Wolf Girl and Black Prince, Vol. 1 (Wolf Girl and Black Prince, #1)

by Ayuko Hatta

[Quirky Cat]

Summary:

Erika is one of those girls who will do a lot to fit it. For example, she'll happily lie about having a boyfriend (including creating extravagant situations they've been in). That was all well and good for a while, but her "friends" are starting to catch on.

So what's a girl to do? Clearly, Erika's only option is to get a boy to pretend to be her boyfriend. The good news is that she found somebody who will do the job. The bad news is that he's a bit of a jerk and wants her to be his dog in exchange.

Review:

Okay, so there's a lot to unpackage in Wolf Girl and the Black Prince Vol. 1. I can see why people have either a love or hate relationship with the series (and I'm only one volume in!). The good: there are a lot of fun romantic tropes in here (enemies-to-lovers, fake boyfriend, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, etc.).

The bad news is Kyoya's behavior. I get that he's supposed to be a hurt soul that Erika will presumably heal (we even get to see the start of that in the first volume). It grated on me every time he called Erika a dog. Nobody deserves that.

At the end of the day, I just find myself wishing that Erika had a good friend in her life to tell her that if she needs to lie to keep her friends happy, they really aren't her friends. It's a lesson most of us have to learn at some point (or close enough, at any rate), so it hurts to see her coming up against that wall.

Highlights:
Shojo
Contemporary Romance
Odd Romantic Situation
Enemies-to-lovers potential
Forced Proximity

Trigger Warnings:
Controlling Behavior

Will I continue the series? Eh. Probably not. I don't think my library has the rest anyway, so it's a moot point.

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