Please note, this is going to be a manga series review! 🤍
Content/Trigger Warning: Sexual scenes, talk of divorce, stalking (in a later volume 6 or 7)
Our story follows Aya, who was recently abandoned at the marriage alter and now she’s being face with eviction, and no place for her to go to. That is until one day she finds herself wandering back into the house that she was supposed to be moving into after her marriage. When she thinks she’s all alone, to her surprise her cold-shoulder boss appears before demanding why she’s in his new house. And thus their wild love story begins!
Per-usual when I get heavily invested into a manga series, I wanted to rush to the internet sea and shout at the top of my lungs about this manga. And if you’re a lover of romance, some spicy reads, and manga then you definitely should look into this manga series. Though I will say, this is a Josei manga series, meaning this is a manga geared towards the female audience or also classified as “ladies comics”. So this manga series may not be for everyone just due to the audience this caters to and the content within the pages.
Let me say, I wasn’t expecting this series to wrap me around it’s finger as rapid as it did. I became so heavily invested in this series after reading the first volume. I don’t know how I got here, but all I know is falling down this rabbit hole so hard and constantly thinking about this series since reaching this point. I was expecting to like this series, but I wasn’t expecting only seven volumes and to have really enjoyed the storyline as a whole. It was a very pleasant surprise.
Let me say, the characters are a bit of a mixed bag for me. Our main character, Aya wasn’t my cup of tea for a main character. I wish we had more character development for her because she maintains a very pure/innocent, naive presence throughout this entire book until about volume 5-6. It’s only then we start to see her build more confidence and attempting to be assertive on certain things. However, I love Bucho and I love the fact that Bucho is a divorcee. I often say we don’t see divorcee or widow characters even in literature and how much I would love to see those characters more often. So I really loved that Bucho is a divorcee and how we learn that the way he approaches things with Aya is from the perspective of being divorced. His character development is also slow burn as well. We see him start to change about how open he wants to be more open about his relationship with Aya by volume 5. Look, volume 5 is a big turning point for these characters and I’m here for it.
Continuing with those mixed bag feelings on the characters, let me just say Bucho’s nephew had me cringing and getting some serious secondhand embarrassment. You all know, I strongly don’t like second hand embarrassment when it comes to books, television series, etc… And if you decide to read this series, you know the exact scene that I’m talking about that will make your skin crawl. I’m going to throw Aya’s ex into the mix of the horrible secondhand embarrassment and doing extremely questionable things. Though it was brief, it was some serious cringe for me. On the opposite side of all of this, meeting Bucho’s ex-wife was delightful. She’s a character you want to root for and see get a happy ending. She really does her best and even though she has some awkward moments, I really loved her character. Truly, truly adored her and I lowkey want a spin-off series for her so she gets the happy ending she deserves.
Jumping to talking about the turning point of this series, volume 5-7, was a wild experience. Wild as in these last three volumes have so much jam packed into them and there are a few moments that almost feel rushed, that could have deserved a little more time. In these volumes we meet Bucho’s ex-wife and his brother (around the holidays) and then we meet Aya’s ex-fiance and her family. There’s so, so much that happens in these three volumes. The amount of times that I was death gripping my phone because I was like, “Why is this happening now and there’s not more details or pages dedicated to these scenes?!” It was a lot to work through, but it made the pacing so fast. Also, we get to see how Bucho and Aya reveal their relationship and announce it to their department at their work. It’s all good, but it feels rushed because these moments, introductions, and scenes are packed into the last three volumes of this series.
Of course, I need to talk about those spicy scenes. For those of you have been waiting for me to address the spicy scenes, the coitus scenes here it is right here. They’re good, so so good! The scenes are some really good scenes and the way they’re established just had me clutching my pearls every time. Also, I want to address how before any of these scenes escalate to what they are, there’s an addressing discussion about having painful intercourse from Aya. This isn’t in the sense of the virgin character (though Aya is a virgin) dynamic, but more so in the sense of this is a very real issue that happens to so many women and how many relationships are ended because a woman is constantly suffering during sexual relations. This was a moment that I loved more than any of the other scenes because this is the first time seeing this kind of conversation happening and as someone who has a disease that causes this to happen to them, it just hit a soft spot in my heart. I appreciated it so, so much!
Overall, I had a fantastic time reading this series. I was full blown devoted to completing this series and wanting to write this series review. I think I messaged about five or six people gushing about this series, how much I adored it, and just babbling nonstop about it. Though there were issues with some of the characters and scenes, I still enjoyed my time within this series. And I just wanted to recommend it to all my fellow manga lovers who are looking for a new manga series read.
Chapter Malliumpkin 