I enjoyed Breath of Flowers, and I intend to buy it for my library's collection, but something about the main romance felt a little off to me. It felt a little disingenuous for a character to all of a sudden be fine with loving a girl when she was so adamantly against it minutes before. I totally understand the idea of loving a person for who they are and not their gender, which I think is supposed to be the point here, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

**TW: homophobia and eating disorders**
I went into this manga with no expectations as I am very new to reading manga.
I won’t lie, the opening for this manga had me confused and a little irritated as the main character, Azami, says she doesn’t understand yaoi and the only true love is between a girl and her (male) soulmate. Yikes.
Azami later builds up the courage to confess her love to Gwyn, who plays on the basketball team for her school. She then finds out that Gwyn is in fact, a girl; Azami is shocked and runs away but later realizes she still loves Gwyn and the two begin to date after Gwyn makes her feelings known for Azami.

This story was very cute and easy to read but it definitely had some faults.
Azami was a bit possessive, like in the way that Gwyn couldn’t talk to other girls without her getting jealous.
And there was also a love triangle, which is one of my least favorite tropes.

Overall, I did think it was cute, mostly because of Gwyn and the artwork but I will say: while it is an LGBT story, don’t go into it thinking it has trans representation.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Caly, and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read Breath of Flowers Volume 1 in exchange for an honest review.

Cute artwork. The story itself was also rather fun and cute, but felt very rushed in terms of the relationship. There wasn't any buildup to it and very few problems with the relationship that felt conflicting enough to pull the story through.

I really appreciate how this book encourages being yourself and exploring your own sexuality, especially when you are attracted to someone you didn't quite expect to be attracted to. Though it says "Volume One," I do like where this book ended. I can just read this volume and be satisfied, though there is a slight itch to see how the characters relationship will develop at they have a summer apart and end up doing to different schools the next year.

I wasn’t a fan of this at all. The romance was cute but one of the characters went from extreme homophobe to being completely fine with her sexuality in a blink of an eye. The other main character also didn’t really sit well with me because she was build to be a trans character but then completely flipped the switch and said she only acted that way because she felt pressured for her girlfriend ... Also just the love triangle felt very forced and unnececary. This could have been great but it wasn’t.

“Because there are things that no one wants to say or hear out of fear that speaking the words will make them even more real.”

I’m in love with this manga! So wholesome! So refreshing! So pure! I’m living for this yuri (lesbian) relationship!

Freshman Azami thought that Gwyn, the sporty student she’s had a huge crush for so long, was a boy until she found out that she’s the total opposite! I love how this manga embraces and promotes homonormativity! I love how Azami was such a badass towards a bigot! I love how Gwyn has a (despite being a tad bit annoying) supportive (and also a lesbian) friend who’s encouraging Azami and Gwyn to power through this relationship! I love how it showed the struggles of accepting and showing your queer self! I love how it also showed very supportive parents! (Gwyn even mentioned that not everyone could be so lucky with parents who are accepting *sighs*)

Thank you, Edelweiss & Netgalley, for letting me read a DRC!

P.S. I especially enjoyed the part where Azami’s friend said “You’re not even sure they kissed, are you? Like in episode 7 of Kuri on Ice” LMAOOO. Y’ALL CAN’T TELL ME OTHERWISE. THAT VIKTURI KISS HAPPENED! IT DID! AAAAA

I was really intrigued by the idea of this manga, mostly because I haven't seen anything like it in manga and because the cover is really adorable.

The actual most interesting part in the beginning sadly fell flat for me.
Azami is opposed to the idea of same sex relationships because her friends make a huge deal out of the yaoi and yuri mangas. And then she finds out that the boy she is in love with is actually a girl and thows the other girl on the head that she had been in love with her as a boy. The very next time they meet, Gwen tells her she's in love with her too. And Azami suddenly decides that she still loves her as a girl and they get together.

That part was really rushed and unrealistic. It all happened within 21 pages.
She just accepted to be in love and in a relationship with a girl and then the story went on. The conflicts that followed were done alright, but I really would have wanted Azamis process to change her mindset and them getting together to be much slower and more realistic.

But I still liked it well enough, it is still a sweet manga and I really applaud it for touching on some heavy subjects like gender roles and construction, coming out and (in some way) body disphoria - all within a quirky story

I thought I was gonna enjoy this but I found it to be slightly annoying more than anything. I really don't like the type of characters like Azami. Overly emotional, someone who cares about others but feels like they care more for themselves (somewhat superficial), jumping into conclusion and at the beginning, she was homophobic. Suddenly in the next few pages she decides to date Gywn because Gywn liked her back. There was no transition to her realizing she might be bisexual or lesbian instead whatsoever. Gywn's reasoning for dressing up as a boy is not reasonable enough besides for plot convenience.

The story is cliche is cliche. I only found Gwyn's struggle to hide her identity interesting and Judith helping her get better was nice.

Sometimes the feelings aren't deep and it feels really superficial. Like the feelings don't have time to settle in before they jump to the next story. Sometimes it just starts up strong without any build up.

For the artstyle, the Chibis are cute but sometimes the expressions on the normal drawing look messy. Half the panels are empty so I don't even know where they are unless I check the BG from previous panels. However the cover art for each chapter were really cute and amazing.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one but I'm reading the book from last to the first page. I don't know why it's upside down.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

Thanks to net galley.com and Diamond Book Distributors for the advance PDF file for my honest review. Just started reading manga style graphic novels, it's a nice change of pace from reading books, weird that you actually read these backwards and will have to read more of these. Didn't like this one, since it easily could have been a male/female story verse being female/female and never really got into the storyline.

This one was okay and even cute but not stand out. And it took a little bit to get past the reveal that Gwyn was a girl—uncomfortably handled given Azami’s homophobic rant. The character isn’t trans and ultimately it’s not implied that she is but I can see that throwing readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Azami, a high school freshman always believed that true love is between a guy and a girl thus her complete shock when she finds out that Gwyn, the basketball player she’s been in love with for some time, is actually a girl. This discovery though is not enough to change her feelings for Gwyn and so she must accept the fact that she likes girls as well.

I liked the idea of this manga but I expected more from it. Based on the synopsis I really thought that we were going to see how Azami deals with finding out Gwyn is a girl, realizing that her feelings haven’t changed and wondering why that is . . . etc in short just her realizing and coming to terms with her sexuality especially after the comment she made at the beginning of the story, where she said that real love is between girls and boys. I also assumed that their relationship wouldn’t start right away and we’d get to see their friendship first, then them realizing their feelings for each other But everything happened so quickly it just didn’t make a lot of sense to me and so I just found it unrealistic and childish. I think this volume would have been better if it was from Gwyn’s perspective or just focused on her more and her struggles with identity and having to pretend but in the end, those aspects were not explored properly.

Overall this manga had a good premise but a somewhat messy execution.

I don't know if it's possible to repackage this story in a less offensive way -- it would definitely help to not make the reader wonder if the love interest is being misgendered in the cover copy!!! -- but honestly, I can't recommend this story to anyone in its present form. Quick summary: Azami, a high school girl whose defining characteristics upon her introduction are that she has a crush on Gwyn, a member of the boys' basketball team, and that she thinks yaoi manga is garbage because "that kind of love doesn't exist.... the only love possible is the bond between a young girl and her soulmate!" So, uh, some really unappealing homophobia right out of the gate. Soon afterward Azami sees Gwyn changing and realizes that Gwyn is AFAB. There is absolutely no thoughtful consideration of the possibility that Gwyn is a trans boy; she is disguised as a boy for purely plot-related reasons, so that she can play on the boys' basketball team, and claims she doesn't really think about her gender presentation; she dresses like a boy because her clothes are hand-me-downs from her brother. The whole premise lacks both nuance and thought to the actual experience of AFAB people who present in a non-feminine way.

Anyway, Azami is shocked but quickly decides she still likes Gwyn regardless of gender, especially when Gwyn confesses that she has also had a crush on Azami for a while (why??? they have literally never spoken to each other before!) and they decide to go out together. From there it's a fairly standard chaste romance with the obligatory interloper character (Gwyn's class rep, rich girl Judith) who is trying to break them up and steal Gwyn for herself. There's no introspection where Azami realizes her homophobic outburst in the first couple of pages was bad, and no discussion of the complexities of gender. It's basically indistinguishable from a het shoujo manga except for the "I hate gay romance because romance should be between a girl and a boy, oh wait the boy I like is a girl" gag at the beginning. The art is all right but very unpolished -- not sure if it will be cleaned up before final publication.

I thought this book was cute. It was simple and easy to digest and made me feel fluffy and happy. My only issue with this book was the way some of the LGBTQIA+ themes were handled. It sometimes felt judge mental and almost full on homophonic which does not align with my particular views and opinions. I will be continuing on in the series but all in all i don’t have much to say.

Honestly, my big takeaway after I finished reading <i>Breath of Flowers</i> by Caly is that it made me deeply uncomfortable. I think a very tiny part of the problem might stem from the fact that, if you read the synopsis, you go into the book expecting something slightly different. But even the synopsis makes you suspect and worry the book could be problematic. But still, a part of you hopes that the subject matter will be well handled. Well, the truth is that <i>Breath of Flowers</i> is less cute than you'd expect and more problematic than anything else it might have been.

Here's the thing: I think <i>Breath of Flowers </i>had a lot of potential with its premise. You've got a young girl, Azami, whose best friend really likes yuri and yaoi (mangas that portray m/m and f/f relationships). She doesn't understand her friend's love for the stories and, in fact, feels that only girls and boys can be attracted to each other. But then she finds out that her long-time crush, Gwen, on the basketball team is actually a girl and not the boy she believed. Okay, so there's a recipe for someone coming to terms with their problematic views and learning how to grow as a person. There's an opportunity for a story about a transgender person.

None of that is what we get.

Azami is homophobic from the start of the novel and while it does appear that she grows out of that somewhat, you never fully feel that she does. And this is a weird thing for me to say because at times I really did feel like she'd grown as a person. And then at others, she seemed as though she hadn't. One thing that stood out to me was how little she seemed to understand about Gwen and her absolutely horrible mistreatment of this girl when she finds out Gwen is not actually a boy.

Speaking of, Gwen is not actually trans. Rather she is only pretending to be a boy so that she can play her favorite sport at their school, which is known for having a great basketball team. And of course, there are the few problematic pieces that I'm including below, but it is a SPOILER since it's a fair part of the story.

Gwen's motivation for chest binding is so she can stay on the team without anyone noticing and because she worries Azami might not like her anymore if she lives as a girl. She also starves herself in an attempt to prevent her body from developing. And then Azami, despite Gwen's desire to keep her secret from coming out decides to buy her a dress?

And at the end of all this, we're left with a story about two girls who are dating where the relationship is far from healthy for a number of reasons, some of which are mentioned above, and some which involve unreasonable jealousy. I felt bad for not liking this. But at the same time, I just couldn't get past how uncomfortable all of these things made me feel? I'd been looking for an uplifting story about a girl who grew past her ignorance and the development of a relationship between this girl and a trans man. And while I wouldn't have bee upset with a relationship between two females that was healthy, neither my expectation or a healthy relationship is what I got.

So, I guess that's that.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
2.5 stars

I picked this book up hoping to read something cute and fluffy, perhaps even another take on the girl gender-bending trope, and in a way it is, but it also isn't. Are you confused? Trust me, that's how I'm feeling about this story in general.

Let me first clear the air:
- No, this isn't a story about a transgender person.
This is about Azami and Gwyn, who are both girls. Gwyn only dresses like a boy because she wanted to play basketball --there is more to it, but I don't want to give everything away.

- No, This story is not about Azami slowly coming to terms with her sexuality.
From the synopsis this is what you'd think, especially since she thinks she only likes guys. Whelp there is a super quick turnabout here. I'll go into more detail about this later.

Does it deal with the sports gender-bending trope in a unique way?
I guess?? It isn't how it is usually done, but it doesn't feel truly new. Of course, as the series progresses this doesn't seem like it will be a big part of the story-- it seems to have been used only as a way for Azami to not know Gwyn is a girl.

Cute and fluffy???
...this is where things get awkward for me and why I'm marking it 2 stars instead of 3. Remember me saying I was coming back to Azami's quick acceptance of not being straight? Here it is.
<b>*Quick note there may be spoilers below, but everything happens in the first chapter*</b>

The opening scene of this novel is Azami calling a yaoi manga "hot garbage."
hmmm, okay I'll take that since I mean maybe she's talking about the format or the particular scene. But then she continues to say that the characters are "just fooling around because they can't... because they haven't found the right girlfriend" and "That kind of love doesn't exist," and last one "The only love possible is the bond between a young girl and her soulmate."
Now that last one might be open to saying girls can love anyone, but guys can't, but I mean you can't tell me that all of this is not somewhat homophobic. She even says in one breath that it is horrible Gwyn led people to believe she is a guy and that she loved her. I mean ????? Yet a few days later, without any self-evaluation the girls start dating.
That whole chapter put a whole negative cloud over the rest of the book. I see how that first scene is perhaps supposed to be funny since we know she'll be in a same sex relationship, but more than anything it just made me feel uncomfortable, especially considering the degree of her reaction.

Was the rest of the book cute? I guess? I... after that first chapter I just felt weird about everything.

So, I probably won't recommend this to people. I won't push people away from it, but besides the cute artwork, I don't have much pleasant to say about it.

A cute manga but not one that flows well. The idea is there but the main character is not fleshed out like at all. Everything happens so fast and the chapters just don't flow. I was to thank the publisher because they do have a copy of the book that reads from back to front since that just does not work for mobile.

I received this comic/graphic novel from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I spotted this gorgeous looked manga-style comic on Netgalley, saw it was LGBT, and I just couldn't resist. Also that cover, which is just beautifully drawn.

This comic is about two girls, Azami and Gwyn. Azami has been in love with Gwyn for a long long time, but the day she wants to talk to Gwyn... she finds out that Gwyn is a girl! Of course the blurb already spoiled that for us, so I knew what was up from the first page. Though I have to say it made Azami's reaction to BL and yuri even funnier when you know that soon she will be in a girl x girl relationship. I loved it when she realised it herself, yup, you haven't liked those comics at all, but I am sorry you are in love with Gwyn. Very much so.

Of course, I can understand she was shocked when she found out, wouldn't we all be when you expect the basketball boy's team to be full of boys. And not one girl who loves basketball but, given there is no girl team, has to play in the boys team. I did think it was amazing though that no one knew that Gwyn was a girl, or well, the teachers/school nurse etc. know, but the rest of the student body is pretty oblivious. Don't the guys suspect anything given that Gwyn seems to wait until the last minute to change/maybe even changes somewhere else?

Their first date was just adorable, I loved how Gwyn and Azami had tons of fun, though we also see that Azami is still a bit unsure. She wants her girlfriend to also do some shopping, to also show off cute dresses, and I can totally imagine that she would want that. I was definitely cheering for Azami when she did that, and I am more than happy that they finally had a chat about things, it was necessary. At least in my eyes.

I was a bit stunned that 4 months and several days is how long the relationship between Gwyn and Azami was, it just never felt like that. For me it felt more like they have been together for maybe a week, maybe 2 or 3 weeks. Not more than that. So that was a tiny issue for me, I was really surprised when Gwyn told Judith (I believe that is her name) that. And that we missed a couple of kisses, argh!

But the drama that inevitably happens, really the drama was just so cringe. I am sorry but I just don't get why people immediately go jealous. OH NO SOMEONE is talking to my girlfriend. OH NO, they are getting close. OH NO. *rolls her eyes to the heavens*Instead of just going to Gwyn and asking about it, or maybe talking to the girl in a normal way, or maybe hey, people just get close at times and that is totally fine, people are allowed to have other friends, the girl just assumes, assumes, and more of that. Drama that just felt very unnecessary.

But I am glad that they finally had the big talk they should have had sooner. Again apparently some time has passed, but again it doesn't feel like it ever does. Weirdly. I did think, as I said above, that Azami was a bit too dramatic. OMG, my girl is talking to someone else, someone else is helping my girl.... yes, so? I also talk to other people at times when things don't go well with me, my husband (still feels weird to say this, but then again it's only been 4 days since we married) wouldn't mind. Eventually I would also go to him, of course, but sometimes I just need someone else to also confide in and get their opinions. And sometimes I want to try out things without the help or worry of my husband. Is that so strange? No. I love my husband, but I also have other people in my life.

I am still a bit unsure about Judith. Is she truly saying those things because she is interested in Gwyn? Or is she just pushing Azami? Given some things that happen later on, I am starting to become less of a fan of Judith. She knows that Gwyn and Azami will be further apart the coming year, and while I do think it is sweet of her to arrange that, I also thought it was a bit too much.

I did love when Azami and Gwyn meet up again for a weekend, just after their school has their summer vacation. Azami's reaction to Gwyn's: "Oh hey my parents aren't going to be around.", was adorable! Their date was adorable, go go Gwyn.

I am guessing next volume will go on about the summer vacation, and hopefully also some after parts, I am curious to see how this couple will do when they have to do long distance. I am sure they can work it out, but they really need to keep talking about things.

The art was just absolutely stunning, I love it oh so much. The style is just adorable, the character designs are just great.

All in all, I had tons of fun reading it. There are great sweet romantic moments, but I also love how Gwyn's character gets developed. How she wants to be herself again, and not have to hide as a boy all the time. The relationship is a bit wobbly, I do hope in the next volume they will talk more often when something bothers one of them. But I am definitely rooting for these two, they make a very sweet couple.

Breath of Flowers was actually quite cute! I take it this is a pseudo-manga, but better than most and actually works. Azami falls in love with a boy named Gwen, but soon finds out that Gwen isn't a boy at all, but a girl. That doesn't stop our pair as they both feel for each other and decide to date. This first part is mostly setting the relationship and getting a rival of course. So, in a way, cliched, but still well done and slow-burn, which is great. The whole thing with Gwen pretending to be a boy at school was over the top though and not really credible. This kind of ate out the pleasure of reading and how she suddenly has to change schools in order to not get caught. Also, it's great that the girls' parents were accepting, but suddenly letting them stay together the night by themselves was odd. In a way Breath of Flowers is kind of naive, but then very brave but not credible due to this naivety. Azami is the best thing about this comic though! She's fun, credible, clingy and stupid, which is entertaining and awesome.

The art looks delicate and almost there in a sense. The backgrounds aren't the best always, but all in all this looks quite OK art-wise, which is great. Some situations are out of the realm of credibility, but the pace and feelings seem genuine. Perhaps it's not love yet, but the girls seem into each other and feel real, which is wonderful. The story surely has potential and I do hope Caly puts thought into what can actually happen and how, since it makes this better in the long run surely. Realism is the root, I'd say.

A sweet and cute book though it falls into the pitfalls of many manga (binding with ace bandage, general negativity towards mlm relationships even as a wlw positive book). Overall nice but nothing outstanding compared to other manga that bring more to the table. Pretty run of the mill but it's a fun fast read regardless.

Personally, I found this very difficult to read. I was very interested in the fact that it has lgbtq characters, which ive never read in a manga before. however, I found the story quite homophobic and problematic in terms of presenting healthy relationships. Due to this, I found it difficult to read pass the 100 page mark.

This was an ARC I get that it’s not final but the artwork seemed half finished at times and I’m not sure if it’s going to be published in black and white but I wasn’t a fan of that. The story was not great representation and had some weird homophobic moments. I thought this was a transgender story but that got turned around. So confused by this in general.