(arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review)
 

This paranormal romance really took me back to the old days. This first volume follows a human, Kagari, who is a rare "honey-blood" in a society where vampires and human feeders, called Pabulum, live alongside each other. Her rare blood type has intoxicatingly scented, high-quality blood that can send vampires into a frenzy from the smallest scrapes, so she's been assigned a special vampire bodyguard, an 'SP' named Ryotaro, to protect her. She's stubborn yet useless without him, and he's completely devoted yet has a possessive, sadistic streak, so you just know they have a complicated relationship that blurs passion and duty and is full of banter that hides their true feelings for each other! 

As far as the relationship goes, this manga really delivered! I liked the back and forth between them. Kagari's methods of trying to get closer to him were cute and funny, and though others might not care for it, I do enjoy possessive love interests, so Ryotaro's side of things and his teasing were sweet to me. I'm interested in exploring their backstory and the deeper bond that seems to be between them, and this had both a strong beginning and ending, with that cliffhanger! 

This was a good introductory novel for their basic situation, relationship, and clear conflicts that will happen down the line, but I was left with questions about the worldbuilding that I would have expected to have answered in the first volume. I'm pretty sure 'SP' stands for something, but what? Why is Kagari referred to as a princess? Is she really royalty, or is it just a pet name? (If so, why do other characters use 'sama' for her?) And most importantly, was it necessary for Ryotaro to drink from her toes?? I think I expected something different after that strong first page and was left with a sense of confusion throughout reading. It seemed like it was going to be a much darker story, but instead, this volume was mostly comedic and lighthearted. The author's note promises the next volume will be much darker than this one, so as it appears, I think my questions about their backstory will at least be answered which will probably have to be enough for me. 

Overall, I liked this manga well enough, and would recommend it to someone looking for a vampire romance, especially if they were a fan of something like Vampire Knight! I'll be keeping an eye out for volume 2.