#like there's still issues but it overall plays really solidly and I've been having fun with it

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

SO's Bookclub : The Viscount Who Loved Me

Title: The Viscount Who Loved Me Author: Julia Quinn Genre: Romance

Goodreads Summary :

Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry—he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield—the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate is the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams...

Review:

It should not have taken me a month to read this, I've just been super distracted...

The second book of the Bridgerton series focuses on Anthony and Kate's romance, and I found it to be a lot of fun, actually. While this is only the second book I've read because I am reading them in order, I can already see why this ends up at or near the top of the lists.

If you've seen the show -- there's a lot that the show pulled from the book, more so than I had expected. It definitely hinges on that enemies to lovers-ish trope. (And while not a favorite of mine, personally, I think it's handled relatively well here.) Kate is a great protagonist -- she's smart and clever and holds her ground really well, which makes her someone to root for. Anthony is... fine. Look, I probably will never like these male heroes because they usually descend too far into anger and bad boy with a heart of gold figures out love when a level headed woman straightens him out gets a little old after a while. Plus, I do appreciate Jonathan Bailey bringing some great charm to the show that book Anthony lacks a bit.

But I think there's a lot of fun to this book, too. There's a real competitive spirit that's enjoyable to read. The pall mall, family stuff is great and a clear stand out in the book, which I can see why they adapted it. I also think the book does tension relatively well, and the push and pull between Kate and Anthony works!

I do still think there are times the book drags (I felt this in the previous book as well) where Quinn sometimes lets scenes go on for a little too long, or she gets repetitive within a scene. But as someone who isn't an outright fan of romance novels, and has read quite a few bad ones, Quinn is at least a solidly good writer, and it's a fairly quick and easy read.

The only plot thing that I took any issue with is the fact that two thirds of the way through, Anthony and Kate are forced to marry due to circumstances of the time, and I wish they could have not been forced into it? Part of it is the schtick of Anthony having to really fall in love with his wife, and I get that. But that kind of thing just isn't my cup of tea. All things considering, I really don't have a whole lot to complain about with this one.

One drawback coming from someone who's watched the show first, is the fact that these books are so focused on the couple, we don't get as much of a sense of the greater world. All the rest of the Bridgertons play a relatively small role (though it's nice to see Daphne and Simon back). Eloise shows up at the end for the first time as a little spy, which is cute. Colin continues to be a delight, though he's less in this one. I'm surprised Benedict was hardly here, and there's really no mention of the younger ones or even Violet. I will say, one of my favorite things, though, is that Kate and Penelope got to have an entire sequence where they strike up a friendship, and I did love that!

I was also kind of surprised that, while they were featured a lot in the first half of the book, Edwina and Mary don't play as big of roles in this book as I thought they would. They're still very important to Kate and her character, though, and their family unit is really nicely on display throughout.

Also, we end on another tease of Lady Whistledown, and I am so ready for it. But, alas, we have to get through Benedict's book first. So, let's do it!

Overall, I think if you liked the show, you probably would like this as well. It's fun and uses the tropes it sets up relatively well. It's still a regency based romance novel written in the early 2000s, but I think it is better than a lot of the same kinds of stuff written around and at the same time.

Rating : 4 stars

[ace-reviews]

Anime Review: Four Romcoms

Skip and Loafer won this season's poll to see which anime would get reviewed, but I accidentally only set the poll for a day instead of a week and don't really have enough to say about it to fill a full review, so instead I'm going to review all four of the romance anime I watched this season.

Skip and Loafer

Where to Watch: crunchyroll

Basic Premise: over-achieving rural girl moves to tokyo and almost immediately befriends a former child actor

Maybe it's because I'm too old, maybe the stuff that has the manga readers singing this series' praises all over the internet doesn't really kick in until after the part where the anime ends, maybe it's because the mere existence of a trans person that isn't a joke isn't enough for me to automatically declare something a once-in-a-generation masterpiece (though it is definitely always nice), or maybe it just had the bad luck to air in the same season as the beautifully produced adaptation of one of my current favorite manga, but I don't really get what all the fuss is about. It's a good show. I enjoyed it immensely. I do not think it's the greatest high school romance of all time or whatever.

Mitsumi is a great protagonist, she and Shima manage to avoid any of the contrived pitfalls that typically plague high school romcom anime, the supporting cast are all fun and distinctive, and it's got a trans character that isn't a joke and is allowed to have a character other than being the token queer, and every single joke and emotional beat lands as intended. Any issues I have are 100% "me" problems and mainly boil down to my having let my expectations get raised a little bit higher than I probably should have. Definitely check it out. Just, y'know, don't expect anything life-changing.

---

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at LV999

Where to Watch: crunchyroll

Basic Premise: college girl copes with getting dumped by becoming rl friends with her mmo guildmates

I tease, but this is one of those rare cases where the romance between the legal adult and the still-technically-a-child doesn't bother me too much. For one thing, Yamada is 18 so he crosses the "half-your-age-plus-seven" threshold, and for another, he has a job and is living independently so he and Akane are roughly at the same life stage despite one of them being in college and the other being in high school. If anything, it's more an aesthetic choice. Yamada could have been a freshman at her college or not been a student of any kind at all and all that would really change is the outfit he wears sometimes.

Either way, this show is just a lot of fun. The cast is great, it's got the cutest old man character in the history of either old men or characters, almost every single joke lands, and it's vague enough about the mechanics of it's fake MMO (which is apparently based on an actual MMO that I've never played or heard of) that I didn't have to spend any time being distracted by nitpicks like an absurdly high level cap or a weirdly empty hotbar.

If a hole was left in your heart by the revelation that Recovery of an MMO Junkie was directed by a piece of shit, this could be the show to fill it.

---

Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible

Where to Watch: hidive

Basic Premise: girl pokes gentle fun at almost-supernaturally unassuming boy

This is technically a Winter 2023 anime, but it got hit by COVID delays so it didn't finish up until this season. This ended up doing it no favors, because although the overall production quality remained solid from beginning to end, it suddenly had to compete with another romcom with a similar premise that was better in pretty much every single respect.

That being said, this is still a very cute anime based on a very cute manga that deserves much more attention that it got. On the scale of "cute girl teases lame boy into liking her" anime, this is very solidly on the Teasing Master Takagi-san side of family friendliness, and is mainly a "nice people being nice to each other" type of iyashikei anime that may not be everyone's cup of tea, but is quite enjoyable if it is.

My only mark against it is that even though Shiraishi's whole thing is that he's supposed to be the mobbest of mob characters, the actual mob characters don't have eyes, so he's still very clearly a Main Character, which is like. C'mon, guys. You had one job.

---

Dangers In My Heart

Where to Watch: hidive

Basic Premise: anxious loner gets dragged out of his shell by the most popular girl in his class

This is the series that I so cleverly alluded to twice already in this review. It's based on my favorite romance manga since Fruits Basket. It's got nearly the same basic premise as Kubo-san but executed far better in every single area it could be. I finished every episode with a huge grin and a warm heart.

Some viewers may have been put off by the description and opening scene that made it seem like it was about a kid planning to murder his classmates, but it's made clear very early on that the kid is just being 14. There isn't even any bullying--just a shy, awkward kid who is more or less left alone because his classmates figure he wants to be, and the latent murderer bit is dropped entirely by the end of episode 3.

I went into the anime as a manga fan with high expectations and every single one of them was met and then surpassed. It's getting a second season in January and I could not be more excited. If you watch nothing else on this list, watch Dangers In My Heart.