By Morrinmomo and whimhalooo. Released in Japan as “Watashi ga Kaeritai Basho wa ~Ibasho o Nakushita Reijou ga “Tokenai Hyouzou” to Uwasa Sareru Ryoushu-sama no Moto de Shiawase ni Naru made~” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

Generally speaking my reviews don’t have continuity, and you should not have to read them day by day to get the gist of what I think. Sometimes, though, timing plays a major role. This week saw the release of two shoujo LNs with, if not similar plots, at least similar framing devices – the evil stepmother and stepsister, and years of horrible abuse. And they came out within two days of each other, so I am reading them one right after the other. Theoretically I could have put Housekeeping Mage in between them, but, well, that also deals with abuse destroying someone’s psyche. So this may be part one of two, as in this review I discuss abuse as a main plot point with romance being secondary, and then in Deja Vute I’ll circle round to the opposite. That said, secondary doesn’t mean minor. It’s just that in the case of Keep Me Close, the abuse drowns out the rest of the book – and that’s on purpose.

The book begins by speed-running the normal “Villainess” beginning. Claudia Innsbruck is whisked out of her home, where she had been doing servant work, and taken to the Crown Prince, who announces her horrible crimes. He wants her executed, but her stepmother and stepsister, who are so so wonderful, convince him to merely exile her to the south, to be a servant to (please read on, I promise it’s a good book) the legendary “Icy Duke”. On her arrival, Julius, who is unsurprisingly merely incredibly bad at dealing with women, and his assistant Anton, discover that not only is the selfish, spoiled daughter who embezzled all that money a broken, quivering wreck of a young woman, but that she’s suspiciously good at some things, such as finances and ledger bookkeeping. Is it possible that this is all another reminder that all stepmothers and stepsisters are evil unless proven otherwise?

Claudia is the highlight of the book, and the story does not skimp in showing what two years of abuse can do to a confident girl. We don’t see much of it, as this takes place after her exile, but we get the staccato refrain of “you will never be allowed to be happy”, which by this time she has taken to heart. Most of the book is not a typical romance as she and Julius, whose words always come out as “angry”, are just completely unable to deal with each other. I also liked the thriller aspect of the second half, as once Claudia recovers somewhat and decides to fight back, it becomes clear that it’s not just a stepmother and stepsister she has to deal with, but a much trickier opponent, who has several backup evil schemes. Fortunately for Claudia, this country has a King, and he’s not dead. Bad news for the Crown Prince. Also, while this book is mostly serious, there were a few laugh out loud moments. The king explaining to a horrified stepmother that money can be exchanged for goods and services just made me imagine him as Homer Simpson.

This is done in one, but there’s a second volume, like so many shoujo light novels. I assume that’s why the stepsister wasn’t completely removed from the story. In any case, if you don’t mind a heroine ground down by trauma, and her journey to recover, this is a very good book.