It’s been a bit over half a year since the announcement of J-Novel Club’s new imprint, J-Novel Heart, back at AnimeNYC 2019. I’ve bought and read most of the titles that have since been released under that label, and figured it’s time to collect my thoughts in a blog post rather than just scattered tweets or discord messages.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!: Hey! It’s that series I reviewed Volume 1 of back in 2018! The anime came out and was super successful, with season 2 being greenlit! It feels good being right/having good taste. This was retroactively added to the J-Novel Heart label because digital sales were strong enough to warrant a print release. So, if you haven’t already, go buy it! It’s very formative for a lot of the shoujo light novels that came after it, whether they’re isekai or not.

Bibliophile Princess: This title was pretty cute. It starts off in a way that almost leads you to believe that Elianna, the protagonist, is getting jilted by her fiance the Prince, because of a girl, who could possibly be a transmigrated character, acting in a way that paints Elianna as a villainess. There are no isekai elements at all however, and it was really just a 4D chess game where the Prince was leading on the other girl to expose a plot lead by her father and other corrupt nobles. The pacing for this series is slightly weird, because about 2/3 in, the conflict is resolved and the couple gets together, but the story continues. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it, but I thought their chemistry worked well enough. The second volume introduces another romantic rival for the Prince, even though Elianna only has eyes for her fiance (and books, of course). I have yet to finish volume 2, because of the same feeling about the pacing. I’m not sure how else to describe it, because it’s not as if I dislike the story. If anything, I’m impressed by how densely the plot could be compacted in order to tell several stories in the same volume. At the moment, I’m reading the manga version as it gets updated on JNC’s website as well, and enjoying it a little more.

The Tales of Marielle Clarac (The Engagement of Marielle Clarac): This one, was also kind of tricky for me. It’s sort of the same deal with Bibliophile Princess, where a lot happens in terms of overall events. I didn’t dislike it but I had trouble connecting with the characters for some reason. On paper, I really like the concept. Marielle moonlights as an author as she attends balls and parties in noble society, pretending to be as plain and unnoticeable as possible. Her hand in marriage is requested by the vice-captain of the royal knights, because he notices her act and gradually becomes stricken with her. I always like a story that revolves around a character’s interests and obsessions, but something about Marielle didn’t click with me. She is pretty funny, though, and I like the gag here and there thrown out by her friend who essentially “ships” her fiance with the prince of the kingdom. I’ll get back to this one and eventually continue, because I’m aware that sequels are named by their arcs, and there is more story beyond the engagement itself. I’ve also started the manga version as J-Novel publishes those chapters, and have been enjoying it slightly more than the novel itself.

Tearmoon Empire: If there’s one thing I love, it’s isekai. There’s tons of derivatives of even that premise alone, and one of the most interesting ones, in my opinion, is “tensei” or reincarnation isekai. Tearmoon Empire is about Mia Tearmoon, a princess who essentially a fantasy world Marie Antoinette and wakes up as a child again one day after being beheaded at the gallows. She is selfish, bigoted, and misanthropic, but her experience in jail and being hated by her people, along with being given the opportunity to redo her life, made her much more self-aware. This is what makes it a good story. Mia, with her knowledge of the future, goes out of her way to change events so that she could avoid getting betrayed by her own people and surviving a revolution. A lot of times, she does the right things, for bad or selfish reasons, but it all ends up working out. As it turns out, by doing good things, she eventually does become a better person, and attracts an assortment of talented and loyal aides and friends. It’s riveting! It feels like reading a shojo isekai version of Buggy the Clown from One Piece! I absolutely love it. I read Volume 1 in the span of a day, and read the pre-pubs for Volume 2 once I saw that there was only 1 more part left before it was completed.

The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap: This one is also an isekai story, and I’d call it a bit more ambitious in scope than the other three titles previously discussed. A girl named Ruri is summoned to another world with her selfish, spoiled, and ignorant childhood friend and basically bullied out of that kingdom. She eventually falls into much more capable and kinder company, who help her redevelop her sense of self worth. I think what works a lot about this series is the fact that the setup is meticulous but not overbearing. There are explanations of magic, history, and politics, but it’s never too long before we get back to the story. Ruri has led and extremely frustrating life, and as a reader it’s very hard not to get agitated or even angry at the amount of bullshit that is flung her way, especially early on. That is what makes the introduction of her allies much more satisfying. As of Volume 2, which finished pre-pubs this week, there’s some good progression and resolution in terms of emotional and story threads. I hear that the story is complete at 5 volumes, so I’m looking forward to see how the scope continues to adjust as we meet more characters and flesh out more of the world.

I Refuse To Be Your Enemy!: A really interesting story. The premise is normal for otome isekai, but in execution, it’s really a war story. Of all the things I was expecting, the last thing on my mind was Fire Emblem, but Enemy is basically just that. The game that our main character Kiana is in has romance elements but is also a tactical RPG with multiple units you have to command in battle. On the romance side, the chemistry between Kiana and her main love interest, Reggie, is honestly very sweet and emotionally solid. I can appreciate when stories can elaborate on a spark of romance and turn it into a kindling blaze. These characters obviously care for each other and are doing their utmost to support each other even though they live in such a tumultuous era. I feel awful for skipping out because I thought the cover was ugly. The inside illustrations are much better though, and the title feels a bit misleading with the synopsis, because I was under the impression that our MC was going to avoid interaction with the romance-able boys.

Apparently it’s My Fault That My Husband Has The Head of a Beast: I’m not gonna lie, I preordered this one because of the title alone, and forgot to read it after it came out because of other releases distracting me. Once I read it, I’ll update this. But titles like this are why light novels are great!

The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP!: This is a very cute series. I preordered Volume 1 but put off reading it because I had a lot of things coming out around the same time to read. I finished it last week, then I started Volume 2’s prepubs last night and finished this morning. Volume 3 appears to be the conclusion, and I’m looking forward to it. I think what I enjoyed the most was the straightforwardness of it all. Lucia, the main character, is a commoner with a simple and strange magic that creates soap bubbles. There’s a budding romance between her and one of the captains of the royal guard, Celestino. They have chemistry, and it’s really heartwarming seeing them in love without being aware the other is just as enthralled. The actual story is about a girl who gets isekai’d to be the Sacred Maiden and purify these crystal trees, surrounded by miasma, in order to pacify monsters and make sure that magic still exists in the world. Lucia’s charisma comes from her earnestness and gumption. When Maria, the Sacred Maiden, is suffering quietly because no one has acknowledged the fact that she’s been kidnapped from her world and misses her family, Lucia is the one who notices and helps her open up. It’s very sweet. The only jarring part was a kidnapping storyline which alluded to drugs and human trafficking but then also brought up the existence of a serial rapist(??????) and it completely changed the tone. The kidnapping itself was in line with the story. The existence of the serial rapist was what was jarring, and seeing it mentioned multiple times after the fact was just incredibly disorienting. It’s settled soon enough though, and the rest of the story so far has been entertaining and satisfying in terms of emotional maturity.

Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?!: This is a sweet comedy series about a plain girl who is recruited into a contract marriage for a Duke who needs a cover for his commoner lover. Everyone is named after flowers, and there is a weird tendency to use memetic phrases commonly found on the Internet. I’m not sure if that’s just the way it’s also written in Japanese, but I’m sure that for some people, seeing that kind of dialogue or narration juxtaposed with the anachronistic setting of a Victorian-Era type of world, could be a dealbreaker. For the most part, the jokes themselves landed to me, and I didn’t have much of an issue. The draw for this series is that Viola, our POV character, is very dense, like Bakarina in All Routes Lead to Doom or Lucia in SOAP!, but beloved by everyone around her. I like reserved characters, who are aware of their shortcomings and put their humility first. Viola is very much like that, and the Duke’s eventual desire to court her for real–because, let’s be serious, going from Fake Lovers to Real Lovers is not the most unexpected thing ever for a shoujo story to do–become actually charming once he realizes that he has to treat her like her own person, and not any random lady on the street. It’s also a story about learning to love and find worth in yourself, because of how the servants and in-laws help Viola grow more confident. It’s worth a shot if you can deal with the modern slang.

Deathbound Duke’s Daughter: This title was really exciting. Since it was announced, I was looking forward to see it in action! It’s a serious take on the Bakarina premise, where instead of being gullible and self aware, leaning into comedy, the main character, Erika Aurelia has to seriously plan and go out of her way to avoid death flags because she is not the main character of the story of the world she was reincarnated into. Volume 1 did not disappoint, and I think a good part of it was because it wasn’t afraid to inject black humor into the serious parts. Being able to balance between dark and gritty and lighthearted is what helps keep a story from being too gloomy and depressing, while keeping the stakes. There are some gorgeous descriptions of the magic, and I want to personally shout out the translator, Roy Nukia, for the incredibly detailed descriptions of the wands used. From the names of the trees used, to the ornaments and shape, I was flabbergasted by the minutiae of these tools! I can only imagine the cross-referencing that must have been done to make sure the specificity was accurate while keeping the flowery prose it was written in. Beyond that, the characters were all enjoyable, and I liked seeing Erika’s dialogue almost camouflage her adult mind due to the stilted vocabulary of nobility. She’s emotionally mature due to her real age, and seeing interactions for characters like that among younger peers is always entertaining, because we as readers to get see things like basic human decency get mistaken for charisma and maturity. That’s what I call gap moé at its finest.

If by any chance, you’ve read these short reviews but haven’t yet checked out any of these series, I hope my impressions were enough to encourage you to try them out! Ever since the initial announcement at AnimeNYC, I’ve been very excited and happy to see shoujo light novels get gradually more attention here in the West. I’d like to extend a very heartfelt thanks to Sam Pinansky of J-Novel for going forward with this initiative, and everyone else who’s bought and supported all these wonderful books! Below, I’ve put together the all the series into a table, along with their authors, translators, and editors. Thank you as well, for all your hard work in bringing us these stories and bringing some much appreciated variety to the English-translated light novel market.

J-Novel Heart Series

Series	Author	Translator	Editor
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!	Satoru Yamaguchi	Marco Godano, Shirley Yeung	Aimee Zink
Bibliophile Princess	Yui	Alyssa Niioka	Suzanne Seals
The Tales of Marielle Clarac	Haruka Momo	Phillip Reuben	Linda Lombardi
Tearmoon Empire	Nozomu Mochitsuki	David Teng	Hannah N. Carter
The White Cat’s Revenge as Plotted from the Dragon King’s Lap	Kureha	David Evelyn	Suzanne Seals, Hannah N. Carter
I Refuse To Be Your Enemy!	Kanata Satsuki	Tara Quinn, Molly Lee	Taylor Fonzone
Apparently it’s My Fault That My Husband Has The Head of a Beast	Eri Shiduki	David Evelyn	Kara Dennison
The Extraordinary, the Ordinary, and SOAP!	Nao Wakasa	Emily Hemphill, C. Steussy	Meiru
Can Someone Please Explain What’s Going On?!	Tsuredurebana	Matthias Hirsch	Sarah Tilson
Deathbound Duke’s Daughter	Terasu Senoo	Roy Nukia	Taylor Fonzone