Yuri gets in way over her head at a party and draws the eye of Oya, a handsome yakuza. Sparks fly and soon the flames of passion are ignited (are they ever!). It’s all rather a lot and Yuri probably knows what she’s getting in to, but she doesn’t seem to particularly care…
Well, if you like your ‘bad boy’ romances and like them hot and steamy, breakout the dumplings because this thing could cook a pork bun. It’s flagrantly up front about what it is. In fact, it’s honestly a positive how incredibly blatant it is about what it wants to be.
Yuri’s not exactly the most traditionally charming heroine, but I like her anyway - she’s brash and outspoken and just wants to be loved for who she is, which proves to be a harder sell than you might expect for an attractive college student. Still, she takes no guff, but she goes wholly weak in the knees for Oya.
Phew, this book loves its sex and it shows. The author says up front that they wanted a passionate story and these two are all over one another. If you thought you’d never see a shot of a dress with the throb sound effect on it, think again… (some of the humour in this book is, really, truly bizarre).
And it does these sequences well. I’m not going to slag a book for doing what it was designed to do with aplomb and this thing absolutely nails (uh, sorry) its portrayal of rampaging hormones. The sequences with the missed phone call and the one with the impromptu laundry day are enough to give one the vapours.
This reads a lot like any classic gangster story, where the innocent girl gets mixed up with the guy on the wrong side of the law. It’s utterly unhealthy; he’s possessive and she is very happy to be possessed, as well, but at least they match that way…
At first Yuri is shrinking back from the danger, but that lasts roughly a New York minute before she’s too overcome by her desires to stay away. And hey, all respect to the story for just going for it. This isn’t the typical shojo story and it’s a nice change of pace to see a pair of adults enjoying a healthy sex life (in an admittedly unhealthy relationship) between the gunfire and external threats.
I mean, I’m not giving this too much of a glowing review because it wholly glamourizes a violent yakuza lifestyle and makes a meal out of how much trouble Yuri is throwing herself into just because she’s absolutely crazy for Oya and such - plus there’s definitely an undercurrent of danger from Oya himself that I am leery of. It is junk food reading and that’s totally okay.
That said, 3.5 stars. As incredibly torrid escapism I can’t say I wasn’t impressed with the way this book went about its business and it was certainly a different type of romance than typical Shojo Beat entries and that makes it worth a look on its own.