A composer who is supposed to come up with a theme song for a romantic movie but has no idea how love actually feels like. And the woman who is tasked to film a documentary about him composing, with a name that spikes his interest. They decide on a fake relationship so he can come up with the inspiration for writing his music.

Right. So, the idea sounded quite fun and the art style is really nice and makes it easy to follow the story but woah, does this relationship move fast. Chizuru is basically in Akari's face and under her clothes straight away, which somehow made me feel a bit odd because reasons (consent, hello). Apart from that, the story was alright, not very much a highlight, but not bad either. If this fake relationship turning serious (which I predict it will) is your thing, then this manga is absolutely right up your street.

I do love a good fake-dating plot line. This one does seem a bit too fast paced for my taste, but I still look forward to when the fake relationship becomes a real one.

These characters do seem a little bit surface level which is fine, but I hope that they gain a bit more depth in the next volume. Overall, 3 stars seems like an accurate rating since I enjoyed the tropes used in this manga even though not a whole lot occurred.

Thank you to for allowing me to read this volume before it’s publication!

I’ve been recently trying to get back into reading manga’s but didn’t know where to start, so when I came across this one, I was more than willing to give it a shot — and I’m glad I had!

I can honestly say that I enjoyed this one! I found it to be a fast paced and enjoyable read. There were a couple scenes that seemed to be for the mature crowd, but nothing too crazy for it to be restricted for certain eyes. I’ll definitely be looking forward to the next one.

I want to thank Netgalley, publisher and the author for providing me a copy of this manga for an honest review!

The art in this manga is beautiful. That's about everything I liked.

I found the chemistry between the characters to be non-existent. The characters were not well fleshed out and followed clichés. I am still not sure what the characters like about each other.

I recommend this for a quick romance dose.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the e-arc!

Sayo is asked to manage a documentary on musician Chizuru Kobuchi, leading to this project he has a bizarre request. You guessed it 'pretend lovers' aka faking dating, but that's not what's bizarre. He does have the looks and Sayo is newly single, though she's hesitant rightfully so. He's request is straightforward and said as inspiration, why was she chosen because her name spelt out serenade and he needed a serenading track. it's quite comedic in that sense.
I'm still questioning Chizuru's actions, words everything about him would be a red flag and yet I still somehow believe this could be a unique circumstance. I do enjoy fake dating, especially when both parties are shown developing actual feelings in this case only one side, i hope for volume 2 to have more of Chizuru's pov!
I'd like to preface this is a mature read for those interested.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for an ARC for an honest review.

This is a very cute manga aimed at a more mature audience, where the story follows Sayo, a journalist, who witnesses her boyfriend cheating on her. With her boss's persistence, she goes to meet piano prodigy Kobuchi to manage a documentary. At first, denying her entry and refusing to do the documentary, he suddenly agrees only if she agrees to pretend to be his lover.

While I found this too early to give a proper rating, I am looking forward to the next volume to see what happens next.

I wonder if I just wasn't in the right mindset to enjoy this, because A Serenade for Pretend Lovers 1 by Tochika Nekome is what it promises – a pretend romance! Of course, the woman is going to get complicated feelings, and of course, the guy seems ignorant of this. There was nothing wrong with this story, but I am missing that WOW feeling, some butterflies, some compassion for the characters, just something...
The pages flew quickly, and the drawings are beautiful, but I was, sorry, a bit bored.

Akari Sayo works at a film company and gets the task to interview the famous pianist, Chizuru Kobuchi. Their first meeting is odd – she was sure everything was cleared, but he tells her he said no to the interview because he's too busy. Right now, he trying to write a serenade to a love movie, but he doesn't feel inspired to write it as he doesn't know what makes love so special. When he hears her name, he gets an idea. He agrees on letting her film him if she will be his muse and pretend to date him until he manages to write the serenade.

I usually love pretend-lovers romance, but the characters in this didn't have much chemistry (or characterization) at all. It moves REALLY fast. I'll read it because it's josei, but it's not an entirely memorable series. If you want something slower, this is not for you.

However, it IS well-drawn, and I love when the romance lead is a pianist.

[Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the Arc of this manga in exchange for a honest review.]

A very nice story. I devoured the first volume in a very short time. The drawings are very beautiful

It is a really cute shoujo, the protagonist discovers that she is betrayed by her boyfriend. A little depressed, she agrees to shoot a documentary about a promising young musician. And the boy will decide to accept the shooting only under conditions.

The story flows smoothly, and is a very nice and sometimes funny romance.

Now I'm very curious to read the second volume * - *

This is a Josei title - meaning it deals with adults, adult situations, and is intended for adult women. In this case, we have a kind of creepy situation that in real life, would have been extremely questionable at the very least. There isn't a lot of story here and the abundant showing that the male lead character is very experienced with women most likely indicates a lot of pages of sex scenes in later volumes.

Story: Sayo finds a big assignment dropped into her lap - to document a composer's creation of a score for a new film. But the young composer turns out to be handsome, demanding, and odd. When he says he needs her help composing a love serenade, he means it as a collaboration where they become lovers. What will Sayo do in order to complete her assignment?

This first volume is kind of a let down - there's no chemistry or tension between the two leads and the story focuses solely on them. It's a little world where Sayo acts like an idiot and the composer like someone not too right in the head. It's hard to like either character or even appreciate the situation.

The art is standard josei - clean and easy to read. Sayo looks/acts kind of young for a career woman and it is hard to imagine anyone giving her this prestigious assignment considering her lack of maturity or bravery. The composer looks far too immature and shallow to be famous for stellar work. We have to take the author's word on both leads' characters since it clearly isn't shown.

In all, I admit I was bored. The creepy situation didn't really help me like it any better. It just feels like I've read this before - just with a less questionable premise. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

it was a cute little read, although it was extremely fast paced, a bit much got my liking, but if it were drawn out more over a few volumes with a slow burn, i’d enjoy it a lot more. i like the art work regardless of that though. it’s definitely a more mature read, and am looking forward to the next volumes.

Right now, I kind of want to scream at the girl “what are you doing”.
We follow Akari who has to interview Chizuru, a musician. However, when she comes to him, he says he never accepted the interview but will if she accepts to be his fake girlfriend so that he can get inspiration for another project. Overall, I’m already not too fan of the trope because it is like Akari has no choice but to be his lover if she wants to keep and do her job. The second thing I didn’t like very much is the guy. From almost the beginning, he says that relationships are just about sex and tries to do stuff with Akari, showing that he has lots of experience in that field. So then, it does not make sense that he needs a fake romance as he already had many. Overall, he is not that bad and looks cute and nice but I don’t like that side of him very much. I know I sound quite negative but I enjoyed reading this first volume, I’m just not sure if I’m going to continue.
I recommend to people looking for a quick romance
3/5

Thanks for the arc! If your looking for a mature but light read this is for you. The chemistry between the characters is good and the art is nice. I do like that Akari isn't just falling in love immediately and that it looks like it will a process for both. Looking forward to getting this physically!

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this early! This was an absolute delight to read. I mean the story involves the fake dating trope, it has my attention already. The story follows Akari Sayo, a TV station worker, as she is suddenly tasked to interview the famed composer Chizuru Kobuchi. Chizuru is suffering a severe case of writer's block trying to compose the score for a romance film. His writer's block comes from the fact he doesn’t have a connection to romance or relationships. In comes Akari, who’s boyfriend recently cheated on her and is nervous about taking charge of this high pressure interview. Chizuru believes that the interview with Akari will be a good opportunity to to understand love and suggests that they date. “For research purposes'' *wink wink*. I love the premise of this story and the art style is solid. However, I do believe that the two main characters moved rather quickly with their “fake” relationship. It’s lacking some of the tension that I was looking for. I can see that this series has potential. So, I am still very much looking forward to seeing where the story goes and how the characters progress in their relationship. I give the first volume of A Serenade for Pretend Lovers a 3.75 Stars.

This is so cute definitely for a more mature audience. This seems like a light romance that I would pick up any day.

When I started this, I thought I was really going to enjoy this--as I really liked the art style and I generally like the "fake dating" trope. However, I did not like how pushy Chizuru was with trying to romance Akari. It came off very "insta-love" which is a trope I do not enjoy.

Thank you Kodansha and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Assolutamente stupendo, questo è lo shojo manga di cui avevo proprio bisogno in questo momento.
Sebbene i due protagonisti siano un po' tonti tutti e due e la scelta di fingersi una coppia sia sempre del tutto discutibile, le scene romantiche e sensuali sono davvero fantastiche.
Chizuru poi, ha sicuramente dalla sua parte il fascino dei protagonisti coi capelli lunghi e neri (maledetti sarete il mio tormento!!!).
Le scene sono dolci e sensuali il giusto, senza mai diventare volgari. C'è quel giusto pizzico di piccante nell'aria, proprio come una melodia perfettamente eseguita.
Quanto vorrei poter continuare a leggerlo!!!

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Absolutely gorgeous, this is the shojo manga I really needed right now.
Although the two protagonists are both a bit dumb and the choice of posing as a fake couple is always completely questionable, the romantic and sensual scenes are really fantastic.
Chizuru then, certainly has on his side the charm of the protagonists with long black hair (damn you will be my torment !!!).
The scenes are sweet and sensual just right, without ever becoming vulgar. There's just that hint of spiciness in the air, just like a perfectly executed melody.
How I wish I could continue reading it !!!

3.5 stars

A promising start to a really artistically beautiful manga! This was a bit slow to start but by the end of the second chapter (serenade), I found myself invested in the story. The art-style is really lovely and by the end of the volume, I wanted to read more. It's a fairly light-hearted rom-com which didn't take itself too seriously and was an engaging read.

The manga centers around a woman (Sayo Akari) who works at a tv station and she's tasked with directing a documentary centered around a popular (and hot) composer by the name of Chizuru Kobuchi. Kobuchi is suffering from writer's block while he's trying to compose music for the soundtrack of a romance movie and decides to make a deal with Sayo, pretend to be his (fake) lover and he will agree to do the documentary. And thus, an arrangement is made. But will fake love become real?

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A Serenade for Pretend Lovers by Tochika Nekome is a josei series that follows Akari Sayo, who, at work, discovers her boyfriend cheating on her. Before she can confront him about it, her boss assigns her a big project where she has to film a documentary series about a popular composer Chizuru Kobuchi. When they first meet, Kobuchi states he doesn't want to be filmed, putting Sayo in a bad place until he comes to her with a proposition. He'll agree to film under the condition of fake dating as he needs the experience to compose a love song for an upcoming film, and to everyone's surprise, Sayo agrees. However, as Sayo continues with this "loveless" love affair, she realizes her feelings are more complicated than they seem. Will she be able to continue with this romance?

Simply put, in a few words, this volume was a cute rom-com. A Serenade for Pretend Lovers is anything but revolutionary for joesi, but the characters and their cute moments made this volume a nice read. The art style was very cute, and I complimented Sayo's and Kobuchi's expressions. However, like most josei manga, the relationship is fast-paced, which isn't always good. The characters didn't even seem to have time to get to know each other before they were suddenly in a pseudo-relationship, and that left a bad taste in my mouth, considering Sayo had a bad first impression. Izumi, Sayo's friend, explains how weird this is and seems more level-headed than Sayo. There's also the question of Kobuchi's character. Why does he want to jump into sex so fast? I understand this is a josei but falling in love usually isn't something you attain from sex, at least, not at first.

However, I will say there were cute moments, notably in chapters two and four, when Sayo and Kobuchi are genuinely boding. Considering this is the first volume, I'm excited to see what comes next as I have a good first impression of this manga.

A Serenade for Pretend Lovers is a smutty romance for adult women, which is great in itself. This is josei. Finally a main character who's actually an adult with adult problems! Sayo works at a TV station and learns that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Her boss also dumps a documentary on her so that she needs to film this weird composer Chizuru Kobuchi, who at first doesn't want to be filmed until he comes up with another plan. He wants Sayo to pretend to be his girlfriend so that he can compose a love song he needs to do. So, quite basic in a sense, but still works. The characters actually feel like adults, although Sayo surely is naive and falling in love already in this first part basically. But, there's smut, so of course Kobuchi wants to have sex with her right away and this feels so rushed. The series is only six books long, but still I wish more time had been spent on them getting to know one another better.

The art looks nice and all in all, it's great that we have josei series and even smutty ones for the readers. This series at least has something else in it too and it's not just women being stupidly head over heels, so points for that.