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MANGA: Sore wa Tabun Kyuuai
Sore wa Tabun Kyuuai – Megu Iroha
Every day, just like clockwork, Hirono Nanami hurries home – because if he doesn’t, he just knows that annoying Godai would hunt him down and challenge him to a match again! As it turns out, Nanami can easily beat Godai in all kinds of sports except one, and Godai jumps on the chance…but, feeling bad that he’s taken advantage of the one weakness Nanami has, Godai decides to settle things between them with something they’ve never tried before – by whipping out what, now!? (Source: Futekiya)
We’ve frequently heard about dick-measuring contests, but what happens when guys actually whip them out and compare?
Maybe It’s Courtship is two high schoolers whose bitter rivalry went out of hand, or should we say, taken in hand, when one of them proposed to settle things through a jacking off contest.
Nanami, the grumpy one, is on the student council. He’s a confident, straight-A student in charge of handling the budget for extra-curricular clubs. He plans to withhold the shogi club budget and/or disband the barely functioning club altogether, especially with their president, Godai, forever volunteering to pitch in to other clubs.
Godai, the smiley one, excels at almost all sports, has good grades, and is well-liked around the campus. He frequently sought out Nanami, issuing one challenge after another in some vague attempt to secure the shogi club budget. He’s forever thwarted, until he came up with the brilliant idea.
Godai woes that Nanami is just good at everything, while Nanami, whose POV is more frequently shown, has his brain on overdrive thinking about Godai. When they somehow connected their action to feelings, the two became a couple around the 2nd chapter.
The rivalry simmered down a little, but now Nanami shifts his mental resources to love, sex, and ridiculous school superstitions on relationships in an effort to keep his connection with Godai. Godai, being the laidback one, appears chill but delivers the romance and sweeps his frazzled boyfriend off his feet.
This silly little manga is rife with overdoing, overthinking, and over the top scenes that made me LOL. The two are pretty well-matched, with Nanami being slightly ahead. The derpy reaction faces were super funny.
The miscommunication gags were amusing and showed the lengths the MCs went through for each other. Antics aside, Nanami and Godai are cute together! You could tell this two dorks crazy about each other, the way they go at like bunnies.
No maybes, this one’s definitely a riot!
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SERIES REVIEW: Enlightenment Books 2 & 3 by Joanna Chambers
Enlightenment: Beguiled – Joanna Chambers
A fleeting pleasure is the sweetest seduction…
David Lauriston couldn’t be less interested in King George IV’s first visit to Edinburgh. But with Faculty of Advocates members required to put on a minimal show of patriotism, David makes an appointment with his tailor for a new set of clothes-only to run into a man he hasn’t seen for two long years.
Lord Murdo Balfour.
Much has changed since their bitter parting, except their stormy attraction. And when Murdo suggests they enjoy each other’s company during his stay, David finds himself agreeing. After all, it’s only a temporary tryst.
Amidst the pomp and ceremony of the King’s visit, Murdo’s seduction is more powerful than David ever imagined possible. But when other figures from David’s past show up, he is drawn into a chain of events beyond his control. Where his determination to help a friend will break his body, threaten his career, and put at risk the fragile tenderness he’s found in Murdo’s arms.
Warning: Contains a lowborn Scottish lawyer with no love for the aristocracy, but more than enough passion for this highborn lord. Political intrigue, kilts, explicit m/m trysts, and men who epitomize “knight in shining armor.”
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Show Me The Wonder
Artist: Manic Street Preachers
Album: Rewind the Film
Enlightenment: Enlightened – Joanna Chambers
The cruelest duel may not spill a drop of blood…but it could break their hearts.
Five months ago, David Lauriston was badly hurt helping his friend Elizabeth escape her violent husband. Since then, David has been living with his lover, Lord Murdo Balfour, while he recuperates.
Despite the pain of his injuries, David’s time with Murdo has been the happiest of his life. The only things that trouble him are Murdo’s occasional bouts of preoccupation, and the fact that one day soon, David will have to return to his legal practice in Edinburgh.
That day comes too soon when David’s friend and mentor takes to his deathbed, and David finds himself agreeing to take on a private mission in London. Murdo is at his side in the journey, but a shocking revelation by Murdo’s ruthless father leaves David questioning everything they’ve shared.
As tensions mount and the stakes grow higher, David and Murdo are forced to ask themselves how far they’re prepared to go—and how much they’re prepared to give up—to stay together. And whether there’s any chance of lasting happiness for men like them.
Warning: Men in love, men with secrets, and men armed with dueling pistols.
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfectSoundtrack: Light
Artist: Kinder
Album: Light
I don’t know what the heck I read in 2017, but I remember not being too impressed with Provoked, Book 1 of Enlightenment. The series was a huge fan-favorite, so what was I missing?
The story is from the POV of young lawyer David Lauriston. He’s a man with strong opinions about right or wrong. He will go through extreme lengths to protect his friends, especially Elizabeth, who married a rich but abusive aristocrat. David is stubborn, but I liked that he’s loyal and kind to a fault.
My main gripe was Lord Murdo Balfour.
Murdo is a villain name. Also, he was supposed to be this mysterious rakish figure who seduced the then-virgin David Lauriston, only to leave him high and dry. Apparently, there’s a thing as too enigmatic because he came across as a faceless, featureless, one-dimensional entity.
Cue Books 2 and 3, Beguiled and Enlightened, and I was spectacularly flabbergasted to discover the very same Lord Murdo Balfour, not just a living, breathing entity, but a swoony, generous, considerate, and attentive love interest so obviously smitten with our boy David. How the hell did I not see that before?!
And Murdo, chafing at the bit to free himself from his father’s evil grasp, and single-mindedly defiant of the Earl’s machinations to have him marry a woman to further their family’s political power. Also, him doing everything to protect David and his friends at the cost of his reputation, family, and wealth. This man, OMG!!! My jaw dropped to the floor!
My, ahem, enlightenment in this aptly named series gave me a high while reading the 2nd and 3rd books. I had better appreciation of what turned out to be an very-well thought out plot running through the first three books, with nuanced characters navigating tricky political and social rules and a high stakes forbidden romance culminating a daring all or nothing bid for an HEA.
I also complained before about the POV being solely from David’s as too one-sided. It didn’t matter anymore. The storytelling felt more balanced now that I have a better grasp of Murdo’s character. Also, the rest of the supporting cast, David’s mentor Chalmers, Elizabeth, Euan who is David’s friend and Lizzie’s lover, the Earl, and Lizzie’s abusive husband, now stood out individually and playing their parts effectively.
I have never been more glad to give a series another chance. The fans were right!
From the eye-opening characters, the compelling threads of kindness, trust, and care in a world of power and abuse, to the clever, clever way it sliced through the Gordian knots that bind Murdo and the hard-won happiness for him and David, Enlightenment is a brilliant historical romance.
A true classic!
P.S.
Enlightenment should be read in order. Decide if Murdo was indeed cardboard or I was too blind to see his true nature in Book1, Provoked.
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ENLIGHTENMENT: Kindle
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SOUNDTRACK: Show Me The Wonder by Manic Street Preachers & Light by Kinder
Soundtrack to Enlightenment: Beguiled by Joanna Chambers
Show Me The Wonder by Manic Street Preacher for a book about reconnections, revelations and a bid for freedom.
This is no threat
Just an invitation
A sense of belonging
A sense of inspiration…
If you’re exiled
By all the cruel tongues
Then show me the wonder
The wonder of your loveSoundtrack to Enlightenment: Enlightened by Joanna Chambers
Light by Kinder for a book where love is inevitable, powerful, and hard-won.
Isn’t it funny how we fall in love?
Like a freight train with no brakes
All of the questions that we’re thinking of
That we don’t ask cause we don’t want a heartbreakThere is something for us, I can see it
With my own eyes, waiting for ya
In the darkness
You brought me into the light -
This is no threat
Just an invitation
A sense of belonging
A sense of inspirationIs heaven a place
Where nothing ever happens
Is it too much to ask
To disbelieve in everythingShow me the wonder
I have seen the birthplace of the universe
Show me the wonder
I have seen their records move in reverseIf you’re exiled
By all the cruel tongues
Then show me the wonder
The wonder of your loveA tapping pain of madness
Running through their veins
We may write in English
But our truth lays in WalesShow me the wonder
I have seen the birthplace of the universe
Show me the wonder
I have seen their records move in reversePraying for the silence
When we look in to a mirror
Stained so patient
We measure the nostalgiaIs heaven a place
Where nothing ever happens
Is it too much to ask
To disbelieve in everythingShow me the wonder
I have seen the birthplace of the universe
Show me the wonder
I have seen their records move in reverseShow me the wonder
Show me the wonder
I have seen their records move in reverseIsn’t it funny how we fall in love?
Like a freight train with no brakes
All of the questions that we’re thinking of
That we don’t ask cause we don’t want a heartbreakThere is something for us, I can see it
With my own eyes, waiting for ya
In the darkness
You brought me into the lightI tried to take my time but I can’t hold back
I been waiting for the perfect moment
Just before the feeling fades to black, yeah
You give me those eyes, now I’m jonesin’There is something for us, I can see it
With my own eyes, waiting for ya
In the darkness
You brought me into the light
There is something for us, I can see it
With my own eyes, waiting for ya
In the darkness
You brought me into the light
There is something for us, I can see it
With my own eyes, waiting for ya
In the darkness
You brought me into the light -
MOVIE FEATURE: Self-Destructive Boys
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NEW RELEASE: Thrill by Kristian Parker (Excerpt & Giveaway)
