Once upon a curse, Seraphina, Rose of Versailles, Viz manga, and Gisele Alain.

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• Chapter Book:
  
  1. Once upon a curse by E.D. Baker.
     - Borrowed from APL.
     - Read by Katherine Kellgren.
     - Eadric's and Emma's adventure continues trying to resolve Emma's family curse.
  2. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.
     - CD Borrowed from BPL.
     - Read by Mandy Williams.
     - Fantasy about hiding identity to fit in and survive, about being shun and having to prove oneself.
     - Dragons being intellectual and having no emotions.
     - I usually only listen to CD books while driving, but with this book, I couldn't wait to know what happened next, so I borrowed the physical book from ABL and finished the last third in a day and reread parts that I like a few times, then listened until the end yesterday while doing something else! I'm getting the book. I like characters a lot.
     - The sequel is coming out in 2014. I can't wait, will probably pre-order it, too.
     - I suspected that Seraphina and Kiggs love each other pretty early. One reviewer on amazon says that Kiggs is perfect. He's not, he's short and I didn't like that even though he had decided to put duty before love, he still told her and hid it from Grisselda. I hope that Grisselda knew that they love each other since she wanted them to be friends and tried to reconcile every time they were at odds.
     - There was a part when Kiggs said something about Grisselda's mother's intention, I didn't understand what he meant the first time I read it, only a few times later that I realized that she had meant to kill her mother via Grisselda's governess to ascended to the throne.
• Anime:
  
  1. The Rose of Versailles ep 1
     - Crunchyroll. I can't believe it when I saw it. There are 40 episodes available. The first 3 or 4 are available for everyone. The rest seems to be for premium only.
     - Oscar and Andre and Oscar's life-changing decision!
• Manga:
  
  1. Slam Dunk 28 by Takehiko Inoue.
     - Borrowed from ILL.
     - The team tried to dig themselves out of 20+ deficit! At the end of this volume there are only 10 points difference.
     - Only 3 more volumes to go.
  2. Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura 10 by Arina Tanemura.
     - Borrowed from APL.
     - Princess Yuri revealed her identity. It turned out that she and Maimai are siblings. Enju seemed to have a knack for recruiting wondering/missing siblings. They have happy ending and united with Yuri's teacher. I wonder what the emperor will do after finding out that his fiancee had run away. Heh. The previous emperor was killed by Enju!
     - Now we have a chain of unrequited love: Kohaku -> Hayate -> Rurijo -> Enju -> Sakura <->Aoba
     - Fast read. Beatiful art.
  3. Natsume's Book of Friends 14 by Yuki Midorikawa.
     - Takashi's daily interaction with Yokai continues
     - Part of his grandmother's past was revealed. Takashi's mother didn't know her father. Reiko didn't reveal who he was.
     - No good deeds go unpunished. Reiko tried to return a doll and got rejected. The yokai accused her of stealing even though she put it on the tree. The yokai came after Takashi instead! Ugh.
     - Takashi tried to protected his friends and The Fujiwara's.
  4. La Corda d'Oro 17 - The End by Yuki Kure.
     - The musical journey comes to an end.
     - I'm rooting for Ryotaro and he confessed in this volume knowing that he had zero chances. I guess with this he can move on and be ready for whatever he chooses to do.
     - Azuma continues with his studying music despite his grandmother's disagreement (?)
     - Fuyuumi has no presence whatsoever in this volume. I was hoping that she will be on the cover, but no. There are 6 boys on the cover: Kazuki, Azuma, ?(I'm not sure who the other boy is!) , Ryotaro, Len (smiling ? it's a bit out of character :P), and Keiichi.
  5. Oresama Teacher 14 by Izumi Tsubaki - ebook.
     - The prince arc continues.
     - Mafuyu and Takaomi visited their hometown and their pasts which Mafuyu had forgotten.
     - Next volume, school trip. I wonder if some fight breaks out! The kaicho from Kiyama school is also going on a trip and is he stalking Nonoguchi?
     - Fun and fast read. Sometimes can be confusing!
  6. Gisele Alain 1 by Sui Kasai - in French.
     - Gisele Alain is running a boarding house and many side jobs. Eric is one of the boarders, but he owed her 3-month rents so he's more like her lackey even though he's in his late teens or early twenties. She seems young, between 13-15 (?) is my guess.
     
     - Each of the chapter is an adventure of her odd job.
     1. In search for a missing cat
     2. Helping a young girl to get her wish on her birthday
     3. A new boarder and her job
     4. Cleaning a dirty house
     5. A young boy and his boat

Rambling:

• I'm stalking Kodansha's tumbler kodanshacomics. There are many questions about manga fan want to be licensed. One question is about Chihaya, and it seems the chance is low but not totally zero!
• Why we read: a column at Dear Author