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Strawberries and the Beast
Reckless, flamboyant Keigo is bisexual. Blunt, aloof Masaki is straight. Their conflicting personalities make them unlikely friends, but after some careful maneuvering on Keigo’s part and one strawberry-flavored kiss, Masaki gives more of himself to Keigo than he ever thought possible. More than he’s willing to share with his girlfriend. But Masaki’s fear of commitment threatens to shake their rocky relationship to pieces.
Keigo’s new feelings for Masaki are confusing enough even before his on-again, off-again lover, Kaname, blows back into town. Kaname is a manipulative beast, demanding Keigo’s undying fidelity in return for his cruelty, and Keigo’s fragile relationship with Masaki cracks under the weight of his presence. If Keigo really wants to build a life with Masaki, he’ll have to discover the strength to free himself of Kaname and convince Masaki to be with him forever.
Keigo’s new feelings for Masaki are confusing enough even before his on-again, off-again lover, Kaname, blows back into town. Kaname is a manipulative beast, demanding Keigo’s undying fidelity in return for his cruelty, and Keigo’s fragile relationship with Masaki cracks under the weight of his presence. If Keigo really wants to build a life with Masaki, he’ll have to discover the strength to free himself of Kaname and convince Masaki to be with him forever.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 9, 2011
2 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
April Moone
3 books6 followersRomance author April Moone’s obsessive love of anime and manga (to be honest, anything Japanese) inevitably led her to the yaoi genre. She wrote for years for herself and online venues but never dreamed she’d see her own fantasies in print. While she’s not talking to the characters in her head, she loves reading, digging in her garden, riding her sports bike, or just playing with her two Australian Shepherds. Despite the naughty she writes, she blushes easily and can sometimes be found sporting a mane of purple.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 2, 2018
More of my reviews and ramblings at PANTS OFF REVIEWS
I am a huge fan of yaoi (broken record). It’s something I read often so I know the similarities of plot lines that can be found in each one. I know that when writing yaoi, some authors try to make it their own because it can become quite repetitive and predictable. This book falls under both those categories. There is a strong part of me conditioned to love it on the yaoi way alone, but this was a novel and I just wanted more. It was like reading a schoolboy yaoi manga and I find that I don’t enjoy it as much in a published novel.
Masaki is the loner, the guy that nobody messes with and wants to become friends with. He’s irritable with a bad temper and constantly gets into fights. While having lunch on the roof, Keigo invades his space begins to chatter and over time the two become friend (somewhat). So one day while sharing lunch on the roof Keigo kisses Masaki, and their relationship escalates into something more. Masaki is the straight man with a girlfriend and Keigo is bi-sexual and carries strong feelings for Masaki.
What happens next, any fan of yaoi would be able to tell you. They have sex, Masaki doesn’t hate having sex with Keigo but he is straight and sticking to that orientation. Keigo feelings goes beyond sex and feels that Masaki won’t be able to reciprocate. Just when things are going smoothly in comes the bad ex-boyfriend of Keigo from years past. He is a sadistic and an abusive bastard with a hold over Keigo’s feelings and gets off on torturing him. I think this is where my feelings for the book started to change.
I began to guess every situation from that point on. As a joke I said to a friend of mine who is an avid yaoi reader ‘that all I am waiting on is for one of the characters to go back to their hometown. Get taken care of by an elderly neighbour and be fed watermelon’. Lets just say I was wrong about the watermelon. It just felt like the author read some yaoi mangas and went with writing this story from there. Its hard to distinguish this one from the rest.
I don’t completely dislike the book. The writing is good and the characters are likeable to a certain point. Its just that everything else felt too simplistic and safe. I wanted it to go further and away from all the stereotypes that can be found soemtimes in yaoi.
SideNote- Love that cover, so very pretty!
I am a huge fan of yaoi (broken record). It’s something I read often so I know the similarities of plot lines that can be found in each one. I know that when writing yaoi, some authors try to make it their own because it can become quite repetitive and predictable. This book falls under both those categories. There is a strong part of me conditioned to love it on the yaoi way alone, but this was a novel and I just wanted more. It was like reading a schoolboy yaoi manga and I find that I don’t enjoy it as much in a published novel.
Masaki is the loner, the guy that nobody messes with and wants to become friends with. He’s irritable with a bad temper and constantly gets into fights. While having lunch on the roof, Keigo invades his space begins to chatter and over time the two become friend (somewhat). So one day while sharing lunch on the roof Keigo kisses Masaki, and their relationship escalates into something more. Masaki is the straight man with a girlfriend and Keigo is bi-sexual and carries strong feelings for Masaki.
What happens next, any fan of yaoi would be able to tell you. They have sex, Masaki doesn’t hate having sex with Keigo but he is straight and sticking to that orientation. Keigo feelings goes beyond sex and feels that Masaki won’t be able to reciprocate. Just when things are going smoothly in comes the bad ex-boyfriend of Keigo from years past. He is a sadistic and an abusive bastard with a hold over Keigo’s feelings and gets off on torturing him. I think this is where my feelings for the book started to change.
I began to guess every situation from that point on. As a joke I said to a friend of mine who is an avid yaoi reader ‘that all I am waiting on is for one of the characters to go back to their hometown. Get taken care of by an elderly neighbour and be fed watermelon’. Lets just say I was wrong about the watermelon. It just felt like the author read some yaoi mangas and went with writing this story from there. Its hard to distinguish this one from the rest.
I don’t completely dislike the book. The writing is good and the characters are likeable to a certain point. Its just that everything else felt too simplistic and safe. I wanted it to go further and away from all the stereotypes that can be found soemtimes in yaoi.
SideNote- Love that cover, so very pretty!
November 2, 2011
2.5. This is not a bad book or badly written, it's just too simplistic to be really engaging. If you've ever read a yaoi manga about Japanese schoolboys falling in love, you will recognize a lot of the conventions those manga use in this book. The downside is the book doesn't do much to set itself apart from those schoolboy romance manga, and I just felt, reading it, like I've seen this all before many, many times in shoned-ai and yaoi. If you are a person who hasn't read a lot of this manga, the story may seem more original to you, but if you've read a lot, many things will feel a little generic, or at least they did to me.
On the bright side,I did enjoy it on the level that I enjoy that manga sometimes, but it took a while, probably til page 50 or so, because the first chunk of it is nothing but the masculine straight boy having sex with the pretty gay boy, which if it wasn't for the yaoi feel would have been completely unbelievable. But it happens all the time in yaoi, so it didn't bother me, it just did nothing to make me care about the characters. They gain a little more depth after that, but again standard yaoi stuff like girlfriend, commitment issues, an abusive older boyfriend, etc. There is what I would call non-con on the page, but again, happens all the time in yaoi. After about page fifty, I did take an interest in the characters and what would happen to them, and I enjoyed the story, even if I found a lot of things oversimplified and the conflicts resolved a little too easily. It is well-written, and reads quickly and smoothly. I recommend this for people who like Japanese schoolboy manga, kind of a guilty pleasure.
On the bright side,I did enjoy it on the level that I enjoy that manga sometimes, but it took a while, probably til page 50 or so, because the first chunk of it is nothing but the masculine straight boy having sex with the pretty gay boy, which if it wasn't for the yaoi feel would have been completely unbelievable. But it happens all the time in yaoi, so it didn't bother me, it just did nothing to make me care about the characters. They gain a little more depth after that, but again standard yaoi stuff like girlfriend, commitment issues, an abusive older boyfriend, etc. There is what I would call non-con on the page, but again, happens all the time in yaoi. After about page fifty, I did take an interest in the characters and what would happen to them, and I enjoyed the story, even if I found a lot of things oversimplified and the conflicts resolved a little too easily. It is well-written, and reads quickly and smoothly. I recommend this for people who like Japanese schoolboy manga, kind of a guilty pleasure.
October 12, 2013
Loved it.
12/10/2013
Ok, so a year ago I read this book and I loved it. I'm revisiting this soon to see do I still feel the same? Have all those manga I've read since diminished the way I see this book? And of course a proper review will follow it :)
12/10/2013
Ok, so a year ago I read this book and I loved it. I'm revisiting this soon to see do I still feel the same? Have all those manga I've read since diminished the way I see this book? And of course a proper review will follow it :)
November 28, 2011
This book was reviewed for musings of a bookworm
The Blurb
Reckless, flamboyant Keigo is bisexual. Blunt, aloof Masaki is straight. Their conflicting personalities make them unlikely friends, but after some careful maneuvering on Keigo’s part and one strawberry-flavored kiss, Masaki gives more of himself to Keigo than he ever thought possible. More than he’s willing to share with his girlfriend. But Masaki’s fear of commitment threatens to shake their rocky relationship to pieces.
Keigo’s new feelings for Masaki are confusing enough even before his on-again, off-again lover, Kaname, blows back into town. Kaname is a manipulative beast, demanding Keigo’s undying fidelity in return for his cruelty, and Keigo’s fragile relationship with Masaki cracks under the weight of his presence. If Keigo really wants to build a life with Masaki, he’ll have to discover the strength to free himself of Kaname and convince Masaki to be with him forever.
My Thoughts
I spent the first half of this book undecided as to whether I liked this story or not.
I am not sure if it is the setting and cultural differences that have me on the fence or if the book is poorly written.
I did finish the book, mainly because it was quite short, and it does pull it together in the last 10 pages but it is a long time coming so for me the sex was the only thing keeping my interest. It's a shame really as this had the potential to be a fantastic story but for me it lacked real depth and in some places believability and I so wanted to like a book with strawberries in the title.
The Blurb
Reckless, flamboyant Keigo is bisexual. Blunt, aloof Masaki is straight. Their conflicting personalities make them unlikely friends, but after some careful maneuvering on Keigo’s part and one strawberry-flavored kiss, Masaki gives more of himself to Keigo than he ever thought possible. More than he’s willing to share with his girlfriend. But Masaki’s fear of commitment threatens to shake their rocky relationship to pieces.
Keigo’s new feelings for Masaki are confusing enough even before his on-again, off-again lover, Kaname, blows back into town. Kaname is a manipulative beast, demanding Keigo’s undying fidelity in return for his cruelty, and Keigo’s fragile relationship with Masaki cracks under the weight of his presence. If Keigo really wants to build a life with Masaki, he’ll have to discover the strength to free himself of Kaname and convince Masaki to be with him forever.
My Thoughts
I spent the first half of this book undecided as to whether I liked this story or not.
I am not sure if it is the setting and cultural differences that have me on the fence or if the book is poorly written.
I did finish the book, mainly because it was quite short, and it does pull it together in the last 10 pages but it is a long time coming so for me the sex was the only thing keeping my interest. It's a shame really as this had the potential to be a fantastic story but for me it lacked real depth and in some places believability and I so wanted to like a book with strawberries in the title.
July 11, 2012
I enjoyed this story for the most part about two young men who become unexpected friends. Keigo has a dark history and some secrets that threaten to tear them apart once they found each other and Masaki is emotionally stunted to say the least. I liked the characters and their interaction with each other but I didn't really enjoy their interactions with the other characters in the book. But ultimately, the two young men do form a nice friendship/relationship and I am happy for them at the end.
October 27, 2011
3.5 stars. I felt like the story didn't really take off until about midway, but once it did, I became invested in these two characters and had hope that they would come together so the healing could start in both of their lives.
My copy had some formatting issues, so I had a hard time distinguishing when the perspectives changed. Maybe if I had an easier time reading it, I might have gotten into the story quicker and might have taken my 3.5 star rating and rounded up instead of down with the stars.
There were some issues with control and non-con, similar to That's What Brothers Do, but I didn't have the same emotional kick to the gut with Strawberries.
Overall, not a bad read. Not at all.
My copy had some formatting issues, so I had a hard time distinguishing when the perspectives changed. Maybe if I had an easier time reading it, I might have gotten into the story quicker and might have taken my 3.5 star rating and rounded up instead of down with the stars.
There were some issues with control and non-con, similar to That's What Brothers Do, but I didn't have the same emotional kick to the gut with Strawberries.
Overall, not a bad read. Not at all.
November 1, 2011
Sex. There is lots of it. If that’s what you’re after, you’ll be pleasantly rewarded. Almost every chapter is packed with hot m/m action. There is a plot too, although it takes its time showing up. With dual POV’s, chapters switch seamlessly, delving into the fears of each of these guys. Both are likeable, but they’re more than a little broken. It’s also very Japanese, incorporating the feel of the culture into the English text while still maintaining enough of a balance. Plus there’s a glossary of terms if you need to refresh yourself.
Read full review at Demons Read Too
Read full review at Demons Read Too
January 17, 2017
This was a fun story to read. Thisis my second Yaoi and my first was also By April Moone. I love the romantic feel. I absolutely loved the opeing line: "He tasted like Strawberries. My Strawberries." Yes I was absolutely hooked then.Even more so later in the book when I foud out more of why Masaki loved the Strawberries.*swoon again* This story captured my heart. It's not all sunshine and Strawberries(couldn't help myself) Poor Keigo.when he falls he falls. Kaname took advantage of him and Keigo was too good to break loose until he found Masaki. If you want a sweet feel good story this is a beauty!
October 23, 2012
I really like this. It was a quick read. Made me think back to the days when I used to watch anime/yaoi. It was pretty simplistic and I felt like I was reading a Manga, which I didn't mind. Kaname was an asshole. And I realy liked Masaki. I'm glad Keigo finally stood up the "beast" and got found the happy ending he deserved.
October 12, 2011
The book has good plot but both characters are written very weak. I keep reading it just to see how it ends.
November 14, 2011
3.5 stars
October 19, 2013
Yup, just as I felt a year ago when I first read this book, I loved it. A more detailed review will follow shortly.
Review written for MM Good Book Reviews.
Review written for MM Good Book Reviews.
September 11, 2016
Yaoi inspired novel? :)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews