Romance Revived: An NPC Was the Final Boss's Love Volume 1

Romance Revived #1

by Haru Sakura, Andria McKnight (Translator), mitsuya (Illustrator)

Kreis, the son of a powerful marquess, is actually a modern-day Japanese man who’s been reincarnated into the world of a BL novel...that he wrote! Unfortunately, his memories don’t return until after he’s been branded a villain, executed as a lackey of the final boss, and sent back in time. Now that he has a second chance at life, Kreis swears revenge on the family that mistreated him and vengeance for the story’s stunningly beautiful final King Siegfried. For some reason, Kreis is overwhelmed with a desire to protect him, no matter the cost. Kreis knows that all the main characters of the story, including his younger brother—the story’s original protagonist—will soon gather for his birthday party. With Siegfried’s support, will Kreis finally break free from the story’s predetermined path?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy

273 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2025

Reviews

[Benji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasy light novel where a guy transmigrates into the BL novel he wrote. This was fine, there was some inconsistent pacing and the plot was strangely convoluted and shallow at the same time. I still think it was fairly enjoyable, there was a fun revenge plot and Siegfried’s mildly yandere moments were amusing

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded down for the absolute mess it starts as writing-wise. But. once it gets its feet under it, it's a good, sweet story.

[Miele ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can finally say I’ve finished this book, and… wow. What a ride — not in the exhilarating way, but more like a rollercoaster built without safety checks.

Let me start with the core issue: this novel had potential. I’m a sucker for transmigration plots, and the premise hooked me instantly. But instead of building a tight, layered story, the author spun a roulette of tropes and ran with whatever came up. The result? A messy, underwhelming, almost childish execution that left me frustrated more often than not.

📌 What Went Wrong
• Overstuffed with tropes: transmigration, fake fiancée, fallen angels, demon lords, gods, revenge arcs, 3-second love confessions… all crammed into a single short volume. Nothing gets developed; everything just gets mentioned and dropped.
• Flat characters: Kreis, the MC, is beyond saving when it comes to stupidity. He constantly wallows in “everybody hates me” despite literally having Siegfried at his feet and Theodore sacrificing everything for him within minutes of meeting. Siegfried himself jumps from prince to demon lord to god to Avatar of all elements, complete with magic that can make clothes vanish. Subtlety who?
• Inconsistencies everywhere:
• First it’s stated Kreis never kissed anyone in both lifetimes, then suddenly he has kissed people before.
• ML’s father Albert is described as weak but later is somehow “strong” enough to sense mana pressure (while others conveniently can’t).
• Husbands apparently keep the titles of their wives?? Make it make sense.
• Revenge arcs = underwhelming: Every time it seemed like we were building to a payoff, it fizzled. From Claude and Gilles (dumbest duo alive) to Albert’s mana theft to the fallen angel twist — everything was rushed, confusing, or both.

📌 The “Plot Twist”

The big reveal that Kreis was the real Kreis all along? Saw it coming a mile away. And the Professor (God) claiming it was all to “make him stronger”? Please. All Kreis learned was how to cry, die, and occasionally talk back.

📌 The Tone

The story genuinely reads like it was written by a child: flat, rushed, and too accommodating to Kreis. The pacing is either painfully slow or breakneck fast, with no concept of time. People fall in love in three sentences, betrayals happen in half a page, and worldbuilding (like magic systems) gets tossed out the window.

⸻

✅ Final Thoughts

This book could’ve been a fun guilty pleasure if it leaned into camp or parody, but it takes itself seriously — and that’s the problem. Instead of clever transmigration or satisfying romance/revenge, I got a patchwork of clichés, holes, and absurdities.

⭐ Final rating: 2.5/5
(Generous, because I did laugh at times — though mostly out of disbelief.)

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well! I'm gonna go against the grain from other reviews and say that I actually really enjoyed this work despite all its apparent flaws. Nothing is really more satisfying in an isekai work than watching a character who was previously looked down upon and abused become a stronger and more independent because of their knowledge of the work they transmigrated into.

Not all is as it seems with Romance Revived, though, and the summary actually doesn't mention a crucial plot point in the novel, which is the existence of Professor. I wouldn't really count him as a spoiler, since he shows up so early into the book anyway, but it's curious how he doesn't get even a passing mention in the summary. But as you delve deeper into the story, you uncover a few things that put into question just who Kreis is, and what his role truly was in the original novel. And you start to ask yourself, why did our isekai'd author write the novel in such a way?

Is the work perfect? Hardly. Objectively speaking, there are a few too many plot twists and convenient plot devices that make things so much easier for Kreis. The worldbuilding is intriguing but also lacking; you can tell that the author had so many ideas for how this fantasy world works but not enough pages to put those ideas into words. But I just liked Kreis and Siegfried a bit too much to let these problems get to me. Rather than finding them annoying, I enjoyed reading the moments where Kreis tried to dismiss Siegfried's poorly concealed feelings as something else. I found his identity crisis - and how this identity crisis affects his decisions over his romantic feelings for Siegfried - to be realistic and true to isekai works.

I genuinely think these flaws could've been resolved if the story could've been developed over multiple volumes rather than just one. This is an issue that I feel is quite prevalent with Japanese works; a lot of single-volume works are fascinating but leave you a little bit unsatisfied and wanting more. It's the same with Romance Revived. A light read with a compelling premise that I read at the right time, but left me craving for more from Kreis and Siegfried.

(P.S. The next BL work that J-Novel Club is releasing actually has three volumes in total, so I'm excitedly waiting for January 2026!)

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

An effectively told story. POV is told from the perspective of the bottom (uke/shou). It’s self contained in one volume, so it’s a nice short read. The quality of it is quite good. Natural sounding translation and very clean editing with no errors to note of. There’s also some lovely illustrations in the book as well. There’s about 3 black and white illustrations throughout the book and then a group black and white illustration in the back showing what every character looks like. Honestly the quality of this release from the work the original artist and the people at JNC-Knight did for localizing it is a solid 5/5.

The reason for my rating of 3/5 is the story. The story itself is just OK. If the author had multiple volumes to develop the setting and characters, I think it’d be much more interesting. It’s not terribly unique if you’re familiar with the transmigration/regression genre, but it is effective in its delivery and I can’t fault it for being a straightforward story. I think this is a very comfortable and simple book to relax and decompress with. I recommend it if you love the transmigration/regression genre and just want a pleasant, effectively delivered book to read over the weekend.

[Tuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so much fun, with an incredibly compelling world that deserved to be more than a single volume. The world-building was a standout, especially the orphanage sections and the fascinating Demon King aspect. I also loved the Re:Zero-like elements, such as the witch and the talking animal god.

While the world was fantastic, I felt the story could have been enhanced with a bit more drama and character development. I would have loved to see more moments of admiration from Theodore towards Kreis. My main critique is with the romance; when a story features a single love interest, that character needs to be completely captivating, and in this case, I felt it held the narrative back slightly.

Despite that, the ending was unforgettable. The final twist came out of nowhere but made perfect sense in hindsight, making the entire journey worthwhile. A very compelling read

[ジュディ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, yes it felt like the ending was a bit rushed, and I wish there was more short stories at the end. Wanted the two main characters to have more time together, or even go in proper dates. It was a bit sad watching Male lead die so many times . But overall I really like it . Hoping for a second book with short stories

[Reichis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. A lot of convenient things happen. A lot of unsatisfactory ways things came to be and were resolved. I don't know how to quite explain it...

It's just okay.

[Mk · Rating 3 out of 5]

mediocre with a fairly unlikable male lead, unfortunately. :/