Two books
Sep. 14th, 2025 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geraineonBefore my recent book thoughts disappear into fedi because I didn't save them where I can tag and find, I'm gonna copy/paste them here!
As mentioned in my post here, someone started translating a lot of Konohara Narise's books last year and have been quite prolific. And so, I picked up a few to read:
Summary on Novel Updates:
This age-gap Omegaverse story follows Kawachi, an Omega striving to live as a Beta, whose plans are disrupted by an unexpected incident just before his 35th birthday.
Inukai, a young Alpha from the sales department who has secretly admired Kawachi, steps in to help, intertwining their lives in ways neither expected.
This is a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth between a devoted younger Alpha and a kind-hearted Omega pursuing a new path in life.
Thoughts: Ahaha while I was reading, I was thinking, "ah, she has a lactation link" and yep, she said so in the afterword 😂 would have loved to read her initial pitch to her editor, which was "Alpha uke." Also, please do not trust the summary. It is not a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth. Not really XD
He was ready to be done with heats forever (doctors said that omegas with such mild heats can go into what's pretty much heat menopause [is there an omegaverse term for this? XD] if he continued to stay virgin, but as he approaches "heat menopause", things might get unpredictable... and yep, his heat came stronger than he has ever experienced before and he was caught unprepared because the mildest dosage of heat suppressant which had worked in the past, stopped working. And tbf, Inukai checked on Kawachi out of concern, but that triggered his rut and then they both lost it, and oops, pregnancy! also they were both non-conned into sex by their omegaverse physiology. Inukai was already in love with Kawachi at that point (unfortunately for him, Kawachi was straight, dating a woman, and was gonna get married), so he was going to marry Kawachi anyway, but Kawachi didn't want that. Well, Kawachi had just lost his shot at being rid of heats forever, he tried hiding his pregnancy from his fiancee who found out anyway and then they broke up because he couldn't bring himself to tell her that he was raped due to a heat accident. Ah, and also because of omega male's body and how they handle pregnancy, abortion was impossible, apparently (lol, Konohara-sensei, you just wanted to make sure there's no way out, huh). And now his heats cannot be suppressed by any medication, and even sex therapy (basically, a dildo with deactivated sperm that can be pumped in) did not work. He needed Inukai, and he rather die than have sex with Inukai again. And so, after Kawachi gave birth and experienced his heat again, Inukai forced himself on Kawachi, made him pregnant again and forced a mating bond, to keep him from his passive death wish. Then both of them started living together in a weird, kinda domestic situation, except Inukai feels like an outside to Kawachi and their son (later, sons), while Kawachi is still grappling with this whole situation and figuring out how to accept Inukai.
Anyway, this has a sweeter/happier ending than the usual Konohara. I was expecting more tragedy/angst considering how this relationship started. I would have loved to read Kawachi (the omega)'s thoughts on the relationship too, because after the awful beginning, the pov switched to Inukai, the alpha male. I would have loved to read how Kawachi worked through his reactions at having all his choices and basically what he wanted as his future taken away.
Other scattered thoughts: I don't think I've read stuff that mentioned the diversity of heat experiences (like the diversity of period symptoms/pain/discomfort), so that was interesting. And how that can change over time too and get worse/less bad.
Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/12/bluebird-illustrated.html
Summary from Novel Updates:
Miura is a rough and self-centered man who was Sugimoto’s “best friend” in their school days. Sugimoto visits Miura in the hospital for the first time in 12 years, as he is bedridden with illness. The strange relationship between the two begins again and develops into an unwilling cohabitation. Is this friendship, love, or obsession?
Thoughts: Well, this summary is more accurate than Bluebird's! Classic Konohara experience - I already wanted to strangle/shake the main character in chapter 1. And that was the POV character.
Somehow, Miura ended up living with Kazuya who at first continued to try to pretend, but over time, masks came off and he told Miura he actually hated being with him, and Miura decided that it's okay, he doesn't need Kazuya to like him, he just wants to be with Kazuya. And continued sticking to Kazuya, and Kazuya never called the police on Miura. And then Miura forced himself on Kazuya. And somehow that became a thing and Kazuya got used to it and now that's their relationship. One man who cannot let go even after finding out that his childhood best friend actually hated him the whole while, and the other man, initially trapped by his desire to be "liked by everyone" and fear of violence by Miura, now have resigned himself to living together with Miura who had forced himself on him.
BL but without the L. Ahaha.
Kazuya at the end of the story:
Miura at the end of the story:
Both of you need intervention.
I haven't even mentioned the bit where Kazuya was going to get married and his fiancee was "stolen" by his student on the day of their wedding (it was a willing bride-napping), Miura had a dead son, Miura's father who was disabled, died crushed by a cupboard and nobody knew until the body started rotting because Miura was not there (and the reason Miura wasn't there was because he followed Kazuya to a fancy top school [but Kazuya really wanted to get away from Miura which was why he tested for the fancy top school because he thought Miura wouldn't be able to test in, AND THEN HE DITCHED MIURA ANYWAY, LEAVING THE SCHOOL]). So much happened, and I felt like I've watched them make all these bad choices for themselves their whole lives... Idk if I can say I enjoyed it (a little hard when I am frustrated at the characters), but it was an interesting read.
I'm not sure if I'd have translated the title as "A Disgusting Guy" but idk what I would replace it with (unpleasant?), so it stays.
Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-disgusting-guy_20.html
As mentioned in my post here, someone started translating a lot of Konohara Narise's books last year and have been quite prolific. And so, I picked up a few to read:
Bluebird アオイトリ
Summary on Novel Updates:
This age-gap Omegaverse story follows Kawachi, an Omega striving to live as a Beta, whose plans are disrupted by an unexpected incident just before his 35th birthday.
Inukai, a young Alpha from the sales department who has secretly admired Kawachi, steps in to help, intertwining their lives in ways neither expected.
This is a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth between a devoted younger Alpha and a kind-hearted Omega pursuing a new path in life.
Thoughts: Ahaha while I was reading, I was thinking, "ah, she has a lactation link" and yep, she said so in the afterword 😂 would have loved to read her initial pitch to her editor, which was "Alpha uke." Also, please do not trust the summary. It is not a heartfelt story of love, family, and personal growth. Not really XD
More thoughts under the spoiler!
I guess one can squint and say that the "personal growth" here is Kawachi, the omega, accepting his life after his choices have all been forcefully taken away, and "love" as idk, Inukai babytrapping Kawachi into staying alive. The depiction of postpartum depression was ouch, and really, Kawachi's life was awful!He was ready to be done with heats forever (doctors said that omegas with such mild heats can go into what's pretty much heat menopause [is there an omegaverse term for this? XD] if he continued to stay virgin, but as he approaches "heat menopause", things might get unpredictable... and yep, his heat came stronger than he has ever experienced before and he was caught unprepared because the mildest dosage of heat suppressant which had worked in the past, stopped working. And tbf, Inukai checked on Kawachi out of concern, but that triggered his rut and then they both lost it, and oops, pregnancy! also they were both non-conned into sex by their omegaverse physiology. Inukai was already in love with Kawachi at that point (unfortunately for him, Kawachi was straight, dating a woman, and was gonna get married), so he was going to marry Kawachi anyway, but Kawachi didn't want that. Well, Kawachi had just lost his shot at being rid of heats forever, he tried hiding his pregnancy from his fiancee who found out anyway and then they broke up because he couldn't bring himself to tell her that he was raped due to a heat accident. Ah, and also because of omega male's body and how they handle pregnancy, abortion was impossible, apparently (lol, Konohara-sensei, you just wanted to make sure there's no way out, huh). And now his heats cannot be suppressed by any medication, and even sex therapy (basically, a dildo with deactivated sperm that can be pumped in) did not work. He needed Inukai, and he rather die than have sex with Inukai again. And so, after Kawachi gave birth and experienced his heat again, Inukai forced himself on Kawachi, made him pregnant again and forced a mating bond, to keep him from his passive death wish. Then both of them started living together in a weird, kinda domestic situation, except Inukai feels like an outside to Kawachi and their son (later, sons), while Kawachi is still grappling with this whole situation and figuring out how to accept Inukai.
Anyway, this has a sweeter/happier ending than the usual Konohara. I was expecting more tragedy/angst considering how this relationship started. I would have loved to read Kawachi (the omega)'s thoughts on the relationship too, because after the awful beginning, the pov switched to Inukai, the alpha male. I would have loved to read how Kawachi worked through his reactions at having all his choices and basically what he wanted as his future taken away.
Other scattered thoughts: I don't think I've read stuff that mentioned the diversity of heat experiences (like the diversity of period symptoms/pain/discomfort), so that was interesting. And how that can change over time too and get worse/less bad.
Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/12/bluebird-illustrated.html
A Disgusting Guy 嫌な奴
Summary from Novel Updates:
Miura is a rough and self-centered man who was Sugimoto’s “best friend” in their school days. Sugimoto visits Miura in the hospital for the first time in 12 years, as he is bedridden with illness. The strange relationship between the two begins again and develops into an unwilling cohabitation. Is this friendship, love, or obsession?
Thoughts: Well, this summary is more accurate than Bluebird's! Classic Konohara experience - I already wanted to strangle/shake the main character in chapter 1. And that was the POV character.
More thoughts under the spoiler!
Tl;dr, Kazuya pretended to be friends with Miura during childhood and kept the pretense as a kind friend so hard that he cornered himself into the position of Miura's best friend, out of fear of Miura because he once saw Miura being violent to another kid and he wants to maintain his image as the kind person who is liked by everyone. And Miura definitely fell in love (obsession) during childhood and was devastated when Kazuya deliberately moved away and cut off contact, swearing their mutual friend Onodera to secrecy. Years later, they reunited because Onodera asked Kazuya to visit Miura in the hospital (Miura now has a chronic condition).Somehow, Miura ended up living with Kazuya who at first continued to try to pretend, but over time, masks came off and he told Miura he actually hated being with him, and Miura decided that it's okay, he doesn't need Kazuya to like him, he just wants to be with Kazuya. And continued sticking to Kazuya, and Kazuya never called the police on Miura. And then Miura forced himself on Kazuya. And somehow that became a thing and Kazuya got used to it and now that's their relationship. One man who cannot let go even after finding out that his childhood best friend actually hated him the whole while, and the other man, initially trapped by his desire to be "liked by everyone" and fear of violence by Miura, now have resigned himself to living together with Miura who had forced himself on him.
BL but without the L. Ahaha.
Kazuya at the end of the story:
Even sitting there and looking at his face, I couldn't think of anything to say — even the usual "How are you feeling?" It seemed too much trouble to voice something I didn't really mean.
Miura at the end of the story:
It's the same thing over and over again, just like the words I once threw at Kazuya. Even now, we're going in circles. I said I didn't need his heart. I knew all too well that even if I said I wanted it, he wouldn't give me a single piece. And yet I couldn't leave him. I can't leave him.
Both of you need intervention.
I haven't even mentioned the bit where Kazuya was going to get married and his fiancee was "stolen" by his student on the day of their wedding (it was a willing bride-napping), Miura had a dead son, Miura's father who was disabled, died crushed by a cupboard and nobody knew until the body started rotting because Miura was not there (and the reason Miura wasn't there was because he followed Kazuya to a fancy top school [but Kazuya really wanted to get away from Miura which was why he tested for the fancy top school because he thought Miura wouldn't be able to test in, AND THEN HE DITCHED MIURA ANYWAY, LEAVING THE SCHOOL]). So much happened, and I felt like I've watched them make all these bad choices for themselves their whole lives... Idk if I can say I enjoyed it (a little hard when I am frustrated at the characters), but it was an interesting read.
I'm not sure if I'd have translated the title as "A Disgusting Guy" but idk what I would replace it with (unpleasant?), so it stays.
Translation link: https://itoshiikoto.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-disgusting-guy_20.html
