Harrison, Mette Ivie - The Princess and the Hound

George is the prince of a country that demonizes and punishes bearers of animal magic, even though he wields that power. He's grown up wedded to duty and taught to think of the country before himself, and that's how he comes to his betrothal to Beatrice, princess of a former enemy country.

Beatrice herself is cold and wounded, and soon, George finds that he cares much more for her than duty calls for.

This book suffers from a lot of pacing problems. The first five chapters are so are all on George's childhood and how he deals with the death of his mother and his stern, just, loving father, who seems to love him, but as a king loves his subject. By the end of chapter two or so, I was rolling my eyes and asking the author to get on with it. Of course, some of this is because I picked the book up for the princess, but a lot of the chapters really could have been condensed. The book doesn't really start until George meets Beatrice.

I loved Beatrice; she's dangerous and cold and hurt and strong. There's also something very interesting going on with her and her beloved dog, Marit.

There's a plot twist in the book that I predicted long before it happened. I didn't want things to happen as I predicted, but they did. But in the end, it wasn't as bad as I thought -- Harrison doesn't stop at the resolution of the secret. I like that the book doesn't stop at the declaration of love; it takes the time to go beyond that. I also like that everything isn't magically solved by the end. There's a sense that there's still a lot of work to be done.

( Spoilers )

So, in the end I liked it, enough to keep an eye out for Harrison's next book.

Links:
- buymeaclue on the first few chapters (I wasn't lying when I said it had pacing problems!)

Mizuki Shioko - Crossroad, vol. 01-07 (Eng. trans.)

This started out as an incredibly promising series and then went downhill fast.

I loved the first volume. Kajitsu has two brothers who aren't actually related to her by blood. They were all raised for a while by Rumiko, who isn't any of their biological mothers, but who dated their fathers (they all have separate fathers). Rumiko left, and Kajitsu, Natsu and Taro were all separated.

Now, Kajitsu's grandmother has just died, and Natsu and Taro have returned, and they decide to try things out as a family. They also acquire a new (non-blood-related) little sister, courtesy of Rumiko abandoning yet another kid.

I loved the tone of the first book, which focused on loneliness and how family isn't necessary a function of blood relations. I particularly liked Kajitsu's prickliness and her loner nature, and the distance between her and Natsu.

Unfortunately, the rest of the series is about random shoujo romances, all in an attempt to keep Kajitsu and Natsu apart until the final volume. The mangaka introduces a ton of new characters I was completely uninterested in, and she (and everyone) focuses on Kajitsu becoming "cuter" and more open to people. I just wanted to yell that I liked prickly, awkward, rough Kajitsu and didn't want her to become cuter!

( Spoilers )

Sigh. Too bad. Maybe I'll just reread the first volume and pretend the rest doesn't exist.