When I was younger, I used to read manga all the time. In fact, it was the only thing I read for many years of my youth. However, getting older, I have fallen out of the habit of reading manga on a regular basis. It has been a very long time since I've read manga and I've been trying to get back into it. So when my partner came home with the first volume of The Earl and the Fairy she borrowed from work, I decided to give it a read. I have to say it's not a bad read.

I liked the simplistic feel to the story. You can literally just pick it up and fall into the story quite easily. The story is not convoluted to the point you don't understand what the fairies's roles are or how the myths of these fairies are interwoven into the actual plot of the story. And even though not everything is revealed from the get-go, it's not difficult to follow along with the characters.

Speaking of characters, I do feel like they were on the weaker side. The main character, Lydia, falls under a lot of tropes you tend to find in shoujo manga. She's supposed to be "tough" and takes "no nonsense" from the male lead, but she ultimately ends up doing whatever he tells her to do because she's "sweet and naive." The male lead, Edgar, tries to come off as charming and caring but he still manipulates Lydia every chance he gets. Mind you, he DOES acknowledge that what he's doing is wrong, but that still doesn't excuse the behavior. And even though I feel like the characters were not this manga's strongest point, it did leave me feeling that there's room for growth and I do think we shall see that growth in later volumes. I do have hope for that.

Lastly, the art wasn't anything special. It's very typical "cutesy" style with Lydia having pretty flowing hair and big eyes, whilst Edgar is all "broody" and "mysterious" and has darker tones to his outfits. I will say the outfits to the characters are very beautiful. It's not a bad art style, it's just a style I've seen before.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good read. It's harmless fun with interesting lore that, I'm sure will get explored more along with the characters' growth. I really did like what I read and I'm not opposed to reading the next volume. However, I won't go out of my way to read it right away either. If this sounds like your sort of manga, then go right ahead and pick it up. It's a pretty fast, simple read.

I read five books this month...sort of. Manga aren't really books but they count towards the reading challenge...so...whatever. 

I'm actually pretty proud of how much I read. Carry On and Days of Blood and Starlight took me way longer to read then I thought they would so I'm glad I had a chance to read three manga as well. Here we go with a brief, non spoilery, review of each book:

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I LOVED this novel so much. Simon and Baz make me so happy and give me so many feels. I read 200 pages of this book in one night waiting for something to happen. I couldn't go to sleep until it did. Did you know that this is not Cath's Carry On from Fangirl? Cause I didn't, I thought it was. But, no. If you look in Fangirl all the 'snippets' from the fanfiction never happen in the novel. I checked. And in the note from Rowell at the end of Carry On she says that this novel is her take on Simon's story, not Cath's. 

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

This novel....it was amazing. I loved the first book of this trilogy so much. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the second one as much...but I did, so much. I won't spoil anything but it did involve kickass Karou who never let me down throughout the entire novel. I love Karou so much, she's probably in my list of top 5 favorite character of all time. 

The Early and the Fairy Vol. 3 & Vol. 4 by Mizue Tani and Ayuko

I decided to combine these two into one paragraph because they're from the same series. This manga series is only 4 books, so I completed it. Sure, the ending didn't really sum things up but that's what manga does. So...whatever. This series was so cute and I loved the fantasy in it. And oh yeah, the hot guys helped too. 

Bloody Mary Vol. 1 by Akaza Samamiya

This manga...its so gay...I love it. I bought it when I went to Barnes and Noble and they were having a buy 2 get 1 free manga sale. It looked so gay and beautiful...it's so much better then I originally thought. Ugh...I love the gay. I can't wait until March when Vol. 2 comes out. I need it so badly. Bloody is a cinnamon roll. 

This will be a pretty basic post my TBR (to be read) for Janurary! Hopefully with my plan to read one novel a week I can get this done! 

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

• I'm really excited to read this book! I'm already on page 200 something! It's so amazing and I love Baz and Simon already! If you don't know what it is it's the main character from Rowell's other novel Fangirl fanfiction. But it's so much more then that. You can read it as a stand alone as well. It's a kickass fantasy read with gay love! What more could you want? 

2. The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

• I cannot believe that this book is out and that I haven't read it yet. After reading it's precessor, the Iron Traitor, way back in summer of 2013 I needed the next book. At that time there was no news on the book. No title, no blurb, no release date. And then, magically early in 2014. Everything appeared on goodreads. I have been waiting long and hard for this book and maybe it's taken me so long to finish because I don't want to say goodbye to the lovely characters of the Iron Fey. 

3. Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

• This series holds a special place in my heart. I believe that I was one of the first fans of this series, buying the book way back when the very first one was just released. Then no one knew of the series and there was no fanbase. Now, everyone is reading these books and they deserve the love. Morgan Rhodes writes an amazing fantasy series! With the fourth book already out I decided it was time to pick this beautiful copy off my shelf and read it. 

4. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 

• I read the first book of this series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, a few months back and I didn't immediately go to this one because I had new releases coming out (namely Magnus Chase and Carry On). I cannot wait to get to this novel. The last book left me wanting to read this so badly. Laini Taylor is an amazing writer of high fantasy and if you haven't picked up this series yet I suggest that you do. 

5. The Earl and the Fairy Vol. 03 by Ayuko and Mizue Tani

• I started reading this manga series in the summer of 2014 when Barnes and Noble was having a buy 2 get one free manga sale. The first book was one I picked up. I loved the first one so much so I knew I had to buy the second one. And then, as I loved that one as well I bought the third. It's only a four book series so I'm pacing myself a bit. I don't want to miss it too much.

So that's pretty much my TBR. It doesn't seem like that much but a couple of the books are really long. Wish me luck on completing this TBR!  

Every time I have a doctor's appointment scheduled in the Big City, I go used bookstore shopping afterwards as a reward. It doesn't matter that I already have more books than can fit in my bookshelves. I just like getting more. I at least try to offload more books than I bring back.

I figured I'd put together a "highlights" post with a list of the things I found that most excited me.

Elfquest: The Searcher and the Sword - 'Wendy Pini', 'Richard Pini' - Okay, so I would have preferred a color copy of one of the original series volumes, but finding any Elfquest at all is a plus.

The Day Of Revolution Volume 1 (v. 1) - Mikiyo Tsuda - Mikiyo Tsuda/Taishi Zaou's stuff is my guilty pleasure. The store only had the first volume, but I'm still excited. I've never read this series before, although I at least have some idea what it's about.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Nagaru Tanigawa - I probably shouldn't be excited about this, because my light novel finds have rarely worked out well for me. I don't know if it's something to do with the translations or what. At any rate, it was a stroke of luck that I found this, since no one at the store can make up their minds about where to stick light novels. This one was in the young adult section.

The Earl & the Fairy, Vol. 1 - Ayuko - I didn't just find the first volume, I found the entire four-volume set. Yay! I liked the anime, although it tried to cram too much into too few episodes. It wouldn't surprise me if the manga series has the same failing, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Princess Prince - Tomoko Taniguchi - I added it to this list because it made my cat excited. I found her flat on her back next to the book, trying to floss her teeth with the front cover. Bad kitty.

Lydia has been trapped by Rosalie, who is friends with a bogy-beast and doesn't realized she's being used by him. Rosalie wants Edgar all to herself, but without knowing it, she's a danger him as she brings him closer and closer to his enemy.

So, this is the final volume. I feel I can say that I know Edgar better now and that he is not such a bad guy. He's most definitely not perfect and has done bad things. However, beyond all that, there is a part of him that cares. He doesn't show it, but it is there.

Through it all, I feel Lydia was patient. Even with all the lies, Lydia was understanding and did what she could to help. I really like her as a character. In her own way, she is strong.

As for the story and the series as a whole, I enjoyed it very much. A fairy doctor, a person who communicates with fairies is. . . Well, cool! The series had action, a bit of romance, mystery and I think in ways it was unique. I'm actually quite sad that this is it.

I can see where this story has ended, Edgar's past is known and with Lydia's help, he's learning to let go of his hate and anger. However, I feel there could be an series that deals with Lydia communicating and helping people with fairies. I think there could be a lot more adventures with Lydia, Edgar, Nico and Raven.

If not though, I am happy with this story and how it ended. It was very good.