It was the last push

and deep grab,
he puddled under.

The die has been cast! And now a new set of books has pulled on their hiking boots and trudged off to a new camp! ;)

A book trade, a set of dreams, as it were.

This was one of the ones that I traded with someone else to get the copies to trade with another person, to get ones I really wanted...

if that makes any sense. :P

XD

This is a great series! :D

I remember when I first ran across it, I found the covers so unattractive that I was tempted to entirely pass it by. Given the nature of yaoi and the desire to attract women readers, I found the design choice for this series very odd indeed.

In fact, I think it did this series a grave disservice because while I grudgingly collect them out of sheer desire to read all of them! lol While I'd venture a guess that others just decided to spend their money only on the ones that look like they might be worth it.

There's also not a lot of silliness in this. It presents itself as a slice of life kind of story and so it is. And while aspects may stretch credulity, I think it tries to be fairly realistic and that's one of the reasons I love this series.

In fact, my favorite character was Tenryu. I found he had the most flushed out personality of the series. He was so real, you could hear him breath. I felt his frustration too. And he's got more patience than I would have.

Actually, that's my one really big complaint. I would really have preferred to see much more of him than the son and father. He was always where the richest scene of the series seemed to be. ;)

The box-o-trade-books arrived safely today; many thanks! I enjoyed Volume 1 of this series, and hope to read them all at some point, but I have no problem with reading ahead {wry grin}.

I don't find the covers all that bad, fwiw, though they are more severe and less colorful than most. Still, as a stylistic choice that makes the series stand out on a shelf full of manga, perhaps it was a good one.

Since this is Vol. 5 I'd expected that the main couple would have progressed farther by now, but apparently our hero, youthful father Shino, still doesn't quite believe he's ready to go farther than kissing with Tenryu - until Tenryu presses the issue. High time, too. And Shino's son Nakaya comes to the defense of his father with regard to the woman who's just called off an arranged marriage - not that he wants his father to marry a woman he doesn't love, but the reason for the dismissal was an insult to seiyuu everywhere.

The story has more ups and downs that wouldn't be necessary if Shino wasn't such a waffler, but eventually he and his lover and his son all come to terms with the situation, and things are really looking up. And there are some entertaining little scenes at the voice-over studio, highlighting the work as well as our characters.

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series.]

I left this and several other books in the Little Free Library in Moody Park on Maple St. at around 2:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2016 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***

*** Released as part of the 2016 E-less release challenge. ***