宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 邂逅の珊瑚

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard #9

by Nanako Tsujimura, Utako Yukihiro (Illustrator), 辻村 七子

滞在していたスリランカでの戒厳令発令をうけ、日本に一時帰国することになった見習い宝石商の中田正義だが、
帰国前にある人物からのメールを受け取っていた。
メールの差出人は、連絡が取れずにいたヴィンセント。文面は「話をしましょう」。
戒厳令下の慌ただしい中でやりとりをすると、それはヴィンセントのアカウントを乗っ取った別人からのメッセージだった。
その人物の要望もあり、正義は日本滞在もそこそこに、ヴィンセントに会うために香港へと飛んだ。
かつてリチャードを裏切っていたはずなのに、なぜか正義を助けてくれるヴィンセントの真意とは?
そして、リチャードと再会した正義が思うこととは……?

大好評ジュエルミステリー第9弾!

Genres: Light Novel, Mystery, LGBT, Manga, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2019

About the author

Associated Names:
Nanako Tsujimura
辻村 七子 (Japanese)
辻村七子 (Chinese)

Reviews

[lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite volume so far!

In this volume, I felt that for the first time, Richard and Seigi stand on equal footing. Richard is exasperated and I’m delighted. Seigi’s attention to detail has really reached Richard's levels of precision, because what do you mean he knows “how to tell his (Richard’s) night and day driving voices apart”? Not to mention the crazy thinking he did to pinpoint where Richard was. As one very beautiful man would say: bravo.

I loved the conversations! The one with Saul was simply lovely and touching. It’s amazing to see how Seigi has grown as a person and how he is loved by the people around him.

Speaking about Seigi being loved, those college friends he meets were such a**holes. I can understand being envious, but being this rude to a friend is inadmissible. It's their loss, anyone would be so damn lucky to befriend such a loyal and kind person as Seigi.

I’m glad we FINALLY got a resolution for Seigi’s feelings for Tanimoto. I’m so glad the author is letting her be the awesome aroace queen that she is 💖 I hope we see more of her in the future.

I almost duked one star out of this novel because of Vince, but everything else was so good I'll forgive that. Not gonna lie, my face fell when I realized a huge chunk of this book’s arc was gonna be about Vince. I’m sorry, I just don’t care about Vince. Seigi can't hate him, but I can. This series has so many interesting secondary characters, he’s the one person I don’t vibe with. Everything about his backstory and personality is just so convoluted.

Adjacent to Vince, I just couldn’t take seriously the plot about him taking his wife to the USA of all places to get a transplant done. You know, the country known to have one the most brutally and unfairly expensive health care systems in the world. Why would you do that. You could get that done for free in Brazil, for example. When Seigi guessed they didn’t have enough money to pay for the entire thing I was like, no sh*t, Sherlock. And then Marin proceeds to live in one of the cities with the highest cost of living in the world (NY). A huge part of Vince’s story is about how he needed money and how he had to do morally gray jobs/tasks to get it. Maybe I’d empathize more if his financial decisions weren’t so stupid.

I just can't empathize with his reasoning for hating Richard. He got his pride hurt, ok. Was that so grave to the point of alerting Seige about Richard? The one doing the betrayal was Vince, after all. Anyway, I can't stand him.


Now, about the ✨juicyest parts✨ of this volume:

1.
Seigi bringing himself to tears daydreaming about a hypothetical future in which Richard married someone else was both sad and hilarious. It was an olympic-level jump to conclusions. This is usually the kind of thing that makes me cry when I’m PMSing (i.e. delusions).

2.
This dialogue with no heterosexual explanation:

“…Is it just me, or did you change your cologne?”
“A while ago. I would have preferred if you’d noticed earlier.”
“Sorry.”

3.
SEIGI FINALLY REALIZED HE’S IN LOVE WITH RICHARD?? & ASKED HIM OUT? WHAT? WE USED TO DREAM OF DAYS LIKE THIS. 8 VOLUMES OF BAITING WEREN’T FOR NAUGHT.



But off f-ing course Richard had to shoot him down because he's a clown who doesn't believe he deserves happiness. You might still deceive Seigi with this little game of telling the truth and then dismissing it as a joke, but I know you, Richard. When you said you and Seigi are already dating, you meant that.

4.
Me almost chewing my hand out when reading this:

Besides, Richard had never actually said he wasn’t gay. Or at least, he’d corrected himself in his London bedroom to politely inform me that he “had never had a romantic partner of the same sex thus far.” I had wondered ever since why he had worded it like that. If I deliberately misinterpreted it, I could understand it as “If you fell in love with me, I wouldn’t be opposed to dating you. In that sense, I simply am not gay at this precise moment in time.” As if anyone would be that nice. If that were true, I’d fall in love with him on the spot. It could only work out in my favor, right? Let’s fall in love romantically and start dating. Then share all your overwhelming affection and assets with me.

We can always trust Seigi to make a perfect reading of the situation only to discard the thought for being too wild. SEIGI, YOU’RE RIGHT. HE MEANT THIS. GO GET THAT COWARD.


5.
Effortless smooth-talker Seigi is back! He's still lethal because he has no idea he's doing it. The man is pure rizz.

“What if I never get tired of thinking about you?”
“…What a question.”

6.
Richard and Seigi coparenting Jiro. They have a son now 👱🏽‍♂️🐶👦🏽


...Enough yapping. I love this volume. Now to another long wait...

[V.ya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, oh, finally! After eight books of ̶b̶a̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ waiting, our oblivious Seigi has finally seen the light. Am I satisfied? Not even close. I mean, I had to wade through three generations of Vince’s family drama, Saul switching religions like outfits, endless meandering philosophical ̶b̶u̶l̶l̶s̶h̶*̶t̶ conversations, and still, I only got these crumbs and no real resolution. It’s too little, but well, at least there’s a glimmer of hope for more.

Objective rating: 3⭐️
1 extra ⭐️ for reaching the HUGE milestone.

[˗ˏˋ maddie ˊˎ˗ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. UgH, I wanna be mad at them for getting in their own way and not letting themselves just have nice things, and for Richard endlessly seeking to qualify Seigi's love for him. . . But. I mean. In the same volume, Seigi placed Richard as the god of his own religion so. Yeah. Fair. Maybe best to just let that sit for a second and see what that ultimately means to both of them. And yay for Seigi for sticking it out, despite the multiple times Richard tried to give him outs, brush off the conversation, change its meaning, he refused to let it happen and put one of his most attractive qualities on full display: his unflinching and bald honesty.

[Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Have you ever wanted to be with Richard forever?"

Coming back to this series feels a lot like coming home. Maybe the plot has holes or the pace is slow, like how your home may have leaky pipes or outdated kitchen appliances, but it's still a place of comfort. I read this volume after dropping a book that made me upset, so you can imagine the relief I felt at being able to visit Seigi and Richard's world again.

This volume has a lot of talking between characters - Vince, Saul, of course Richard, and another character I won't spoil. While the main focus of the series so far is still Seigi, there is so much love and care poured into the side characters as well. Many of them play significant roles in Seigi's life, often having situations that parallel Seigi's own, or situations that offer Seigi more perspective. Even the more antagonistic characters like Vince come from a place of flawed humanity. The side characters don't feel like accessories, and thus their relationships with Seigi come across as more genuine.

We've long veered away from the "mystery of the week" format of the first few volumes, and for a good while now, the focus has moved to Seigi and Richard's evolving relationship. Here, finally, we get closure on one long-standing ambiguity - the nature of Seigi and Tanimoto's friendship - that paves the way for some overdue development with Seigi and Richard.

They certainly don't have the most conventional love story in the world; after all, it's taken this long for some movement on that front! But, as cheesy as this sounds, life isn't straightforward, and it makes sense that two men who have previously only had experience with women are taking such a long road to be with each other.

If I had to complain about something, it's the relatively short length of this volume as compared to previous ones. I believe this is the shortest volume of the series so far alongside the third. Because I have long spoiled myself on the happenings in this series, I know that the next volume will be even more important and will drop a few bombshells about a certain someone, and the shorter length of this feels like my appetite was being whetted in preparation for that.

[toria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting to read this novel in English about 3 years after I read it in Japanese is so wonderful. I love Richard and Seigi, the most Slowburn of all slowburns. <3

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate this one. I really liked the beginning. Seigi is back in Japan and we get some scenes of him essentially having an identity crisis. Realizing that the Japan he knew has changed and that he doesn't recognize himself in the mirror. I thought this part was done very well. My favorite sections are always the ones that focus on Seigi's inner thoughts and struggles.
But then we get to the majority of the book, and it just wasn't great. Most of the focus of this novel was on Vincent. While I don't mind learning more about Vincent, in theory, I just wasn't particularly invested. I think this was partly due to how long this section was. About 130 pages were dedicated to learning more about Vincent and we didn't really even learn anything. He is just as mysterious as he was when we first met him. I feel like I wouldn't have minded it so much if we actually would have learned more, but it just felt like a waste.
I did like the final section in Sri Lanka that focused on Seigi and Richard. Well... kind of. I always love Seigi and Richard's interactions and their relationship. So I was happy to get to actually see them talk and confide in one another. It feels like they have been separated quite a bit in recent volumes, so I was happy to finally have them reunited. But then something happened that just kind of left me distraught. So, I had come to accept that Richard and Seigi were never going to be in a romantic relationship. There has been a lot of conversations in this series about romance and love. As well as a critique of romantic love being the "end all be all." Because of this, I assumed that Richard and Seigi would be together, but not "together." And that was fine. I was content. I did not care. I was all for it. So, tell me why the end of this book had Seigi asking Richard to be his romantic partner? And tell me why Richard says "So do you mean to say we aren't dating already?" (pg 231.) Tell me why, this book made me think I was wrong all along and that Seigi and Richard actually were going to enter into a romantic relationship? Only so Richard to say "Just kidding. You don't actually want to date me." And that was that. Why would they do that???? I was so content with their queer relationship. And then they had to go and lead me on. I was crying. Why would they do that to me??????
I just don't understand why they would do that? I'm just so sad now. Ugh........ I do still really like this series, but the ending was needlessly cruel. I'm just gonna not rate this one because it hurt my feelings. Might come back and give it a star rating later after I'm feeling less emotional.

Addition: Ok, its been about an hour and I have chilled out. Decided to give the book 3 stars because I liked the beginning and end, but the middle just dragged to long. Still annoyed that the ending led me on, but I shouldn't be, this whole series has just been a will-they-wont-they thing with Richard and Seigi.

[amax · Rating 3 out of 5]

Format read: Paperback
Reading time: 4-5h ish
Tags: mystery, adventure, translation, friendship, found family, lgbt (bi, m/m, ace)
Own a copy: yes
Reread likelihood: Not sure/10

Tl;dr:
It's taken Seigi 9 whole volumes to come to terms with his feelings for Richard, and honestly, good on him. He made a heartfelt and valiant attempt to get through to him in plain and direct language, but Richard just isn't ready to accept that Seigi is 100% serious. It's been clear since book 1 how Seigi feels, but Richard's dismissal is such a head-in-the-sand reaction, it hurts. I feel so much for poor Seigi in this volume. My heart aches alongside his.

I don't know how I feel about this volume. I need to digest it and review it properly later.

RTC

[Tiana Marius · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving the way this story is progressing. 😭 I only wish that half this book wasn't about Vincent 😭

[lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite volume so far!

In this volume, I felt that for the first time, Richard and Seigi stand on equal footing. Richard is exasperated and I’m delighted. Seigi’s attention to detail has really reached Richard's levels of precision, because what do you mean he knows “how to tell his (Richard’s) night and day driving voices apart”? Not to mention the crazy thinking he did to pinpoint where Richard was. As one very beautiful man would say: bravo.

I loved the conversations! The one with Saul was simply lovely and touching. It’s amazing to see how Seigi has grown as a person and how he is loved by the people around him.

Speaking about Seigi being loved, those college friends he meets were such a**holes. I can understand being envious, but being this rude to a friend is inadmissible. It's their loss, anyone would be so damn lucky to befriend such a loyal and kind person as Seigi.

I’m glad we FINALLY got a resolution for Seigi’s feelings for Tanimoto. I’m so glad the author is letting her be the awesome aroace queen that she is 💖 I hope we see more of her in the future.

I almost duked one star out of this novel because of Vince, but everything else was so good I'll forgive that. Not gonna lie, my face fell when I realized a huge chunk of this book’s arc was gonna be about Vince. I’m sorry, I just don’t care about Vince. Seigi can't hate him, but I can. This series has so many interesting secondary characters, he’s the one person I don’t vibe with. Everything about his backstory and personality is just so convoluted.

Adjacent to Vince, I just couldn’t take seriously the plot about him taking his wife to the USA of all places to get a transplant done. You know, the country known to have one the most brutally and unfairly expensive health care systems in the world. Why would you do that. You could get that done for free in Brazil, for example. When Seigi guessed they didn’t have enough money to pay for the entire thing I was like, no sh*t, Sherlock. And then Marin proceeds to live in one of the cities with the highest cost of living in the world (NY). A huge part of Vince’s story is about how he needed money and how he had to do morally gray jobs/tasks to get it. Maybe I’d empathize more if his financial decisions weren’t so stupid.

I just can't empathize with his reasoning for hating Richard. He got his pride hurt, ok. Was that so grave to the point of alerting Seige about Richard? The one doing the betrayal was Vince, after all. Anyway, I can't stand him.


Now, about the ✨juicyest parts✨ of this volume:

1.
Seigi bringing himself to tears daydreaming about a hypothetical future in which Richard married someone else was both sad and hilarious. It was an olympic-level jump to conclusions. This is usually the kind of thing that makes me cry when I’m PMSing (i.e. delusions).

2.
This dialogue with no heterosexual explanation:

“…Is it just me, or did you change your cologne?”
“A while ago. I would have preferred if you’d noticed earlier.”
“Sorry.”

3.
SEIGI FINALLY REALIZED HE’S IN LOVE WITH RICHARD?? & ASKED HIM OUT? WHAT? WE USED TO DREAM OF DAYS LIKE THIS. 8 VOLUMES OF BAITING WEREN’T FOR NAUGHT.



But off f-ing course Richard had to shoot him down because he's a clown who doesn't believe he deserves happiness. You might still deceive Seigi with this little game of telling the truth and then dismissing it as a joke, but I know you, Richard. When you said you and Seigi are already dating, you meant that.

4.
Me almost chewing my hand out when reading this:

Besides, Richard had never actually said he wasn’t gay. Or at least, he’d corrected himself in his London bedroom to politely inform me that he “had never had a romantic partner of the same sex thus far.” I had wondered ever since why he had worded it like that. If I deliberately misinterpreted it, I could understand it as “If you fell in love with me, I wouldn’t be opposed to dating you. In that sense, I simply am not gay at this precise moment in time.” As if anyone would be that nice. If that were true, I’d fall in love with him on the spot. It could only work out in my favor, right? Let’s fall in love romantically and start dating. Then share all your overwhelming affection and assets with me.

We can always trust Seigi to make a perfect reading of the situation only to discard the thought for being too wild. SEIGI, YOU’RE RIGHT. HE MEANT THIS. GO GET THAT COWARD.


5.
Effortless smooth-talker Seigi is back! He's still lethal because he has no idea he's doing it. The man is pure rizz.

“What if I never get tired of thinking about you?”
“…What a question.”

6.
Richard and Seigi coparenting Jiro. They have a son now 👱🏽‍♂️🐶👦🏽


...Enough yapping. I love this volume. Now to another long wait...

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟 / 5.0 🌟

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

the volume with so much seigi introspection ever and i thoroughly loved every bit of it. hes grown so much 🥺

i'll come back to this review later but lets just say im losing it and by "it" i mean my Mind

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been more shell-shocked in my life. Had a soul altering experience reading this volume. My God. These bitches gay. Take it easy.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Getting this out of the way early: it is very clear SevenSeas has decreased the overall quality of the series this volume. Not only is it printed on worse quality paper, there were also noticeably more typos and other formatting issues. And most notably of all, the translator changed in this volume, which I just don’t thing is something that should happen so late into a series— it definitely changes the tone and overall prose of the translation itself).

This was a volume of revelations, especially for Seigi. Living abroad and engaging in learning different languages has changed him in some fundamental ways, which starkly reveals itself when he returns to Japan for a time. It was a very interesting introspection on how expanding your horizons can affect not only your inner world, but also strain your relationships with people who chose different paths.

My favorite chapter by far was the second one. Admittedly, I hadn’t put much stock in Vincent and Saul as side characters. They seemed to be just plot pushers who would show up when things needed to get a jump of adrenaline, but that perspective totally changed after Seigi was able to interact with them one on one. I particularly found Saul’s discussion about religion to be simply fascinating and I really loved that scene. Also, that Seigi could admit in his head that he belongs to the “Beauty of Richard” religion simply had me rolling.

Then, of course, the last chapter, the one that has the potential to change the course of the series most of all. Seigi’s biggest realization of course revolved around how he wants Richard in his life, and I really liked Richard’s response to this confession as well. These two guys are just so considerate towards each other and always want to push the other to be the best version of themselves they can be without pushing to become something they aren’t, and it’s truly beautiful the way their relationship has developed.

Now, onto the next volume where we finally might get to learn what all this Octavia stuff is about.

[Katja · Rating 5 out of 5]

AAAAAAHHHHHH !?!?!?
Million stars!!

[CJ L Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This vol solidifies this story as one of my absolute favourites.
There's so much that this story makes you learn and think about.

[ReadWithKate · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the ninth volume and this series has yet to disappoint me!
This time, we see Seigi alone for most of the volume, meeting several characters, like Tanimoto and Vince, but in tru introspection within himself both at what he wants for the future and for his relationship with Richard.
Turns out, it was actually Vince's wife that reached out to Seigi in the last novel. Vince sold out Richard back in the day to get money that would eventually go towards his education. However, later on he ends up using it to go to America and give his wife one of his kidneys. They only married for her to get a green card. He hasn't seen her in a while, but they do love each other, though they haven't discusses their true feelings... So it truly is a miscommunication situation. Vince believes his wife deserves better and so he lives her be, despite how much she loves him.
Vince feels guilty for betraying Richard, but also for technically comitting homicide by neglicence against his father. His father was very sick and in pain. There was a medicine Vince didn't give his father, since it would prolongue his life, but it wouln't take the pain away. So, in the end, it would prolongued his father's suffering. He truly is a tortured character, who always tries to do what's right. However, life hasn't thrown him easy choices.
Saul and Seigi have a heart to heart and Saul decides Seigi is ready to become one of his pupil's too. He even offers him his last name, like he did with Richard, but Seigi refuses.
He also catches up with Tanimoto, who's now a teacher. She's enjoying her life, feeling a lot more free. She's accepted herself as an aroace woman and isn't afraid to admit it anymore. She knows that she has a chance to help people like her just by being herself, showing them a happy life was possible.
Richard's past shows up once again - he's used to being dehumanized, since people only care about his looks. When he was in boarding school, he was sexually harassed by a member of the school staff....
Knowing this in addiction to the sexual harassment he suffered at his distant relative's hands, we can see thta his childhood really wasn't great. He's used to being nothing but an object. He's learned to despise his beauty. So when Seigi actually compliments him on it, without any hidden intentions, Richard is actually surprised. For once, someone actually sees him and thinks he's beautiful as a whole, not just a pretty face.
Seigi is truly understanding Richard more than ever. He's starting to feel like a foreigner, like he'll neve truly belong anywhere, since he travels a lot for work, just like Richard. He forgets words in his native tongue, he sometimes remembers things faster in other languages. After all, he's becoming a bit worldwide.
Seigi and Richard are aware of the other's feelings, however they're still not quite ready for a romantic relationship. This has to be the slowburn of all slowburns.

[Tyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favourite volume of mine! Really love how Tsujimura keeps growing as a writer, boasting not only an acute understanding of not only people's hearts and minds but also of cultures and languages. Having gone through experience similar to Seigi's, I was delightfully surprised to see how Tsujimura understands how it feels to return to your own country after living abroad where your own native tongue becomes something alien to you; how it feels to get lost in the languages that you speak. I also laughed reading Seigi's comment about how Hong Kong's escalators were much faster than those in Japan, because the HK kids in my class used to say that they found Japan's escalators and life in general much too slow compared to what they're used to!

Seigi might seem to just fly to different countries and talk to people in this book, and boy how much he talked, but it's exactly the talking and the reflecting on the things he learnt and discovered along the way that make this volume shine. They brought forward revelation of things in the past, and also a closure to the tale of Seigi's and Tanimoto's feelings toward each other—something that I had been curious about. Moreover, the talks about religion, spirituality, and culture show depth that a lot of people probably do not expect from "light novels".

And I might say jocularly "Really, nine volumes and four years for Seigi's feelings toward Richard to take a more definite shape!", but at the same time I think it's what makes the story more believable. The journey has not ended there, and I'm looking forward to read more about Seigi and Richard.

[Calden · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes this book came out today yes i read the whole thing in one sitting

holy FUCK


first of all the attention to detail in describing the civil unrest in sri lanka as well as the geopolitics of southern asia was crazy and i feel like i have been introduced to a whole new area of history to study

second of all. my god the conversations about grief and doing right by other people and persevering despite the pain life brings was crazy and it felt like i was finally reading something that i could agree with about a lifelong philosophy of morals and values.


lastly AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA dude when seigi finally realized that he Loves loves richard i had to stop reading for a bit lest my ereader explode into a million pieces under the force of my grip . the author does such a good job highlighting how queer relationships are special and go beyond ideas like romantic love and societal expectations. like i actually feel seen with how i view the relationships in my life here and that is crazy for me

i am SO excited for the next volume i swear these just keep getting better with each new instalment. i love you case files of jeweler richard i dont care how cringe and sappy you are

[Angelica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is a series that puts a lot of focus on conversations between characters, and volume 9 is no exception. In fact, this may be the most dialogue-heavy book yet!

Seigi gets to talk to Vince, Vince’s wife Marian, Saul, Tanimoto, and Richard extensively. Each conversation illuminates more about the character’s backstories and motivations. I was especially excited to get more insight on Vince since he’s been such an enigma for the past 3 books. He’s certainly a complicated person; even though we hear so much from him and about him in this book, I still have so many questions! Also, as someone on the ace spectrum, the scene with Tanimoto means everything to me. I adore her and she and Seigi’s friendship.

Seigi also discovers some things about himself in this volume, particularly in the last story, which is basically one long scene of just Seigi and Richard chatting in Saul’s home (🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼). He finally comes to the conclusion about his feelings for Richard that literally every reader came to long ago. It seems like the thought of losing Richard to someone else finally made his brain start working. This conversation didn’t end quite how I would have wanted, but it certainly sets up some drama for the next book. Can’t wait until April! (Just learned this one is delayed too 🤬🤬🤬)

[Lazu · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 volumes. 9 volumes to get to this point.

I think this volume really showed the personal journey Seigi went through. It really has been 4 years since the start of the story and he has grown into himself, it was very sweet.

In true Richard fashion, they went into the connection between language and identity and language learning as a bridge once again that moved me, as a constant language learner, in ways I cannot describe. The loss of your own identity due to broadening your horizon? No one has ever made me think about it like that in those words and yet it had been floating in my mind for years. How scary it is when you've been abroad or immersing in a different language and... Suddenly you feel like you cannot speak your native language anymore, like you don't fit into the mold you built yourself in it anymore.


Also. Needless to say. At the end of the volume I squealed and had to put the book down for a bit. Oh lord

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the closest well get to clarity on their relationship and a confession. I was totally tricked by Richard too! Seigi was so serious with his question and considerations but Richard goes and makes it into a flirty joke! So mean. ♡
At least the door is still open though!!

The other chapters about Vince was just okay. I am slightly lost on why he felt the need to leave instead of clear things up at the time.

The other topics in the book about religion and racism was interesting but also felt like it went in circles. I don't know... I enjoy the author going into these deeper topics but also want the narrative to be more concrete.

[Sable Rayn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm ngl I mostly read this series for the interactions between Seigi and Richard and I very much enjoyed their interactions in this one...at the very very end because pretty much everything before that was SO boring. Tons of long winded(deep I guess) introspection and philosophical conversations that I Just Did Not Care about. It was a slog getting through those 100 pages to the part I actually liked.

And idk if it's the author or Seven Seas, but after 9 volumes, this series still really needs a MUCH better editor

[Hacen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 4.5

[Nidhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard being the coward wasn't on my bingo card this year (actually it was)

[mage · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I wasn’t Richard’s kept man. Nor his boyfriend, husband, or partner. But if the world was about to end, there was no one else I’d rather spend my last day with. And I would do my very best to someday be worthy of the title of his life partner."

estoy satisfecho? no
me voy a quejar? para nada

[Alejandra Alfonso · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✨️

[Louis. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really should’ve known from the cover alone that this volume would be nothing but Seigi thinking about Richard every waking second. And yet, I still found myself gasping on nearly every page, muttering, “Mate. Please stop thinking about Richard for one second.” Spoiler: he cannot.

At least now Vince’s constant warnings in earlier volumes make sense. He still sees Richard as the cold, emotionally sealed-off man from Hong Kong. He has no idea how much Richard has changed since meeting Seigi. I can understand why Vince felt shut out. He tried to get close, and Richard never let him in, always hiding behind elegance and that flawless smile. That must have bruised Vince’s pride badly. I think that’s why he hates Richard. He couldn’t reach him, no matter how hard he tried.

That said, I still don’t get the intensity of that hatred. If anything, Richard should be the one furious. Vince took money from Jeffrey and sold him out while Richard was supposed to be hiding from that entire family disaster. And on top of that, Vince is upset that Richard went to Japan without him? Come on. Richard is being far too kind here, worrying about Vince’s feelings when the real issue is a straight-up betrayal of trust.

And then there’s the way Vince casually admits he married Marian purely so she’d accept his kidney and move to the US with him, only to leave her there while he went off doing questionable business with Octavia. I understand financial desperation, but surely there had to be a better solution than that.

So yes, sorry Vince. This volume made me dislike you. I genuinely admire Seigi and Richard for not despising him. They’re far too generous.

On a more positive note, this volume finally puts the Seigi and Tanimoto situation to rest. She clearly states she’s aroace, and Seigi finally steps back. Good. But that does raise one question. If he wasn’t chasing Tanimoto anymore at that point, who exactly was he trying to win over back in Sinhalite Beckons?

Final thoughts. This book drove me insane in the best way. Has Seigi finally started to realise that his feelings for Richard aren’t exactly platonic? Because friends don’t cry at the thought of their friend getting married. Friends don’t imagine clinging to their arm and begging them not to go through with it. And Seigi, you absolute fool, you offered Richard the exact same “relationship support” deal you once offered Tanimoto. This isn’t about saving him from marriage. It’s because you like him. Admit it. Wake up.

I finished this volume laughing and crying like a complete mess. This review is barely coherent, but the point is simple. I loved this book. That’s it.

[luz · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.75