Lord Calthorpe’s Promise 2

Rin Ogata / Sylvia Andrew – Harlequin – 2010 – 2 volumes

I wrote both volumes of this up for the weekly Manga Minis column at Manga Recon, so check out the series overview over there.

I won’t lie. I kind of like these Harlequin stories.

Lord Calthorpe’s Promise 1

Rin Ogata / Sylvia Andrew – Harlequin – 2010 – 2 volumes

Because they’re short, easy to read, and I’m a sucker for romances, I tend to like these Harlequin titles on emanga.  This is the first of two volumes, and I plan on covering both at Manga Recon, but here’s a few notes on the first volume because I am an obsessive freak about writing in my blog.

As a historical romance, it also has a lot of brownie points coming from me.  Again, there’s not much to these Harlequin titles, but with the poor English heiress being abused by extended family after her brother dies, only to be swept away by her brother’s C.O…. well, that’s about the kind of story I’m expecting.  No-frills romance between adults, and it’s decently told and well-illustrated.  As a bonus, the couple are initially very repelled by each other, and in fact are still on bad terms as of the end of volume one.  It doesn’t take much imagination to see where things are going, but I like the dance all the same.

I also have a special fondness for anything bearing even a slight resemblance to Vanity Fair.  This takes place at around the same time period in England, but I’m pretty sure this is exactly the type of story it was trying to lampoon.

The… well, the typesetting still isn’t great.  In fact, it’s terrible, and the text frequently spills outside the speech bubbles.  But you just kind of learn to ignore it.  Admittedly, I’m reading it so fast that it doesn’t really much difference to me.  It’s extremely disposable entertainment.