I simply adore these Harlequin Manga comics. It doesn't even matter what the story is, I tend to love them all. The beautiful illustrations bring the stories to life for me and while they are short and an abbreviated version of the story, I find them satisfying nonetheless because I love seeing the illustrated depictions of the scenes and the characters. This one is another winner. And I apologise in advance that a few of my reviews are similar but really, I just love them all.

Of all the manga romances I read, this one was the most fantasy like. Overall it was interesting, but the Prince was very overbearing.  This was also my least favorite of the harlequin manga books due to the half-done fantasy with the arrogant prince. 

Overall I would not call this book terrible, but it is not one I would look at ever again.

Book Review
Title: The Blackmail Marriage
Author: Penny Jordan
Genre: Manga
Rating: ****
Review: In the Blackmail Marriage we are introduced to Carrie, who once upon a time had a relationship with the Prince of Santander; Luc until they were ripped apart when he supposedly paid her off as a fling. She spends many years in Britain earning a degree and getting a very well-known job.
Years later, Carrie is now a very successful woman and doesn’t care about Luc although she does follow his coronation as he becomes King. It isn’t until her brother Harry arrives and pleads with her to help him. He needs help because he has married the King’s fiancée and wants his sister to return the engagement ring. Carrie obviously agrees but when she returns the ring Luc tells her if she doesn’t marry him he can have her brother arrested from breaking insider trading laws, so she relents.
However, shortly after their marriage she learns that the supposed breakup they had years before wasn’t orchestrated by Luc but by someone else who wanted their granddaughter to become the Princess of Santander, which now happens to be Carrie’s title.
Through lies, political intrigue and multiple assassination attempts although with a healthy does of angst and mystery we see this pair truly overcome all the odds to be together and achieve their happily ever after. Overall, I really like the Blackmail Marriage and its premise although I would have liked it to be longer and delve a little deeper into the political intrigue and the group known as the Purifiers.

Thank you, NetGalley for the preview of this graphic novel.

Reading these Harlequin Mangas gave me a wave of nostalgia back to the school days where I used to read Mills and Boon book under the table.

The artist did a wonderful job at recreating the feel of the story from the pages of the book.

Another cute manga based off a novel. Luc and Carrie are cute together. The idea of a twin was pretty interesting as well. Enjoyable read.

Overall the story was pretty good... but some tropes there felt... not in the way I needed them to. Like Carrie, she had great potential to be such a great heroine but... she was made as naive and in the end stupid- completely not like the young fully-educated woman she's supposed to be.
Besides that, the story was rather enjoyable.

Just as romances tend to fall into categories, so too does the art in manga. In this case, we have a very light and fluffy comedic type of young girls manga style that turns a somewhat silly romance into almost a fantasy trope. None of it is believable and I found the clothing choices (almost all being very non-modern and the typical magical fantasy style) to be very odd and destroying any credibility. I think the manga artist decided to turn this into more of a Cinderella fairy tale than a "I married a random European prince" Harlequin romance.

Story: Carrie's father is an economic adviser to the royal family of Santander. As a result, Carrie grew up with young Prince Luc, heir to the throne. But when she reaches adulthood and falls for Luc, what she finds is that he's a playboy and she is paid off to leave before anything becomes serious. In London, she finds her fame as a journalistic economist. But fate brings the couple back together. Amidst political upheaval in Santandar, Carrie must chart a course of protect her heart again from Luc - and her life from radicals and mobsters!

Yes, the story is quite silly and the art style probably makes it even more so. If you like zany romances then perhaps this is one you will enjoy. For me, I didn't believe Carrie was a famous economic journalist any more than I believed that Santandar was a real country. It was hard to root for Luc as well since all he saw/talked about was how beautiful Carrie is and how many suitors she has. Carrie is supposed to be intelligent - but good luck finding that anywhere in the story.

The art is fairly modern manga style. Carrie looks to be about 17 in most of the book and Luc is your typical broody hero. I had to really laugh, though, at the coronation and Luc's 'Final Fantasy' type of tiara crown. His whole ensemble looked to be taken straight from Legend of Zelda - missing only a sword and a shield. It was very silly. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

This is about as classic Harlequin trope fest as you can get.

Carrie - I love you!
Luc - let us sleep together!
Old Lady - here's money he doesn't want you.
Carrie - How could I be so naive??

Rinse, wash, repeat. I swear Carrie's feelings back pedal no less then five times because she DOES NOT COMMUNICATE and for a highly renowned mid-20s economics journalist she was awfully uncaring that the King wanted to, ya know, take care of kingdom business.

Introduction of an unknown perfect lookalike? Yep.
"I have always loved you!" Yep.
"You treated me so differently!" Yep.

So you can see, they missed NO TRICKS.

Art was pretty, but the story fell flat since like other Harlequin standard romances it had only the barest outline for the setting and little to no real embellishment of characters.

I enjoyed the artwork. The story is a bit too much like a fairytale for my liking, but if you like fairy tale romances then this is the book for you.

The manga romances are great fun to read and if you have read the prose version of the story then the manga version is a nice follow up.

Copy provided by Harlequin/SB Creative in exchange for an unbiased review.

A novel written by Penny Jordan is always a good enjoyable reading even if it is a manga and this one is no exception. It was really full of drama and surprises and the illustrations were good.

Una storia d'amore scritta da Penny Jordan rimane piacevole e piena di dramma e amore anche se trasformata in manga, e questa non fa eccezione.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

I really enjoyed the art and the story for this manga. Now I might need to go and read the actual story and compare the two.

3 stars--I liked the book.

I'm not really a romance reader, but when I saw Netgalley had some Harlequin Mangas available to request, I was curious.

This is a very simplified version of the original novel, but it was a fun, fast read. Characterization is minimal and the plot is pretty much what you'd expect from the description, but I smiled as I read. The art was enjoyable--especially the illustrations of formal clothing. (Lots of billowing dresses and such.)

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

While I enjoyed the other titles of this series, I thought the plot of this one was hardly plausible. A prince who only pined after a young girl he had a fling with 8 years before? Seriously? The art was good though, so you might give it a try in any case.

Harelequin manga is a guilty pleasure of mine, for this one unfortunatley I did not like it. The art was good but my main issue was the story. It wasnt well paced and I didnt care for the romance at all the Leading Leady was indecisive about weather or not she wanted to stay with the guy, and the guy wasnt all that great. I know part of the plot is blackmail but he just wasnt all that apealing. Sadly i cant say I'd reccomend it but there are plenty of Harelequin manga that is good that I could reccomend.