Notice: All Harlequin titles are only available as Kindle Books from Amazon, or on the eManga website. There are to date no printed page versions, and no plans for printed versions either.
ISBN-13: 9784596951069
Language: English
Direction: Right to Left
Pages: 128
by: Sara Nakayama (Art), Kim Lawrence (Original Story)
Publisher: Harlequin K.K
Type: Mini-series, One-Shot
Genre: Josei, Drama, RomanceSynopsis:
Lost during a vacation in Italy, Erin meets an astonishingly handsome man riding his black horse. The two fall in love instantly, and they marry after only 5 days. She only knows him as Francesco, but he is, in fact, Europe’s wealthiest banker! The dramatic changes in her life leave Erin confused, and she ends up accusing her husband of infidelity. Francesco is of no help as he refuses to console her, and their marriage slowly deteriorates…
ISBN-13: 9784596951038
Language: English
Direction: Right to Left
Pages: 128
by: Kako Ito (Art), Martha Ann Ford (Original Story) Publisher: Harlequin K.K
Type: Mini-Series, One-Shot
Genre: Josei, Drama, RomanceSynopsis:
"You’ve been chosen to date a billionaire!" Beth is startled to receive such a phone call. It appears her neighbor entered her in a competition without telling her! The prize is a date with Kane, a famous billionaire, but Beth is not interested and rejects this golden opportunity. The news reaches Kane and his heart is ignited�no woman could ever reject him, could she? His pride hurt, Kane vows to win over Beth’s heart!
ISBN-13: 9784596951236
Language: English
Direction: Right to Left
Pages: 128
by: Sami Fujimoto (Art), Metsy Hingle (Original Story)
Publisher: Harlequin K.K
Type: Mini-Series, One-Shot
Genre: Josei, Drama, RomanceSynopsis:
Jacque and Liza were once deeply in love. They shared many happy moments until she discovered she was pregnant. Jacque had never wanted to have a child and always told her, "What I can give you is passion and friendship, no more than that." Therefore, she decided to raise the child alone and left Jacque without telling him anything. Three years have passed since then, when Liza unexpectedly meets him again. Knowing nothing about what happened to her 3 years ago, Jacque tries to seduce her, full of passion and irresistible charm. How can Liza keep hiding their child from him?
Claiming his Pregnant Bride
I neither liked nor disliked this particular volume. There was noting about it that really got me laughing, crying, or relating to the characters.
That’s not to say the volume was bad, because it wasn’t. As far as these style of mini manga goes I found it to be fairly decent. However it lacked anything to set it apart from the others Harlequin have released of late. In fact giving the large number of Harlequin titles May be what caused the lack of interest in a way.
Sara’s art is okay, and pretty generic for the genre. However that generic style helps to contribute to the problems. In fact there was only two part panels where I thought “she looks cute†the rest were just “mehâ€. Given how short these volumes are (128pages on average), art is one of the few areas where they can unleash their potential and reel in the readers.
Francisco really got to me to be honest. Over the course of the volume I found him to be irritating and a bit over-bearing. I also felt the way he treats Erin, his so called “life love†was rather disappointing. Sure he does get his act together at the end, but then it’s Erin who flops around like a landed fish. I found her not so much as unlikeable, but rather just plain to the point of depressing. Then towards the end I found her annoying. Though I have to admit that the very end did make me smile a little, since it was a little funny.
Harlequin have adapted the story fairly well, with all of the main elements there I guess. Though I have to admit the best part of the volume was the editing. They (Harlequin) have come along in leaps and bounds since they first arrived on the scene. the fonts and editing in this volume were done pretty well, only a few small speech bubbles with kanji left behind, with the english translation next to it. In this situation I think it would have been better to completely remove the bubbles and just leave the english text on it’s own.
Overall it’s not a bad volume, just not an exciting one.
A Date with a Billionaire
I loved this volume, I found it funny and really well drawn. The two leads of this volume, Kane and Beth are two characters easy to like. Kako draws them really well, but their design is just a part of it. Kako’s art style mixed with the personality the characters have brings out an exciting story that’s funny as hell to read.
The art is perfectly done with a lot of comic moments where it was hard not to chuckle. I really liked Kane as the lead, while he has the arrogance you expect in a mega rich guy he also has moments which really do make you laugh. His expressions and reactions to Beth are just so funny it’s hard not to laugh at them.
The same is true with Beth, though I wasn’t sure about her at first. While I liked her character designs, and the art comedy scenes were funny, I wasn’t sure she was strong enough to carry the story. However, I’m glad to have been proven wrong. I really liked how she changed over the course of the volume, and the “Cinderella†style ending worked really well, and again it was hard not to chuckle over it.
Once again Harlequin do a decent, but not perfect job. Once again we have kanji with english translations left together. Just remove the kanji guys! However this time we also have some missing translations, though these were just some minor SFX the lack of the translations was noticeable due to all the others been done.
However in the end I do like this volume, well worth the read and a good attempt to bring life to the story.
Lovechild
This one was rather weird, in that I can’t make my mind up whether I like it or not. On the one hand the characters were likeable and well drawn. But on the other hand there was nothing really exciting about the volume.
Sami’s art is pretty much what you expect for the genre. Jacque is a well drawn character who looks the pretty boy womaniser he’s supposed to be. I do like his character design and it’s pretty stable throughout the volume.
Liza is an interesting character, in that she’s a good looking woman who knows it. Usually the women are usually “commoners†who don’t understand their own beauty, or try to deny it for some reason. Liza therefore makes a refreshing change from the norm.
Their relationship has a pretty decent flow throughout the volume, but it’s hard not to feel the ending is rushed. Especially the very end where he goes from running away from Liza and his son, to proposing and publically announcing his love for her.
I have no complaints with Harlequin this time. They hit the nail on the head with their editing in this volume. Good size fonts, well placed, and no left over kanji or un-translated bits. Frankly it’s as perfect as it needs to be and I hope this is their new standard from now on.
