Product Description

A contract marriage!? Satsuki has gone to England to study acting, but it's all he can do to pay his living expenses. But everything is about to change when the handsome Count Edward offers him money in exchange for entering a fake marriage!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #593355 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781569707104
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Romantic and Sweet
Well the story is basically about a boy who goes to England to study theater, he meets a prostitute who is the only person that helps him, one day his friend the prostitute gets really sick and gives him the mission of delivering a ring to a person who she calls "god", however she ends dying,
On the other side of the country an aristocrat young man lives his life spending all the money that his parents left him drinking, however there is a condition for him to get all of his inheritance and is that he needs to get married before turning 26, in order to do so he needs to give to his future fiancée a ring, turns out that he gave out his ring to a prostitute, so with the help of his journalist friend they decide to go look for the prostitute that has his ring and make a deal for a fake marriage,
He meets with Satsuki (Japanese boy that calls himself May because everyone in England has problems pronouncing his name, satsuki is the old way to say may in Japanese) finds out that Brenda the prostitute is dead and decides to make the deal with Satsuki, who ends up accepting because was having financial problems.

**** So this a very common story, you already know how is it going to end, but even so it doesn't make it any boring, is really entertaining, the art is really great, and you get to know about the aristocracy in England, I do recommend it for someone who is looking for a story full of romance, not too many strong scenes, however a rape scene is included. So if you have spare money and you are a yaoi fan this is a must in your collection,

waste of money
Here we have the typical plot of a Harlequin Romance from the 1980s. A young middle class woman is somehow convinced into a temporary marriage with a rich, aristocratic male. Of course since this is yaoi the young woman is actually a young man in drag. I've never really liked this plot and even having the woman be a man didn't keep it from being bland and boring. And bland describes the characters to a tee. The book meanders along in its slow, humdrum way with almost no indication of romance. Then, out of the blue and what I thought was out of character, the aristocrat brutally rapes the uke. YUCK! It's a painful horrible experience for the uke (which is actually pretty realistic). But does the uke leave or go to the police? No, he's mad for a few weeks and then falls in love with his rapist. What a load of cr*p. The end is abrupt and unsatisfying. Save your money on this one.

A Promise of Romance by Kyoko Akitsu
Satsuki is a young Japanese guy who searches to gain his life in London. He always wanted to be an actor, but when he is refused by the most important actor school in Japan, he decided to try his fortune in London; there is maybe a bit of misplaced proud in it, since probably Satsuki doesn't want to face the fact that him, the one who always had the main character role in the high school plays, was rejected and instead his best friend, the one who always looked upon to Satsuki was accepted.

In London Satsuki is not doing very well; he is lonely and has very little money, and he is too proud to ask help to his family. So when a young nobleman, Edward, asks him to cross-dress and to play the role of his fiancee, Satsuki accepts. It's not only the money, it's also the fascination with the high society in which Edward lives. Edward needs to marry in order to not losing his inheritance, and marrying Satsuki, he is sure that he will have no problem to invoid the marriage.

Edward is not a bad guy, maybe a little spoiled, but all in all he is only lonenly, as lonely as Satsuki. In Satsuki maybe Edward finds more a friend than other. And when it's time to express his feelings, he is too open, and this clashes with Satsuki's culture.

First of all the plot... it's not very convincing. How can Edward and Satsuki marry without problem? Doesn't Satsuki need a birth certificate, where obviously it's stated that he is a man? True, in England same sex union are legal, I believe, but this is not what Edward's parents' will states.

Second the relationship between Edward and Satsuki: it could be a very good example of Pretty Woman's tale, there is also the scene where Edward takes Satsuki out to shopping in the best fashion boutique... but how the relationship evolves between the two it's without a strong basis, it's all too obvious and the author doesn't give us much reason to believe in it... the only sex scene is almost a rape! Actually if not for the rape scene, this book would be a good example of young adult novel, and with an young adult target too.