Sweet, simple, emotional, heartwarming fluff. Peter is socially awkward and very bad at expressing his emotions, just like his son and late father, while Merry is sociable, friendly and upbeat, but both of them are prisoners of a past they can't let go (Peter's dead wife and the son Merry was forced to give up) which leaves them feeling undeserving of happiness. Everyone's problems could've been solved quickly if they'd all just properly talked things over, but each of them has very valid and understandable reasons for why they can't open up fully to the other and no one person is to blame. It also fits with the message that magic is real, but it's people who make their own magic. The ending was a little cheesy and rushed, but it's touching and satisfying all the same.

Mature, down-to-earth and very character-driven. Liz is a single mother who tries to be an ice queen to avoid getting hurt again; her struggles to raise her daughter on her own (with help from her mum) are very realistic and relatable as she juggles working to provide for her family with trying to spend more time with her young daughter. Cam is a workaholic with many of the same issues as Liz since he's raising his late sister's young son. I adore the slow burn here, the leads are very respectful and patient, there's plenty of time given to allow them to bond and grow closer, learning to trust each other before they go on to explore their attraction (FYI story, magnetic attraction isn't a literal thing!). The leads behave like real people and even at their worst they're still believable and relatable, and their HEA was definitely well deserved.

Nothing offensively bad, but it all felt very empty and soulless to me. Over half the story is the two leads during the first day in the snow, with most of it spent on pointless chatter, repetitive bickering and mindless noise in general. Neve is too worried about Hannah to contribute much else to the plot, while Severo gets dragged into her mess and falls for her because she's hot (if there's any other reason it's never expressed). It felt both rushed and dragged on too long because nothing of substance happened for so long, and the chemistry was non-existent. Then there are several clichés and stupid misunderstandings that exist only to clumsily further the plot of Neve's pregnancy, whether Severo trusts her and whether Neve will marry him. The latter half (after snow day) is just so silly and vapid (especially how the main conflict is resolved!), and a complete waste of otherwise likeable characters with believable motives and relatable (if boring) issues. Not worth it imho.

Zoltan completely steals the show and the comedy he brings is the highlight of the manga. The plot is very cliché guy-acts-cold-to-hide-feelings, but thanks to seeing the guy's POV we can empathize and grow to love him. Zoltan is eccentric, overly emotional, a bit neurotic and childish, but highly entertaining and adorably romantic, I fully buy that he fell in love with a picture (which he keeps with him at all times!), he's a bit of a mess but in the best way. Arabella is spirited and bubbly, but her growing love for Zoltan is the story's biggest flaw, since it's so unbelievable and forced. From her POV, Zoltan is rude, temperamental and neglectful (all her own words), he keeps making unreasonable demands seemingly on a whim (which she always complies with, despite being upset, making her a complete pushover) and, w/o being privy to his thoughts and knowing WHY he does so, there's no way any sane girl would fall for him. Check this out for Zoltan alone, he's definitely worth it.

The first pair is surprisingly adorable! The seme's cutesy persona wasn't all fake, he's genuinely cute even if he's also very spicy, and the uke's so innocent and romantic at heart, while also being feisty and tough, that the two complement each other perfectly. I especially love that both guys are equals in their relationship, there's no imbalance of power or one side dominating the other (except during sex, mostly), both of their opinions, wants and needs are respected and their relationship is refreshingly healthy. By contrast, the second side-pair is awful, the uke's such a sleazy manslut who manipulates and even threatens to cheat on the seme to get him to go along with his kinky fantasies, even when it's obvious the guy's uncomfortable. Seriously, the top could do so much better. I'd definitely recommend reading this for the first pair, they're worth at least renting this, but skip the second if they're not to your tastes.

The 1st story is cliché 1NS, secret baby, marriage w/o love. Both were very reckless, girl was naïve, but grows up from the trauma, while the boy was a coward and is totally at fault for everything. Nothing special, but nothing awful, if you've read the trope before then you know what happens here. The other 2 stories are from the same series and are truly excellent. Both pairs of leads were very endearing and likable, the girls were refreshingly mature and understanding, with lots of self-respect and kickass attitudes, while the guys were both completely smitten with their ladies and willing to go out on a limb to win their heart and be with them. The collection was worth it for the last 2 stories alone, I wish there was one with all 3 books in the series together.

The 1st story is a typical traditionalist sheikh falls for modern Cinderella story, with extra prejudice added. What makes it unbearable is how the genie of the lamp theme was constantly forced into the plot. There are lots of very serious moments and themes that are completely ruined whenever the equally serious and stern characters start going on about genies, wishes and magic, it's so awkward and forced! By contrast, the girl in the 2nd story is inexperienced in life and uses her imagination to escape from reality, so I completely buy her using novels and fantasy to describe everything and wanting to be the heroine of her own story. Her fella is surprisingly normal, with normal flaws, despite his mysterious façade and the media's lies and rumours. Sometimes life is really simple and stupid. The 3rd book was utter garbage with the worst translation job I've ever read. Only the 2nd story, The Brunelli Baby Bargain was actually worth renting. I'd say check it out and skip the others.

The main story's wonderfully charming and sweet as candy. Kinu's kind and innocent, but so desperate to finally be needed, to belong and be useful. She's shy and embarrassed by what she and the brothers do but she's 100% willing and cares about them as much as they care about her. The brothers are all interesting and likeable in their own way, each getting their fair share of love and attention, and they're very respectful of Kinu at all times. The focus is purely on HER pleasure (they need her to feel good to get energy from her), which is very sweet but leaves me a tad unsatisfied, they never even go all the way and the brothers' pleasure is completely ignored. Very female friendly and almost shojo in how pure it is. There's a tacked on chapter at the end featuring a different couple, but it's utter rubbish, boring and clich辿d with nothing whatsoever to make it worth reading, neither in plot nor characters, wish the author had focused on the main story instead or just omitted it.

Touching and emotional, this story's all about why you should never let your past hold you back from living in the present and looking forward to your future. Both leads are constantly struggling with conflicting emotions and desires. Jed's such a coward for so much of the story, he wants so badly to be with Aimee and Toby but he's too scared to get close to them because his own family's such a mess, while Aimee wants the three of them to be a family, but Jed refuses to open up to her and she has enough self-respect and good sense to not accept a man who doesn't trust her. I'm glad that she apologises properly for not telling Jed about his son (though I doubt he'd have been a good dad at the time, with all his emotional hang-ups) and is genuinely grateful to him for saving Toby now (Toby's such a brave little munchkin). The most important thing is being honest, making up for your mistakes and having the courage to grab happiness when you can.

Really cute with a lot of hidden depth. Since we get to see some of Rafe's thoughts, it becomes clear pretty quickly that he's been in love with Shaan since before she and Piers dated, which makes him SO much more sympathetic! He acts cold and distant, but it's obvious he's hurting inside at the thought that Shaan loves someone else, so I really felt for him. Shaan has her own growing pains to go through, but I'm glad that she came out of them a more confident woman. There were the usual misunderstandings, but at least here they're believable and understandable, so I can kinda forgive them. Piers also turns out to have a surprising amount of depth, which was a pleasant surprise, he's not just a plot device to kick off the marriage w/o love plot! I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would, though the artist needs to tone down the anime eyes on women, Shaan's gigantic pupils in some scenes made her look like an alien, lol.