A beautiful and stunning space opera novel, great for anyone who loves space opera. Fantastic setting and characters.

In a world where factions control most of the galaxy, being a deserter makes Rig an outsider. But with her charm and her guns Panache and Pazazz by her side, she knows her way around most issues. Until her sister’s life is at stake and she teams up with a mysterious bounty hunter.

If I were to make a list of things I love in a book, Bluebird ticks off most of them. It has gays in space and all the action and spy and heist shenanigans my heart desires. That gets mixed with great world-building, stunning visuals, great humour and a lot of nuances both in characters and political intrigue. In short, it’s like a perfectly assembled meal with all your favourite foods.

Ciel Pierlot controls the pacing of the story incredibly well, there was not a single dull moment. As with all my favourite books, I easily could’ve spent a few more chapters exploring this world. There are so many fantastic nooks and crannies in this universe that I’d love to revisit in a sequel!
So much of this book is about the ways in which governments and institutions instrumentalise and abuse their people. It’s a story about trauma, faith and finding one’s place in a vast and dangerous galaxy. It’s a book about healing in some ways, too.

I love all of the characters so much! Rig and Ginka are incredibly cool but have so much depth to them. And June is a literal space librarian! I’ll say it, I’m weak for badass women and this book has three of them, how do you expect me not to be head over heels in love? I loved Rig’s confidence and swagger, even though it’s more armour than anything else. She was a delightful main character and watching her grow throughout the book was one of my favourite aspects of the story. Ultimately, I do think Ginka is my favourite of the bunch. Her story is tragic and I felt truly angry on her behalf for all the abuse she’s experienced, especially because she herself struggles to see it. Like Rig, I often felt the urge to shake Ginka and tell her “don’t you see that you deserve better?”. Ginka is badass and lethal, but also a total cutie. Yes, she may be able to murder me in a second but that’s part of her charm. Maybe I just like murderous women.

Overall, Bluebird was a thrilling sci-fi adventure with a perfect balance of action, political intrigue and nuanced character work.

February is the month of Valentine’s Day, so I usually like to review some romance novels. But sometimes what I really want is an action-packed space adventure with a grudging friendship at its heart.

Rig lives on the fringes of a society carved up by three human factions. Once, she was a brilliant inventor for one of the factions. Now, she devotes her energy to smuggling refugees from the factions’ war to safe places, making the occasional legitimate cargo run in order to make some money. When her former faction catches up with her, she finds herself thrown together with a deadly fighter with a mysterious past. The pair team up to escape and rescue Rig’s sister from her former faction.

Bluebird was such fun to read. It had a cinematic style and had some great set pieces, starting with a sharp-shooting game at a bar and moving at various points through a couple of motorbike(ish) chases, a heist/spy infiltration of a ball and a spaceship chase through a debris field, to name a few. It kept a good action-adventure pace, while still managing some quieter, more emotional scenes where the characters connect.

The majority of the story is told in a close third-person perspective focused on Rig. This is interspersed with interludes detailing Ginka’s backstory.

Bluebird has been compared to the TV show Firefly and I can definitely see aspects of it. Rig is a sassy rebel on the fringes of society, trying to keep her ship together and get paid while sticking it to those in charge. Ginka also has a bit of a River Tam vibe to begin with: petite but deadly, and a bit niave about how the world works. But there’s no rag-tag crew; while there are some found-family feelings here and there, the true heart of the story is the friendship that develops between Rig and Ginka. I appreciated that it was something the characters particularly valued. In this sense, the story reminded me a bit more of Archivist Wasp… although that may also have been a bit of Ginka’s techno super-ninja vibe paired with Rig’s hardy make-do survival. And while there is no romance between these characters, they do have love interests elsewhere (June, Rig’s sexy-librarian girlfriend, is an absolute delight).

Given that this was a debut novel, the style was very readable, without any of the awkwardness that sometimes creeps in. However, there were a few places where the plot felt a little thin and the worldbuilding wasn’t the most complex. For example, it didn’t seem plausible that there was so very little information known about one of the factions when it remains a major player in galactic politics. That said, these quibbles weren’t enough to detract from my enjoyment.

All in all, I had a blast reading Bluebird and recommend it if you’re in the mood for a fun space romp. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more work from this author in future.

This review first appeared on Earl Grey Editing

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you Angry Robot Books for providing me this arc.

Now, I haven't read a worthy science fiction in a long time. This, BlueBird is definitely worth your time if you're a space geek.

We follow Rig, a Kashrini, lesbian with two guns she named "Panache and Pizzazz." But there's another thing, she's a indentured runaway from her faction, Pyrite.

A long time ago, the 3 factions, Pyrite, Ossuary and Ascetic lead by humans started a war to prove how powerful each factions were.
But indigenous species of the invaded galaxies like the Zazra and Kashrini are caught up in the war between these factions.

Rig, one of the chosen Kashrini, by the Pryite faction, trains to become a weapons developer that aids the her faction in standing at the winning pedestal of the faction wars.

Now, she realises the weight of her actions and how many deaths happened because of her weapons. Rig is now on the run to escape her past sins and find redemption with her smuggling partner, Mohsin.

But soon her past comes knocking at her doors and she has to choose between destroying her greatest work created and saving her twin sister.

It takes an unlikely team of a sarcastic Rig, and a stiff Ginka to travel across the luminalspace from faction to faction to save Rig's sister and find redemption along the way.

Rig as a character is layered. You'd see she has so much pain and hurt. And in a world where everyone is loyal to their faction, believes in the purpose their faction spells out for them. So change didn't come easy for Rig, abandoning her life of being someone important, of having to make impact. There was significant character development with Rig. And the right amount of humor, just spiced Rig's character.

She's Headstrong, but reasonable. She's bold and confident but still scared of the outcome of her actions and consequences that would take place on the people she loves afterwards. She's trusting but also ready to defend and protect herself when she feels a betrayal etching close to her.

The interlude chapters introduces the second main character, Ginka. A Zazra, loyal to the Ossuary faction. Given a rare mission to find a rare person across the galaxy, Ginka bands with Rig to help her fight the faction and their oppression of the species.

Ginka is a tough character but the interlude reveals so much of her soft sides. She's has so much endurance and is loyal. Her convictions to Ossuary are strong.

This is a well written 400 page science fiction. It's a vivid storytelling, makes you feel present with every bit of the story. From the fight scenes (which are epic by the way) to the emotional growth of the characters, to the love they share for each other and their love interests.

Ciel Pierlot did a number with BlueBird and I think every science fiction lover should pick this book and enjoy Rig and Ginka's story.

Incredibly well written! There were some harder to get through parts, like any science fiction, but overall great! Can’t wait to buy a copy!!!

I saw someone recommend this book on Twitter, looked it up and saw the description — lesbian gunslingers fights spies in space — and was sold. And it did not let me down! I felt like the world building was done really well, revealing information about each faction later by layer without getting confusing. Rig is my favorite kind of space opera heroine — a cocky badass who would sacrifice anything for the ones she loves. And I loved the mystery surrounding who Ginka really is, and what her purpose is. Every time I had to put this book down to deal with real life, I was displeased, and to me, that’s the sign of a good book.

The tag line for Ciel Pierlot’s space opera debut Bluebird really says it all: Lesbian gunslingers fight spies in space. From its opening chase scene in a disreputable space station to its big set piece finale in one of the galactic seats of secret power, Bluebird delivers on its promise. Its main character Rig is a lesbian who has two (named) guns and she is on a seemingly impossible quest while being pursued across the universe by more than one secret police organisation.
When the book opens Rig, formerly Traxi, is on the run from the Pyrite collective, having stolen the plans for a superweapon that she designed. Pyrite is one of the three factions that not only divide up the galaxy but are constantly fighting for ascendancy over the other. Anyone not aligned with a faction is pushed to the fringes and it is these people that Rig tries to help, when she is not watching her back. Following a close call she picks up a passenger called Ginka who is handy in a fight and has secrets of her own, and Rig nicknames Cactus. Ginka accompanies Rig on a mission which enables her to visit her lover June who is a member of the Ascetic faction. But before long Rig is in the crosshairs again, learning that multiple groups are after the plans and that Pyrite forces are holding her twin sister hostage in return for them. Soon Rig has a new mission – keep the plans out of enemy hands while finding the secret Pyrite base, breaking in and rescuing her sister. Nothing, of course, goes according to that plan. There is another story that plays out along the way that provides some useful backstory about one of the factions and leads to a revelation that every reader will see coming.
While wearing its space opera influences on its sleeve, Pierlot still manages to throw in some new wrinkles with her tripartite faction system. And she also just has a lot of fun with the genre and its conventions. This is a straight out adventure story with cliffhangers, close scrapes moustache twirling villains, heel turns, a rag tag bunch of helpers who later have to rally together, and lots of chases and fights. And while there is nothing startlingly new or memorable about it, Bluebird is a fun read, the narrative zips along and the action is handled with great assurance.

Bluebird was a lovely book with engaging characters that I grew to love over the course of the book, and that is sort of the problem. The universe Rig lives in is anything but lovely. This book should have left me with some warm fuzzy feelings (I’m not a complete pessimist), just not quite so many. Bluebird is an adult fiction novel that reads to me like a young adult novel; I’ve read some young adult novels that are darker and more cynical than this book. Which would be fine if this was a space opera like Star Wars where the heroes fight the big bad and save the day. The issue is that Bluebird is aiming for much higher resonance and while it accurately hits some targets, in terms of overall plot I found it a bit lacking.

The issue for me was the predictability. That is what made it feel like it was written for a much younger audience. In a universe that is filled with atrocities the protagonist meets an awful lot of nice people who don’t stab her in the back and help her and bounty hunter friend on their merry way. It’s not quite that simple, and yet in a way it is. When an issue does crop up it was something that was telegraphed from miles away, highlighted in neon colours, and underlined so many times that you couldn’t miss it.

For those wanting a light fun read, that’s absolutely fine and if you’re just wanting a novel that takes “Lesbian gunslinger fights spies in space!” to heart then this is the book for you. However, Pierlot is also using science fiction to engage with the topic of colonialism, something she does skilfully. Rig is not just on the run from her faction, she’s a reclaimer, and she has been successfully hunting down Kashrini artefacts that have been stolen by the factions.

I realised while writing this review that the issue for me was not Pierlot’s choice to write a pulp science fiction novel and infuse it with “serious topics”. That is what science fiction has been doing since the dawn of the genre, after all. Again, it comes back to the predictable scenarios and I think I’m a tad annoyed with Pierlot in a way. On the one hand she has created this deep and fascinating universe, the perfect landscape for discussing colonialism and claiming from cultures, and by doing so shown great skill as a writer. In comparison, the overarching storyline of Bluebird seems sloppy. It feels like it is trying to appeal to the market, it’s aim to sell copies rather than get to the root of the story by making it an easier read and holding the reader’s hand at every turn.

I also felt a bit let down by the lesbian relationship in Bluebird. A kickass librarian character? I was completely ready to love June, and then there was this horrible moment where it became extremely obvious that her love for Rig would only ever go so far. Even when her logical argument was proved to be completely wrong, she still stood by it. As someone who is an emotional abuse survivor, reading about a relationship where one person has to find excuses not to be with the other and then painfully watch as their partner convinces them that it’s ok, is not fun. I don’t want to read that, I don’t want that to be considered the norm to aim for in a relationship. Even when someone points out to Rig that this isn’t right, it’s smothered, ignored and never readdressed. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen with an LGBTQA+ couple in a novel, and it’s not realistic, it’s just depressing.

As a result Bluebird’s great premise becomes a mediocre science fiction novel which personally, I’ll remember as being a fun read and that was it. This is Pierlot’s debut novel, so I’d be interested in seeing how her style progresses in the future. She does have a gaming background which may explain the reader hand-holding aspect of her writing, which as a fellow gamer, I can recognise its origins. Useful for a career in game writing, not so much in novel writing.

I really enjoyed 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥. I felt a little slumpy when it comes to reading lately, and I think that this book definitely helped.⁣
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𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥 is full of fast-paced action and interesting character, a queer space opera. It’s at moments funny and snarky (as its main character, Rig) and yet equally emotional. This adventure in space definitely offers a rollercoaster of emotions. ⁣
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I did enjoy the main story in Bluebird, but mostly I liked the atmosphere and the focus on family, friendship and companionship. While Rig’s love story is there, is rather in the background, even if June is an interesting character on her own as well. ⁣
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I would definitely recommend this book to both fans of space operas and those only dipping their toes in sci-fi.

I gave this a 4.5 star rating.
I've loved these characters and this adventure every step of the way. I love that Rig named her guns what she did and I love the friendships and relationships. Such a beautiful book and glad I picked up the ARC and the audiobook.
The adventure that Rig and Ginka go on to rescue Rig's sister is a fun one. We read from Rig's perspective, an ex PI member who wants to be free of faction life where she would be used for her tech knowledge that would be used to create weapons to harm others. Rig just wants to live with her love and no be part of a huge intergalactic war but that isn't happening, PI have made it personal. And what exactly does Ginka want out of this whole deal?

This has been gripping from start to finish and I'm glad I picked up the audiobook to listen to along side this ARC.

Thanks to @netgalley and @angryrobotbooks for allowing me an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Bluebird released on February 8, 2022!

This female-lead sci-fi adventure is an absolute joy. I knew from the first few chapters that I was going to love it.

Think badass female gunslinging space outlaws, rebellious librarians, and elite assassins. Though this world is so different from ours, it is grounded in many of the same issues that we face here on Earth, and the protagonist, Rig finds herself constantly dealing with the fall out of choosing to break from the fold. It also touches on the many different ways that love (not just romantic) can bond us together, even when things are complicated.

It keeps you on the edge of your seat as Rig and Ginka jump from system to system, and I highly recommend. You might especially enjoy this if you are a fan of Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir or Outlawed by Anna North.

3.5 stars for an enjoyable space-opera debut.

Altogether Bluebird is a solid debut and I'd be interested to check out more from this author in the future.

Things I enjoyed:
- the cover is beautiful and the font choices are great - well done designers!
- 3 warring factions with their own ideologies and agendas
- different alien races and their individual skills
- FF romance mentioned throughout but it wasn't the main point of the story

Things I didn't like:
- not the most original plot line and worldbuilding
- some of the banter (and there's a lot of it) isn't that great or funny (in my humble opinion)
- it was very slow in the middle and had some pacing issues and it "read long"
- there were too many coincidences as driving factor of the story (they conveniently overheard someone say x, they conveniently found this wrecked ship that has the tech they need etc.). It felt too convenient.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in a lighter space-opera where the romance is more on the side line. It's also not heavily scientific and perfect for anyone who would like to dip their toes into a new genre.

Thanks Netgalley and Angry Robot for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

By now, y’all know I’m here for a good, fun sci-fi romp, especially if it’s queer and extra especially if it’s pitched to me as lesbian gunslingers with their librarian girlfriends in space. While Bluebird had some room for improvement, most noticeably in character development, I still enjoyed myself a great deal while reading and thought it a solid debut effort.

The protagonist of Bluebird, Rig, lives in a universe dominated by warring megafactions that control various sections and planets of space. Rig was a child prodigy in weapons development working for Pyrite faction, escaping with an incredibly deadly set of schematics when she learned the nefarious purposes it would be turned to. Now on the run and allied with a rebel organization of factionless individuals, Rig’s old Pyrite associations catch up with her and send her on a mad dash escape run through the universe with allies new and old.

This novel leans heavily on a lot of sci-fi tropes, which isn’t a bad thing in my opinion! Tropes are popular for a reason, and they provide a familiar frame of reference for readers new to a world. We’ve got evil intergalactic scientists, mysterious factions of assassins, organizations that couch their more insidious behavior in beauty and glamour, family members on divided signs of a conflict, and more. There are lots of action scenes that are clear, fun, and fast paced. The prose is easy to read and the characters have a distinct narrative voice—more on that in a second. All the aforementioned elements were well-executed and contributed to an entertaining read.

My biggest critique is the character work in Bluebird. Even though Rig is our protagonist, her main personality traits are snark and sass, and her narrative voice leans heavily on these traits; this is charming at first, but ends up feeling one-note later on in the novel. We don’t really get a deeper glimpse beyond that veil and I think the novel suffers for it, though the humor may work better for other readers. Also, we’re TOLD about her traumatic past and separation from her sister, and some efforts are made on that front, but the emotional beats and stakes of their separation don’t really land for me. The same goes for her relationship with esteemed First Assistant Librarian June. While I love an established relationship, June feels more like a convenient plot device than an integrated part of Rig’s life and heart.

What saves the character cast for me is Ginka, who Rig meets early on in Bluebird. In addition to her having heaps of Real Hot Cyborg Sh*t, which is a perpetual favourite of mine, I enjoyed Ginka so much because we were SHOWN her story via flashbacks. It gave her depth, motivation, and nuance that Rig lacked, even though I also enjoyed the dynamic they struck up throughout the events of the novel. I adored her and would easily read another novel focused on Ginka.

Despite my critiques, Bluebird was still a fast, fun, queer space opera with a lot of cool elements fans of the genre will enjoy. I’ll definitely be recommending this in certain situations and checking out what Pierlot writes in the future.

Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Ciel Pierlot's Bluebird is a fun, touching and evocative space adventure with enough depth to tempt anyone interested in more than just an easy SF novel without sacrificing the action and tech that makes those books fun. Pierlot's characters feel incredibly real, with traceable histories and decisions driving their current actions. Her use of flashbacks rather than exposition weave together storylines without subjecting the reader to another "why are the characters explaining their history to each other" scene. The worldbuilding is top notch - I love when an author takes the time to flesh out a universe beyond what they explore in the novel, and I'm excited to see what else Pierlot puts out in the future. A fantastic job for a debut novel!

Before picking up Bluebird I was craving some SF and this book 100% delivered. I love lesbian gunslingers, but Rig is also caring, just a tad bit reckless, and complex. She's making up for pursuing knowledge a bit too close to the sun and is in the works of making amends. When her sister is kidnapped, she ends up in an unlikely alliance with Ginka, a mysterious hitchhiker. I instantly loved Rig. Her flashes of arrogance and fear gave me serious Starbuck vibes.

Not only did I love Rig, but I quickly fell in love with basically every other character (except some baddies). If you love a super sassy heroine, then Rig is definitely your type. But at the same time, watching Ginka's character unfold - which is spoiler territory I'm sorry! - was an unexpected joy. And what a dynamic duo they make! In Bluebird, Pierlot explores questions of choice. Of decisions and loyalty that are (un)deserved and require every piece of ourselves.

3.5 stars.
Rig, the Kashrini main character of this fast-moving book, is a gunslinger, a rebel, and a lover of a fantastic librarian. Rig is a former weapons designer for the Pyrite faction; the factions rule most of the galaxy, and have carved most of it into three zones. The factions each believe in their superiority to the other factions, believing that each has special wisdom and righteousness, and piece of a star carried by their individual god, and have been warring against the other factions for thousands of years, with countless lives lost, and aliens, such as the Kashrini, pulled into the conflict, then indentured by the factions, all to fuel the continuing wars.

The factions are ruled by humans, and some of the indentured aliens under their thumbs have banded together in a group called the Nightbirds, in an effort to harry and bring down the factions. The factions want to eliminate the Nightbirds, and one of Rig's last weapons created for Pyrite would have done that. And has far larger, more terrible effects as well, hence Rig's rebellion and flight.

She's been in hiding for three years at the story's open, and has been successfully evading notice, until she takes on a passenger, an incredibly lethal Zazra, and then one thing after another begins going horribly, with Rig forced to work for Pyrite to recover her lost, last weapon in exchange for her sister's life. Rig and Ginka, the Zazra, are forced to travel all over the galaxy in an effort to find some means to defeating the faction, as well as rescue her sister.

While the pair are running around the galaxy, we're also shown another storyline of two incredibly dangerous assassins training. The identities are slowly revealed, in a satisfying manner.

Rig must ask herself a LOT of questions during hers and Ginka's efforts about 1) Rig's former work for Pyrite, 2) her work to deal with her tremendous guilt for creating so many weapons of mass destruction, 3) her damaged relationship with her sister and 4) the bigotry instilled into the various aliens working for the factions.

While there is a lot of action in this story, it's the character moments I liked between Rig and Ginka, and Rig's kindness, compassion for others, and for her feelings of personal responsibility, and how she attempts to repay her actions. And I LOVED Rig's love, June, who, though not setting foot outside her library, was vital to Rig's efforts, and was just so darned amazing all on her own.

I did, however, get a little tired of Rig's constant sassy attitude and remarks. I realize it's sort of her superpower (in addition to being a crack shot) but I would have appreciated this aspect of her character toned down a little.

Other than that, I enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Angry Robot Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is what fun space opera should be like! Fun, interesting characters, a vibrant world-building that’s easy to understand but is still complex, entertaining action, the right amount of humour, and a hint of poignancy.

I really enjoyed the world-building of this book. I’m not going to get into all the details, as discovering it is part of the fun, but there are three main factions of humanity, aliens, and vagabonds who refuse to participate in the oppressive societal setup. These factions are involved in a millennia-long cold war and all three have major disadvantages to living under them. One aspect that is integral to the story is Rig’s status as an oppressed alien. Her people have had their culture strangled by one of the factions.

Yes, Rig is an alien. She’s blue, bald, and wears a headscarf. There are other alien races, such as Zazra, who are empaths and a few others. Unless my memory is broken (highly possible), there aren’t any non-humanoid aliens in this novel. I liked this convergent evolution approach because having non-humanoid aliens would have bogged down the rest of the story.

I really liked the characters though I didn’t love them; they could have had a bit more complexity. I liked how Rig is a tough and determined mercenary with a heart of gold, but she’s also not impervious to damage. She’s a good shot and scrappy fighter, but she also doesn’t have superhero-level strength or skills. She fell in over her head at times and often she relied on help from Ginka, the mysterious bounty hunter who does have these skills. The side characters, like Rig's girlfriend and the antagonists, fit their roles, but there was something there that kept me from finding them to be people rather than characters.

I enjoyed that Rig already had an established relationship (as much as I love a good ship) and their story was about whether they could move forward with said relationship despite disparate lifestyles. We don’t often see this - usually, it’s a relationship starting out. This was refreshing.

The side plot with X-74 could have used far more scenes, though I very much enjoyed those sections. The trajectory of that storyline was pretty obvious, but I liked that plot quite a bit so that didn’t bother me.

Speaking of plot, I enjoyed how the novel didn’t go where I was expecting for the most part. Betrayals I expected didn’t happen and small events from earlier in the novel came back to have relevance later. I also liked the technology - “hard” vs “light” particle weapons weren’t really explained but they didn't need to be: this was not a hard sci-fi by any means so I liked the pseudo-explanation for things. The world-building is very easy to understand and is very fun.

When it came to the writing itself, it took me a bit to adjust to the casual prose, such as phrases like: “big honkin’ megalopolis,” which I didn’t dislike, but I just wasn’t used to. The balance to which they were used, and only when the pov was focused on Rig, worked for me after a couple of chapters.

I really recommend this book. It’s a great book for those used to space opera and those new to sci-fi, it’s a lot of fun, it has a great message about systemic oppression, it has awesome LGBTQAI+ rep, and, if you need more convincing: forbidden romance and a big fancy library.

3.5 stars

*I received an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The premise of lesbian gun slingers in space definitely drew me in. I loved the characters and the worlds we traveled to. The ideas of colonialism and faith were well thought out and I was intrigued to see where the story would go.

I will say a lot of the book was predictable, but I still enjoyed the ride. Would recommend to Sci Fi readers needing a shorter easy to read story.

Bluebird is a wonderfully paced sci-fi adventure with a bombastic protagonist who is supported by a host of great characters.

Read my full review: https://www.thebellaedit.co.uk/blog/podcast/1

Snappy and Irreverent space opera. Rig is a smuggler/freedom fighter with a haunted past. When the mysterious Ginka unexpectedly joins her on a job, spies and secret police start chasing them. Rig scrambles to protect her new maybe friend, as well as the people she cares about—Her girlfriend (who is a kickass librarian) and her sister—and her own secrets.
Very tropey yet does not have any love triangles.