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Sweet for Sweets and Foreigners #1
Sweet for Sweets and Foreigners Volume 1
Ami Satou works for Cobara, a company that specializes in sweets. While she may be good at sales, her confidence in pretty much everything else is low, which is why she hasn't even thought about dating since college. Instead, she fills up her imagination with romantic scenes from shoujo manga.
When she meets Alain Giraud, a handsome, older French man in charge of a new project she's assigned to work on, she begins to struggle to keep that romantic imagination in check... especially with Alain being so overly friendly! Ami keeps reminding herself that it's just because he's French, but will she be able to resist his romantic charm?
When she meets Alain Giraud, a handsome, older French man in charge of a new project she's assigned to work on, she begins to struggle to keep that romantic imagination in check... especially with Alain being so overly friendly! Ami keeps reminding herself that it's just because he's French, but will she be able to resist his romantic charm?
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 23, 2024
[CW: Sexual harassment]
Ami is approaching her thirties and feeling underwhelmed with her professional and personal lives. A chance encounter with Alain, an older Frenchman, may offer her a oui change, provided it isn’t a non-starter.
Hey, an under-appreciated officer worker who, say it with me, has never had a boyfriend. And gets her thoughts on love from shojo manga too? Let’s just say we’ll be leaving the originality column blank for this one.
All becomes clear when you read the author notes and it turns out that the mangaka wanted to draw a hot, older foreign guy and Alain was the result. He’s infinitely more interesting than Ami, who I have seen many times in other guises, and his creation having come before even the serialization was decided on explains a lot.
There’s more than enough to work with in terms of Alain - he’s in his mid-40s and got a whole other style and mannerisms versus the usual Japanese suitor and that’s a nice change of pace. He also has some of the baggage you might expect from his age, which makes me really intrigued to see the next volume.
Honestly, it’s Ami who doesn’t hold her end up simply because she’s very derivative and implausible. I like that the story doesn’t make her out to be anything more than a plain, if attractive, working woman who knows her job, but it’s so, so rote. Alain is so incredibly distinct that it makes her blandness even more apparent.
Her interactions with Alain aren’t awful; they bond over sweets and have a burgeoning office romance that’s held back by his reluctance (likely over his age) and her inexperience, but I wouldn’t call this highly romantic. Chummy, perhaps, with undercurrents. My point is - Sweat & Soap this is not.
Stuff in some background on French sweets and the culture difference (although Alain has been in Japan ten years and somehow doesn’t know how to get coffee at a convenience store? When I visit Japan I’ll know in ten minutes…) and you have the makings of a standard, but not exemplary, romance.
It would be nice if we saw more of Ami being competent beyond ‘enthusiasm’. I can barely remember a thing about her even now. This is especially awkward during the whole sexual harassment subplot, where it would be nice if she stood up for herself.
Not to say that many women aren’t put in that position and end up sucking it up, which is super depressing, so it’s not like that lacks realism. My issue is that it’s just a prelude to Alain going full white knight for her. I mean, he’s supposed to be awesome, I get it, but I like my romances to have equal footing and this one doesn’t get the balance right.
If you want to just swoon for the foreign dude, this is fine enough and Alain’s got the bona fides to be swoon-worthy. Still, the skew between them is clear and, much as I appreciate having an interesting male lead, I want more from the female side as well besides reheated leftovers of ‘older woman shojo trope 101’.
3 stars - parts of this are angling for a 3.5, but it isn’t quite there yet. Still, there are worse romances out there and this one has some interesting quirks that mean it could turn out pretty… bon(-bon). Also, the title is just awful.
Ami is approaching her thirties and feeling underwhelmed with her professional and personal lives. A chance encounter with Alain, an older Frenchman, may offer her a oui change, provided it isn’t a non-starter.
Hey, an under-appreciated officer worker who, say it with me, has never had a boyfriend. And gets her thoughts on love from shojo manga too? Let’s just say we’ll be leaving the originality column blank for this one.
All becomes clear when you read the author notes and it turns out that the mangaka wanted to draw a hot, older foreign guy and Alain was the result. He’s infinitely more interesting than Ami, who I have seen many times in other guises, and his creation having come before even the serialization was decided on explains a lot.
There’s more than enough to work with in terms of Alain - he’s in his mid-40s and got a whole other style and mannerisms versus the usual Japanese suitor and that’s a nice change of pace. He also has some of the baggage you might expect from his age, which makes me really intrigued to see the next volume.
Honestly, it’s Ami who doesn’t hold her end up simply because she’s very derivative and implausible. I like that the story doesn’t make her out to be anything more than a plain, if attractive, working woman who knows her job, but it’s so, so rote. Alain is so incredibly distinct that it makes her blandness even more apparent.
Her interactions with Alain aren’t awful; they bond over sweets and have a burgeoning office romance that’s held back by his reluctance (likely over his age) and her inexperience, but I wouldn’t call this highly romantic. Chummy, perhaps, with undercurrents. My point is - Sweat & Soap this is not.
Stuff in some background on French sweets and the culture difference (although Alain has been in Japan ten years and somehow doesn’t know how to get coffee at a convenience store? When I visit Japan I’ll know in ten minutes…) and you have the makings of a standard, but not exemplary, romance.
It would be nice if we saw more of Ami being competent beyond ‘enthusiasm’. I can barely remember a thing about her even now. This is especially awkward during the whole sexual harassment subplot, where it would be nice if she stood up for herself.
Not to say that many women aren’t put in that position and end up sucking it up, which is super depressing, so it’s not like that lacks realism. My issue is that it’s just a prelude to Alain going full white knight for her. I mean, he’s supposed to be awesome, I get it, but I like my romances to have equal footing and this one doesn’t get the balance right.
If you want to just swoon for the foreign dude, this is fine enough and Alain’s got the bona fides to be swoon-worthy. Still, the skew between them is clear and, much as I appreciate having an interesting male lead, I want more from the female side as well besides reheated leftovers of ‘older woman shojo trope 101’.
3 stars - parts of this are angling for a 3.5, but it isn’t quite there yet. Still, there are worse romances out there and this one has some interesting quirks that mean it could turn out pretty… bon(-bon). Also, the title is just awful.
June 18, 2024
While it's always nice to see a romance manga with adults, the characters in this one didn't have enough depth for me to connect with them. It's cute, but that's pretty much it. The ending was the strongest part and left me curious for what comes next, so I'll pick up at least one more volume.
March 13, 2025
Oh my GOSH. This was so stinking cute!!! It reminds me a lot of Sweat and Soap but is definitely not spicy. It’s so sweet and wholesome and adorable! 😊
Their chemistry is so cute and I love how it’s an age gap romance too. He’s definitely got more on his mind than younger men do and it just makes him that much more attractive!!
Their chemistry is so cute and I love how it’s an age gap romance too. He’s definitely got more on his mind than younger men do and it just makes him that much more attractive!!
October 24, 2025
So cute! And Alain is so hot 🥰😍😍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2025
A cute manga about a woman who works for a sweets company who starts to fall for the older French man on a project she was assigned. Plenty of conversations about sweets and a bit of culture clashing make for a very sweet manga overall.
November 4, 2024
3.5 stars. Easy, breezy, and cute.
March 2, 2024
Another in the tokyo pop line, a french man who is spearheading a partnership between his company and the main female characters company in Japan. It's set up for another book and yet none has been published, but it was passably enjoyable.
April 10, 2024
Sweet for Sweets and Foreigners volume 1 by Marina Sano is about Ami Satou, a 27-year-old, who works at a sweets company called Cobara. She has been working in the sales department for five years, but has been trying for a position in the development department, and failing every time so far. After finding out she has failed to get the position again, she is sent out by a coworker to pick up some items from the convenience store. There she meets a foreigner who asks for help on getting coffee as well as picking out some snacks that go well with it.
What she doesn’t know is that the foreigner is the head of marketing for the Japanese branch for Trefle, which is a company that is contracting hers to get themselves into the Japanese market for sweets. The foreigner, Alain Giraud, who is 45-years-old, remembers her from the convenience store and asks her to go eat sweets with him. She does. This leads to the two of them going out a few times after work to get different kinds of sweets, and also leads Ami to form a crush on him.
It should be noted that Ami is a reader of shoujo manga. Most of what she knows about romance is from shoujo manga as she has never actually had a boyfriend, but she has had trauma from confessing before. And has led her to being too scared to confess to any of her crushes after that. Mr. Giraud has many instances where he acts like a love interest in shoujo manga, but Ami claims for quite a while that they are just friends and that she will not fall in love. I think we all know how this goes even if it is a josei manga.
This was a very cute first volume to an adult-centered office romance series. It is an age-gap romance and Mr. Giraud is in a position over her. This could prove to be a problem in the future, but so far I think that Mr. Giraud and Ami have kept their professional and private lives separate. They have been very kind to each other and nothing has seemed creepy yet. There is also some sexual harassment in the first book, that is dealt with, so please be careful if this bothers you. It should be mentioned that it is not between Alain Giraud and Ami.
I will not lie. I picked this manga up mainly because of the cover. It’s just so cute, and the story did end up being cute as well. This manga is from the Love Love imprint from Tokyopop, so I wasn’t sure how much I would like it as other books from this imprint have been a hit or miss for me. It is so far a hit for me, and I am really looking forward to reading the next volume. This volume did leave on a cliffhanger, and I am wondering if a certain character lied about some things. Now, I just have to wait for whenever the next volume comes out.
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What she doesn’t know is that the foreigner is the head of marketing for the Japanese branch for Trefle, which is a company that is contracting hers to get themselves into the Japanese market for sweets. The foreigner, Alain Giraud, who is 45-years-old, remembers her from the convenience store and asks her to go eat sweets with him. She does. This leads to the two of them going out a few times after work to get different kinds of sweets, and also leads Ami to form a crush on him.
It should be noted that Ami is a reader of shoujo manga. Most of what she knows about romance is from shoujo manga as she has never actually had a boyfriend, but she has had trauma from confessing before. And has led her to being too scared to confess to any of her crushes after that. Mr. Giraud has many instances where he acts like a love interest in shoujo manga, but Ami claims for quite a while that they are just friends and that she will not fall in love. I think we all know how this goes even if it is a josei manga.
This was a very cute first volume to an adult-centered office romance series. It is an age-gap romance and Mr. Giraud is in a position over her. This could prove to be a problem in the future, but so far I think that Mr. Giraud and Ami have kept their professional and private lives separate. They have been very kind to each other and nothing has seemed creepy yet. There is also some sexual harassment in the first book, that is dealt with, so please be careful if this bothers you. It should be mentioned that it is not between Alain Giraud and Ami.
I will not lie. I picked this manga up mainly because of the cover. It’s just so cute, and the story did end up being cute as well. This manga is from the Love Love imprint from Tokyopop, so I wasn’t sure how much I would like it as other books from this imprint have been a hit or miss for me. It is so far a hit for me, and I am really looking forward to reading the next volume. This volume did leave on a cliffhanger, and I am wondering if a certain character lied about some things. Now, I just have to wait for whenever the next volume comes out.
My Blog
March 28, 2025
I love the leads and I love sweets and there's a lot of them. I love the main female character how she loves shoujo manga but knows it's unrealistic and she's currently 27 years old working in a sweets company hoping to develop sweets later on. She bumps into the main male lead in a convince story and honestly he's so sweet and handsome and I can't wait to know more about him and how these two grow as characters. Female lead has low confidence but the male lead encourages her to grow as a person.
As a girl who grew up with shoujo stories, it's nice to see one with grown ups and it's not josei where topics are super serious but this story is relatable to me
As a girl who grew up with shoujo stories, it's nice to see one with grown ups and it's not josei where topics are super serious but this story is relatable to me
January 12, 2025
*3.5. A great manga to start my year off with. This was cute and fluffy. The references to shoujo tropes constantly could get annoying sometimes but I understood that was the female characters obsession. The male love interest is attractive as hell and I loved how they bonded over sweets and tried them together. You could tell there was thought and research when it came to the food part of the manga. I also appreciated how the work issue she was having was solved. Overall a solid read and can’t wait for the next one.
August 23, 2025
I guess that this has been sitting in my TBR list for so long that my brain convinced itself without evidence that this manga would be really good. Unfortunately, the actual experience is a bit lackluster. The two characters are sweet, but I the chemistry seems very shallow or like they are ships passing in the night. If you want something similar in vibes, maybe try Cherry Magic (office BL), Matcha Made in Heaven (lots of information about tea though), The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity (because baked goods), Daily Report about My Witch Senpai, or Let's Eat Together, Aki & Haru.
November 26, 2025
I would draw the line at dating someone a full 18 years older than me, but I probably would make an exception for a man like Alain Giraud: French, mixed-race, who enjoys desserts without a superiority complex about French desserts and pastries being the best in the world, who friend-flirts sincerely. The braces and tailoring also definitely help.
Slightly different to what Ami appreciates, but same girl, same.
Very cute story with adorable relationship development, loveable characters and simple but well drawn art.
Slightly different to what Ami appreciates, but same girl, same.
Very cute story with adorable relationship development, loveable characters and simple but well drawn art.
July 17, 2024
In my head, he's 35 at most. I can't do big age gaps, it gives me the ick. Otherwise cute. My girl sure does read a lot of shoujo, which is adorable and same. He's kind to her, which is nice. I'm having trouble seeing them as romantic cause I keep coming back to the age difference. I found the daughter's age, and Ami's closer in age to her than him, and yeah, he has to be ~35 in my head for this to work.
November 10, 2024
One of my new favourite duologies! A workplace romance between a studious Japanese woman determined to be promoted to the development department of the sweets company she works for and a playful North African man who works for a French sweets company that is trying to get its foot in the Japanese market.
This was sweet, wholesome and honest. I like the realistic struggles and considerations that Ami and Alain have for each other. I am excited for volume 2!
This was sweet, wholesome and honest. I like the realistic struggles and considerations that Ami and Alain have for each other. I am excited for volume 2!
July 31, 2025
Pretty sweet about two people that work for sweet makers and love them. I like there dates the most but I don't love the workplace harassment plot that happened to fast and didn't really feel satisfying in its ending. I Think she has more personality than some but she does feel like a placeholder. It just feels like a lot of the ideas aren't fully explored, like she loves shojou and wants a shojou type of love. Its hinted but not leaned into totally.
May 1, 2024
I didn't expect an age gap romance (27 and 45) or a mysterious (but friendly?) daughter (unknown age) so I'm excited for the next volume! So far no ick from their relationship either especially because he's a supervisor at work. Interested to see how they progress since he's shown to have zero tolerance for harassment and seems to understand work and personal boundaries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2024
My favorite thing about this manga is that the main character wears culottes!
The story is simple and sweet. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to something like "Happy Mania," but if you're looking for a josei romance manga you might enjoy this. I was also moved by the way sexual harassment gets addressed. And of course my sweet tooth loved all the desserts.
The story is simple and sweet. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to something like "Happy Mania," but if you're looking for a josei romance manga you might enjoy this. I was also moved by the way sexual harassment gets addressed. And of course my sweet tooth loved all the desserts.
May 31, 2024
Kinda clunky and with an (in my opinion) unnecessary sexual assault scene (NOT between the main characters) that was awkwardly implemented into the story. However, something about this story intrigues me, so I'll keep an eye out for volume 2. I'm surprised at how few people have read this.
June 18, 2024
There is an age gap here, and while it's a decent size gap, it feels less icky as our MC is almost thirty. I enjoyed myself reading this and am interested in continuing if my library picks up the next volume.
July 20, 2024
Where to read : https://comics.inkr.com
Rate 3.5
This was very cute. It is always nice to see romance manga with adults, so that was nice to seem from here . i like to see where their relationship goes from. This volume did leave on a cliffhanger.
Rate 3.5
This was very cute. It is always nice to see romance manga with adults, so that was nice to seem from here . i like to see where their relationship goes from. This volume did leave on a cliffhanger.
December 15, 2024
Cute!
Good start so far! Ami is cute and a bit awkward around Giraud, a new project head at her work. These two end up going places to try sweets and Ami starts getting feelings for him. Its very cute and I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
Good start so far! Ami is cute and a bit awkward around Giraud, a new project head at her work. These two end up going places to try sweets and Ami starts getting feelings for him. Its very cute and I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
April 7, 2025
This was the exact kind of manga that I needed today! A sweet, smart, observant, good-looking man wanting to eat sweets with her? And he has an accent? Yes, please! This is "book boyfriend" material, so it's perfect that she loves shoujo manga.
September 18, 2025
Quite enjoyable! It's my 2nd or 3rd time reading romance manga (ever?? not sure). I hope the rest of the volumes will be just as enjoyable, if not even more so.
It was quite "sweet" hehe
Sorry, I enjoy puns.
It was quite "sweet" hehe
Sorry, I enjoy puns.
July 13, 2024
3.5 stars. This was cute enough to enjoy and intrigued to read the next volume. I did love the fact that the main couple is older.
July 23, 2024
French man just wants a friend's sistuation
Office worker thinks it's love
little cringe
Office worker thinks it's love
little cringe
September 24, 2024
Okay, but why is the MMC kinda fine tho?
Fast paced and endearing.
It's cute, it's fun. It's a good little in-between read.
Fast paced and endearing.
It's cute, it's fun. It's a good little in-between read.
September 30, 2024
cute :3!!
October 10, 2024
Nice little food(ish) based modern romance-y story! I like the central characters fairly well & they have cute little adventures. Also it's nice to see adults in a romance manga!
December 16, 2024
THIS IS SUCH AN UNDERRATED GEM!!! I can't wait to read the other volume, there's so many good vibes (where there needs to be) in this first one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews