Book Review- Stepping on Roses vol 1 by Rinko Ueda

((pre-review talk-Sorry for lack of reviews lately. It'll be made up in the coming week!))

Title: Stepping on Roses vol 1

 Author: Rinko Ueda

Series:  Stepping on Roses (barefooted) #1

Published:   April 6th 2010 by VIZ Media LLC(first published in 2008)

Length:200 pages

Warnings: adult situations. You get my drift.

Source: library

Summary : A rags-to-riches romance from the creator of Tail of the Moon! Poor Sumi Kitamura… Her irresponsible older brother Eisuke keeps bringing home orphans for her to take care of even though they can barely afford their own basic needs! Just when Sumi's financial problems become dire, wealthy Soichiro Ashida enters her life with a bizarre proposition--he'll provide her with the money she so desperately needs if she agrees to marry him. But can Sumi pull off fooling high society into thinking she's a proper lady? Moreover, is it worth it to give everything up for this sham of a marriage?

Review: Sumi is a poor girl. And the fact her gambling brother keeps bringing home orphans for them to raise together doesn’t help. She has no idea how she’ll pay the rent or get food. Then Soichiro finds her, and makes her a deal: if she marries him, she can have all the money she needs, and more. But she’s already in love with the guy who gave her something when she was in the streets begging (and this guy just happens to be one of Soichiro’s friends, who they meet fairly often), and sooner or later she has to think about whether it’s really worth it, just for the money.

I’ll start straight: this isn’t my kind of thing. Romance with nothing else in it, except conflict about that romance, is not my thing. I picked it up at the library because it was there and I’d heard Rina-chan talking about it.

the writing and the general plot line was ok. It had a good set up, and middle climax (technical term? Probably not. That’s what I call a high point halfway through a story) but the end seemed a little lacking.

Soichiro wasn’t likeable for me in any way, but at some part I do feel a tlittle sympathetic towards him. A little. But not much. Sumi I liked, but she wasn’t the kind of leading girl that I like. I like the fact that she tried to look after the little kiddies they took in, and did a fairly good job of it all, but after that, she just seemed a little too easy to persuade, not standing up strong enough for me. Then again, I’m not sure what I’d do in her situation. But still. I never really felt I could connect with any of these characters.

I really liked the art in this. It was all very flowy, and soft shading. This suits its role for a shojo manga, especially one centred around romance.

So I’ve told you why I didn’t like it all that much. However, there are some people I can see enjoying this kind of thing. Fans of romance, romantic conflict and to a slight extent chick lit, as there’s no way at all I can see an unhappy ending, will probably all enjoy this.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to something I didn’t particularly like, but someone else might.