恋するクラゲ

by かわい有美子, 草間さかえ (イラスト)

華やかな一流ホテルの裏方・企画課に勤める天宮の仕事は、コンシェルジュの依頼を受け、宿泊客の希望を叶えること。やりがいはあるが、美貌のチーフコンシェルジュ・朧谷からの注文は無理難題ばかりで、翻弄される毎日だった。けれど最初は完璧で冷たく見えた朧谷の素の可愛らしさに触れ、どんどん彼が気になる存在に。だが恋愛に熱など持ったことのない非恋愛体質の天宮は、アプローチの仕方も分からない。そんなとき遊び人の悪友が朧谷を狙っていると知り…!?

219 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2014

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you think I was kidding when I said I will read every single novel Kusama Sakae has illustrated that I can get my hands on, think again.

After the emotional turmoil of "Shortcake.." I needed to read something calming without too much drama, so "Koi suru kurage" was a welcome read. I read some reviews complaining about the lack of drama and ordinarily I may have missed that too but in this case this book gave me just what I wanted.

The setting is a high class hotel in Tokyo, and the main characters are Amamiya, one of the guys part of the planning department of said hotel, and Oboroya, the hotel's head concierge. Amamiya is the one who has to make sure whatever crazy wish Oborya gets from the guests are actually fulfilled - and even though some of them border on being impossible, he always pulls through. Oboroya is impossibly attractive, of course, and highly popular, and when he gets the chance to spend some time with him Amamiya soon finds himself attracted to Oboroya as well. As for Oboroya, he rather likes Amamiya - unlike most other people's attention, he welcomes Amamiya's. And so they become a couple.

That's it, basically - there really is no drama in sight: two grown up men realize they're attracted to each other, go on dates and then make out and have sex. It sounds really boring written down like that and I admit she could have tried to at least put some tension into the story (and sometimes the characters' trains of thought were a bit odd), but sometimes you just need to read a very calm and grown up love story and when you do, this is a nice choice. In my case, it did what it was supposed to do and that is calm my poor, poor heart.

[Commie Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kawai Yumiko really is the goddess of slice of life. Can't think of anyone else who can pull this type of story better than Kawai. No dramatic events, yet the story feels really authentic, realistic and at the same time tenderly romantic. All the characters are charming in their own ways: Very distinctly capable men but in no way perfect superhuman, both at work and in their love life (which I appreciate very much because sometimes BL authors overdo the so-called "gap" and tend to create this type of character who's 100% perfect at work and crazy dorky when it comes to love). I love how the relationship develops so naturally, it just makes me smile all the time.

I love it. Really enjoyed this book. Definitely the 癒し系 !