BL Library - Single Volume / Short Series / One-Shot

Novel Review | Salad Days by Jing Shuibian

Title: Salad Days

Author(s): Jing Shuibian

Jiang Shen is a poor boy in a rural village. He spends his days playing with friends out in the rice paddy fields, helping his father work the fields, chasing wild chickens, and fishing. The most time he ever spends in the city is when his mother takes the vegetable harvest to sell. While his mother is busy in the city, Jiang Shen usually spends his time exploring the Children’s Center, where he stumbles upon a ballet class. The teacher catches him looking and invites him in, where she discovers he may have an innate talent for ballet. It isn’t long before Jiang Shen’s focus goes from his idyllic village days to something much larger and grander.

On the other end of the spectrum is Bai Jinyi. He comes from a filthy rich family and wants for nothing. He spends his days training at the Children’s Center in boxing, with his goal being to go international and win the gold belt. However, while attending training one day, an unusual sight catches his eye: a little boy among a gaggle of girls in a ballet class. Inexplicably, Bai Jinyi becomes drawn to this little boy, and for once in his life, Jiang Shen is the one thing he wants, even more than boxing.

They say the rich never box and the poor never dance. Yet, Jiang Shen and Bai Jinyi are set to defy those odds. As the two grow and change and their dreams grow more and more focused, the one thing that keeps them tethered together is their growing feelings for each other. So, can these happy days continue for two boys whose paths would never have crossed otherwise? And can they grasp their dreams while holding onto each other?

Title: Hello, I am a Witch and my Crush Wants me to Make a Love Potion!

Author(s): Eiko Mutsuhana

Artist(s): vient

Rose is a witch – a being that lives outside of the laws of any country, government, or man. Since she is a being separate from humans, she has lived in isolation on the city’s outskirts her entire life. As a result, Rose isn’t the most socialized person in the world. To make matters worse, the only reason witches can use magic is due to the singular rule they can never break: they can never tell a lie. This leads to almost all of Rose’s conversations being vague responses, riddles, or just non-responses. This has never been an issue, though, since she lives alone, and the only people she interacts with are her guardian, Tien, and the occasional customer seeking out her potions.

Her peaceful existence is rocked, though, when a man she happened to fall in love with four years prior suddenly arrives on her hermitage’s doorstep. He is part of the royal guard and is a nobleman in his own right by the name of Harij. Rose encountered him once in the market after her grandmother and caretaker passed, where she was subjected to people celebrating her grandmother’s, the witch of the lake’s, death. Harij was the only one who defended her grandmother and, by extension, Rose herself, and Rose never forgot him. Unfortunately, though, Harij isn’t there for just any reason. He is seeking a love potion.

Rose’s pride as a witch won’t allow her to deny the man she loves such a potion, but that doesn’t mean she won’t take advantage of the situation. She draws out the time it takes to make the potion, sending Harij out on errands to procure the ingredients needed, and as time goes on, Rose’s love for Harij only grows. Meanwhile, his affection toward the witch grows, too, or is that just Rose’s imagination? Even if Harij did fall in love with her, how could a witch fall in love with a human?

Title: Seven Days of Lust

Author(s): Fujoking, Hato, Hoben, Lee Aru, MEL, Pyoryu

Artist(s): Fujoking, Hato, Hoben, Lee Aru, MEL, Pyoryu

This is an anthology series with six stories, all based in the omegaverse. There are supposed to be seven, which explains the title, but I cannot find a legal way to read the missing story; as a result, only the 6 available on Lezhin Comics will be reviewed. If a legal avenue becomes available with the missing story, I will add it to this review. The following are the stories in this anthology, with a short description of each:

Beta Test by Lee Aru

Two betas experiment with a new drug that can make someone an alpha or omega. The results end up being much more than either of them expected.

Love is Love by Hato

A supposed beta has a crush on an alpha. The alpha’s cousin has a crush on the beta. With the beta stuck in the middle, who will he choose? Or will he even have to?

Melting Point by MEL

An omega professor hasn’t gone into heat for months. After seeing the doctor and receiving some intimate tools to fix this problem, an alpha student finds it and decides to help the professor himself.

Sleepless Nights by Hoben

An alpha is mistaken as an omega in a beta school when a rumor goes around that an omega has transferred in. Then, many years later, the alpha meets the omega, which turns out to be one of the people who hung out with the bullies. This time, though, the turf has changed. The alpha is the omega’s boss, and it is time for some revenge.

Mutual Enemy by Pyoryu

A recessive alpha and a dominant alpha butt heads, but when the recessive alpha is drugged by an omega that has a crush on him, the dominant alpha is there to lend a hand.

Clinical Matters of the Heart by Fujoking

A dominant alpha signs up to test a new medication that can turn alphas into omegas to earn $500. Unfortunately, the test requires him to go into heat with some alphas around. What could go wrong?

Title: Pleasure Principle

Author(s): Rotten Green T

Artist(s): eol (formerly cereal)

Jiho is broke and accident-prone, which is not a great combination. So, to resolve his financial issues, Jiho goes on the hunt for a job online when he discovers a listing that seems too good to be true. However, no matter how questionable the listing, Jiho can’t be too picky. So, he calls and secures an interview. Unfortunately, what he finds when he arrives is not your typical shop. Instead, it is an adult shop.

Jiho immediately regrets his decision, but before he can leave, the shop’s manager pulls him into the interview. She asks a few personal and inappropriate questions, which freaks Jiho out enough that as he rushes to leave, he ends up knocking over a bunch of merchandise, totaling a hefty sum in damages. With no other choice, Jiho agrees to work there to pay off his new debt. Thankfully, though, the job pays well, and Jiho even finds himself enjoying the job.

That is until one day, after work, he bumps into a VIP customer, causing the customer to drop his phone in the street. Unfortunately, the phone is promptly run over by a passing motorist. This immediately indebts Jiho to this mysterious VIP customer. Thankfully, the customer is willing to forgo a monetary repayment and instead just wants to receive “special service” when he comes to the shop. Well, what luck! Surely that can’t be too difficult for innocent Jiho to handle… right?

Title: Yes, No, or Maybe?

Author(s): Michi Ichiho

Artist(s): Lala Takemiya

Kunieda Kei lives two different lives. Externally, he is the prince of the evening news – hardworking, kind, and humble. He is the ideal man and is adored for it. Internally, though, he is a rude, conniving, and spiteful person. He plays both roles so effectively that even Kunieda isn’t sure which is the real him. However, his worlds collide when he runs into Tsuzuki, an animator who specializes in stop motion. During his day job (which takes place in the evening most of the time since he works for the evening news), Kunieda has to interview Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki is a chill guy and immediately rubs Kunieda the wrong way. Even so, Kunieda can’t let it show, so he puts on the charm, and the interview goes well. After work, Kunieda becomes his other inner self. From the clean-cut, dapper Kunieda, he turns into the sweatsuit, mask, and glasses-wearing Kunieda, who eats junk food and curses like a sailor. Unfortunately, during his nightly ritual to go get junk food, Kunieda ends up causing a bicyclist to wreck. As it turns out, the rider is Tsuzuki. Kunieda does his best to escape, but Tsuzuki demands that Kunieda pay him back by helping him with his next animation. In order to avoid Tsuzuki discovering who he is, Kunieda goes by Owari.

As Kunieda spends more time with Tsuzuki as both straight-laced Kunieda and trouble-maker Owari, he grows closer to him. But could Tsuzuki accept both sides of Kunieda? Which even is the real Kunieda?

Title: The Missing Piece

Author(s): Kun Yi Wei Lou

Shen Mo is an art school graduate. Unfortunately, by the time he graduated and earned a job in his field, he was abducted, and as a result of the trauma from that incident, he was unable to use his right hand to paint. However, he thankfully escaped the incident with his life thanks to Ji Mingxuan. To pay back Mingxuan’s help, Shen Mo is in a contracted relationship with him. All so that Mingxuan’s younger sister can marry Zhou Yang, her childhood friend, and Shen Mo’s ex, without worrying about Shen Mo and Zhou Yang getting back together. Three years passed as Shen Mo and Ji An’an, Mingxuan’s sister, left to study abroad together.

Though it is a fake relationship, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, especially when Zhou Yang and Mingxuan’s sister come back from studying abroad together. Now, with Shen Mo right in front of him, Zhou Yang doesn’t try to hide the fact that he is still attracted to Shen Mo, even as his engagement with An’an is publicly announced. While Shen Mo is still attracted to Zhou Yang, even if only due to the memories before his traumatic experience, he grows closer to An’an, and Mingxuan’s affections become more and more real. Who and what Shen Mo wants for himself becomes more and more unclear. Will Shen Mo forsake Mingxuan and An’an to return to the familiar love he had with Zhou Yang, or will Shen Mo take the plunge and trade in his contractual relationship with Mingxuan for something real?

Title: Yagi the Bookshop Goat

Author(s): Fumi Furukawa

Artist(s): Fumi Furukawa

In this world, herbivores and carnivores live amicably, though this is primarily because they live in separate zones – one catering to herbivores, the other to carnivores. However, even if you are an herbivore, it doesn’t mean you’ll be treated fairly in the section for herbivores. This is the unfortunate case for Yagi, a goat who wants nothing more than to work at a bookshop. However, like most goats, Yagi has the habit of eating paper, which doesn’t work out too well for his employers.

Unable to get a job at any herbivore bookshop, Yagi goes where he shouldn’t: a carnivore bookshop managed by a wolf named Ookami. Ookami gives Yagi a job, and while Yagi does eat a book on occasion, Ookami scolds him but lets him work there all the same. Yagi thinks it is simply because Ookami is kind, but there is something more behind the wolf’s good deeds. Not only does he have a complicated past, but he might see Yagi as more than just an employee.

Single Volume / Short Series / One-Shot

Manhwa Review | Seven Days of Lust by Fujoking, Hato, Hoben, Lee Aru, MEL, Pyoryu

Beta Test by Lee Aru

Love is Love by Hato

Melting Point by MEL

Sleepless Nights by Hoben

Mutual Enemy by Pyoryu

Clinical Matters of the Heart by Fujoking

Novel Review | Yes, No, or Maybe? by Michi Ichiho

Manga Review | Yagi the Bookshop Goat by Fumi Furukawa

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