I was intrigued by the idea of a Harlequin Manga- I love Harlequin novels for their offer of a quick escape from real life where the stories follow a comfortable, well known story path. Add in the manga art and I was looking forward to a new dimension to the story!
Because of the nature of manga novels, I will review the art and the story separately.
Art: 4 stars
The artwork, for the most part, is a beautiful addition- especially in a story where the h is an artist. Unfortunately, there were several pages where the style abruptly changed and almost looked like a draft page or from a completely different artist. -1 star for that, took me right out of the story
Story: 3 stars
I understand that the manga version of a previously published novel would be slightly watered down- art takes up a lot of the page, is likely more time intensive and therefore expensive to produce, if released in print you want to keep page size down (I read in eBook format). However this story is EXTREMELY watered down and has what feel like quantum leaps in plot. It's like it is only the big stops of that comfortable story path I mentioned which leaves out really building the chemistry between characters. For a romance novel that is still important!
The story itself is good- and it makes me want to pick up the original publication this version is based on. -1 star for the watered down version and -1 star for LEAVING OUT AN EPILOGUE! *spoiler* I read reviews of the original novel and discovered there was an epilogue that shows them having a baby. Children are a huge source of the H's angst, even in the manga version, so that epilogue should have absolutely been included. Shame on the artist/editor/whatever decision maker for leaving that out!
Final verdict- I look forward to reading the original novel and getting the full story- epilogue included!- and think I will consider reading the full length versions before picking up the manga copy (if they are all based on previously published novels). The artwork definitely added a great layer to the story but I still want to know the full story.
Content warnings: cancer, infertility, finding a parent is not the biological parent
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
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From the Publisher
Sneak Peek !
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Harlequin Comics
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