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Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. I’m just using them to amuse myself. I mean no harm by this and it’s all for fun. That said, let’s continue!

Location: Nafiza’s Brain

Event: A Party

Guest List: Male Characters of Various (relatively) Popular YA Novels (mostly).

Imagine, if you will, a dark night (well, nights have the tendency to be dark but we’ll pretend it’s darker than usual) and on a hill, there’s a mansion (mansions, by personal choice, love to be on hills) brightly lit. At this moment, my fair reader, if you will follow me, we will glide (sylphlike) through silent corridors dimly lit by lanterns in sconces at intervals on the wall (that is a strange sentence but please indulge me). There’s a door at the end of the corridor, slightly ajar and from there come sounds of deep (and delicious) voices, frequent laughter, the sound of glasses tapping each other as though in some toast. If you will follow me in my stalking and peer into the room, you will see some very interesting things – er, persons.

There’s Peeta, smiling and beautiful, sitting in a group that consists of people hardly ever (read: never) seen together. A sparkly creature is the only one who sits a bit detached from the group, his face tight with disapproval at the other boys. Iain Morrow lounges with careless grace in one of the chairs, his eyes alight as he describes something apparently very amusing. Jacob leans forward, paying close attention to the anecdote while Christophe smirks. Graves, it seems, cannot decide whether to listen to Iain’s story or glare at Christophe but finally decides to go with the story. Jace is sitting in front of the television set, playing some complex game. The last two additions to the group are Will and Patch, the latter inclining on a chaise while the former leans against the wall.

If you listen carefully, you will hear their conversation (for purposes of clarity, the following excerpt will be presented as dialogue.)

Iain, who hails from The Eternal Ones, in case you have forgotten, is in the midst of saying… “That’s what I’m saying, dudes, to get the girl, you gotta keep her in the dark, lie to her every now and then. Only cuz you love her so damned much, you know? You know how girls are. Thinking they can save the world. If you tell them everything, they will end up trying to save the world. And then you’ll have to save them again.”

“ Ah, correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t you the one who gets saved?” Peeta asks with a sweet smile.

Iain rolls his eyes, “Dude, I had to PRETEND to DIE!”

Christophe snorts at Iain’s theatrics. “I don’t know why you are being so dramatic. You would have just been reborn.”

Graves sneers at the other man. “So says the immortal man.”

“Wait, aren’t werewolves long lived too?” Jacob asks, looking around at his compadres.

There is a brief lull in the conversation as each man considers the question.

“Ask the angel.” Iain suggests, his voice catching on “angel” and insinuating a mass of meanings into the word – none of them flattering.

Patch glowers at them but remains silent.

“Ah well, immortality is nothing without the woman of your dreams.” Peeta offers.

“You’re going to make me gag, you know that right?” Patch breaks his silence finally.

“What’s wrong with being in super-blind love?” Will, from FireLight, demands.

The guys exchange glances.

“Anyways,” Iain, the smooth talker of the gathering, “why is your…er…rival? Friend? Father in law to be? Sitting apart?”

Jacob glances at the sparkly person in the corner. It’s a quick, hesitant look, chockfull of meanings and confusion.

“That is so creepy dude,” Will pipes in. “I mean, how can you go from lusting after the girl to loving a little baby? That’s…actually very wrong.” He shakes his head.

“As if you can talk!” Jacob defends himself hotly. “At least I didn’t snack on any of Bella’s family!”

It’s Will’s turn to flush and he does go a very interesting shade of red.

“Actually,” Graves interrupts them, “my friend” suggesting that the man was anything but, “here is probably the creepiest one of us all.”

“Are you talking about me?” Christophe asks in a voice that says he had better not be.

“This guy…liked the mom…actually, Jacob, I think you might have a lot more in common with Christophe than you thought.” Graves starts laughing at his own wit.

“Yeah? Well, how about sneaking into a girl’s room and watching her sleep like a stalker?!” Jacob throws out.

“Oh no,” Iain shakes his head. “I think Patch has got the SparkleMan beat in the stalking department. Cuz dude, I am a man and I was seriously creeped out by his creeper ways.”

The guys snickered.

“Actually,” Jace puts away the game controllers and turns to the conversation for the first time, “I think I might have you all beat in the creepiness – okay no, Patch, man? You’re just disturbed. No wonder you got fired from heaven.”

“Says the man who lusted after his sister.” Patch drawls, rolling his eyes.

“We sorted out that problem, okay?” Jace says mildly. Then he takes a look at the sparkly dude in the corner, “What’s his beef?”

“He doesn’t approve of us not marrying our girls and getting them impregnated and er…mothers by the end of the fourth book.” Christophe says.

“Excuse me?” Graves looks offended. “Our girls?”

“What?” Christophe gives Graves a smug look. “You don’t actually think you have a chance?”

“Why you!” Graves lunges but Jacob grabs him before there’s any contact.

“Chill man. It’s a party.”

“Yeah. And my series is still ongoing, mind you.” Will says. “If I can get her back from that weird Dragon Dude. Honestly, could I not have a single super power to help me out?” He’s a bit mournful.

“I have a baby. Two babies.” Peeta offers with a smile.

“Gah. Your love story makes my teeth rot! You know that?” Iain gives him the evil eye.

Jace studies the mellow Peeta and frowns. “You are an anomaly. The nice guy is never supposed to get the girl.”

“Which is why I’m superior. And I didn’t have to lust after my sister or fall for a little baby OR stalk a girl out of her wits. I didn’t even snack on her family.” Peeta smiles beatifically.

All the other guys look at him with not a tiny amount of dislike.

“You got off pretty easily, didn’t you?” Patch asks a bit enviously.

Peeta winces. “Are you kidding me? You try loving Katniss! It’s like hitting your head against a concrete wall. Repeatedly.”

The guys’ expressions clear and fade into sympathy once again.

“What I want to know,” Jacob suddenly asks, “is why do the werewolves never get the girl?”

“You should ask Laurell K Hamilton.” Jace wanders to the buffet and starts piling his plate with food.

“Who?” Graves looks interested.

“She started it.” Jace munches on a shrimp.

“I should have words with her.” Graves mutters darkly.

“We’re just better lovers.” Christophe gets up and stretches.

“Those are fighting words!” Graves jumps up.

That does it. Soon, individual voices can barely be heard for the cacophony that is what the conversation has disintegrated into.

Hardcover, 176 pages
Published August 5th 2008 by Nan A. Talese
Source: Purchased

Synopsis:

From the author of the 2007 Orange Prize finalist A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers comes a wholly original and thoroughly captivating coming-of-age story that follows a bright, impassioned young woman as she rushes headlong into the maelstrom of a rapidly changing Beijing to chase her dreams.

Twenty-one year old Fenfang Wang has traveled one thousand eight hundred miles to seek her fortune in contemporary urban Beijing, and has no desire to return to the drudgery of the sweet potato fields back home. However, Fenfang is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome, a city under rampant destruction and slap-dash development, and a sexist attitude seemingly more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the country’s progressive capital. Yet Fenfang is determined to live a modern life. With courage and purpose, she forges ahead, and soon lands a job as a film extra. While playing roles like woman-walking-over-the bridge and waitress-wiping-a-table help her eke out a meager living, Fenfang comes under the spell of two unsuitable young men, keeps her cupboard stocked with UFO noodles, and after mastering the fever and tumult of the city, ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.

At once wry and moving, Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth gives us a clear-eyed glimpse into the precarious and fragile state of China’s new identity and asserts Xiaolu Guo as her generation’s voice of modern China.

Review:

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth offers a glimpse into the life of a 20-something Chinese woman trying to survive in the city of Beijing. This is a rather bare statement and does not do justice to what the book truly contains. It’s a peek into the psyche of someone who is just like you and me except she exists in a city, in a country that is alien to what people in North America are used. Fenfang’s voice is wry and cynical and her signature phrase (also incidentally the one that attracted me to the novel initially:

Great Heavenly Bastard in the Sky

is very revealing of her irreverent attitude towards life and the living of it. You always feel a bit removed from Fenfang. The book is told almost entirely in narration and contains very little dialogue and most of it is introverted thoughts and observations. Not something that would normally be interesting but somehow, maybe because it’s pithy and so very involved, I had no trouble empathizing and feeling for Fenfang. I really loved the ending not because it tied up everything so perfectly but because it ended on this irrepressible note of possibility.

This book is a study in contradictions. There is a lot of cynicism in it but it is hope that buoys it and makes it a success. It paints a very convincing picture of a girl trying to survive the life given to her. To not just be a passive passenger in this journey but, excuse my advent into cliches, to make something of herself. I think you will enjoy Xiolu Guo’s interpretation of youth and the hunger that accompanies it

1. The Holy Quran
I dunno what else I can say about it, honestly.

2. Harry Potter series – J K Rowling (as if you didn’t know)
I think the title speaks for itself.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
I came to this very late but it affected me in various different ways.
4. The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
The only book in the history of Nafiza to succeed in making me cry every time I read it.
5. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Gifted to me by a friend. The friendship failed but the book remains a favourite.

6. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
The first Murakami that I read. It stumped me, made me crazy and I absolutely loved it.
7. The Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
This book makes me remember the power of words. Anne Frank lives on in her words.
8. Animal Farm – George Orwell
This book scared the hell out of me. I lived on a farm which, granted did not have many animals being a sugarcane farm, but still. Creeeepy.
9. Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery
Ah, I loved this book so much. I picked it up at a secondhand bookstore in Fiji and it was love from the moment Anne brings down her blackboard on Gilbert’s head.

10. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Even though I might not like any of the retellings, the original has nothing but love from me.
11. Einstein’s Dreams – Alan Lightman
This is a beautiful novel and it made me think so much more than I would.
12. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – Tom Stoppard
This book is a celebration of language. It’s beautiful. I need to reread it.
13. The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
You need to read it to figure out why.

14. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
This affected me very strongly. The prose, the rawness, the emotions.
15. Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein
Ha, someone used to read this to me.
16. Wicked – Gregory Maguire
Elphaba remains the most awesome witch ever written.
17. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
A cold warning every time I get complacent about my “liberty.”

18. Matilda – Roald Dahl
My entire family read this at the same time. Quarreling over who got to read this first. Heh.
19. The Tricksters – Margaret Mahy
Eerie, scary, beautiful.
20. I Heard the Owl Call My Name – Margaret Craven
Poignant. Heartbreaking.
21. Blasted – Sarah Kane
This changed me utterly. I had such a visceral reaction to this I can’t even…

22. A Mango-Shaped Space – Wendy Maas
Taught me about synesthaesia.
23. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
If you want a mind rush, read this.
24. Damascus Nights – Rafik Schami
Beautiful, beautiful. Like Arabian Nights.
25. Born Confused – Tanuja Desai
The title may as well be a description of me.

26. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
I read this in Grade 12 in Fiji. I still remember it clearly so that shows how much it affected me.
27. Anything by Enid Blyton
Staple when I was growing up.
28. Sharing Sam – Katherine Applegate
I think it was because I was so young that this had a great impact on me. It’s a sweet story.

Hardcover, 384 pages
Published January 31st 2012 by Katherine Tegen
Source: Library

Synopsis:

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies–human and creature alike–let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

Review:

I quite enjoyed this one. It has a rather refreshing premise and was executed in a manner that mostly did justice to it. One thing I couldn’t fathom, however, was how Ana was treated by her mother. I understand that Ana somehow replaced someone else but it still seemed rather strange that the woman would treat her child in such a reprehensible manner. It certainly intrigued me anyway. Is it because she has lived for such a long time that the basic human-ness has left her? Or is she just an evil character? But then again, how do you define evil? (We had this long conversation in one of my English classes about this very thing.)

Anyway, Ana is an interesting character and I would have loved to read more about how she comes to terms with herself, about her musical skills (I wish these had been further expounded upon but alas). I didn’t particularly like the romance since I felt that there were enough things in the book to push that in also but psht, from a business perspective, books with romance sell better than books without so while I may not like it, I understand its inclusion. Sam, the love interest, didn’t impress me much. I mean, he felt more like a teacher, a big brother (I know, I know) than the boy you swoon for. But again, this is subjective.

The dance scene was breathtaking and unfortunately, heralded the gradual denaturation of the novel (denaturation is what happens to proteins when they unwind and lose their structure). The last quarter of the book was particularly awkward for me. It seemed hasty and patched together, the temple, the elder, the parent, there were too many things happening and none of them were pursued to my satisfaction. However, despite all my complaints, I still enjoyed the novel on a purely superficial level. It entertained me and that’s what it sought out to do. The repercussions of living forever, the consequences of it on human society…I think these are all good questions and could (should?) be answered in the next few installments. Either ways, I’m looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

• Dragonwood – Janet Lee Carey
  Carey’s Dragon’s Keep was one of the first books I reviewed on BM and it’s kinda nostalgic to go back and read one of her books. Maybe it’s just that I’m tired and kinda sentimental. But anyway, Dragonwood has dragons (duh), fairies and humans. A fairly combustible mix and I can’t wait to see how things turn out in it.
• Shades of Milk and Honey – Mary Robinette Kowal
  A book that is distinctly Austen-ish with a magical flavor. Or Pride and Prejudice rewritten with magic in it. How cool is that? While I’m not the biggest Austen fan, I am a fan of the time period so I reckon it’ll be fun to see how Kowal writes her story.
• Quicksilver – R. J. Anderson
  Ultraviolet was a tremendous surprise, both in its finale and its conception and execution so I’m looking forward to how the sequel measures up to the premise of the trilogy.

• Cinderella Ate my Daughter – Peggy Brenstein
  A little nonfiction for myself. Essays about how popular (Disney) culture affects young girls in terms of their self esteem and ideal image.
• Wild Wood – Colin Meloy
  Touted as a middle grade fantasy series, this book has comparisons to Narnia series which seems interesting enough. But it’s fantasy and it’s got fairies. I’m in.
• Heaven – Christoph Marzi
  The premise is freakin brilliant. I just hope the book lives up to it.

Anyway, so it’s 2 am and I’m reading book four when Neill does something that I couldn’t believe. Okay, so, I know I shouldn’t give it away and all because you, dear Reader, might want to read this but I NEED to talk about this.

She kills the main love interest.

No really, she does.

The love interest that it took me four books to warm up to. She KILLS him.

So there was this shocked moment when I thought my eyes were deceiving me and the universe had played some terrible joke on me. So I blinked and read it again.

He was still dead.

WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT?

I mean, I had a hard enough time warming up to the fellow and once I did…just why?? I don’t understand so here. I couldn’t even rate the book. I was that agonized. Don’t smirk, I take my books seriously. Is she going to offer up Jonah as a substitute because I am not buying that. In fact, my interest in the book suffered such a fall that the stock market exchange would have probably called it a record.

Did she get tired of writing the character? Or did she want to insert extra melodrama in the series, some sad weepy shit that doesn’t gel with me. I remember Lilith St. Crow pulling the same thing in one of her series and that was the beginning of the fall. I just…am distraught. Yes, that’s the word. I was invested in these people!

It’s like Snyder’s decision to have her main character end with the man who raped her – the same sort of mind boggling move that alienates readers. I understand that writing is a writer’s prerogative and she/he tell the story as they see fit but damnit, what a bad, bad move. I know my friends still liked the book following this one but I’m done. Now I have to read something happy where no one dies unexpectedly.

Foreshadow it, damnit. Give some hints so I can be prepared emotionally. Guh.

I wish these things came with disclaimers. Or warnings. It remains my fault because I didn’t read the reviews before I read the book but come on now…

ARGH.

Okay, I ‘m going to go glare at the construction workers next door for the incessant noise they insist on making.

Hardcover, 370 pages
Published January 24th 2012 by Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray
Source: Library

Synopsis:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she’s returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld… this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she’s forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s…

Review:

Fantastic Bits:
1. How Nikki’s emotionally vulnerable state is portrayed. I thought that Ashton did a fantastic job maintaining that and the character (and her emotions) were consistent throughout the novel.
2. The pacing, plotting was fantastic. I predicted the twist but still, it was well done.
3. Jack and Cole were interesting foils to each other. Actually, I appreciated that Nikki was very clear about her feelings for Jack in the latter part of the novel.

Not so fantastic bits:
1. Nikki’s dependence on boys. Spoiler[When she finds Jack supposedly cheating on her, why does she not run to her best friend? Okay fine, she wants Cole to take away her pain, but still girl, you are doing the same thing you think your boyfriend did. (end spoiler )] I think Allison of The Allure of Books said it best so read her review for a clearer, more concise picture.
2. Everliving. It’s a personal thing but ack, I hate that term. It’s just me.

Other than that, the book was very entertaining. It hits you in all the right places and makes you care about Nikki and her plight. And hey, I’m actually looking forward to the next installment.

(Important note: Twilight is not on this list.)

Now admittedly, I don’t read many books that have romance as a central theme but I like books that have a certain glimpse of it. The toe curling kind. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the list of lurve:

• Skip Beat- Yoshiki Nakamura
  Okay fine, this is a series and manga at that but people, it has Ren. No wait, let me say it properly.Ren. Look, I know he’s 2-D but damnit, I wish he wasn’t.
• The Ghosts of Ashbury High – Jaclyn Moriarty
  This book is awesome on its own but the subtlety and the beauty of the romance between the two titular characters (er, the ghosts) made me swoon a little bit.
• The Agency Series – Y. S. Lee
  James is bloody awesome. So is Mary but that was a given because I wouldn’t read a book without an awesome protag but James? Sweet, nerdy, awesome.
• The Bride of the Water God – Mi-Kyung Yun
  Okay, so, the art in this book is divine. And while it is rather complex, the romance (what I read of it) is delicious in a manhwa kinda way. Plus the art!

• Kare Kano: His and Her Circumstances – Masami Tsuda
  This manga series is intriguing in that it gives you the same situation twice. Once from the viewpoint of the guy and then again from the girl’s perspective. I liked it.
• Oyayubihime Infinity – Fujieda Toru
  Okay admittedly, even though it may not look like it, the book was a lot more intellectual than I had thought it would be. It takes a long look at what real love is, of course in a manga-ish way.
• Gakuen Alice – Tachibana Higuchi
  You know what’s galling? An elementary school kid’s love life is way more exciting than mine. That’s just sad but this series is like Harry Potter set in Japan. Honestly, if this was made into a movie…okay no, they would kill the fun in it, Hollywood would.
• Cold Fire – Kate Elliott
  So the romance was barely present in the first novel but boy did the second one amp it up. I literally swooned multiple times.

• Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
  You already know how much I love the romance in this. Subtle, deep, the stuff ever afters are made up off. Sighhhh.
• Keturah and Lord Death – Martine Leavitt
  I must thank my friend Emily for bringing this to my attention. The book’s out of print but I think the e-book is available for purchase on Amazon and guys, you need to go out and read this. It is freaking beautiful. So unexpectedly compelling.
• Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins
  Duh. (Sorry Krystle, haha.)
• In the Forests of the Night – Kersten Hamilton
  Finn! Irrepressible, wonderful. I must reread this series just to make myself ready for the last book in the series. So very gorgeous, this book.

• Nevermore – Kelly Creagh
  You just need to read this and figure it out for yourself. Honestly, I’m forgetting why I liked this because it’s been a while since i read it but I did like it and I wish they’d hurry up and release the next one.
• Eona – Alison Goodman
  Kygo and Eona’s love story is a messy one with blood and betrayal but it’s got lots of toe curling moments that will make you wish the book wouldn’t end.

And there you go. Oh no, wait, one more thing.

Hee. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Name in Japanese: Kimi wa Petto (Translates to You are My Pet)
Name in English: Tramps Like Us (What the heck? I don’t get it. I don’t like it either.)
Volumes: 14
Published in North America by TokyoPop which is unfortunately out of business now. Hopefully the libraries still have them.

Synopsis:

Smart, successful and good-looking Iwaya Sumire works for a big newspaper. However, her boss asks her to leave for being too “perfect” a woman. Feeling angry and dejected Iwaya returns home depressed, and most of all lonely. However, when she finds an unconscious young man lying in a box out the front of her home and takes him in. He looks like a dog she used to own called Momo. She dubs him Momo and decides to “keep him as a pet.” It’s the start of an unexpected life together as they overcome obstacles and become quite attached to one another. But can love like this exist?

A Long and Rather Convoluted Discussion

Let me just get this out of the way before I say anything else. I love this series. I TOTALLY love this series and there are many reasons why and I will tell you these reasons but seriously, I love it.

Okay, I got that off my chest. Moving merrily along.

I know you must have read the synopsis and gone, what the effity eff is this? I was like that too – okay fine, I wasn’t. I was intrigued and amused because I haven’t come across this before. Of course I have come across a trope where the girl is treated like a pet (we don’t talk about those situations in polite society, hur) but yeah, a guy as a pet? Come off it. But before you make snap judgements about the series and it’s smuttiness in general, let me just say that this is about more than just dehumanizing someone or anything like that that will get your hackles raised.

For instance, the whole pet thing is put in motion by the guy. He is comfortable enough with his…er, humanity (I guess?) to act like a pet and it is never ever forced upon him. This manga is not meant as a way to titillate. It honestly tackles some very interesting themes that I could go on and on about. For instance, the relationship between Sumire and “Momo” is not sexual in any way (despite Momo’s frequent hopes otherwise). He is a pet. In fact, he is a substitute for Sumire’s dog (whose name was Momo as well). The manga questions the modern woman about the life she is leading, about the freedom and liberty she has, about the materials she has trapped herself in or society has trapped her in. Of what she can and can’t be and why. And, of course, it most importantly asks the importance of human contact. Yeah, I know. In a series where the love interest is a “pet.”

It also redefines and dare I say, recreates the masculinity or at least what society would have you call masculinity. Guys are just as trapped by society’s expectations as women are and it is rather refreshing to see how Momo can remove all the characteristics that typify a man and still retain his masculinity. He even gives away his name, letting Sumire name her because after all, he is her pet and that’s her prerogative and he offers this himself. In fact, I am tempted to say that Momo is perhaps manlier than the so called men who parade their masculinity in the form of muscles and domineering attitudes. The manga also sets out to reassess what femininity is. The gender roles are reversed definitely but there’s no sense of unnaturalness in it and that is interesting. Sumire is like a fort sometimes. She closes herself in a glass castle, with her own emotions tightly reigned in.

It is only with Momo that she lets herself be real, be human and I find that deliciously interesting. The fact that their relationship is strictly platonic, that there is a different man about whom Sumire is quite serious about just makes the situation complex and layered. When they do admit that their feelings have changed, when Sumire realizes that her pet is no longer just a pet she can keep to herself, this opens a whole new dimension. The friendships portrayed in this manga, the time taken to accurately detail the feelings of a young woman trying to live her life – it’s all just really awesome guys. And I know many of you don’t read manga but if you want something entertaining, something that will take you out of your comfort zone, something that will make you smile and then laugh and perhaps sniffle a bit, this is for you.

You can also watch the Japanese TV adaptation of this and ladies (and gentlemen) it really is awesome. So yeah. This? Totally recommended.