The Confession Strategy

by Yoru Sumino

One woman comes up with a plan to make her best friend confess his feelings for her—so she can get him to move on. A new novel from the acclaimed author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and At Night, I Become a Monster.

Chizuru is about to turn thirty—and get married. But before the wedding bells chime, she has one last mission: make Hibiki, her best friend from college, confess his true feelings to her…so she can finally turn him down and help him move on. Her wish is simple—that once he speaks his heart, he won’t stay trapped in the past, but find the courage to step into the future.

Their longtime friend Karin rolls his eyes at such a childish scheme, but against his better judgment, he agrees to help. Yet this so-called Confession Strategy soon spirals in ways no one expected…

A bittersweet rom-com about unrequited love, tangled friendships, and unexpected turns of the heart.

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2024

About the author

Associated Names:
* Yoru Sumino
* 住野よる (Japanese Profile)
* โยรุ ซูมิโนะ (Thai Profile)

Yoru Sumino (住野よる) is a Japanese writer best known for I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, the novel that became a manga and two films.

Reviews

[Maya Liang · Rating 3 out of 5]

這本把日本人朋友間幽微的氛圍及極內心活動的OS描寫得很細緻。
縱使是書中的主角們都是大學時代的在一起的死黨，但有些事還是有所謂的【分寸】。
300多頁都在描寫這些事...
喜歡這種風格且有耐心的人，應該會覺得好看。反之。
總之，我看完了....看了覺得：果然當人很累.....

[Badal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not to rant more about this piece much, I've debated for a while and chose to give it a "3 stars rating" because all in all, the character dynamics were great, even though it leaves bad taste in your mouth. But that's how it should've gone and no one has any right to complain. Though, it lacked when it comes to execution. There were many points where I started thinking, why? And how? And those were unanswered, completely set aside. Just like the "real reason" he never did what he was supposed to, what everyone felt he has to do. I eagerly wanted to feel the emotions she felt knowing the main reason. Which I never get to read. That suck, but still overall it was a good read.

[Adrian Peinado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, well. Okay, not bad. Not bad, but not good.
Just fine!