I initially expected the worst thing about this book to be merely that nothing much happens, as it's a slice-of-life story about modern urban people. But some details about the characters don't quite add up or are not explained clearly, and there are also other small inconsistencies within the storytelling (simple things like a TV being turned off before a character leaves a room, but in the next scene the TV is somehow on again in the empty room without explanation). Despite that I was actually considering giving this an extra star at some point, mainly because I liked the relationship between the characters: five young men and women gathered together by circumstances to share an apartment in Tokyo. Although they say they are "playing at being friends", underneath that there seems to be something genuine between them.

But then the ending serves a unsettling twist which made me question what I had thought about the characters and their relationship. I guess that was probably the point of the whole book, to unnerve and disturb the reader, but it still didn't make me like it.

I have a three-day weekend, starting Friday, and so far my plans include:

• The Mystic Marriage by Heather Rose Jones - Daughter of Mystery made me wish I'd started it at the beginning of a long weekend, so I'm going to try to do The Mystic Marriage right.
• Ichi-F: A Worker's Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant by Kazuto Tatsuta - I wasn't expecting our Acquisitions Librarian to purchase this one so soon, but now it's in my hand. Yay! We'll see how this goes. I haven't read much nonfiction manga, but what little I've tried I generally haven't managed to finish. This one's a brick - it was originally released in Japan in three volumes.
• Digging into my huge backlog of games on Steam - I want to play more Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble, and I think I might have some Higurashi: When They Cry.

Received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I saw this on a fellow blogger blog, and I have wanted to read it for a while, sadly Netgalley didn’t have it, and the book isn’t out yet. And then, suddenly, Netgalley had this one again for reading! Yay!

The manga was really cute, I really enjoyed it. It has multiple parts/multiple characters so I will tell my feelings per part.

The first part is about a girl named Saeki, she absolutely adores, no scratch that, love love loves ramen and wants to eat it, however she is totally shy about going in, saying that it isn’t something that girls do. Saeki was a great character, though I don’t really get what the big deal is, if she wants to eat ramen why would anyone care, just go in.
However, it did bring Saeki and Hozumi together, something that probably never would have happened had she gone in without a hitch. Yes, I say together, because even though Saeki is really denying anything, she blushes and hurries to another topic when Hozumi is mentioned. It was supppppeer adorable, I do hope these 2 will get together for real. They share a passion, Hozumi apparently really cares and wants to help Saeki.
The first part was really fantastic and I loved it. There is quite a part about ramen, but also about love and family.

The second part goes in the shoujo-ai part as it is about 2 girls, one of them confessed her love to the other girl and got rejected.
I did find it a shame that a year had passed between the confession and when the actual story started. I would have loved to see that awkward period of them crossing paths and not knowing what to say.
The story felt a bit strange now though. The part that happened a few pages later, it just didn’t connect with me, it felt off. I was delighted for the girls of course, but it just felt fake, like it was added because otherwise the story wouldn’t move on. And the story quickly ends there. : Yay, this and that happened, and now the end. Wait, what? How, what? No.

The third story, my oh my, I hated the people in there. Hanako and Shibata-san were great, but I disliked how the others treated Hanako. Sure, she didn’t help much with how she did things, but to do that? That is just rude and mean. How could you say that to someone? Though with that ending, I guess I can see why they would do that, even if it is mean, I didn’t realise it was that until the end came by. I thought they were being mean because Hanako looked creepy, not because of that.
The ending/middle part/revelation was just awesome! This is by far my favourite story. It has ghost stories, friendship and much much more.

The fourth and fifth story (they are one story) were adorable. I loved both of the characters and also the story. I do love stories where protagonist read or try to read books. However I didn't like the assumptions that our main character made. I just wanted to shake her around and tell her that maybe she should do a bit more effort to get to know the girl instead of assuming all the stuff she assumed. :|
But all in all it was a good story and it had quite a cute ending. Though I wished for a bit more. It felt a bit weird, so this and that happens, and then suddenly this happens and then it is over? What?

But all in all, this manga is pretty cute and fluffy. It has some great stories.

Now there is one thing left. The art. I am not sure what to think of it. The first story had one style (and is by (from what I could find) Nagumo), while the other stories had mostly the same-ish style, yet still quite different. It was a bit confusing, as it felt like instead of 2 different artists, we had like 4 or 5.
I do have to say that I loved the art in the shoujo-ai-ish stories the most. While the first story had quite good art, the eyes were just really creepy. Though then again, I have seen enough anime with characters who have eyes up to the top of their head. Still doesn't lessen the creepiness factor.

All in all, this is a pretty decent and fun manga to read. It isn't long, so you will fly through it, don't expect Ramen though, only the first story is about that, the others are about girls loving each other or finding friendship.

Would I recommend this? Yes, it was a fun read and I am sure people will enjoy it.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/

Let's Eat Ramen is a collection of short manga stories quite a few of which involve, indeed, eating ramen.

I quite liked this collection, and liked the first part, different stories about a girl who wants to eat ramen but is afraid of walking in alone and ends up eating ramen and having a friend to do that with. I was a little bit disappointed when I found out the other stories where completely different, but in the end they were quite nice as well. I do have that many experience reading short manga stories, but as far as I can tell they are nice, little stories to read in between other books.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

My favorite was one of the first stories:
Shy girl who secretly craves ramen meets boy who secretly likes her an loves ramen. He meets her lurking outside a roman shop one day, and she asks him to go with her. The beginning of along adventure starts with one bowl and some extra garlic. They meet and eat, and eat and bond through the delicious bowls before them.
There are several other shorts, love, loss and friendship. Quick easy reads all with very well done drawings.
I love the illustrations, they are very emotional, and detailed. The food pictures even had my stomach growling. I'm not a big fan of short stories but I found a few in here very entertaining and mouth watering.