“It’s like we’re two trees secretly sharing nutrients underground, two stars orbiting around all the things there’s no language for.”

TL;DR Loved it! A pleasant spin on the usual YA insta-love filled with family, emotions, self-esteem, and teens wondering about their futures.

Lovely! The romance played it straight with the insta-love and fate. Rex and Carli’s love was fluffy, giddy, the slightest bit corny, and light-hearted.

I was surprised that romance wasn’t the only draw here. There was a lot of focus on family, upbringing, and the usual growing pains of becoming a young adult. Carli has loving parents who are divorcing for a reason unbeknownst to her, whereas Rex has a hands-off, single father who spends all his time away from home as a brain surgeon. Those different family dynamics definitely affected Carli and Rex in a lot of different ways. Just seeing how both of them handled emotions and their family situations really fleshed out their characters. For one point, Rex’s mom died in childbirth with him, which adds another layer of longing in him for love.

The characters aren’t perfect, and they have a lot of emotional outbursts. Carli was relatable with trying to narrow down her career/life purpose. I, too, hated having to have an idea of what you want to seemingly do for the rest of your life. For that reason, I struggled with picking a major for college. Carli’s also good at basketball, but it’s nothing she wholeheartedly loves. She had so many different interests from art to mythology to random trivia. I liked her! She was level-headed but still playful, just trying to figure life out.

I enjoyed that Rex wasn’t the typical playboy, ball hog star player. He got emotional and desperately yearned for love. He had an ingrained habit of hiding his hurt and pain down low within himself. Obviously, those feelings burst forth at some point. Unlike most YA leads, due to his lack of parenting, he desired a stricter upbringing.

I wished at some point Rex went to therapy, a school counselor, or read a book or something. He kept bottling up a lot of his feelings, and he needed someone besides Carli to unload that on.

He felt like a real person, and, at times, I wanted to slap him into next week when he acted a dee-diddle-fool. BUT I always get why he behaved a certain way. I like that. I don’t have to agree with a character’s actions, but I understand them.

Cole, Carli’s brother, is a goofy, hopeful romantic who was sensitive and majorly in touch with his feelings. Carli and he get along great. I always adore seeing sibling relationships where they don’t revolve solely around fighting.

Also, I loved Carli’s mom, Barbra. I get so tired of the long-suffering wife who puts up with all her husband’s foolery, so she was such a breath of fresh air.

I enjoyed reading this immensely! The narrative voice felt crisp and authentic. The whole relationship didn't just revolve around sex though there were a bit of some sexual shenanigans. The pacing was great, and I connected with the characters. I would definitely recommend reading this even for non-romance readers or non-sports fans! There is a lot of heart in this story. One thing, at times, Rex was creepyyyyy. Like, You “Joe” creepy. Still, read this!

ending spoiler:

I'm glad they broke up. it was too much drama tho the ending is certainly hopeful.

Uh no. A bit run of the mill with the usual shoujo tropes. Enra is too grabby and touchy-feely. The artwork is nice, and the MC is the daughter of a lawyer and public prosecutor.

3.5

"Punpun was going to study hard and get into the Tokyo University science department... and then he'd join an underground organization devoted to studying nuclear power... Then he'd destroy the world. As if— that's a big lie...!"

Ehh, I think this series is really gritty, depressing, and shows the real scope of morality and emotions that humans have. Sometimes we're self-serving, grieving, terribly jealous, etc.

Punpun is going through a lot. For one point, he wants to hate a popular guy but realizes he's a decent guy, so Punpun is between hating him for stealing the object of his affection and liking him. His conflicts with growing up and his family are interesting (and definitely relatable to some).
Seki and the happy-go-lucky dude are there also. Their friendship(?) is really sweet. Seki is still affected by the events of volume one. That's cool and all, but this volume focuses a lot on Punpun's uncle.

What a hot-behind mess. First, this dude (the uncle) is lacking in social grace and tells the first woman who has shown romantic interest in years like "just so you know I for real, for real was jacking off to the thought of you before our date... just so you know. "DUDE! WHAT!?! The lady calls him out and asks him why he's trying to purposefully turn her off from him. And he tells her his RAW story. It involves an abused high school girl, and it just gets really sleazy from there. The sex scenes are really blunt. The uncle is also dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts as well.

Anyway, I think literature buffs, art-porn lovers, and people who see the beauty in the ugly will really like this series. It is mostly realistic (High-school girl's backstory was some next-level stuff [not saying this has never happened but it was ramped up to 10]).

But I don't plan to continue reading. It's not for me

[rating based on personal enjoyment; your mileage may vary]
+ Excellent artwork
+ Cool theme of basically a Fall festival
+ Acknowledges how you can be in love with the idea/fantasy of a person without really knowing them
- Josiah "Josie" is boring
- Deja's whole existence is to be Josie's friend

and to have those longing gazes for this bland dude

- Her character is "dates a bunch of people and likes food."

I like that she's so personable and outgoing, but, instead of centering around how many bf/gfs she's had maybe bring it back to her not being afraid to talk to people. With the sighing-girl, when Josie's like how did you date her? Deja could've been like "I wouldn't have thought so either until she asked me out. Get it, Josie? You never know until you make a move." That would have been interesting and you learn a little about her hobbies/events she frequents that way.

- She needed a side-plot of her own or some type of event centering around her that was not food-related
- No, to that half-baked-trash love confession.

Good on Deja for halfway calling it out. Why she gotta be 2nd place/ his plan B? He didn't authentically come to realize he had some type of feelings for her. He was just like Marcy hates the pumpkin festival? Well, I love you, Deja. I always have. You're October, you're Fall, you're the sun and the moon.

Little boy, where is this coming from!?! I would've bumped up the rating if Josiah had an epiphany before he got to Marcy. As it is now, Deja's just a placeholder until he gets who he really wants.

SN: Deja's very direct, so I'm surprised she kept her feelings secret for so long. He's soooo bland like cornbread, but there's something she likes about him, I guess.

(*) Y'know, I'm not sure about page/story constraints, but I would have liked to learn some cool tidbits about our two main characters. Like, while they were on this goose-chase, it could've been cool for them to talk about their life or something outside of Marcy.

The fact that I hate all things pumpkin-flavored did not in any way influence this review.

I’m just not in the age range for this, and it shows. I just don’t like Chloe as a protagonist. She’s too bland. Perhaps, she is meant to be like a blank canvas who kids can self-insert themselves too.
There’s a lot going on in this volume: Chole gets a blog, Chloe and friends protest against an unfair teacher, Chloe and her Dad get addicted to computer time, Chloe befriends a group of 6th graders, Chloe’s brother takes care of the school hamster, and a winter break vacation.

Chloe’s still vain but much nicer in this volume (though she lives for power haha). This volume just felt so dry. I wish Chloe and her supporting cast were more interesting. Fatouma’s just there to help Chloe learn about non-violent protests and tell the popular girls off, Mark just has a lisp and is good at computers, and Alex is her cute boyfriend, I guess.

Overall, this is a much longer volume with the same cute illustrations. The way the teacher protest ended felt way too easy, but, hopefully, this inspires kids to speak up more.

1.5 stars

Story:
I don't understand the purpose of this manga. It seems like the mangaka tried to make the most unlikeable bunch of characters possible in sixteen chapters. The main characters are hard to connect with excluding Nico, and the story is more violent than I expected with a lot of blood and knives and guns.

Characters:
Edgar had no redeeming value; he was manipulative and abusive. He also choked a chick out with his bare hands and barely blinked, which is dark for a shoujo manga. I don't know if he loved his friends/servants or not,

as one of his closest friends jumped off a cliff

, and the guy got over it within two pages.

Lydia is a basic girl, who, at times, shows her independence only for Edgar to swoon her out of it. She's reminiscent of the classic horror movie chick because she doesn't know when to leave a creepy situation. Edgar has endangered her life enough, and the chick still doesn't know how to leave.

When she was finally able to return home

, I thought she had grown beyond Edgar, but apparently, his manipulation knew no bounds. Lydia should be thankful for her magical animal sidekick, Nico. I like that she wasn't “completely” spineless, but that is all.

Ermine is okay but like Raven, her undying loyalty to Edgar confuses me.

Her ties to that prince were never explained well

. Ermine and Raven are the only non-English characters, who I guess are Japanese or some other race. I wish she could have more personality than fawning over some guy.

Raven, a kid housing a murderous spirit, is an emotionless shell that would give his sanity and life to Edgar at a moment's notice. I wish this guy actually had a personality. He's like a living gun only existing for someone to pull the trigger.

Nico is my absolute favorite. He had common sense, leadership skills, and a cute fluffy tail.

Art:
The artwork is good. It meets the standard of crisp lines, fashionable clothes, and pretty scenery. The eyes are a bit blurry, though.

Overall:
In conclusion, I don't think this was a good story. I have read many cliche stories before that I have loved for one reason: the characters. In Hakushaku to Yousei, there is not one human character that I liked, and that is why I found this story a struggle to finish. Not to mention it had a lackluster ending. This manga may have worked better as a psychological story.

Y'all I did not like this story. I understand it's a widely-loved book, but it was not for me. There are three parts to the story, so I am going to split the review into portions.

"Somewhere in this cosmos was Miyax; and the very life in her body, its spark and warmth, depended upon these wolves for survival. And she was not sure they would help" (pg 6).

STORY:

PART 1-

In Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead (pg 170), I did not care about Miyax naming all those wolves. "I will name you Jello, and you Silver, and you this, and you that..." Girl, please stop talking. The entire beginning of the book Miyax/Julie learns from wolves. Now, I like wolves a lot (they are beautiful and dangerous) but it got boring to read about their antics. Miyax's father, Kapugen, is missing and presumed dead but his words stay with Miyax always. She finds an adoptive father figure in a wolf named Amaroq.

Personally, I just could not find any excitement in this book. Miyax being a child bride was vaguely interesting.

PART 2-

I knew Daniel, the child groom of Miyax, was creepy when he was first introduced. A certain scene when he tried to force himself onto Miyax solidified that. Thankfully nothing happened but, gosh I was just as disturbed as her. Also, I'm not sure if the book was hinting that Daniel had a mental disability or just extreme paranoia.

PART 3-

"He walked you out all the way to seal camp," Martha told her. "And he never did anything after that" (pg 76).
A close friend of Miyax's dies and she discovers her father's aftermath. Needless to say, I was not impressed. To be honest, I mean Miyax did not have much of a reaction either just, "okay, I'm going to San Franciso."

OVERALL:

I was excited to read some diverse fiction, but Julie of the Wolves disappointed me. I want to say it's because I am not in the intended age range, but I have read countless kids' books that I enjoyed. Concerning the art, I liked the wolf illustrations but not the human ones. The artwork is made up of quick pen hatch lines, so when it comes to human eyes, they look like full black ovals. ¡No está bien!

Yeah, I don't really recommend this, but it is a fast read.