Bitchie's Books

*I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

I am writing this as more of a review for the whole series, because I truly feel like you can't read any of these as stand alone, and I think that they would have been better served edited down into just one, maybe two books.

This series is set in the Japanese world of J-pop stars, and I truly think the reader would get the most out of this series if they were more familiar with that world. The series is filled with honorifics and societal norms that are quite unfamiliar to someone like me. I kept getting pulled out of the story trying to figure out what something meant, or how things were done. There was also reference to several different bands (at least two, Hiro's group and Ryuu's group), tv series, movies, game shows, and interviews, which I think dragged the story down at times. I found myself skimming the bits that didn't further Hiro and Ryuu's relationship in any way.

I did really enjoy the characters, although Ryuu did have his frustrating moments. Hiro, though, was an absolute, quirky, happy go lucky dream.

The series is told from Ryuu's POV solely, and I would have LOVED to get at least some of Hiro's POV. His thoughts and feels were a bit of a mystery, I just wanted to know more of what he was thinking throughout the story.

Book one focuses entirely on introducing the readers to the characters and to the setting, with absolutely none of the romance coming into play. It starts out with Ryuu determined to beat Hiro at Tetris, and it just grows from there, to hanging out trying to get one up on Hiro, to what became a really solid friendship between the two young men. It was a lot of fun, if a bit frustrating to this reader, because there is absolutely NO romance in this installment, but trust me people, that part IS coming!