A fantastic selection of stories which are all linked! The three handsome and popular "kings" of a high school have one story each and the younger brother of the third king's LI even gets his own story (which was a pleasant surprise since I found him so interesting in his sister's story). All of the leads are developed really well and manage to be both interesting and likable in their own ways, it's amazing that the mangaka managed to nail so many characters with wildly different and unique personalities! And none of the romances felt forced or rushed, each couple felt perfect together and had great chemistry. Honestly, I really loved reading each and every one of the stories in this collection, there wasn't a single character or story I didn't fully enjoy, so I can't recommend it enough!

A delightfully charming, feelgood story with very likable characters! Bethany can't resist the temptation to try on a beautiful dress belonging to the owner of the house she's sitting on behalf of her friend, when Cristiano suddenly shows up. He assumes she's the rich owner and, instantly captivated by her, asks her to dinner. Poor Beth is lost and panicking, in no state to refuse Cristiano's demanding and relentless advances, and the dinner leads to a passionate two week holiday in Barbados. One of the better Hq male leads, Cristiano is very pushy and used to getting his own way, but he's also very earnest, devoted and gives his all to everything he does, including being a good partner and father. And he doesn't have a clich辿 sob story! Beth neither! Given how they met, Beth has some very understandable insecurities, but Cris actually gets that and does his best to help, support, understand and comfort her whenever he can, he can actually look at things from her perspective. Perfect!

The moment Lauren starts asking about the seriousness of their relationship, Ramon tells her she's nothing but his mistress and he'll have to marry a Spanish noble someday and produce an heir, then dumps her. A year later he still lusts after her, so he blackmails her to spend time together, then when he finds out about Matty, he threatens to take custody from her, bankrupting her if he must, then kidnaps the both of them while Lauren's unconscious from illness and takes them to Spain. After she recovers, he emotionally manipulates her into marrying him "for Matty's sake" and giving up her job, dismissing her desire to be independent as her "stupid ego". He also lies to her about where he goes, causing misunderstandings, and never gives any indication that he actually cares about her. And yet this jackass dares claim he's felt "true love" for her since they met?! F*k off. F*k. Right. Off.

I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I would, considering how sick to death I am of the playboy trope. The story was all too predictable, with the fake lovers/marriage without love clich辿, but it did all right with what little it had and there was nothing to actively dislike. The two leads are also fairly bland and do nothing to distinguish themselves from their character archetypes, except perhaps for the female lead's professionalism. She remains the consummate professional throughout and stays devoted to her duties, which I respected about her. The guy was 100% forgettable though. Nothing here drew me in but nothing put me off, so I guess I don't regret reading this. Honestly, I'm probably being too harsh because I've read far too many Harlequin stories, so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.

Georgia is tasked by her sister Faith to distract Jackson, over-protective older brother of Faith's lover, while the two get married in secret, so of course her and Jackson end up falling in love during their time stuck together due to poor weather. Georgia has had to raise her incredibly gifted son Noah on her own since the age of 17 and has become a very strong, stubborn and fiercely independent woman who tries to do everything alone. Jackson is equally stubborn (so they butt heads constantly), very overbearing and feels it is his responsibility to look after his sheltered brother and protect him from making poor life choices. He's also got a soft spot for kids so he gets very attached to Noah very quickly, which helps the two leads to break the ice and do something besides arguing. The story is very clich辿 and predictable, offering no surprises, but it's still enjoyable and endearing, I'm glad I read it.

After her divorce from her dirtbag husband Lizzy has lost her confidence as a woman, so she sneaks into a ball held at the palace to have a wonderful adventure to reclaim her self-confidence. There she meets the king's half-brother Ethan and, despite her many attempts to avoid him, he pursues her passionately and the two agree to a purely physical relationship. Despite the Cinderella plot, this story has the most relatable characters I've ever read from Hq. Lizzy is very sensible and down-to-earth, she doesn't want another man in her life, especially not a prince, and just wants to live independently w/out the hassle of a family. Ethan is immature but passionate, he's immediately infatuated with Lizzy and, despite initially not wanting to marry, falls in love with her and does his best to tie her to him. He's quick to realise his mistakes and try to rectify them, his reactions to everything are very believable and he's great at reading Lizzy. No bs or stupid drama, just pure charm.

Last of a great trilogy, this one's much heavier than the other ones. Actress Lexie has some deep trauma from her past (and I mean seriously deep and scarring) which makes filming love scenes very difficult for her, so she asks taciturn hermit Cesar (mysteriously the only man who doesn't make her feel uncomfortable) to pretend to be her lover so that she can get used to it. He has his own selfish reasons for agreeing, but he soon comes to genuinely care for Lexie. And learning about her heart-breaking past really puts his own issues into perspective and makes him realises how much he wants to protect her and make her happy. And we finally learn the truth about the brothers' mother Esperanza! After hearing so much about what a heartless gold-digger she was, it's a relief to finally learn her full story. It's sad to think that she died w/out having achieved what she'd been so desperately working for for so long. This one was a real tearjerker for me.

A great take on a much loved clich辿, this time Cinderella. Alexio, much like his brother Rafaele, believes all women are evil gold-diggers because of his mother, but with him it's more a case of him desperately wanting to believe it since it'd hurt less. It's sad to see his thoughts about women, especially his sister-in-law, it shows just how damaged he really is. But despite that he still managed to fall in love very quickly with Sidonie, a down-on-her-luck woman who's very honest, hardworking, modest and doing anything to not be like her own gold-digging mother. I respect how fiercely independent she is but I'm glad Alexio persisted in helping her out; I also love that she doesn't give into him too quickly and makes him work to win her over. And it was great seeing the leads from the previous story in the series, nice to see them enjoying their HEA. This series loves its cliffhanger endings though (teasing the next story), so on to the next one!

An enjoyable if clich辿 romance/breakup/secret baby/reunion story. Rafaele is your typical Hq man, whose mother was a Bad Person, so he thinks all women are bad (that's so dumb!), and who's afraid of falling in love and losing his lover so he... throws her away (wut? how does that-). Even his ways of trying to get his girl back are stupid (he sorta near blackmails her...). At least in his case he's not necessarily a horrible person, he's just really emotionally stunted. Sam has her own (frankly much better and sadder) tragic sob story and deals with it a lot better than the guy. She's not a complete pushover (still no Amazon warrior or anything), at least she has the backbone and dignity to walk away from Rafaele when he's being unreasonable and the sense to be ashamed of her weakness for him. My favourite character though is Rafaele's dad, he's such a sweet, sad lamb, poor man deserves a hug (and better wife and son).

This story felt a lot shorter than it actually is, owing to the fast pace and dynamic characters. It's rushed, but that actually feels appropriate here. Katie's dream is to be a great wife and mother, but she's never had a boyfriend (so has given up on love)and her family suffers from early menopause, so she's desperate to get pregnant asap. But in this tiny town the only available bachelor is Jeremiah, an ex-marine who just moved there. Good thing he's her soulmate! This story is very heavy on the comedy, from the art's exaggerated expressions, to the crazy, vibrant characters (Katie in particular is a bit of a hot mess!), to the ridiculous scenarios the leads often find themselves in. The plot may be very simple (girl and boy have sex to make a baby but fall in love in the process), but the characters and tone bring it to life and make this an interesting and enjoyable read.