By Micoto Sakurai and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A. M. Cola.

I’m afraid the law of diminishing returns is hitting this series very hard. I was surprised there was a second book after the first seemed self-contained, and was also surprised that there was a third after the second seemed to run out of things to talk about. And now here is the third, and we’re told in the afterword this is the final book. It stars Amelia. She’s very nice. She’s engaged to Sarge. He’s also really nice. He has three brothers. They’re all swell guys. They have fiancees. All the fiancees get along and have sleepovers together. But wait, didn’t this series start with her getting bullied at the academy? It’s OK, they’re reforming the academy so this sort of thing never happens again. Fortunately, there is a country next door where everything is still terrible, because otherwise this might be 210 pages of just wedding prep.

Unfortunately for Sarge and Amelia, the magical devices they gave to the Beltz Empire are not working the way that they work back home – in fact, in some cases they’re making the drought worse. Going to the Empire to try to figure things out, they find that the issue seems to be the Empire itself, which causes magic to drain at a much faster rate than back in Bedeiht. While there, they get caught up in a succession war and foil an attempted assassination, but honestly neither of those events seems to have much of an impact on our two leads, who are basically concerned with weather, crops, and nothing else. They need to track down what is draining all the magic, and do this before the Empire becomes too hot to live in – or before a war is started.

Honestly, that paragraph makes this sound a lot more exciting than it is. The closest we get to actual danger is when Sarge accidentally gets locked in a magical basement while trying to investigate it, but even when when they break in and get to him, he’s basically fine and far more concerned with magic circles. We also have to deal, throughout the book, with Amelia’s massive case of Imposter Syndrome, which verges on self-loathing. She absolutely refuses to take a compliment to the face, and insists that everyone else around her does the cool things, all she does is have the odd idea or two, not realizing that the ideas are the spark of inspiration that everyone is looking for. It’s meant to be adorable, instead I want to strangle her. In any case, we do finally resolve things and get the pile of weddings I suspected would take the entire book. We then get a honeymoon… which involves going back to Amelia’s hometown to do crop samples some more. Once a nerd couple, always a nerd couple.

This was probably two books too long, but didn’t do anything hideously wrong, apart from needing to take in conflict from an outside source because things are super lovely at home. I wish the cast a happy, dull as dirt life.

By Micoto Sakurai and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by A. M. Cola.

Villainess books (and I’m including the separate subgenre of “not reincarnated but still a noble lady whose engagement is broken” there) tend to fall into “hard mode” or “easy mode”. “Hard mode” are books like I’m the Villainess, So I’m Taming the Final Boss, where our heroine is constantly threatened with death and execution if they put even one foot wrong, and each volume is flying by the seat of the pants. Easy mode is generally the Cinderella sort of story, where our heroine’s prearranged marriage was really dreadful and she’s immediately snapped up by a much better catch, and the rest of the book is just “how much happier she is now”. A Royal Rebound is definitely in the easy category, to the point where it may even be the “here’s how you play the game” tutorial. Even when we get our heroine put into mortal danger here, her fiance comes along and can fix things relatively quickly.

Amelia is still in seventh heaven as we start Book 2. She’s now engaged to Sarge, the third prince, and the two of them can spend all day (and night… and some of the next day) doing nothing but research agriculture till they drop. Yeah, it’s that kind of relationship – these two don’t even kiss. Nevertheless, she has Sarge, and the royal family, all of whom adore her. Being part of the royal family also means that she is now being asked to go on diplomatic missions, including one to the nearby kingdom of Janaki, who are also having agricultural issues but lack the magic powers that most folks in Bedeiht have. Of course, the kingdom of Janaki is dangerously close to the Beltz Empire, where Amelia was almost kidnapped to last volume by her ex-fiance. But surely there won’t be a second kidnapping, right?

Again, this book is super relaxed. The princess of Janaki, who is the fiancee of one of the other princes, appears like she might be a spoiled brat who’s fallen in love with someone else… but no, it’s OK, she’s just being brainwashed. In reality, she’s like every other woman in this book, sweet as pie and ready to dedicate everything to the nation. Hell, even the bad guy, who comes in with a hate on for the entire nation state, ends up being convinced that her mother really didn’t abandon him out of choice and that he really was loved, and turns around. Even Reese, Amelia’s ex-fiance… well, OK, no, Reese still stays in prison. There are limits. But Amelia thinks about what a shame it is his Earth magic can’t be of use to the country going forward. This is a nice series to read, but its main fault is that it’s so idealistic it squeaks.

But again, that’s probably why folks bought it. I suspect this is the final volume (if there is a third, it might just be a pile of weddings in a row), but if so it’s just really… nice. In a good way. Mostly.

By Micoto Sakurai and Kuroyuki. Released in Japan as “Konyakusha ga Uwakiaite to Kakeochi Shimashita. Ōji Denka ni Dekiaisarete Shiawase nanode, Ima sara Modoritai to Iwarete mo Komarimasu” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by A. M. Cola.

Occasionally I have to remind myself not to criticize something for being what it is intending itself to be. You would not criticize a science-fiction book for having spaceships in it, or an isekai for having someone transported to another world. That’s what it IS. And this is a romance. What’s more, A Royal Rebound is definitely in the genre of “wish fulfillment” romance. The heroine is an adorable nerd who finds love with another adorable nerd (the prince). The other princes are all sweet as pie. Everyone is easily put into two buckets: those on her side, or villains. As such, it works fine. The book’s wish fulfillment is sweet, the bad fiancé gets what’s coming to him, and they all live happily ever after (well, at least until Vol. 2). My only real issue with the book is Amelia, the heroine, who is… a bit of a drip, to be honest.

Amelia Lenia is a count’s daughter in a farming domain specializing in grain. She’s a water mage, fairly common. She’s been engaged to Reese Thurma, from a neighboring domain, for some time and things have seemed fine. But when Reese goes off to school he suddenly stops visiting, or writing. And when Amelia joins him a year later she finds that everyone seems to hate her on sight. What exactly is going on here? Fortunately, she does meet one nice guy – an eccentric young man who wants to talk to her about ways to help their harvest in the increasingly cold weather they’ve been getting. Oh yes, and he’s also the Fourth Prince, and 2nd in line in the succession. Can Amelia figure out why Reese is shunning her AND negotiate Sarge’s royal family?

I might have liked this better if I hadn’t read it right after The Apothecary Witch Turned Divorce Agent, whose heroine, Carla, is almost the anti-Amelia. Amelia is nice, but is definitely in the “suffer quietly” camp, never my favorite. She does get a nice punch at the end of the book, but it’s a long wait. She works much better paired up with Sarge, as the book makes no bones about how the two are massive nerds who will happily talk about crops until they both pass out from exhaustion. Fortunately, everyone in the royal family adores Amelia on sight, mostly as she can keep up with Sarge’s thinking. Most of the book is not “when will they get together” so much as “when will Amelia realize that this is love?”, and the answer is “most of the book”. That said, again, this is a wish fulfillment romance, where a shy nerdy girl gets a hot guy and his hot family, and they go back to his place late at night for some hot equation solving. It does its job well.

The book wraps everything up nicely in one volume, but there is a 2nd on the way, which seems to involve the desert nation mentioned in this book. I’m hoping Amelia gains some confidence going forward.