this book, there were almost as many things that I didn’t much care for.

The Characters

I really, really liked a lot of the characters. Fox D’Mora was a fun protagonist to follow, and his relationship with his adoptive father made him easy to root for. I liked his dialogue with the other characters, and how, throughout the novel, the mask that he displays to the world is slowly pulled off.

Death was probably my favorite character, however. Even though he didn’t get as much pagetime as I thought he should, whenever he was in a scene, he absolutely stole the show. His relationship and dialogue with Fox was extremely endearing (and entertaining), and I wish that there was more of it.

“Let me guess. This is her husband?”

“Fiancé,” Fox corrected in a blandly guiltless tone. “He passed just before they could be wed.”

“How fucking convenient,” Death remarked with a sensation he often experienced but had not felt prior to Fox’s guardianship. It was a mix of things. Not anger, exactly. More like disappointment.

“Papa,” Fox warned, arching a brow in expectation. “What did we say about the cursing?”

Death lifted a hand, dutifully snapping the rubber band he wore on his wrist for the reward (if such a thing could be said) of Fox’s indulgent smirk. “I still don’t see why this is necessary,”

Our leading lady was Viola Marek. I actually rather enjoyed her character, even though she was technically not like other vampires. Her arc was one I found incredibly relatable to follow, despite the fact that she was an ordinary woman with extraordinary circumstances. Or perhaps that was the reason.

I also really, really, really liked almost all of the other characters. There are too many to discuss here, though, so I’ll just talk about the two that will pertain to my review later on. I really enjoyed Tom, and his and Viola’s begrudging friendship with each other was fun. Brandt kind of sucked as a character, though. I didn’t really like him that much.

The Plot

There is a game that the immortals play.

It is played around tables that open at dusk, and close at dawn.

The stakes are impossibly high, and yet laughably low.

There is only one secret: The more you have to lose, the harder it is to win.

There is only one rule: Don’t lose.

The plot was pretty interesting, but it was also one of the slowest that I’ve ever read. The summary is also written a certain way that implies the story to be a little different than it actually is. I get that they were trying to attract readers without giving too much of the plot away, but I feel slightly lied too.

I enjoyed the plot that we did get to see, to a degree. The buildup during the first half was great, and really pumped me up for the second part of the book. Only, the second half of the book fell somewhat flat. I didn’t find the immortals’ game to be all that interesting, until the very, very end of the novel, and it took up so much pagetime.

The Romance

For me, the romance in Masters of Death was its weakest aspect. I just wasn’t really interested in any of the couples. Not to mention that there was at least one romantic relationship too many.

Scratch one thing, actually. There was one couple that I was pretty invested in – Viola and Tom. They were just super cute together, and they had the most natural romantic chemistry out of everyone. But I didn’t like any of the other couples.

I found Brandt, Fox’s love interest, to be annoying as a character, so I found them hard to root for as a couple. (I hated Brandt, actually.) And as for Cal and Mayra – they were just one couple too many, at that point. Yeah, they were really sweet together, but this book just wasn’t long enough to develop all of these relationships to the way they should’ve been.

The Writing

I found Blake to have a rather dry wit (that I enjoyed), and her prose was very strong. She tells a story very well. And the humor is on point (did I mention that?).

A few parts of the book were too much for me. I thought the book was overly written at certain times, which is something that I never appreciate. It forced the story to move a bit slowly for my liking, which is one of the biggest reasons for my rating.

Final Thoughts

“Everything’s a game if you play it right,” the second figure said.

“But strictly speaking, this is no longer a game,” said the first figure. “Now it’s a war.”

And then everything went dark.

Masters of Death is a rather intricately woven urban fantasy by Olivie Blake. I personally found it to be a kind of mid, slow moving book, but it’s something that I think a lot of other people would like.

As always, thank you to everyone for reading. I hope that you all have a fabulous day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Links:

Goodreads

Instagram

Book Review: “The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding” by Alexandra Bracken

Some towns get caramel apples. Others get a special chocolate treat as their claim to fame. We get fried pumpkin leaves.

About This Book

Series: Prosper Redding [Book #1]

Length: 367 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Supernatural

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Book Description

Prosper Redding is the only unexceptional member of his very successful family, that is, until he discovers a demon living inside him. Turns out, Prosper’s great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made, and then broke – a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. Now Alastor, the malefactor, has reawakened and is intent on destroying the Redding fortune, unless they can kill him in the body he inhabits, which, oh, wait, that’s Prosper, and why is his grandmother coming at him with a silver blade.

In danger from both the demon trying to take over his soul and the family that would rather protect their fortune than their own kin, Prosper narrowly escapes with the help of his long lost Uncle Barnabas and Barnabas’s daughter, Nell, a witch in training. According to Barnabas and Nell, they have only days to break the family curse and find a way to banish Alastor back to the demon realm. Until then, Prosper has to deal with Alastor’s vengeful mutterings inside his head (not to mention his nasty habit of snacking on spiders). And, every night, Alastor’s control over his body grows stronger...

As the deadline to the curse draws nearer, Prosper and Nell realize there’s more at stake than just the Redding family fortune… that there might be something else out there, something worse than Alastor, that could destroy the balance between the human and demon realms and change the world as they know it forever.

My Review

Star Rating: ★★★★★ • 5 / 5 stars

Uncle Barnabas glanced up at the ceiling, scratching his head. “We are, uh, entertaining a few options for solving your predicament at the moment.”

“You don’t have a clue, do you?” I asked flatly.

This book was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed it. Which is why I gave it the semi-rare, five star rating.

I honestly liked just about everything about it. The characters were great, the setting was somewhat richly described, the plot was awesome, and the protagonist’s narrative voice was the bomb. It would be most appropriate as a pre-Halloween, October read, but it honestly kinda works anytime. Though, I did still read it during the fall, so that may be part of the reason I was still in the mood.

I had no idea who Louis XIV was, but someone seriously needed to have a talk with him about his sick obsession with gold naked-baby-angel statues.

To start off this review proper, let’s talk about the characters first. I loved Prosper Redding, and just how much sarcasm he had inside of him. Because it’s not just a demon in the trying to get out (more on that in a bit), oh no. Prosper is one of those characters that is unable to keep the sass on the down-low, and he speaks his mind, regardless of the consequences. Kind of like a diet-Harry Dresden, or Percy Jackson (though he’s actually a little more sassy than the latter, in my opinion). And don’t worry, Prosper has character growth as well.

Alastor, Fiend Prince With a Really Long Title, was a lot of fun too. I thoroughly enjoyed his arrogance and unbearable-ness, and I loved his interactions with Prosper. These two have the best dialogue together in the entire book. I also liked how active both Al and Prosper were with their differing agendas, and how neither one was just a static, reactive character. Because Alastor also has some character development going on.

“Chill,” she said. “Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sorry I don’t speak Fortune Cookie.”

I also really enjoyed Nell Bishop, and her dynamic with Prosper. The two played off one another really well, with Nell being a somewhat more serious “straight-man” type of character, but she always brought her own sass to the table when she needed to.

Uncle Barnabas was… interesting. I can’t really say too much without giving away a little of the plot, but he played his role well. And, last but not least, I also liked Prosper’s twin sister Prue, though she didn’t appear in the novel as many times as I would have liked. I also would have liked her and Prosper to have had more interactions as well, to show more of their bond, but it wasn’t too much of a gripe for me or anything.

And yeah, this is kind of slightly mean, but I loved how much Prosper dunked on his grandmother. Nevermind, she was a total a-hole, so she completely deserved it, actually. Just… the descriptions and general stuff he said about her was hilarious.

It wasn’t that Prue and I hated our grandmother. It was just that we thought she might be the Devil in a dress suit.

and

That was it. I whirled around with only one goal: to run back up that hill, through the creepy forest, and straight out of Redhood. If she was giving us sweets and talking in that strange, drippy voice, it could only be for one reason. She was going to poison me.

Prosper’s thoughts on the rest of his horrible family are also very amusing.

Charlotte, the oldest of us, the one responsible for throwing me off a second-floor balcony to see if I could fly, only smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

as well as

Oh crap, I thought, trying to take a step back. My family really is a cult. That guy with the website had been right.

The pacing in the story was perfect too. For me at least. Fast-paced is the best! I like it when the plot and stuff don’t really slow down. And it wasn’t too fast; the characters still had time to “breathe” and react properly to stuff, so that was also great.

I also really liked the atmosphere of the novel. The vivid, beautiful descriptions of October environments was perfect. I almost wanted to try some Silence Cakes (the fried leaves, covered in syrup and sugar) myself. Almost.

Loved the villains of the book, as well. The climax in particular was very exciting, and it made me want to start the sequel immediately. And I did. So, expect a review for The Last Life of Prince Alastor, in the next week.

Have you read The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding? What did you think of it? Thanks for reading, and return next time for more bookish things!

Book Review: When Life Gives You Vampires (Slaying It) • Gloria Duke

Single. Curvy. Vampire.

About This Book

Title & Author: When Life Gives You Vampires by Gloria Duke

Length: 336 pages

Genres: Romance, Supernatural, Comedy

Publication: Sourcebooks Casablanca [October 4, 2022]

Book Description

Twenty-five year old Lily Baines is used to waking up hungover, overweight, and underemployed. Waking up with fangs? Not so much. But when little light necking has more serious consequences than she ever imagined, Lily’s determined to get to the bottom of it, or die (again) trying.

Tristan hadn’t meant to harm Lily – it’s against vampire law – but now that she’s here, they need to team up to save both their hides. They strike an uneasy truce, fending off other vampires, Lily’s work-rival-turned-slayer, and her mother’s tone-deaf romance and fitness advice… all while Lily faces down her insecurities about the fact that she lives in a diet-obsessed world with a body that will never age, never die, and never change.

Falling for her maddeningly gorgeous sire? Easy. Surviving an ancient vampire Master determined to see her twice-dead? Piece of cake. But can Lily ever learn to love the woman she’ll be forever more?

My Review

Star Rating: 🦇🦇🦇 • 3 / 5 vampire bats

I swear, this whole vampire thing is just one giant kick in the tits after another. Every time I turn around, there’s a new layer of s*** getting piled onto the s*** cake.

This book was fun. That’s really the whole long and short of it, honestly. It was a funny, spicy, Halloween-y read, and relatively light-hearted. I don’t usually read contemporary romance, even when there’s magic stuff going on, and this book kind of reminded me why, unfortunately.(They’re just not my thing, is all.) But I didn’t not like it, so there’s that!

The best part of the book by far was the characters. Our protagonist – Lily Baines 🌺🖋️ – was, in particular, a narrating gem. For the most part. (We’ll get to that.) She’s sassy, funny, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. But she’s also a nervous, self-conscious, and emotionally vulnerable young woman. A relatively well-rounded character overall, which is what I like to see.

Tristan Newberry 🖋️📖, the love interest, as well as the vampire that sired Lily, is also total eye candy. Or is it word candy, since it’s a book? Whatever, regardless, he was pretty hot, and he had a rather kind personality, if a bit old-fashioned. But don’t worry – Lily sets him straight. I also adored how he absolutely loved Lily, inside and out, though it took her a bit to accept that. Oh, and he also writes romance novels. Sexy!

“Well,” I say – and I can’t believe I’m about to ask this, but here goes: “What did the sparkly vampires do for blood?”

Lily’s friend Cat was also great; she and Lily played off of one another very well, and I loved how they attempted to use Twilight to help Lily figure out her new unlife. The side characters were also decent, though I found them to be pretty underdeveloped.

Annnd, now it’s time for some of the cons…

Okay, so… I didn’t really like some aspects of Lily’s narration. She’d say stuff like “Obvi” a lot, which I’ve never heard someone say aloud, only in like chat messages or shorthand. And the worst part is that she didn’t say it either – because she really didn’t. Oh no, this particularly sucked (no pun intended) because it was on her narration, and like, in her thoughts and stuff. All the time. And it wasn’t just this one non-word, no, she used a lot of Internet speech the same way. And it was pretty friggin annoying.

The other thing that I didn’t like, was that Lily would say that something would happen, and then say something (in the narration, not the dialogue) along the lines of: “Yeah we did this/talked about this, but it was kind of boring and you don’t care, so I’ll give you the Cliff Notes “ Seriously? Show-don’t-tell is one of the cardinal rules of writing, and instead of showing how these characters are interacting and developing through dialogue – ya know, naturally? – you’re just gonna give the scene to us in bullet points?!? What the heck?!

Regarding everything else, it was pretty average. The plot was slightly meh, and the villains and minor characters were soggy pieces of toast. And very stereotypical. Oh, and this is actually another con, but I hate it when the two romantic leads don’t friggin communicate. It’s tasteless, easy, and unnecessary drama.

But yeah, even though I thought this book was mostly average, a lot of the lines of dialogue and the descriptions were really funny. And it was great seeing Lily grow as a character and finally learn to accept and love herself. (Spoilers…?) And Tristan was the (mostly) perfect man, which is always yummy to read about. (Also, he wasn’t abusive like 90% of the other vampires in books! Yay, I guess?) Also, there are a few trigger warnings regarding body image, fatphobia, mental health, and other stuff, so check out all of the TW’s to make sure it’s something okay for you to read.

Anyway, here’s my review for When Life Gives You Vampires. Like I said, it was a fun, easy little romp. If you like contemporary rom-coms with a splash of supernatural, this one’s for you.

Thank you to everyone for tuning in, and have a great day/night! Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? What are your favorite contemporary romances? Vampire books?

Goodreads

Instagram

Twitter