Manga Review: A Witch's Printing Office, Volume 1, by Mochinchi and Yasuhiro Miyama

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: December 2019

Volumes: 4+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Mika Kamiya was a completely average girl on her way back home from Japan's biggest amateur comics and book-selling event, Comic Market...until she got whisked off to a parallel fantasy world! To get back home, Mika is going to have to look for transportation magic at the magic tome-selling event, Magic Market!

Review:

This is about a girl protagonist who has been transported to another world. Mika is from modern day Tokyo, only she's been transported to a DnD-type world, where everyone knows at least some type of magic. In her efforts to find a way back home, and since she was on her way to Comiket when she was transported, she starts up the Magic Market and her very own printing press. It's quite innovative for a girl on her own in a new world.

I didn't really get much of a feel for the actual characters. Mika is okay, a little odd and rather normal. She is pretty smart, quick on her feet, and optimistic. She has the witch Claire at her side all the time, who seems to just follow along to humor what Mika is doing, in a nice way. We meet a handful of other characters. Broadway, the knight who guards Mika and seems to admire her, was sweet. There's a tiny bit of fanservice, but mostly this was a safe, more pg volume.

I'm not a big high fantasy reader, and this was a little slow and word-heavy, but it was kind of fun and very pretty. It's an interesting mix of DnD, isekai, and comic convention that I definitely don't mind.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Novel Review: The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance; Geeky

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2016

Spoilers?: Yes.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Archie and Veronica. Althena and Noth.…Graham and Roxy?

Graham met his best friend, Roxy, when he moved into her neighborhood eight years ago and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.

But now they’re sixteen, still neighbors, still best friends. And Graham and Roxy share more than ever—moving on from their Harry Potter obsession to a serious love of comic books.

When Graham learns that the creator of their favorite comic, The Chronicles of Althena, is making a rare appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con, he knows he must score tickets. And the event inspires Graham to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he really feels about her. He’s got three days to woo his best friend at the coolest, kookiest con full of superheroes and supervillains. But no one at a comic book convention is who they appear to be…even Roxy. And Graham is starting to realize fictional love stories are way less complicated than real-life ones.

The Cover:

I think this cover is super cute. It's definitely what attracted me to the book in the first place, but I always lean toward the geeky books. I think that the title is done really well, in that fun comic font, and that the boy on the cover just sells the image.

Review:

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I wanted something different from it. Which is my problem more than the books'. But, really, I just love a good childhood-friends-to-lovers romance, and that's what I wanted.

So, spoilers, there.

Graham has been in love with Roxy for forever. They've been friends for forever. And he's finally decided that he's going to romance her, and he's going to do it at comic-con. He has a few things planned out, but several of them keep falling through. And then, while it's all falling apart, so does his confession. Because it happens, only she's not really into him that way?

I will say that I loved all of the geeking, and the comic-con dressing and makings friends and the speed-dating. Graham meets a girl at comic-con, and the friendship forming there was nice. I also liked the two best friends that tagged along to the con. Roxy and Graham also have pretty cool families, though Roxy's is more strict.

I liked the book, and it was fun. All of the parts were good. I just wanted something else from the romance, is all, and I was hopeful at the beginning (because I did read the synopsis and the warning in it), but disappointed at the end. It was still good, though, and I will probably try another book of hers.