Volume : #1 of 2
Author : Eri Shiduki
Illustrator : Kasumi Nagi
Translator : David Evelyn
Publisher : J-Novel Club
Year Published : 2018
Genre : Light Novel/Novella, Romance, Fantasy, Comedy
Mood : Light, humorous, occasionally serious w/the world building.
Formats : eBook Only
# of Pages : 214 pages
Summary
Love Is a Beastly Business!
Rumor has it that Princess Rosemarie is an antisocial shut-in, but the truth is far stranger. The young princess hides from the world because of a strange condition: whenever someone expresses a negative emotion, she sees their head transform into that of a fearsome beast.
It seems there’s no one in the dishonest world of courtly manners she can trust… until she meets Prince Claudio of Baltzar, whose features remain ever human. The two marry at once, but she learns too late that his human features aren’t thanks to a kindly nature. Claudio has become a very real beast, all because of Rosemarie’s accidental theft of his mana many years prior!
Claudio’s life and future are on the line until he gets his mana back — and Rosemarie would give anything to know how to do it. Will they break their mutual curse in time for Rosemarie to get home for tea, or will Claudio lose his temper first? Find out in this new romantic fantasy.
Review
Just look at that silly title. I love silly titles, and wanted to love this book.
So this is not a manga series, it’s a light novel, which if you’re not familiar is basically just a novella. About 150-250 pages of text, with around 8-20 images interspersed. The subject matter is usually similar to manga or even based off of a manga, but novelized.
This light novel seems to be an original story. It’s a romance with fantasy aspects. There are a small number (9 or so, I don’t remember the exact number) of charming illustrations.
The translation seems fine where grammar and punctuation is concerned. The vocabulary is wide and seems thorough.. but I didn’t like the prose. It’s hard to say if it’s the actual book’s writing or translation but sentences don’t flow too well. They just feel very stiff and technical in terms of prose and dialogue, as if more befitting for another genre. This has all the makings of a cute, fluffy, humorous romance and the prose is just at odds with that.
It was not a flowing read and seemed to take forever to get through which is so unfortunate since I like everything else. The characters and scenarios are fun and quirky. I loved the art style of the illustrations, they were a joy to look at. Makes me really want to check out other stuff from the artist.
The world building is surprisingly in-depth but tedious. I would have preferred more of the humor (which is pretty amusing as is) and fluffy romance.
One thing I found hilarious is that there is a sort of Beauty And The Beast-like scenario where Claudio is like Rosemarie’s mean captor, but she does not react much like a damsel in distress. Rather, she sometimes misinterprets his meanness as a favor to her since she’s already pretty much a shut-in.
For example (paraphrasing the main idea, not actual dialogue from the book.)
Claudio : I can’t stand being around you~~
Rosemarie : That’s cool I don’t like being around other people anyway. 🙂
Claudio : I’m going to lock you away in my castle where no one can ever see you again!
Rosemarie : Great, now I can have the privacy to read all day and night like I’ve always wanted, thanks! 😀
I would LOVE to see that type of scenario in action in another romance novel. Guy is some alpha jerk who tries to bring down the heroine, but it backfires in funny ways and he accidentally does favors for her. Or she’s too cheerful/optimistic to be affected by his actions.
Conquering the tsundere prince (in romance-speak that would be… I guess… making the alpha grovel?) is fun to witness. The prince in question is guarded around the heroine and has a good reason to be that way. But I found him surprisingly not that problematic, fairly thoughtful, and not as much of a colossal jerk as I was expecting, especially by volume’s end. He’s super sweet later on– more so than in most romances with characters like this.
Overall Rating – 6/10
Why You Should Try It – Fun sense of humor, cute art style for the illustrations, clever and very unique premise for the heroine’s curse, real effort put into the fantasy and detailing the world, some fluffy enemies-to-lovers romance.
Why You Might Not Like It – The writing style didn’t work out for me and doesn’t seem fitting for the strengths of the novel.
Apparently it’s My Fault That My Husband Has The Head of a Beast: Volume 1
Kitty Marie's Reading Corner 
I love light novels sfm. This seems like a fun quick read. I might have to check it out. Awesome review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I need to read more light novels there are so many and so convenient for a quick read.
LikeLike
The cover is so pretty! I will have to look into this one. Love your review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much! Yeah the art is super pretty I love how the characters look. ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person