Another fun manga retelling of a Harlequin classic. I have yet to meet one of these I didn't like and this was no exception. Yes, the plots are a bit dated.because they're tied to older titles. This one was a bit more contemporary in the story and characters

The illustrations are consistent with the previous books in the collections and I find them better for my amateur manga reader self because there's less of the exaggerated child chibi style in these.

Overall a fun read and a neat way to enjoy a Harlequin.

This wasn't the right book for me, but the things that first caught my eye are still cool: a Harlequin-imprint manga seems really unique. Most likely to be useful to large libraries, and libraries serving adult readers with lower (English) reading skills.

I didn't personally enjoy this because the story was very short and very trope-heavy; tropes are a building block of romance, but can't be the only block present. The narration and dialogue were extremely clunky and chock-a-block with cliches. With more attention and care, romance manga could be a cool offering, but this felt extremely mass-market, written and produced as quickly as possible for sale with little regard for quality.

Read was fun and easy to do in one sitting. Great characters. Plot was interesting. Romance was adorable.

I absolutely love everything that Harlequin Manga has put out recently especially since most of these mangas are retelling old romance stories that people my age wouldn't even consider reading but the artwork is divine and the stories are really sweet.

Once again, I want to say what a delight it is to lose myself in the beautiful illustrations of these romance manga comics. I love how the illustrations bring the characters to life and tells me a story. And I love that sometimes these stories leave me wanting more and I looking for the original book to read. That has happened quite a few times to me.

This was cute! I haven't read much manga but I really enjoyed this one. It was easy to read as well.

I didnt realize until I went to add this book to my currently reading that it is a novel already! I should have figured since it says "original novel by Margaret Mayo," but I guess I skimmed over that. Anyway, I enjoyed this story. It felt like the manga got all of the emotion that the original would have.

The story itself is exactly what I expected after reading the synopsis. Nothing too surprising, but it wasnt completely and utterly boring either.

I received this manga from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Slowly, but very surely, I am getting through my load of Harlequin Manga. After this one I still got 7 left, so the party isn't ending just yet!

I was quite excited about this one, the cover looked quite WOW, and I also was interested about the blurb. Wherein our MC girl is thrown in as replacement for the sister that was supposed to marry but ran away. Will her sister come back? Will she fall in love with her forced husband? Drama? Romance?

Oh, I guess our girl got both a new hair colour and lenses. Why do I say that? Because on the cover she has white/blonde hair and yellow eyes. Yet, when we meet Elena as a teen she has green eyes and orange hair. :P Then again, this wouldn't be the first time they messed up the colours on the characters.

Boy oh boy, instead of doing this rationally he just grabs the girl as soon as he hears about his missing fiance and then kisses her. Urgh, I am probably getting old but I am just not happy with forced kisses these days. I know that I did think they were romantic (past me, why?).

They have a conversation, as they should given that they are now fake engaged. We find out that Vidal doesn't give a bullspoop about Reina and doesn't seem to care about her running away. Is he really thinking that? Mm, one can never know with these Harlequin men. I can imagine that Elena is not happy, Reina is her sister and she wants her to be happy. Not marrying some guy who just wants to do it for status and how good it would look. :| Wow, things get even worse when he isn't going to give up. Given everything it seems to take place in 20something not in 1900. Forcing a woman to marry? Making her feel guilty about it because if she doesn't it would mean the downfall of her family's bank.. .Wow.. And of course, add that element to it so that she will feel 100% guilty if she doesn't do it. Dang. That is messed up.

"Then stop making such angry faces and try get along with me. It lessens the charm you finally got as a beautiful woman." You what mate? *wants to throw ice cold water over the dude*

I love this girl btw. She got her own business (though due the marriage has to abandon it for a year which just sucks), she worked her butt off, even worked as a wedding planner. Dang this girl! I am glad that she was able to tell that all to Vidal, his reaction to it was priceless.

Oh dear lord, you said you wouldn't have sex with him, but one forceful swoop on the bed and you do... Um.. This feels kind of wrong. Also they keep having sex. Wow, she isn't even married to him that long, but she immediately changed her opinion on him. It just was weird. Instead of being happy they were getting together, I was unhappy. At the beginning Elena was so determined, so strong, so steadfast, and now she is falling for him and doing all the things she said she wouldn't do. And sure, that is OK, but it still stood out a bit too much.

We also meet with Vidal's brother, he was quite an interesting character, though I was worried about his intentions.

Of course, at the moment they both want to talk about their feelings, there is Reina. And apparently someone close to Vidal has hidden her. Dum dum dum. Let the drama begin! Oh my. And more drama, I definitely hadn't expected that to happen, I would think that two adults should know to use THAT. :|

Confession time, and sorry, I just wasn't feeling it. This is one of those few times that I just don't feel the connection between the characters. There are tiny sparks here and there, but all the drama and crappy stuff just made me turn off. It is a shame.

So yeah, not a big success. I did like the art though. And at times also the romance.

A beautiful drawn interpretation of a much beloved novel, this manga is a must add to any collection. Even if you haven’t read the novel prior to the manga, this books does a good job at staying true to the feel of the original. Not to mention the artwork is beautiful.

For those new to the original novel, however, the story can seem cliche and generic. Those who enjoy a bit of angst with their romance as well as enemies-to-lovers will enjoy this novel. For others, it may sour the romance a bit. While the leads do get their happily ever after, it could have been reached much sooner had they just been honest and forthcoming.

Overall, an enjoyable romance.

Elena's sister Reina was the one that was supposed to marry Vidal. Reina goes missing and Vidal forces Elena to take her place. I didn't like Vidal's manipulations and the fact that if Reina hadn't backed out, he would have married her over Elena. I did like the illustrations and the plot was good but I wished Vidal would have been less manipulative.

**Received this ARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

The art was good but the story itself was only ok and kind of cliched. The pacing was too quick and spent more time jumping through scenes and plot points rather than spending time developing characters or relationships. The art itself felt very static and lacked emotion. I wished this could have been longer or spread over two volumes to really give the story time to develop more naturally.

I'm very grateful I was given the opportunity to read this but I wished it was better.

Despite the attempt to the romance, I felt that Vidal was the one who exploited everything the most. Despite the beautiful art, I can't consider the relationship here as healthy. There is angst, but also some love too.

I received a free ARC from netgalley.

The circumstances were a bit far-fetched. The story is fast paced and stuffed with family drama, business troubles, and poor decisions. The hero does some groveling but it still didn't feel like enough for a happy ending.

Maybe it needed to be longer to work through all that happened. Great art!

📚I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Harlequin/SB Creative as the publisher in exchange for an honest review📚

Book title : The Twelve-Month Marriage: a Harlequin Manga

Author : Margaret Mayo; Illustrator : Sachiko Shirai

Release Date : 22 November 2016

Elena and Vidal Marquez are connected because their family came from a hi-so society and they have known each other since they were a kid. She always spotted Vidal and once witnessed him kissing his sister Reina. As they grew up, Reina was promised to become a wife of Vidal. The reason is simple: to strengthen the family business! Unfortunately, Reina has broken off the engagement and disappeared. Vidal who was about to announce the cancellation of the engagement saw Elena and started to amaze by her beauty. He-full of rage-later announced that he was about marriage to Elena. Ah, poor Elena, she was nothing but a stand-in.

The story continues with Elena marrying Vidal. Even though Elena rejected the idea of getting marriage, she finally lost herself in Vidal’s arms. She enjoys the attention, the love, and their union not only in pleasure department but also in personal matters. Vidal has filled her senses. Vidal also felt the same but kept telling Elena and himself that their relationship was a platonic one. This marriage would last only for 12 months, he kept telling it. However, the conflict started when Reina and Vidal’s stepbrother appear. What will they do? will they remain as a couple? will they stick to the agreement that they will marry for 12 months only? Ah, I know it is a happy ending one, but I am not going to spoil the details here.

This is basically a sweet romance about hatred-turn-to-love which takes two people to admit the love they feel towards each other. This manga-style romance is hard to miss tho. It evokes the readers’ emotion as it is filled with tenderness and sweetness.


Review: https://literatureisliving.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/the-twelve-month-marriage-deal-a-harlequin-manga-by-margaret-mayo/

This was a good story about sacrificing yourself for the sake of your own family. Elena needs to marry a man that she hates in place of her sister that had run off. That sucks right? But for your family, you have to sacrifice yourself right?
Will this marriage become the real one? Will Elena and Vidal's relationship survive revealing the truth that was hidden? Read the story to find out...

Excellent art but the story was so so. A young woman is pressurised into marrying in order to save her father's business.

There is lots of ranchor and angst, but also some love too. The couple eventually overcome a number of communication failures and their love blossoms.

The story is ok but predicatable. Tne artwork is fab.

Copy provided by Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love sweet romances. When enemies realize they do not hate each other that much and realize how love can change everything. This manga brings a simple plot of two hearts that begin to perceive the sweetness of each other and surrender to a beautiful love. It was a fast story with a good ending. I loved Helena and Vidal.

Elena has lived in LA for the last six years. Now, she has returned to Spain for the engagement of her sister, Reina with Vidal Marques, an old childhood friend and the biggest bank owner in Spain. She is at the party hall when she discovers that Reina has disappeared. Vidal announces Elena as his fiancee. Elena has always hated him but now she is pressurized into marrying him. But the marriage is only supposed to be for a year and what can go wrong in a year? Besides, she is determined she won't let Vidal come near her.   
I haven’t read manga before so this was not something I am used to. But the story was wonderful. The different point of views of the two brothers about the same incident were intriguing.

Vidal is a bank owner who is about to announce his betrothal to a competing banker's daughter, but gets jilted at the lasr moment. The intended's sister conveniently happens to be at the party and Vidal has no qualms replacing his former fiancè with Elena and even go through the marriage if only for one year of scam. But what if getting closer changes their perspective and expectations?.... A good take on the marriage of convenienze trope.