Over The Moon
This was a bit of a rollercoaster. I considered dropping it a few times, because the plot isn't anything overly interesting and I'm not a huge fan of the art, but I kept going because honestly Yian is one of the best male leads/semes I've encountered. All the green flags. Tbh I still wish he was less beasty and actually LISTENED during sex, but even that is much much less egregious than other semes. In their relationship in general, he is a fucking prince. He's mature, level-headed, communicative, doesn't jump to conclusions, isn't possessive or overly jealous, actually talks through problems and encourages Hayoon to do so as well. He's supportive without taking away Hayoon's independence, he's extremely open with his feelings and affection EVEN OUTSIDE OF SEX. While he is cognizant of the need to keep things on the DL at this point in both of their careers, he's in no way hiding or keeping Hayoon a secret to people in his life, he is in fact very proud to have him as a partner. He LOVES to eat ass. It was really really refreshing to see. Hayoon is... okay. He makes a lot of dumb choices that create miscommunications and misunderstandings despite Yian being the Communication King. He tries to deal with things himself without involving Yian, even when they DO involve Yian. He's dealing with a lot and definitely lacks confidence, but he's sweet and sincere and very caring toward Yian, and after they're comfortable together he's fucking hilarious in dealing with him sometimes. He wants to earn things through his own work and not through his movie star husband. And while it was dumb to keep the stalker stuff to himself, he wasn't a total idiot - he had cameras in place to catch the director in the act. He has a very soft, androgynous look most of the time. The plot itself is pretty minimal, but it was entertaining to read. The main dangling plot thread was the resolution of the Director situation. According to the author note he was arrested and sent to jail, but we didn't see any of it so I always kinda thought he might pop up again. Also really could've done without the "tee hee prison rape" joke in the author note, but... well. I loved Yian's supportive friends and their side ship. All in all it was a nice light read, I don't think I'd re-read it but it was absolutely worth it for Yian alone. Also it gave us this unforgettable line: "It complements the color of your butthole really well."
The Baker on the First Floor
Behind The desk
I really loved this. I can see why people would think it's "boring" - it's much more slice of life/character story than anything with an exiting plot. But that's also what makes it so nice. First things first, fuck Young wish a chainsaw. He is a manipulative, possessive, obsessive shithead and I'm mad that he ended up with Taesung's wonderful friend who can do SO MUCH BETTER. Yes, I acknowledge that he made progress at the end. He does seem to really have given thought to what he did and realized where he went wrong. That's good. But I did not need to see him taking root in the life of someone as good as Hosung. The only upside is that I have no doubt that Hosung will keep him on a leash vs the other way around, but god, imagine Sunny having to have dinner with Young? Ugh. What is impressive about this part of the story is that it's actually very realistic - people like Young are far more common than someone flamboyantly evil. And the lasting effects of their emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship were clear in Sunny's actions. He did not have any thoughts, opinions, preferences, or desires of his own - he didn't know how. And Young's continued manipulation of everyone throughout the story shows how deeply that sort of thing can twist your feelings - a lot of comments were very unkind to Sunny, calling him spineless and accusing him of playing the victim while using Taesung. I even thought those things myself a few times. But that's the thing - all of those things are true in some way, but it's not because Sunny is acting maliciously or even intentionally. It's frustrating that he just keeps letting Young pull him around even though he clearly doesn't want to anymore - but that's the result of Young's decades of grooming Sunny into someone who feels like he can't stand by himself or depend on anyone else. Was he using Taesung? In a way, yes, but more because he doesn't even know how to recognize his own feelings at this point. He's like a baby deer standing up for the first time, wobbly and uncertain. But Young gaslit him and the entire audience into thinking that Sunny was doing something wrong. It's wild. Young aside, the story was incredibly sweet and healthy. Taesung is every green flag. He is wonderful. He'ss kind, supportive, communicative, open with his feelings, actually understands the concept of consent, and not at all possessive or controlling, which is the biggest thing for Sunny. He is there to support Sunny in making his own choices and following his own dreams. He's such a good partner and I wish so much that we saw more like him in yaoi. SPECIAL POINTS for the fact that they usually only had sex once before stopping. LIKE IN REAL LIFE. Sunny is a frustrating character at times because of his trauma, but he is quite lovely at his core. Once he's broken free from Young and let himself realize that depending on Taesung isn't something he should apologize or "pay" for, he really blossoms. It's so nice to see him do after the dream he put aside for so long. Shout out to the student council group - they're hilarious and I love them, I love their interactions with Taesung and Sunny, and I LOVE that they immediately clock that the two are dating and not only have no issues with it, but are invested in the pair. It's so nice. Ugh this gave me so many feelings. Love. I wish we got side stories about Sunny meeting Taesung's mom.
Path to You
First off, there is an extra spicy chapter on mangago - seems to have been translated from Spanish. It's an hot, sweet, and fully consensual doing of the do. https://www.mangago.me/read-manga/path_to_you/ --- I really loved this. It was a very calm story, soft BL as the author put it - focused very much on the developing feelings between Jensen and Neil vs big drama. In fact, one of the things I really liked was that there wasn't actually any villain or bad guy. Even the characters you expected to be obstacles really weren't when it all came down to it. Rissa was annoying as hell because she couldn't take a hint, but in her defense Jensen was not clear in turning her down and once she knew about Neil's feelings and he and Jensen got together, she was supportive and not nasty or bigoted at all. Eugene, the friend who hurt Neil so much in high school - in any other story he would've come back with his sights set on Neil and tried to interfere, but instead he apologized for hurting him and told his side of the story. He couldn't un-hurt him, and what he did was shitty, but they were kids and he was trying to do what he thought he had to to deal with the situation and his bigoted mom. He genuinely wanted to repair his friendship with Neil and supported him in his relationship with Jensen. --- I appreciate so much that Jensen recognized his feelings, and rather than running from them he was open to exploring them. He took the obligatory gay quiz (lolol) but eventually settled on pansexual - which is HUGE because so so so often it's presented like there's only gay or straight, like bisexual and pansexual people don't exist and that liking multiple genders isn't even an option. So that was lovely to see. It was also unfortunately realistic that Neil was afraid to believe his feelings, having known that he is gay for a while and having been hurt before by a "straight" guy. I'm glad Jensen persevered and didn't let Neil push him away or make him doubt his own feelings. And I adore that he was not shy about showing Neil affection in public - to quote, what should he be afraid of? And Neil's friend Elle is a goddess. Bless. --- This was a really excellent story, I enjoyed reading it very much. A nice respite from more dramatic or angsty or lusty plots. Healing and soft.
Just Something I've Heard
Love Without Loss