Young Lady Albert Is Courting Disaster, Vol. 3

Leave a reply

By Saki and Haduki Futaba. Released in Japan as “Albert-ke no Reijō wa Botsuraku o Goshomō Desu” by Kadokawa Beans Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Ray Krycki.

Theoretically a short story volume, this reads more like an interquel between the series as originally conceived by the author and the “this was stupid popular, write more” sequel that we will no doubt get in the next volume. It’s meant to wrap up all the loose ends that weren’t wrapped up in the second book, which is an awful lot of loose ends. It’s also meant to show how this is a series driven by its women, and they are all awesome in different ways. Now, the men are awesome too… well, some of the men. Patrick and Adi, pretty much. And Gainas once he’s let out of the doghouse. But frankly, this is a comedy, and the comedy comes from seeing the women in the book not only be awesome, but be awesome in ways that are funny. Mary Albert is best at that, of course, but everyone gets a look in as we go along.

As Mary plots something secret in the background, which everyone except Adi believes is going to be her announcing that she will be the next head of the family, the other cast members all have their own short stories. Margaret has abandoned her old boyfriend and is trying to get a hottie by hook or by crook… even if that hottie may not quite be old enough yet. Parfette is still reluctant to forgive the penitent Gainas, so sets him a task, that will hopefully go well given it’s meant to take an entire year. Carina is still finding new ways to beat up and torture her old boyfriend, and is (unconsciously, perhaps) really starting to get into it. Alicia and Adi go around to deliver invitations to her wedding with Patrick to all her friends, which neatly connects the other stories in the book we’ve had to date. Finally, Mary unveils her grand idea to the public, though she has to destroy an evil noble family first to do so.

A lot of this book relies on the reader being OK with the cliches of “noble society set in the sort-of Victorian age” novels, so if the idea of Margaret trying to entice a ten-year-old to be her future husband is icky, be warned. That said, she pretty much knows how far is too far, so it doesn’t get too weird. I also really enjoy the running gags of Alicia greeting Mary with a flying tackle every time they meet each other (which is every day, so Mary is understandably annoyed by it. Alicia is one of those rare otome game heroines who’s enthusiastic and brash rather than meek and polite, and it’s nice to see. As for Carina… look, anytime her and her ex are on the screen, the book becomes a treatise on the joys of BDSM, and discovering you have a new kink. Like the other parts of this book, it doesn’t go too far (the only sex in the book is between Mary and Adi, and it’s really sweet) but let the buyer beware.

I’m not sure what the fourth book will bring… perhaps the opening of Mary’s Chicken Palace… but I’m definitely going to read more. This is fun.

Fiancée No More: The Forsaken Lady, the Prince, and Their Make-Believe Love, Vol. 1

Leave a reply

By Mari Morikawa and Bodax. Released in Japan as “Konyaku Haki no Sono Saki ni: Suterare Reijō, Ōji-sama ni Dekiai (Engi) Sareru” by DRE Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Adam.

Just as we’ve had so many isekai and “game stat world” light novels that it’s super refreshing to get a normal fantasy book, we’ve had some many novels where the protagonist is a “villainess” trying to change her fate, redeem herself, or otherwise fight against her narrative that it’s nice to see a book that straight up *is* that narrative. Yes, technically the book begins with a broken engagement. But Estelle, our heroine, really is a heroine for once. She’s well known for being a nice, if somewhat plain, young noble lady. She helps to care for her people after they’re wounded fighting dragons, and she also helps fight the dragons herself if need be. Oh yes, and she has a secret: she’s got magic powers, a rarity in this country, and can see the mana within people, and tell what their emotional state is. Sadly, this has left her mostly a bundle of introversion, so the broken engagement is not a good thing.

So yes, we open with Estelle having her engagement broken. Not because Lyle, her fiance, hates her now. It’s just that his family is on hard times, and they can get financial assistance if he marries Diana Pautrier – who does hate Estelle, but that’s neither here nor there. Now Estelle needs to find another engagement – which is hard, given her parents are dead, she’s only an Earl’s daughter, and the valuable magic powers she has she’s kept a secret from most everyone. Worse still, it means they have to give up their neutrality and pick a side in the upcoming throne war between the first and second prince. She and her brother attend a ball held by the first prince, and since she’s actually choosing to ally with him, he gives her the second dance of the night after his fiancee. Then she’s shot trying o prevent him being killed by an assassin, and everything goes off the rails.

So yeah, the title is the spoiler now she’s engaged to the first prince. He knows about her powers, and regards her as a “walking alarm”, so is content to dump his current fiancee (who does not take it well) and get engaged to Estelle, saying that it’s true love. Which it isn’t, but the main reason to read this book is to see these two people, both dealing with their engagement out of need and not true love, slowly falling for each other. Estelle is cognizant of it almost immediately, but feels guilty as she can see Arcrayne is being manipulative and teasing and also she feels bad for giving up on Lyle so soon. As for Arcrayne, he’s not intending this to be anything but “she is useful”, but rapidly realizes she really is a terrific fiancee for him. There’s even a realistic depiction of both “we are pretending I just had my first time” and, later on, “we have to pretend I didn’t just have my first time”, which is sweet.

The antagonist of the book is dealt with here, but there’s clearly more antagonists waiting for future volumes, including Arcrayne’s ex-fiancee, as well as the Queen, who I have a sneaking suspicion has a past with Estelle’s family. In any case, if you want a straightforward romance plot with heroines and villainesses who stay in their lane, this is very good.

Taking My Reincarnation One Step at a Time: No One Told Me There Would Be Monsters!, Vol. 2

Leave a reply

By KAYA and Naru. Released in Japan as “Tensei Shōjo wa Mazu Ippo kara Hajimetai: Mamono ga Iru toka Kiitenai!” by MF Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Amy Osteraas.

This series continues to interest me far more than I expected, possibly as, while it is doing a lot of the usual fantasy tropeland stuff (mana, guilds, etc.) it at least manages to avoid game stats and power levels. Our heroine and her too-young-to-be-a-boyfriend are both quite powerful, but in his case, this has mostly completely ruined his life, and in her case, she’s hiding most of her true strength to avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention. Honestly, in the first half of this book, everyone is sort of prickly, including the heroine. You’d expect this to be a warm, fuzzy series where the townspeople take in this plucky orphan and make sure she has everything she needs, but no, she’s still living in tents or watchtowers – albeit because she wants to, she can afford better – and they’re still content to use her skills on a regular basis. It’s slow life, but until the end of this volume it lacks the sweetness.

Sara is still selling meals at the adventurer’s guild and collecting healing herbs, all while trying to avoid the attention of Ted from the Apothecary Guild, who continues to dislike Allen and Sara intensely (though, as the book goes on, the reader sees he’s more a tsundere than anything else). Unfortunately, Nelly is *still* not back yet. What’s worse, she’ attracted the attention of a knight from the capital, who sees these two extremely powerful orphans sleeping outside the city and gets several ideas in his head. First he says they should come with him to the capital and be his maid and butler – rejected. Then he leans on the town to make things much harder for adventurers sleeping outside the city, in order to clear them off – and, it’s hinted, drive Sara and Allen to him. Fortunately, Nelly is finally able to return, and a whole lot of misunderstandings are cleared up.

I will admit the big flaw with this volume is that a lot of it depends on everyone being somewhat thick. Nelly and Sara’s descriptions of each other do not match the reality of who they really are, so no one recognizes they’re connected. Hell, they don’t even realize Sara is a girl till the other women of the town (who do know right away, of course) tell them outright. No one connects a missing 12-year-old kid desperately being searched for to the powerful 12-year-old kid who showed up in town at exactly the same time. You start to understand why Sara’s general reaction to most of the adults around her is disappointment and irritation. That said, the friendship between her and Allen is a definite highlight of the book, and I do wonder how things will go for them in the third book, especially now that Sara has revealed to all she’s from another world. I suspect she won’t be allowed to live a quiet life in the woods with her wolves for long.

This isn’t terrific, but definitely falls under “better than I expected”, and I’d like to read more. I miss the first book’s running gag, though, and hope it returns.