I'm in Love with the Villainess (Light Novel), Vol. 2

I'm in Love with the Villainess Light Novel #2

by Inori, Hanagata (Illustrator), Jenn Yamazaki (Translator)

DO GIRLS LIKE HER LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER?

Together, Rei and Claire have endured love, loss, and ridicule. Now, they face a challenge that will shake the foundations of the kingdom―revolution. When the dust settles, will commoner Rei and noble-born Claire still stand side by side? And will fate permit their love to survive?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Romance, Yuri, LGBT, Lesbian, Manga

418 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2019

Reviews

[Aleksandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique

peak lesbian goodness & fighting aristocracy and class system one kingdom at a time is a combination tailored for me.

Truly spectacular novel, I enjoyed it tremendously.

[Miss Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

the way inori leveled UP this volume

they said oh? you wanna know why rae's on that all about claire life? claire francois has DEPTH, let me show you how!!

the way this volume handled the transmigrator 'coming to terms with world expanding beyond their knowledge' problem...top tier! they said my tropes have layers fam!

anyways claire/rae for life, extremely pleased that this volume assured us that they're married with kids by the end

also love to see that class revolution, inori said aristocracy isn't it and i completely agree!

4 stars

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this story. At first, I was really drawn to the plot, especially because of the enemies-to-lovers premise. I love Claire's personality, and the setting of the game. I read this second book because I was very curious about the moment Claire would fall in love with Rae, but I was totally disappointed. A slow burn that doesn't quite build to the climax. Overlooking the fact that Rae stalks and harasses Claire all the time, I couldn't even find a moment where I could feel a genuine emotional bond between them. Rather than falling in love, Rae was obsessed, and Claire was only pushed to be with her for plot convenience. It seems to me that the story had a lot of potential. Sadly, I have no desire to continue with the third book, because I couldn't connect with their romance.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second volume in the I’m In Love With the Villainess series felt like it was a satisfying conclusion to Rei and Clair’s story. The series is a bit of a crazy Isekai romcom.

The story in this one was a continuation of what we got in the first book. Rei continued her slow burn attempts at getting Claire to fall in love with her while the main plot of the dating sim game she was sucked into played out its French Revolution style storyline!

I felt like this second book did a better job with developing the very slow burn romance between Rei and Claire which definitely benefited the story as in the first book it never overly felt like Claire liked Rei half as much as Rei liked Clair. In this one a better job was done on developing some balance in the relationship which made it a lot easier to root for.

The other plus for this second volume was the character development. Even beyond the work done with Rei and Claire we got to learn a bit more about a few of the main secondary characters and that helped add more depths to those characters and the story as a whole.

The flaw of this series is the fact that the worldbuilding is very basic and simplistic and the main non-romance story arc was a tad flimsy and dull.

One the whole this was an OK series that never quite lived up to its super fun premise or potential.

Rating: 3 stars.

Audio Note: Courtney Shaw did a decent job with the narration. She really leaned into the anime style and tone of the story and dialogue.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rae is still joined at the hip to Claire, staying one step ahead of any possible problems using her knowledge of the game this world is based on. But at the end of the day, she’s just one person and saving the villainess she loves when an entire society is shifting around them might prove trickier than it first seems.

Phew, what a ride. This book takes a look at how gay the first volume was and happily says ‘hold my queer’. It’s got no time for coy shenanigans; this is one yuri that would lead a pride parade and makes time for other topics like gender dysphoria while it’s at it.

The book kicks off with a bang, featuring a truly loathsome minor villain and a challenge that Rae cleverly sidesteps using her aforementioned knowledge. This both eases us back into the world and also suggests that this book is out to be like its predecessor when it is decidedly not.

No, the point this time is that you can plan for a lot of things, but you really can’t plan for other people. And it’s a smart twist on every isekai protagonist ever who assumes they’re invincible because of how damn clever they are. Rae has a lot of obstacles in her path in ways she cannot predict and she’s in over her head far more than I was expecting from the opening chapter.

When things start going out of control, Rae adapts, adapts, and then adapts some more in a desperate attempt to save the one person who means something to her. For her part, Claire becomes a wonderfully nuanced character here and her slow change in attitude is one of the book’s triumphs.

Amidst all this are some genuinely funny moments as well. There’s a ridiculous Fate/Stay Night reference that made me laugh even as it shouldn’t have and there’s a swimsuit scene, of all things, that’s as ludicrous as it is deliciously, brilliantly smart about how it gets there.

Rae and Claire’s relationship remains the heart of this, as it should be. If I loved the coming out scene in the first book, I can say nothing wrong about the story of how Rae realized she was gay, which is an emotional thrashing and a half. Whatever these two achieve by the end feels earned twice over - the author really knows how to put the reader through the ringer

Mix in a lot of smart machination, some of which has been percolating since the first instalment, and copious action and brinkmanship and you have a book that was a delight to read. It has triumphs, some great plot twists (one so obvious I smacked myself for not seeing, though it’s nothing compared to what happens shortly after it shows itself), some big dramatic moments, and an epilogue that tells us where everybody wound up, which I am forever a big sucker for.

It’s not perfect - some of it gets a little maudlin, Rae’s mom can be a bit much, they sure did go there with the incest storyline (mercifully kept to the barest minimum of page presence) and the finale might be a little too over-the-top, but I honestly couldn’t care less. This is one of those books that’s doing five things right for every one thing I might want changed.

5 stars - what can I say, I’m exactly the target for this kind of story. The epilogue is pure delight and this was my “at work book” but I brought it home during the weekends and read it at night and just enjoyed the hell out of it. It nearly, very nearly, brought me to tears with one very pure exchange at the end and if a book gets me that good then it did something right.

I’m not even sure what’s possibly left to bring up in the third volume; it exists but the author’s afterword suggests this was really supposed to be the ending. Either way I will be there for it the second it comes out.

[lauraღ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Just as silly as the first volume, but not quite as fun? The class revolution plotline really takes off in this volume, and while I appreciated the attempt at giving the story some depth, it was just really haphazard and not all that well-written. Rei's determination to not care about anything other than Claire got a little annoying. I did appreciate that Claire slowly became more down to earth and class conscious, because it was hard to root for someone who was THAT spoiled. The developing romance was cute...? But I'd been assuming that this all took place at a college, only to find out in this volume that they're all sixteen. Ehh. I do appreciate some of the stuff the book attempted to do, and the ways in which it got serious, with Rei's coming out backstory and Yu's plotline, but it all ended up feeling very shallow.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Courtney Shaw, which made it possible for me to finish this even after I started to fid it a little boring. I'm glad I at least checked the series out? But I'll look for something a little less wacky for my next yuri manga/light novel.

Content warnings: homophobia, transphobia, suicide (past, side character)

[Grace W · Rating 5 out of 5]

(c/p from my review on TheStoryGraph) This one got a little dark and I kind of love that for it. Not only is this a great enemies to lovers trope but it also has some really cool world building and conversations about inequality in many forms. I like the path it picked and I liked how the characters changed and grew. I liked that the romance was clearly strong and two sided by the end of the book. There are some parts that are pretty tropey but I honestly don't care I had a GREAT time reading this book.

TW for this book include: Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Death (including mentions of death by suicide but nothing explicit), Incest (nothing explicit, not even kissing, but it is mentioned.), and Infidelity

[Laura (crofteereader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can appreciate what this book was trying to do - particularly when it comes to queerness and queer culture - but there are still a number of things that veered off into taboo. Like the realization that Rei is a grown-ass adult in love with a 16 year old fictional character and actively pursuing her romantically... Just because she's also in the body of a 16 year old, doesn't necessarily negate that.

[Benji · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an improvement on the first volume, Rei and Claire both gained a lot of depth and had satisfying character growth. Rei’s backstory where she discovered her sexuality was very touching and highlights the importance of kids having access to queer media they can relate to. On the other hand, there were multiple love triangles and several times significant events would occur with no foreshadowing or prior mention. When that happened it felt like the author was pulling plot elements out of their ass at the last minute.

These books aren’t high literature but they’ve been pretty fun despite all their faults. I won’t be continuing the series as children showed up in the epilogue and I’m not interested in stories about parenthood.

CWs: sexual harassment, homophobia and transphobia, gender dysphoria and nonconsenting magical gender reassignment, suicide, bullying, war, toxic friendship, incest (not between MCs)

[Mela Sidro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is too cute!
I wasn't expecting so much LGBT rep in this, but I'm more than glad to see it!
The plot was interesting and I loved getting one more insight into Claire as a character and seeing her grow and develop.

I'm not sure how there are more books in this series though. This one felt like a pretty perfect conclusion to the story.

[DumbPopcorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10
Wow, simplemente wow. Amé todo sobre esta historia. Vivan las novias, joder.

[millie · Rating 2 out of 5]

idk… worldbuilding and background are important but i feel like there wasn’t enough focus on the actual romance in this, considering it’s a romance novel.
also too many subplots with too much time spent on characters that the author expects me to care about while the whole time im thinking give me a cute scene with claire!!! i literally do not care at all for lilly or the weird pervert sister character they introduced.
i kept waiting on cute moments to happen for claire and rei but they were so few and far between and when they did happen they were kind of underwhelming!!! it seemed like claire realised her feelings for rei in this volume but that was just indicated by her being a bit nicer to rei or looking thoughtful or whatever. no real moments of softness or exciting romantic moments at all. unsatisfying… especially when this is supposed to be a kind of softcore enemies to lovers type dynamic. you need real moments of realisation rather than just making it feel forced by having claire start to act a bit differently.
there’s a bit where the ceiling is collapsing or something and rei covers claire and i thought omg she’s going to sacrifice herself and get hit and it’ll be some kind of moment for claire to see that rei really does love her… but no… rei used magic to cover them both, they were both fine and it was just a pointless moment really. there were no exciting or memorable moments like that really aside from the part when claire gives herself up. but even then they could’ve explored how the characters were feeling more.
even the ending of this book felt unsatisfying. claire finally accepts rei, but it feels sudden and the whole thing is over in two pages, she doesn’t even say yes really (?) the author just expects you to assume she did which is lame. and then you turn the page and BAM timeskip theyre living together with kids?????? let me live a little in this moment…! ive read like 900 pages to get here 😭😭

even after all of these complaints i keep coming back to these books because i really do love claire as a character… just. please. inori. please let volume 3 have more of a focus on claire and their relationship which is what the book is actually about. rather than introducing new characters that are 1 dimensional and annoying, focus on developing your existing characters and giving us more time to love them

[Amelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is such a powerful emotional read. It feels like the author/editor took all the feedback from the first volume, cleaned up the complaints, and then ratcheted up the emotional impact and character development. This book was so good I want to give the first novel a better score on the merits of this book alone.

This book had me gasping and shouting at the pages from the beginning. I was completely pulled into every character's struggle and victory. I could not put this book down until I cried my way through the last pages.

The book also upped the amount of discussion of LGBTQ issues from the first volume. This felt even more authentic this time around as it touched on not only "things you should know as a straight person/ally" but started dipping into inner community issues.

The author also quickly went from Volume One's "the one lesbian in the world" to "this is my art and I get to choose the improbable amount of LGBTQ rep in it" in Volume two, and for that, I applaud the author and look forward top more from them.

I think the only flaw here is that this book felt so full of content with so many arcs it probably could have been split and expanded. Or maybe that is latent want for more speaking.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai attendu beaucoup trop longtemps avant de lire ce deuxième volume qui est 1 000 fois meilleur que son précédent!! Toutes les critiques que j'avais du premier volume se sont pratiquement volatilisées car les personnages complexifient enfin leur relation, se complexifient eux-mêmes et on voit enfin la romance se développer des deux côtés.

Ce qui est plus intéressant encore dans ce roman est que la protagoniste, bien qu'elle est au courant de ce qui va se produire, n'est plus vraiment en contrôle des événements, plusieurs choses ont changé par rapport à ce qu'elle connaît de l'intrigue et des personnages ne se comportent pas du tout comme ils le devraient. On n'a donc plus l'impression de "rejouer" un scénario, mais d'un personnage en possession de ses moyens (la plupart du temps), mais qui doit faire face à des imprévus majeurs.

Les enjeux de la narration sont aussi beaucoup plus élevés cette fois-ci, on sort du drame scolaire pour adresser une révolution de société avec des enjeux de politiques internes et internationaux. On a autant le droit à une intrigue fiscale, qu'à des revirements de situation (et de personnages) majeurs et des défis trop difficiles pour que la protagoniste les surmonte seule.

Je dois avouer vraiment aimer la complexité des personnages dans ce volume, il y a des explorations plus profondes, intéressantes, divers, on va vraiment "challenger" les émotions, la raison et la passion des personnages. Je ne m'attendais pas non plus à y trouver une histoire de bacha posh qui est une vraiment montré comme un enjeu de transidentité sérieux (plus que les rares autres livres qui abordaient le sujet) et dont le dénouement est très satisfaisant.

On a encore le droit à des réflexions assez didactiques sur les enjeux LGBT, mais ils sont beaucoup plus arrimés à la trame narrative et détonne un peu moins que dans mes souvenirs. Dans ce volume, le style d'écriture et les dialogues laissent encore un peu à désirer, on a plusieurs répétitions de réaction de personnage, on pourrait clairement dissimuler un peu plus ce qui va suivre (on a une bonne idée de ce qui risque d'arriver, malgré quelques surprises), mais tout le reste compense énormément pour ces petits problèmes d'écriture et c'est vraiment une amélioration notable par rapport au premier volume.

Finalement, l'autrice excelle dans cette narration de deux personnages, le livre devient un vrai "page-turner" qu'on regrette devoir déposer pour aller dormir. J'ai vraiment adoré cette suite, c'est rempli d'action, de romance, de drama et on nous propose une belle histoire d'un bout à l'autre. La fin et le chapitre bonus sont particulièrement attachants.

[Xandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toxic yuri fans rejoice! We got political intrigue! We got abuse of power! We got blackmail! We got gaslighting, gatekeeping, AND girl bossing!! We got women kicking ass and taking names!!!! We got self-harm and suicide. We got... an incest plotline...... and a problematic age gap through supernatural means..........

Okay so the story obviously is not perfect. Light novels have a tendency to get weird and morally questionable, but I feel like Inori's story is (relatively) tastefully done and actually tells a great story with so much character growth, depth, and nuance. It also had a lot to say about queer issues which was well done without slowing down the breakneck pacing.The sillier moments like the love septagon and slime familiar shenanigans kept the tone much lighter than the subject matter would normally garner.

I also appreciate that they made Rei and Claire's incredibly toxic relationship work. As they both start to lose some of the power they have over each other I felt like they got to a place where I felt comfortable actually rooting for them to get together. There are obviously still some questionable elements, but I'm a down bad toxic yuri fan so it hardly phases me.

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW.
Tak jak pierwszy tom był skupiony na romansie, w tym jest baaardzo dużo fabuły i polityki. Bardzo się wciągnęłam i przeczytałam prawie połowę w jeden dzień. Zdecydowanie bardziej podoba mi się niż pierwsza część, ale no pierwsza była dobrą podstawą i wprowadzeniem.
ANYWAYS świetnie się bawiłam przy tym tomie i od razu wezmę się za trzeci hihi

[Rey Hawke · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The incest couple kills the vibe so hard

[pranavv · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. first half boring, second half good

[Matt Rizzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow this is a spicy book….wonder how a socially conservative Japan will animate this

[gab · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars

these two will always be a source of comfort for me

[❥Judit]

Necesitaba leer algo así ahora 😭

[The Local Spooky Hermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

(1am review in bed i edited like 20 times so far. So now its been a hour just about hah excuse my jumbled mess) This... should have been more than 2 books. Its rushed at points. Like there will be a build up to a fight.. and just skips the fight.. like in one the girls are gearing up to fight a well trained team thats out to kill them.. okay im ready. THE VERY NEXT SENTENCE- the team of killers is mostly depleted of their magic at the moment and kill themselves.. I literally went "oh.. what, wait thats it?"
And when rae finally tells her friend the whole story and claire that she's from another world and that this world is just a story... they just accept it.. huh? They just go "okay sure 👍"
What. Like it takes you out of the story. TOO MUCH IS HAPPENING AND YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PAGES TO MAKE IT BELIEVABLE. There are other things that set me off a bit. Its a revolution.. no one dies.. okay fine.. its fluff romance, but... ugh. Too much going on and exciting things are rushed. Something is picked up, looked at a tiny bit, then thrown to the side for the next super shiney plot point. Its disappointing. Bc I looked forward to this. And I feel meh. Parts would gear up and just be rushed through. Or you get TOLD WHAT HAPPENS NOT SHOWN. I hoped the whole thing about everytime Rae tried to change things it would change the game around so it still happened (but worse?) Kept going or why some events were happening at faster rate then when they were meant to. But egh. I like it but.. I don't? Idk. I'd rate it 2 and a half or 3 idk murrrr... Im still gonna get the manga lol
Spoilers Spoilers!!!
Dole isn't bad.. he just "played" the part..
me: EXCUSE ME WAAAAT. WHERE.. NO. No.. wth.? SINCE WHEN.
THERES A RUMOR OF THANES FATHER MAY NOT BE THE KING...
ME:huuuuh???
YU IS REALLY A CURSED GIRL?!
Me: WHAT IS GOING ON WHY IS THIS ALL HAPPENING?!?!
A VOLCANO IS ERUPTING!!!-
me: AAAAAAAAAHHHH STOP PICK SOMETHING. ONE THING AT A TIME WHY IS IS ALL IN ONE BOOK
REVOLUTION IS HAPPENING!!
me: *screams in corner in fear*
Thats not even all the damn twists!!!

[J-Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the beginning and the end, I was bored during the middle. I think it took me so long to finish reading because Yu’s Secret didn’t appeal to me. Yes, I enjoy the fact that there is a representation for a certain something in this book; however, I was bored during the buildup to the secret (I won’t say what it is). In addition, I was bored during the investigation process, but I powered through reading because I was near the end.

Honestly, I hope the third book is filled with more romance than this book.... I want some Claire and Rae love. I don’t give a flying f**k about a revolution. In all honesty, the major conflicts are fixed, so I should be reading a fluffy book filled with love and devotion. Yup.... that is what will happen when I start reading the third installment.



Also, are the Japanese fine with sibling incest? L&L (can’t remember their names) are siblings, right? L&L are husband and wife, though.... right? Is that like a thing that is okay? Or is it still considered taboo?

[Jud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inori absolutely outdid herself with this second volume of I'm In Love with the Villainess .
 
Somebody in this app described this installment as "peak lesbian goodness & fighting aristocracy and class system" and I completely agree with them. To merely say that the plot thickens would be an understatement for this volume, since we find ourselves in the thick of a revolution. Although I was not expecting it at first, looking back, it makes a lot of sense and adds a lot more depth to the story and characters. Especially, Claire underwent an outstanding development, thanks partially to her love for Rae. And talking about these two, I just loved the way their relationship has kept blossoming into such precious and faithful love. The epilogue and ending were so soft and had me feeling so emotional! They truly are soulmates.
 
In conclusion, everything about I'm In Love with the Villainess is just perfect, and I am super excited to read the next one!

[Pepper Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 is a grand improvement on everything from book 1, other than the general writing. This series manages gender and sexuality talks better than a few others I've recently read, without naming names. Claire's character arc is so well done, and same with Rei's, although I don't think her change was as drastic. I loved Lilly and Manaria, and Yu's dedicated chapter... my heart. Lene and Lambert maybe never needed to make an appearance ever again? Remove that, and level up the writing, and this book would be pretty close to perfect. In my reading history, I've only known Sanderson to manage keeping this number of characters distinct from one another. Like, this characterization is impressive on a technical level. Characters who all have arcs, goals, and very distinct personalities? Well done.

[Yeye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute! It’s one of those stories where everything goes perfect in the end because the protagonist is omniscient and has planned for everything to go their way since the beginning, but honestly I wasn’t expecting anything else from an isekai light novel.

There’s some moments in this book where it touches on confronting anti-LGBT discrimination, including anti-trans ideologies. It’s not really delved into that deeply but it was still a pleasant surprise.

On the other hand, the book treats a (blood-related!) brother-sister incest couple in a positive light with pretty much no condemnation of the fact that they’re siblings, which was REALLY uncomfortable. So.... you can’t win I guess....

[Zoe Sapphic · Rating 5 out of 5]

5,0 stars

["en reek eyy" · Rating 3 out of 5]

rly sad to report i was underwhelmed. this book starts w a killer first arc which is entirely recontextualized by rae’s thoughts vs what we got in the anime.

after the arc ab yu, which was also great, rae’s relationship w claire takes a back seat to the revolution snd honestly this is the weakest part of the story.

claire’s evolution from snobby aristocrat to martyr for the revolution is great, but the narration of the plot itself, that id to say the unfolding of events, is kinda weird and not the most interesting. like its not bad, but you can tell the author is better at translating her image of character interactions than of, say, a magic battle.

but this i could deal with, after all its no different to reading fanfiction w a rly good premise but amateur writing just for the juicy premise.

however, i did not like the climax. it felt rushed and none of the big moments felt like they got to truly be climactic. this id most obvious in rae’s declaration of love to claire. i thought this would be a moment where she flipped manaria’s words to her onto claire- a sort of, “oh have u rly loved me so little that its so essy for you to abandon me. was i rly just a maid??” but instead she just again tells her she loves her and cries and- honestly.

i like the crying, but i think rae’s crashout isnt capitalized on enough. this lady has spent months in a medieval esque world dedicating herself to preventing the execution of the character that gave her joy in her miserable previous life- all for her efforts to create a claire who is willing to die for her.

its such a painful irony- the epitome of the recurring theme that rae can only know the things she could see from the gameplay- but not the complexity of the characters as people.

we also dont get to see them in a proper relationship. bcus theyre running around foing political schemes, we never get to see them drop the master-servant performanxe they put on. after manaria’s words, rae resolves to actually expect more from claire, and we dont get much of that- even in the climax scene where itd be fair for rae to be mad at claire for giving up after so much- she just begs the public to not execute he rinstead of urging claire to choose to run away w her.

i dont want to give the impression thag i didnt like this book- i just wanted more of the core relationship and in rly sad that the bext book seems to take place after a timeskip- once again keeping us from actually seeing rae and claire struggle to form a proper partnership.

i literally just wanted them to kiss and be happy snd tell rsch other they love wahc otherz.

ig tldr: i wanted more raelaire :/

[Chlorobulle · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5
Un deuxième tome excellent, autant dans les enjeux qui y sont développés que les sentiments entre nos deux protagonistes !

Alors que Rae et Claire continuent leur année à l'académie, arrive une nouvelle rivale, Manaria. Avec l'entrée de ce nouveau personnage, ce sont les sentiments de Rae qui sont mis à rude épreuve. Entre son devoir de rentre heureuse Claire et ses sentiments sérieux qu'elle cherche tant bien que mal à enfouir, ce premier chapitre qui fait la passerelle entre la vie à l'académie et celle du pays de Bauer devient un premier élément déclencheur chez Claire dans son changement de comportement envers Rae.
Si Rae reste égale à elle-même, comme dans le premier volume, on perçoit des changements chez Claire qui laisse à penser qu'elle s'ouvre petit à petit et accepte de plus en plus l'excentricité de Rae. Elle lui accorde de plus en plus sa confiance et côtoyer la vie que Rae a vécu en tant que roturière lui permet de prendre conscience de sa condition sociale avantagée et luxueuse.

Les intrigues deviennent de plus en plus importantes au fur et à mesure de la lecture. On retrouve la continuité des premiers mouvement de révolte vécus au sein de l'académie et tout s'enchaîne assez vite. Le changement qui s'opère chez Claire se produit en parallèle aussi dans la société. Hiérarchie sociale, avantage, corruption, misère, tous ces thèmes sont abordés de manière simple mais efficace. On a aussi droit à davantage d'exposition sur la vie que menait Rae avant de se réincarner dans son otome game préféré. Les enjeux autour de la sexualité et de l'attirance sont aussi développés à travers son vécu de collégienne. Cela reste intéressant, avec un parti pris qui correspond bien au personnage.
Au delà de nos deux protagonistes, tous les personnages ont droit à un moment de développement et c'est agréable. Je tiens à avouer que le plot twist de fin concernant le dernier chapitre a été une très grande surprise, me faisant changer d'avis sur un certain personnage.

La fin m'a pour autant un peu laissé sur ma faim. Ayant vu que la série se terminait en cinq tomes, je ne m'attendais pas à ce que l'objectif de Rae soit atteint dès la fin de ce deuxième tome. Les sentiments de Claire semblent encore un peu léger, j'ose espérer qu'on pourra les voir plus approfondis par la suite. L'adoption des deux petites filles permet de conclure cette première aventure comme une fin de jeu.