News! And Goodreads Recommends--Romance!
First, I finished the last of my homework, now it's just waiting to hear back if I did well enough to earn my Associates' degree. If so, it's time off from college and hopefully a new job somewhere
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And, unlike normal, the list seems to be on-target with no off genre ones I can detect!
-As always, let me know if you're read any of these, heard some interesting buzz, or know a romance book that you think will fit my tastes.
SKJAM! -
If you can tell me a bit about your tastes in the romance genre, I can almost certainly aim some stuff at you. Fantasy? SF? Light-hearted? Comedic? Realistic? Dramatic? I can name books from any of them. I have totally got you covered in this one!
-Alice 19th, Vol. 01: Lotis Master by Yuu Watase-
I've only read a little of it specifically, but it's by Yuu Watase, who's pretty good.
-Angel Sanctuary, Vol. 1 by Kaori Yuki-
Ah, a bit of a twisted one. Two lovers are reincarnated as brother and sister, there's angels (of the not-nice variety!) and demons... actually very good, I'd say. I've done fanart of it. It's dark and gothic, it's dramatic, it's cool.
-Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand-
Heard good things.
-Dawn of the Arcana, Vol. 01 by Rei Toma-
Princess (and black sheep of the royal family due to her hair) with a hard-to-control power to see the future is betrothed to the prince of a rival kingdom in an alliance not expected to last... one of the main shojo series I'm into right now, quite good.
-Dramacon, Volume 1 by Svetlana Chmakova-
US one, love at anime conventions. A lot shorter than the other shojo at 3 volumes, and I enjoyed it.
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The Gentlemen's Alliance +, Vol. 01 by Arina Tanemura-
I've read a little of it and it's reasonably good, but it's size daunted me, it's a fairly long series.
-Love Hina, Vol. 01 by Ken Akamatsu-
Ah, the famous hare-genre romantic comedy. This one kinda takes the topes of the genre and cranks them up. Starts out good, drags some in the middle, then later on it turns up the surrealism and character development and ends strong. Has a lot of over-the-top exaggerated slapstick.
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Mars, Volume 01 by Fuyumi Soryo-
A classic of the shojo genre, and one of my earlier forays into shojo romance. Two highschoolers, a girl who paints and a boy who likes to ride motocycles, fall in love over the objections of, well, most people, who view him as a bad influence. Solid stuff, realistic style.
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The One I Love by CLAMP-
It's CLAMP, Clamp is always solid. Anthology of shorts, so can't get too specific.
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Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 01 by Bisco Hatori-
This is a good one :) Poor scholarship student at a super-rich university breaks a vase belonging to the 'host club,' a group of male students who host tea parties and such for female students, so they shanghai said scholarship student into joining to repay the debt... and then realizing said student is a girl. Haruhi decides to crossdress to do the job. Comedy, really fun.
-Red River, Vol. 1 by Chie Shinohara-
Haven't personally read, but it's of the 'girl gets time-displaced to another era, gets involved with guy of that time' genre, and I understand a fairly big one of that genre.
-Rosario + Vampire, Vol. 1 by Akihisa Ikeda-
Harem comedy genre again, this time with a heavy emphasis on action. Human boy ends up at monster school, vampire girl drinks his blood, then protects him from a variety of enemies and suitors.
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Boys Over Flowers: Hana Yori Dango, Vol. 1 by Yoko Kamio
Hana-Kimi, Vol. 1 by Hisaya Nakajo-
Haven't read, but my impression is they're solid.
While there is a *lot* of books out there I could recommend, I'd say at the top of my recommendation list would be Kare Kano: His and Her circumstances
It's about an overachiving girl who plays the perfect idol at school, but is a slob at home, and her 'rival,' a smart guy who accidentally uncovers her secret. The story's divided, first in segments from her POV, later on switching to his, and has a mix of the comedy and the dramatic.
Or, if you're interested in non-manga ones, I can do some recs there, though not nearly as much as shojo... Catherine Asaro's the number one science fiction-romance writer I know, and her Skolian saga has a romance in around 70% of the stories.
The first two books in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga are also about a romance (the latter books are all about the son of the stars of the first two).
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I have to admit I'm utterly baffled why Kare Kano isn't on this list, as Goodreads has suggested it on other lists.
The next list up is young adult, which continues the pattern of mostly being the same books as previous shelves...but then the next couple will be very distinctive.
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Hm, I tend to be the other way around, but I'll see what I can do.
Most of the harem-comedies of course, to get them out of the way (if you want recommendations within that, I can do so, but I mentally classify them separately).
Angelic Sanctuary qualifies for that (as do most Kaori Yuki series, come to think of it). And it's a fantasy one too, where it starts in the modern day but heaven and hell rapidly get involved, fairly goth-y style.
Mars has more of the female lead, but like Kare Kano it has some sections on the guy iirc. Though it is set in the modern day with no unusual elements.
Midori Days is a weird one- a thuggish guy wakes up to discover, one day, a girl who likes him became... and yes, this really is the plot... his hand. It's a pretty silly one.
Hetero only, or is other matchups ok? Seven Days by Venio Tachibana is a fantastic story of a guy who agrees to date anyone who asks for seven days, and another guy decides to take him up on it.
-And I seem to prefer romance to have a second genre mixed in, rather than straight up love stories. -
Oh, I am with you there :) My current shojo reading list is almost exclusively fantasy-ones. Dawn of the Arcana as mentioned is in a fantasy world with politics and such, Kamisama Kiss is about dealing with spirits (though, that's a strongly female-lead one).
SciFi is rare in manga, unfortunately, but in novels you've got Catherine Asaro's Skolian books, which I can go into detail in if desired. Any of them are a mix of romance / space action / culture shock / dice, in various quantities. The Last Hawk has a male lead and is one of the best, too (focuses: Romance, culture shock, dice).
Comedy's another common mix in (Ouran High School, Kamisama Kiss, Midori Days, the harem comedies).
-Comics and manga do better for me by making it unnecessary to have a mushy internal monologue.-
For comics, you know about Saga, right? Space Opera where a couple from opposite sides of a war etc. etc.. One of the best comics going right now.
Really, there's only three romantic comics I can think of worth mentioning. Saga, Empowered (bondage-prone female heroine, fairly soon encounters a boyfriend in a rather well-done relationship. Superhero sex comedy), and Love and Capes (mild-mannered bookstore owner together with the Crusader, the local equivalent of superman).
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Well, the two books with gay romance in them I've read in the last year didn't freak me out like they would have twenty years ago, but I wasn't overly enthused either. (They had other issues that were more important to me as a critical reader.) By the way, protip to writers: If I catch you avoiding pronouns that might hint at gender, I know something's up and won't be surprised.
Might consider the Skollan books.
I've been reading the Saga posts on Scans Daily, and entered the giveaway for one of the volumes from Goodreads--didn't win.
Have read most of Empowered and Love and Capes. The latter is a lot of fun, the former is deeper than it has any right to be.
Made a mistake, the next shelf post will be sports and games. Then young adult.
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Well my own bookshelf on the subject is rather short- I find most of them aren't exactly gripping and too dependent on form. But the aforementioned Seven Days is very good (My amazon review), and there's also a fun one called Princess Princess, which actually isn't even technically romance but as one panel at a convention on the subject put it, "It's the best story of guys growing close to each other, deal with their respective issues, etc. that I've read, despite not technically having them fall in love." (Story, guy moves to an all-guy school, and discover they have this weird custom of male 'idols' who crossdress to keep up student morale. He agrees upon hearing the benefits, and he and his fellow idols grow tightly knit). And by someone who normally does romance ones and still follows that style, just without, y'know, technically getting them into a relationship.
Hm, there's also Click, a korean manwha about a guy who discovers his family has a genetic quirk that causes them to switch genders (and she decides to try identifying as female), and thus she's torn between an old girlfriend and an old male friend. Lotsa drama.
-Made a mistake, the next shelf post will be sports and games. Then young adult.-
Ah, sports. I know some very over the top sports manga ^^
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