Product Description: Yuki is owner of the Fuuka Cafe. When a man with a single rucksack comes to the store and insists, "Hire me," Yuki is forced to take him on as a live-in employee. However, Yuki's live-in worker really appears to be a live-in lover!
Very well done emotionally driven Yaoi novel. This one really surpasses my expectation of a Yaoi novel. OK so this is my 4th one. But having read alot of M/M romance and Yaoi mangas, I think I can fairly say this one is really good. The setting itself is lovely, quaint and dream-like as the story takes place in a little cafe attached to a house in a backward town against the mountains in Hokkaido. The story itself starts off in an almost surreal way as an old dog is waken up from its dreams by a stopping bus. As for the 3 characters, Yuuki, Kamishiro and Shin, each of them is distinct and well developed despite this being a slim 250 pages Yaoi novel. Theirs is a love triangle revolving around the cafe/house owner, Yuuki. The mangaka has done a remarkable job dwelling into Yuuki's emotional pain. Yuuki could not move on as he could not let his dead lover, Tsukada, go. He could not bring himself to accept Shin's love. Shin is Yuuki's close friend and has been a pillar for Yuuki since Tsukada died. Then one day out of the blues, a rugged man with a limp appears. He is Kamishiro with a mysterious background. Kamishiro is also a chef by trade and more or less forced Yuuki to hire him. Thereon, it is one emotional ride for the 3 guys as they try to sort out their feelings, more so for Yuuki who is forced to confront his pain and feelings. I really enjoy this one and finished it in one sitting. The sex scenes are well done too and the graphics interspersed among the pages are lovely. As commented by one reviewer, both Yuuki and Kamishiro are not your typical uke and seme. Yuuki is strong in his own way and a pretty aggressive sexual partner. Kamishiro is special in his silence and I wish the mangaka has written the story from his view point too as I would love to read how his feelings for Yuuki grows. This is one emotionally driven love story, with angst filled and touching moments. One could easily forgive the publisher for some typos. Strongly recommended for Yaoi and M/M romance fans.
Better than I thought I have bought more June's manga (& novel) than any other publisher, so I'm always a little skeptical when buying any June's novel because of how awful...most of the novel I read/own have been edited. Beside that point, most novel/storyline just doesn't go well with me, so I bought this one out of whim because the art is beautiful (get ready to drool) and the back summary sound interesting (it says more than enough). I can feel the angst just from the summary alone. XD (My favorite kind of story)
Well, I wasn't disappointed. X3 The story was solid and interesting. The characters has good development. You get to know the characters and personality by the end of the novel. Yuuki, the uke, isn't the wimpy kind nor does he sound feminine. (My favorite kind of uke) He is as masculine as the Kamishiro, the seme. <3 Kamishiro also isn't the mean and bully-kind of seme. He's not an abusive seme and you'll come to really like him the same way you will come to like Yuuki and Yuuki's friend Shin, who also play a big part in the storyline.
I admit to have shed a little tears while reading this book. It's very touching and sweet. It's a good book so I do recommend this novel.
However, there are a few missing words and grammars here and there, but other than that everything flow very nicely so the reading should go smoothly. I would say this one is almost on the same level of editing as Ai no Kusabi, which pleases me. =)
Satisfying Dream I found Better than a Dream to be more real in a sense than many other works coming out of DMP. It has to do with Yuuki's relationship with his friend and his newfound relationship with the strange and mysterious Kamishiro. Yuuki is still healing from the death of his lover Tsukada, an adventurous risk taker who dies in an avalanche. Things don't really get cleared up until the end, and then it's a little too late to really make sense of things, instead I was kind of scratching my head going "huh"? I found that Yuuki's friend, Shin, made this little novel more interesting, his needing to wait and give Yuki some space before trying to fill in Tsukada's place made sense until Tsukada comes into the picture and Yuki is immediately taken by him. What I found this novel to do was play out more like a soap opera, the writing seems more solid and the plot doesn't really wander off. The illustrations were very sexy and the cover was very dream like. I do recommend this novel though to other yaoi fans, it is a good read and maybe better than a dream.
-LS,C
My Favorite This is my favorite gay/yaoi novel to date - couldn't put it down. The illustrations were beautiful and hot...I felt there was actually a fun and exciting plot besides the very erotic and romantic sex. The main characters and even the secondary characters make you care about them..this story is particularly for lovers of fine cooking and mountain climbing (you'll see what I mean.) I don't understand why the typos/left out words can't be fixed in editing - it is distracting..but not enough to keep me from loving and re-reading the book. Romantic without being overly gooey and mushy (except the sex), One last thing: I found both the seme and uke to be quite masculine - no simpering, huge-eyed uke in this book. Read it!!
Enjoyable.. This was an angsty novel. Actually, all the angst came from one character and it was understandable why he acted the way he did. It also had drama and humor, all in all it was a pleasent read.
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