Product Description

"I want you more and more,"the man whispered, close enough that his breath brushed Toya's ears. His voice was fascinating and deceptive, sweet enough to intoxicate.

Toya Sakurai has always wanted to get his hands on Kai Hodaka's books before anyone else, so when he is assigned to be the bestselling author's editor, it seems like a dream come true. Kai Hodaka, with a slick face and a sinful voice, is the subject of numerous rumors and gossip, but Toya is more intrigued by the glimpses he sees of the real man behind the stories: quiet, insightful, and with a hidden kindness to him.

So when Hodaka makes a shocking proposal, Toya almost can't believe it: Toya's body, in exchange for Hodaka's manuscript. It begins as a simple business arrangement, but under Hodaka's skillful touch, Toya's defenses crumble, and his simple life begins to spin wildly out of control, leaving him yearning for more.

Enigmatic author...morally bankrupt celebrity...which is the real Kai Hodaka, and will Toya find out before he loses himself entirely?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #241004 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

Review
It's an all new deliciously sinful yaoi novel series for those who like to play down and dirty and the men who love them!

Toya is the all around good guy if a little bland. He s working very hard at his new job to edit books. When he gets assigned to his favorite author is when it all goes to heck in a hand basket! Kai Hodaka's a guy no one should mess around with! And Toya isn't trying to. But he is trying to do his job and get the mysterious dark man to get his latest manuscript done. Now his dream assignment gets messy when Hodaka shows a ruthless side. He'll write, but the cost will be Toya's virtue!

The premise isn t new to yaoi fans. Two guys, one dark and dangerous and the other meek and mild hook up under bodily extortion and find true love. But this novel spices things up big time! This isn t any vanilla yaoi, oh no it isn t! It s bondage and some S&M fun for these two men. Hodaka opens up a whole new world to Toya. Now Toya, realizing his body and heart want something very different than what he thought, has to come to grips with his true desires. He s got a whole lot more on his plate than simply dealing with an identity crisis due to fabulous sex! He s got a fiancée to complicate things nicely and his job still to do, and he s starting to wonder just how the manipulative lover of his nights really feels about him. Is Toya just a toy to Hodaka? Or is there something there that wasn t there before?

The Guilty is a sinful reading pleasure! It s torrid and wantonly graphic and at the same time manages to throw in some romantic angles on the side as Toya struggles with his feelings for Hodaka and tries to figure out how Hodaka really feels about him.

There s some gorgeous artwork with the hot men of the story. It s done by the same artist who did such beautiful work in Little Butterfly. There s a full color cover page illustration and a few black and white art images in the book. My one complaint is that I wanted more pretty pictures! --Active Anime

Toya Sakurai is content with his life. He has a beautiful fiancée and a highly coveted job with a publishing company. He is happy with the way his life has turned out so far. Yet, he seems to be far more passionate than he is even aware of. He has recently been transferred to the mysteries division, which he is ecstatic about. He specifically took the job with the publisher who worked with famed mystery author Kai Hodaka. He has loved reading books written by Hodaka and would love to be able to read his work before anyone else.

Hodaka won a prestigious award and to celebrate the publisher is throwing a party in his honor. Toya is so excited to possibly have the honor of meeting the author he has idolized for years. After an embarrassing run in with Hodaka at the party Toya feels he is doomed for eternity in the eyes of his hero. The next day at work he is in for a surprise. It looks as though he made a memorable impression on Hodaka, and they are assigning Toya to be his editor. He is known to be a bit tough on editors, but Toya is a professional and will do all he can to please both the company and Hodaka.

Toya didn't know what to expect from Hodaka the person. All he had to lean on in regards to his personality was what he heard from coworkers to the tabloids. None of it was positive, but the person he met at the party seemed to be personable and approachable. That s what he believed. But as time goes by he sees another side to Hodaka and none of it is pleasant. Soon Toya is to give sexual favors just to get the manuscript. What on Earth has he gotten himself into?

I don't know if I liked this book or not. I did find myself drawn into the story and couldn't put it down. Whether it was out of morbid fascination or if I liked the book, I'm still trying to figure it out. I have always struggled with the forcing yourself upon someone and then the one being forced falling in love with the forcer. That's how it all starts. Yes, Toya did agree to the sex out of desperation, but who bets sex in the first place. In one way I did find it heartbreaking for Toya's fiancée. She saw that work was taking an extreme toll him, yet he chose not to confide in her. Then he was a bit callous when he broke it off with her. I think things could have been handled better in regards to that part of the story. One thing I can tell you that I did like about this book is Hinako Takanaga-sensei's art. I've only read Little Butterfly (a manga series, also published by Juné). Little Butterfly has more of a cutesy look to it, but there's no cutesy here. It is all very, very sexy. Although, now that I think of it, we are dealing with adults in The Guilty and we were dealing with high school students in Little Butterfly. Regardless, the art is very well done and it does compliment the story.

This is a series of books written by Katsura Izumi-sensei. I know of at least three, but if there are more I couldn't tell you. I'll probably have to read it through again to make up my mind on whether I really like this book or not, but that is part of the fun of reading. This is probably a book that you'll have to decide on your own if you want to read it. Because I'm still trying to decide whether I like it or not! --The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society Miscellanea and Ephemeron

Customer Reviews

I liked it, others might not
I liked and didn't like some of the things that occurred in this novel. Some may not like it at all. After mistakenly promising Hodaka that he would "be his for the rest of the night" if he lost at pool, he thinks that Hodaka means him to be some type of cleaner or maybe do research. As readers we know exactly where Hodaka is going but confused Sakurai agrees. After losing (big surprise), Hodaka tells Sakurai to shower and go to his bedroom. At this point Sakurai gets some clue but is still confused. This is where some may not like the story any further because Hodaka forces himself on Sakurai. Again big surprise Sakurai finds he is enjoying it all the while berating himself and Hodaka for doing this to him. The rest of the novel and Sakurai soul searching and wondering about his feelings not only for Hodaka but also his fiancée. It goes on and on. I liked the s*x scenes. They were well described. I also like the illustrations which came at the appropriate times throughout. There were a few confusing moments when going from on scene to another which I didn't like.

So So - Still don't care much for the seme
Having read Volume 2 first due to varying shipping dates, I ended up reading this story second.

I was already familiar w/ the premise from the second book.

Innocent and earnest Toya is in charge of getting a new book out of his publisher's most popular novelist w/in the year. However, the novelist, Hodaka only releases 1 book per year per publisher. Unfortunately, this is not the year that Toya's publishing company has it's turn.

The publishing company is suffering financial problems, so Toya has been set to convince their best selling author to produce an unscheduled book to pull them from out of the waters.

Despite all of Hodaka's refusal, Toya finally convinces Hodaka to a game of pool. If Toya wins, Hodaka must write 20 pages. If Hodaka wins, then Toya is promised to Hodaka for the rest of the night. Innocently unaware of the implications, novice pool player gets taken advantage by the pro pool player and gets commanded to shower and get into his bed to his shock.

What follows is Toya's earnest desire to get the book from Hodaka and his emotional confusion at his body constantly getting taken by Hodaka even though Toya is in the midst of planning his wedding w/ his college sweet heart. Is it really cheaing if his desire to sleep w/ Hodaka is for business reasons? Or is Toya more emotionally attached than he thinks?

Even though Toya doesn't have much a back bone in this story, he does show some surprising tenaciy and guts occasionally. This book may not appeal to everyone, because however you see it, Hodaka is an absolute jerk most of the times who is amazingly socially awkard despite his wealth, popularity, and looks.

good illustrations - bad story
I bought this novel because I'm a big fan of the mangaka illustrator... But the novel in itself is not extraordinary.... quite boring in fact..