The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up Vol. 1

The Drab Princess, the Black Cat, and the Satisfying Break-up (Light Novel) #1

by Rino Mayumi, Machi (Illustrator), Evie Lund (Translator)

Are Sweets and Cats the Key to Peacefully Calling Off an Engagement?!

Seren, the eldest daughter of a duke, has grown up being teased for her plain looks, nicknamed “Princess Drab” in comparison to her younger sister, who is a real beauty. One day she overhears her fiancé, Prince Helios, and his friends talking about how her sister would make a much better wife.

In order to avoid marriage with the prince, Seren plans to become a top-level magician and gain the freedom that comes with the title. To achieve this, she teams up with a black cat, a familiar lent to her by Viol, leader of the Ice Magicians, after she finds out about his secret weakness to sweets! Together they’re going to do whatever it takes to bring a peaceful end to her unwanted engagement!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Romance, Manga, Magic, Comics, Fiction

283 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2022

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

I really enjoyed the characters, even if elements of the plot were predictable.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of reverse harems and one love interest is nine years older than the MC h, who is about to turn 16…but emotionally he’s about the same age?

I still like this, but maybe not as much as I thought and hoped I would.

3, I have the next three volumes so I’m going to continue, stars.

[Jennine S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly adorable!

I really enjoyed this fresh take on a common theme! We have the typical arranged marriage to a prince and the imminently capable fiance' lacking self confidence, however the characters are wonderfully balanced and multidimensional for the most part. The love rival sister is not evil, the prince is not a tool, and the female protagonist's esteem issues are based on actual experience yet not paralyzingly pathological! So refreshing! I do wish this volume was longer.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seren has been engaged to her fiancé, Prince Helios, ever since she could remember. She’s spent her life in consort training to prepare for her future as a princess and eventually queen consort. Everything changes when she overhears Prince Helios and his friends talking about how her younger sister, Marietta, would make a much better fiancé. It’s even worse because they all call her Princess Drab! Even her sister believes she should be the real future queen! Brokenhearted, Seren hatches a plan to free Prince Helios from their arranged marriage: she’s going to become a high mage. Now she just needs a magic tutor willing to teach her how to wield her magic in secret!

I’ve gotten into light novels this year and this series is the latest one that I’ve started. We follow Seren and Lord Viol through their rotating perspectives with the occasional glimpse into the story from a supporting character’s view. Our main protagonist is Seren, who is an extremely sweet, thoughtful, and smart person. She has extremely low self-esteem to the point that she isn’t even mad for herself when she overhears the hurtful comments being made about her. Meanwhile, Viol isn’t exactly a people person, but he’s not a bad person. He’s just rough around the edges and people think he’s scary based on the vibes he puts out to keep people from approaching him.

While I do think that some of the characters, especially Seren, needed more character development, I really loved the story. It’s sweet, funny, and just a nice feel good story where we know that Seren will eventually come out extremely happy. I’m excited to see her begin to develop some self-esteem as her story progresses, and I’m feeling hopeful about her future character development. Viol and his shenanigans pretending to be his own Familiar are funny, but it’s fun to see him realize he cares about more than magic.

All in all, it’s an excellent read and I had a hard time putting this book down. The only drawback is that I don’t already have the second book in my hands! It’s easy to identify with Seren, so I’m excited to see the story expand on her as a character. It’s also fun to see the story through various supporting character’s perspectives. Plus, I love learning about the rules of magic in this universe so it’ll be interesting to see how exactly becoming a high mage voids an arranged marriage!

[A. D. Perales · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gives exactly what it promises. What is nice about this novel is that the typical toxic side characters such as the fiance and the rival, are not cruel. I can't say I will jump to recommend it. If you're curious and it seems like it's right up your alley, go ahead and read it.

[Camy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet, rather different take on the typical broken engagement set-up in shojo light novels. The fiancé hasn’t yet broken up with her and the new hero is not a prince but a magician, and his obsession with sweets is rather cute. It doesn’t take itself very seriously, but I liked how the heroine is so hard working and pragmatic.

[Cara Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet enjoyable read.

Good story. No annoying character making frustrating decisions. Very sweet and enchanting read. Highly recommended. I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

[Sammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a wonderful surprise, my only complaint is that volume 2 isn't out yet.

I shamefully expected this to be some kind of soft imitation of The White Cat's Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King's Lap: Volume 1. There were similarities, but in many ways it was better.

It was a very refreshing take on the "My Fiance, the crown prince, is in love with my more beautiful sister" trope. For such a short book, it evokes a roller coaster of feelings without any toxic drama.

The identity of the male lead is a huge mystery. Normally, that would drive me crazy and estrange me from the book, but in this case, the female lead is so admirable you root for her happiness regardless of her partner. I loved this! Highly recommended.

[Chandra Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent read

If you like a book that doesn’t give away everything all at once this one may be for you.

I wouldn’t necessarily call it a slow burn, but it really kept me intrigued right till the end and I can’t wait to read the next one. Some of these are so predictable that you already know what’s going to happen next. This title was not written this way and was a delightful surprise.
Reverse harem of sorts, the girl had a low self esteem from some misunderstandings.

I hope you read and enjoy as much as I did.

[Stas · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 70%
Can't be bothered to continue.
Too dull, though beginning was promising.

[stunningpages · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seren is a hardworking and kind girl who is trying so hard to be the perfect princess consort to her since birth arranged fiancé Helios.
She always felt the need to serve her country and to be the perfect queen.
Even though the relationship between prince Helios and Seren is arranged, Seren always had a soft spot for the also hardworking dashing prince.

But one day she overhears him and his friends talking about how her younger more outgoing sister would be the better option for a future queen.

Seren was understandably devastated since she devoted her whole life to become the perfect queen.
She decides to train to become a high mage in order to avoid a marriage to the prince who she thought she was just second in ranking compared to her sister.

In the process she trains under one of the strongest mages in the kingdom.
Viol is known to cold, shortcut and not interested in women or actually any social activity.

The training reveals the tiny beginnings of what love may really feel like to Viol who never expected to have these kinda feeling and to Seren
who only knows the one-sided admiration for the prince.

---------------------

The book is not slow burn, it's not burning at all.
So if you enjoy a cozy slow but insanely adorable love story, I have high hopes it will be just that.
I will continue this series as I think it's perfect for the beginning of fall...
🍂🍁🥮

[Lucee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was a cute little palate cleanser!

As with most light novels in my experience, there wasn't much going on, which was honestly refreshing for my semi-book-slumped brain. Seren was a fun character to follow, and I liked that her reaction to the revelation at the beginning was different than expected. If most MCs found out their fiance of 10+ years didn't want to marry them and was more attracted to their sister, they would be furious. I know I would be! Seren understood the difficult position he was in with their arrangement though, and, despite being understandably heartbroken, decided to take matters into her own hands and dissolve the agreement without his knowledge.

Her relationship with Viol is endearing, and I loved seeing him change because of his feelings for her throughout the story. Sure, they might not've interacted "face-to-face" very much as far as she knows, but I think the author gave us enough basis for her growing feelings to be believable.

All in all, this was a fun break from my usual literary fare, and I'll definitely read the sequel!

[Kym · Rating 1 out of 5]

disappointing

This book had potential, but I DNF’d it at the 4th chapter because nothing had happened at that point. Well, some pretty tedious things did, but nothing to really catch your interest. It is painfully boring, and probably a contributing factor was the language. It’s a fantasy, so one wouldn’t expect both narrative and characters to sound like the book was written by an American adolescent. The plot is YA, but it was written at about 3rd or 4th grade reading level. This story is a sort of fairytale, yet it lacks the sophistication even children expect in the genre.
Anyway, proceed with caution with this. Regrettably, I spent actual money on it. I wish I’d checked the library first.

[Aria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Multiple-person perspective! I really love the way it's used here because we get to see from the get-go that our MC Lady Seren is not the most reliable narrator. Very relatable to see someone being their own worst critic (which is understandable, seeing the way people act around her) and interesting to see how she works when given positive reinforcement from an unlikely source.

Honestly picked this up cuz I thought it was just a one shot quick read but turns out I need to get more volumes...what happens next, am emotionally invested now?

Originally posted on Instagram.

[Siu Lum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seren believes that she doesn't deserve to be Queen and comes up with a plan to break her engagement to Prince Helios.

She asks High Mage Viol to find a tutor for her so that she can become a High Mage. Viol agrees and he shapeshifts into a cat to teach Seren magic. He introduces himself as Viol's familiar. LOL

Their interactions are sweet and you can't help but root for the both of them.

Seren's relationship with Prince Helios is interesting and they really suffer from lack of communication.

I can't wait to read the next volume.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tangled skein of feelings

So many misunderstood social interactions in one book. It’s quite amazing really. Thankfully it’s a really good book and I’m not sure how it’s going to play out yet. I’m looking forward to book 2, but hopefully it will resolve some of the X loves Y loves X and Z who loves Y as well, and the socially inept prince and duke’s daughter and mage will figure out what they’ve got going.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really took a long break between like the first page that I read and finishing this book, but it was worth going back to. I do like the characters, for the most part, but there are some that are still fulfilling a lot of tired shoujo manga/light novel/otome game tropes. I like that the main characters are intelligent, competent people, although I still think the biggest conflict driving this book is kind of stupid. Will still read the next one.

[MV · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the beginning of this book, but it slowly became a bit too repetitive for me. Mostly around Seren and Viol's interactions - it felt like most of his dialogue + inner monologue was him constantly marveling over how studious and dedicated she is.

I'm also not a big fan of the misunderstandings trope, which is the direction the last 30% or so started to go in.

On a positive note though, I really like Viol, and actually quite a lot of the side characters.

[Christina Blank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I really enjoy these characters, and I really am enjoying the progress of the story. Though it does make you want to grab somebody and make them talk to each other. All these people need therapy. But it be interesting to see how it turns out. The way they set it up if you do either way. So you can’t assume That it’s gonna be a normal ending. It’s not massively predictable. Just somewhat predictable.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plot twist from the usual end-my-engagement scenario. It turns out that several men are interested in Seren, and trying to distract her fiancé with her sister to get him out of the way. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to everyone else,
Seren overheard the conversation and has taken steps to be a mage and sidestep the engagement issue altogether.

If I had to guess, Viol is the obvious choice for the ML, but surprisingly other characters are getting screen time and ending up rather sympathetic.

[Natasha]

dnf @ 51%—the premise of this book is so intriguing, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired (and made me Quite Frustrated). the writing style comes across as quite immature despite the characters apparently being quite mature + seren’s characterisation leaning towards potential mary sue status means i have been dragging my feet reading this and i gotta bow out before i’m more disappointed. such a shame though because this series is quite short (and complete)!

[My · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many of the usual "the FL is so plain and boring" tropes but the story doesn't read as toxic at all (even if I would like to sit everyone in timeout so they can all ✨ communicate ✨), and I'm only annoyed at one character so far! Quite interested to see where Seren winds up - except it's not a series I would prioritize at the moment.

[Wendy El Blog de Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado más de lo que esperaba. Los diferentes POV y cómo va desarrollándose la historia en sí, me han sorprendido y resultado muy interesantes; punto muy positivo tras venir de otra que esperaba algo más y no me gustó nada.

Hoy mismo empiezo con la segunda parte y a ver con qué me encuentro juju

[Dantegideon · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are kind of too many people in love with her, but apart from that it’s good.

[SL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable, but still fun!

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, definitely a series I'm keeping my eye on and hoping it becomes a webcomic. I love the different perspectives and how it shows us a much larger picture.

[Aki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm. This was a cute story. Poor Princess Seren doesn’t realize that she has a male harem. I found Marietta extremely annoying. And I was super annoyed with Helios, the crown prince. 3.5 stars.

[Mk · Rating 4 out of 5]

gets repetitive in the second half when they start showing the same scene from multiple perspectives with no real additions but otherwise very cute

[Diana Ploch · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute, fluffy

Definitely geared for a younger audience, but adorable. Basically a cutesy book, light on substance, but contains all the generic teenage angst.

[Jennifer Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with a Mc that's smart & stays true to herself.