Name: Hana No Breath
ISBN: 9781427861511

Caly

What if her prince charming was actually a princess? Azami does not understand her friends' fascination with yuri and yaoi. As far as she's concerned, she's only attracted to boys, especially the handsome Gwyn, whom she's had eyes on since the beginning of the year, intelligent, sporty, attractive and just a little older than Azami, Gwyn seems like the embodiment of the ideal boyfriend. But then, everything Azami believes comes crashing down when she finds out that Gwyn is actually...a girl.

Hana No Breath

Adrianne

Hmm, I'm a bit disappointed with this one. I was drawn in by a fun and contemporary idea for this story. However, the execution was sloppy and confusing. Maybe it's something which is common for manga and the more you read the more you get used to it. As someone who read maybe one manga in her life, I did not get what I hoped for.

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this through Netgalley. This book has trigger warnings for homophobia and eating disorders.

This ain't it sis. There are so many things that are wrong with this and it's just made worst by the fact that this had so much potential. Let's start with Amazi. In the beginning of the novel she is one of the most homophobic I ever read about. She is saying that it's impossible for two boys to fall in love and that they just haven't found the right girl yet. Now she doesn't say that two girls can't fall in love but once the guy she liked turns out to be a girl she gets super upset at her cause how dare she not consider someone might have a crush on her thinking she's a guy and so on. However on the next page she is completely fine with it. There was a perfect gateway there to do an interesting and complex exploration of sexuality and a character coming to terms with their sexuality but nope one moment she was a homophobic piece of shit and the other moment she's an happy gay. Then there also is Gwen. She is forced to be dressed as a boy to be able to enter the basketball team. Think of She's The Man when you try to picture her situation. However she dresses like a boy even when it's not nececary and there is a small plot line where she doesn't eat to stop female puberty. This is perfect set up for a trans main character but she's not. Turns out she just felt pressured to be a boy by her girlfriend and the school but she transfers to a different school has a tiny chat with her girlfriend and she is the girliest girl you've ever seen. In the second half a love triangle was also introduced which felt very forced and also pretty cringey. This book could have been very interesting and full of great representation but it wasn't. I would even argue it to be harmfull but as I'm neither gay or trans I couldn't say. I just know that it even felt terribly wrong to me.

evie bryant

"Azami always thought she was only attracted to boys, but after the unexpected revelation that her long-time crush Gwyn is actually a girl, she quickly learns that love doesn't have to be limited by gender. Now, the two of them are a happy couple, and lovestruck Azami couldn't be more excited to do all the cute relationship things she's read about in romantic manga!Unfortunately, their new relationship comes with new challenges as well. With Gwyn spending the summer at basketball camp and then transferring to a new school, Azami has to learn how to cope with her anxieties and jealousy in a healthy way. Meanwhile, Gwyn's dreams of playing basketball at her new school suffer an unexpected setback: someone on the team doesn't want her there, and is willing to expose her personal secrets to keep it that way."--Publisher's website.

Hana No Breath

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